Homelite 550 ignition question.

[Chainsaw Collectors]

My Homelite 550 don’t fire with a drink. Should this spring be further towards the outside world and does it matter that the rubber is a little deformed as shown? Any other tips? Previous owner said he tried getting it running and gave up when it seized up on him, now it turns over freely/perfectly with what feels like good/enough compression. Perhaps the carb was just letting a ton of gas in?

 

[mudfly]

My Homelite 550 don’t fire with a drink. Should this spring be further towards the outside world and does it matter that the rubber is a little deformed as shown? Any other tips? Previous owner said he tried getting it running and gave up when it seized up on him, now it turns over freely/perfectly with what feels like good/enough compression. Perhaps the carb was just letting a ton of gas in?

Have you tested the ignition to see if you have spark? I am no expert on these but I rebuilt a Homelite 350 with the same ignition. Before I did anything else to spend money, I made sure that the ignition was working. There is a guy on YouTube that shows how to test it. Couple of jumper wires, I don’t remember the details off hand.

If the ignition is bad I think you are kind of SOL.

Other than that I would check your rubber intake under the carb. The one on the 350 was rotted away and could be another reason why you don’t have a pop even when dumping fuel in.

Found some pictures of when I was testing mine. I can’t remember if you were supposed to have the spark plug in and grounded to check spark or how this exactly worked, but it did. Search Homelite 350 or 360 on the YouTube’s and see what you can find.

 

[Chainsaw Collectors]

Have you tested the ignition to see if you have spark? I am no expert on these but I rebuilt a Homelite 350 with the same ignition. Before I did anything else to spend money, I made sure that the ignition was working. There is a guy on YouTube that shows how to test it. Couple of jumper wires, I don’t remember the details off hand.

If the ignition is bad I think you are kind of SOL.

Other than that I would check your rubber intake under the carb. The one on the 350 was rotted away and could be another reason why you don’t have a pop even when dumping fuel in.

Found some pictures of when I was testing mine. I can’t remember if you were supposed to have the spark plug in and grounded to check spark or how this exactly worked, but it did. Search Homelite 350 or 360 on the YouTube’s and see what you can find.View attachment 1232221View attachment 1232222

Nice 350. I didn’t test for spark yet but will look at the video, thanks. I replaced a boot on a 360, I’ll check this one next.

 

[mudfly]

Nice 350. I didn’t test for spark yet but will look at the video, thanks. I replaced a boot on a 360, I’ll check this one next.

Thanks. I did get it running. It was my late father in law’s saw. I’m not sure if he actually ran it or picked it up at an auction. Either way it’s a nice condition saw.

 

[ThistleIA]

The 350,360,450,550,650,Super 650 & 750 all have the same 2 piece ignition module & transformer.A ton of 360's were produced,still out there for reasonable money if you need to replace the ignition system its a simple swap. I have one of those Homelite test lamps with instruction sheet in its original cardboard box.They show up on Ebay occasionally.

 

[mudfly]

if you need to replace the ignition system its a simple swap.

When I fixed my 350 a couple of years ago, a replacement transformer was NOT available anywhere (ebay, chainsawr, Leon, etc). I did another search last night and there was 1 on ebay for $120+. Do you have a source for these transformers? I guess you could find another saw and part it out but I would say parts are not what I would call readily available and/or cheap.