Echo 550evl chainsaw

[JacobR]

Does anyone have experience with an old Echo 550evl chainsaw. My saw will start and run but will quit as soon as it starts to warm up. I've checked the fuel lines and replaced the filter, also rebuilt the carb. The ignition system is OK. Any ideas?

Jake

 

[trimmmed]

Did you check for spark when it quits?

 

[Farley9n]

Check the compression!.......Bob

 

[JacobR]

Compression and Spark are both OK. I don't think its getting enough fuel to keep running.

 

[Eccentric]

Compression and Spark are both OK. I don't think its getting enough fuel to keep running.

Fuel cap vent could be clogged. A partial vacuum builds in the tank until the carb is unable to pull fuel. If it's only partialy clogged (common) then the pressure in the tank will equalize again after the saw has set for a while (or you open the tank to check for fuel). That's why you can start the saw again and 'warm it up' until vacuum again starves the carb.

On these old Echos there is a brass screen and valve setup within the cap that is held in with a spring clip. Be careful, as the white plastic body (which holds the brass screen) within the cap will be old and brittle where the spring clip snaps in (mine certainly was). There is a tiny hole in the black fuel cap body that leads from the interior of the cap (under the brass screan assembly) to the perimiter of the cap (on one of the 'flats'). That hole is probably what is clogged.

I have a buddy that had some intermittant problems with the ignition module and kill switch on his 550EVL. The knucklehead got so frustrated with it that he threw the whole saw away, case and all rather than swallow his pride and ask me for help!