Chainsaw Symptoms

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I acquired a saw a while back that had been sitting a while... flushed tank, replaced lines & filter, cleaned & kitted carb. Ran fine for half a tank then started acting up, some investigation led to me finding the filter was blocked. Wrote of filter as a dud & fitted another new one, ran saw & same thing again. Replacing the filter for the third time I found a ball of goo floating around in the fuel tank. Don't know exactly what it was but I'm guessing it was stuck inside the tank & didn't dislodge when I flushed it
The black goo is what’s left of an old fuel line dissolved by ethanol gas.
 
First thing to do when you acquire older saws is flush and clean old tank and replace old fuel lines and filters. Then clean the carb in an ultrasonic cleaner and install a carb kit.
Often just doing those things will get them running.

If at all possible never use gas with ethanol in it.
If you do use gas with ethanol, dump out the tank, start the saw and run it until it dies to get the erhanol out.

Leaving ethanol laced fuel in any machine that sits for long periods of time without being used is asking for problems.
 
The black goo is what’s left of an old fuel line dissolved by ethanol gas.
The goo was more of an amber colour. Still could have been a fuel line, but none of the lines were missing... & around here it's unlikely there was any ethanol in the fuel.
At the time I suspected it was a lump of tree sap. The filter still looked like it was new too
 
Just for the sake of discussion, I've used more than a few AM Chinese made fuel lines and filters and never had one turn to goo or fall apart. I have had the cheap lines cut / tear more easily though.
 

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