Echo cs-590 clutch lock up

[stevesz]

After 2 years of light use I'm getting smoke and a very hot engine when I engage the chain. Obviously that's not sustainable so I'm looking to see if it can be serviced by an old car mechanic (me) or really hard and should be done by a shop?

Someone else have been running it for the last little while and he came and told me it's not running at full speed anymore. I checked it out and saw the forementioned smoke and killed the engine. Let it cool down and tried again. All is good until the clutch is engaged. I'm thinking that maybe it just need to be cleaned and too much debris have entered into the space. But before taking action I decided to do some searching and found this forum (looks great) and see if there's a census as to what might be behind it?

Otherwise it has been a great saw, my 2nd saw after learning on an electrical, and almost accidentally ended up with this model.

 

[jp233]

the first thing to do is disassemble the whole chain side cover and clean everything.

Check the levels of both fuel/oil mix, and the bar oil!

Since someone else was using it..... you better hope that they were using the correct fuel/oil mix in the thing, and/or not run out of bar oil. If it was run out of bar oil, it will get way too hot and smoke depending on how it's used and what kind of junk can "light up"..... gunked up oil/wood mix is a likely culprit there.

This is easy stuff, look for lots of wear on the bar and if the metal is turning blue/purple then it got too hot. The chain links can do the same thing.

Also if you haven't done any maintenance, the air filter is probably very dirty, which also may be fouling/flooding the engine. So you'll probably want to pull the spark plug and clean or replace it.

 

[Fatherwheels]

Is the chain brake off before you pull the trigger to cut.
Like said, take side cover off, clean and look for signs of damage, heat, or broken
clutch parts.

 

[stevesz]

Yeah I had stripped it from chain, oil & gas is fine, put new filter and spark. Will disassemble further, probably a cleaning job.

 

[jp233]

I'm not familiar with that exact saw, but they do look pretty nice - a good contender in its size/weight class and based on price.

It probably has a clutch sprocket/drum, so you have to take the whole thing off to look at the actual clutch shoes and springs. Also the bearing in there. If it looks really blue/purple or otherwise colored from heat, might be best to replace.

If it all looks nominal, are you sure the thing is oiling properly?

 

[stevesz]

It does look like it's oiling properly, and as expected only when running. (I still have to field strip the saw to see what I can see, avoiding the heat of the day.)
And I'd like to thank all for coming to assist, it's always nice to see others who like to unsefishly help others!

 

[HarleyT]

Take off the bar/chain/cover, make sure the chain brake is off.
Then try and rotate the sprocket by hand. It should spin freely.

 

[CR888]

Where is the smoke coming from? Is it coming out the clutch drum/cover area? Clean everything up then inspect the clutch, chain brake & needle bearing.