Husky 372's quitting in wet conditions

[FSburt]

Hey all any of you guys had any problems with these saws when sawing in wet conditions. Here's what happpened. It was a rainy friday Overtime day no less. clouds were dark and spitting on us as we started to thin with our Husky 372's about 5 min after cuttting in some watersoaked brush and small trees 3 saws went down and would not start. Opened up the carbs to see if any Ozzy Juice got inside and crystalized but found none no blockage or other noticable problems with the carb so pulled teh plugs to check if it was flooded nope not this. So after pulling on the pull cord again to no avail we finally had to pack it in. Today the saws were used in sunny dry conditions with no problens so deductive reasoning is leaning towards water being sucked into the carb via the forced air injection system from the pull cord side. This water then was sucked into the carb and mixed with the fuel and caused the saw to cut out since water will not combust. Hows that for description. Hope you can help.
PS Had some 268's running also in the same conditions with no apparent problems so I'm not sure. Thanks for the replys

 

[tundraotto]

was your airfilter wet?

 

[FSburt]

Did'nt appear to be but I did'nt take it off and blow on it or anything. shopuld have checked it more closely though beacuse it would have pobably given me the answer to my question. Good point TO.

 

[chainsawworld]

burt,
funny you ask. i was at a training class with my 044 stihl when huricanne floyd hit. it was pouring rain(at the least). my 044 would not start. the instructor offered his 371xp to fell my tree. as i laughed, the 371 fired right up and cut like the dickens for the rest of the day. i kid you not, it rained so hard it was like we were cutting under water. i would have to see your saw to fine tune the problem. marty

 

[treeclimber165]

If it is water related, my first thought is the plug wire is grounding out. I'd clean and check the plug wire for cracks. The plug boot, too. Next time it happens, try pulling the plug boot and blowing it out, or shoot a squirt of wd-40 in there to displace any water.

That's my $.02

 

[tundraotto]

or buy a tube of dielectric grease from a store and put some in your spark plug boot - wont let any water in there - good idea anyways, makes the boot really easy to take out (ie. doesnt stick when hot)

 

[sedanman]

WARNING!

When cutting under very wet conditions you risk siezing your saw. enough water getting sucked into the carb will displace oil from the cylinder wall. Check any manufacturers engine failure analysis manual for proof. This can occur in rain, snow , or extreme humidity.

 

[FSburt]

Thanks for the tips I'll try them out.

 

[Dennis]

I think Brian is on the right path...the 372 ignition's plug wire screws into the ignition block..over that there is just a rubber boot...see if that has slid up...water in there will cause the saw to die in a heartbeat by grounding it out...I have fellers using these saws day in and out in up to 6 feet of snow, and have never seen enough water or snow get in there to cause it to die for any long amount of time...I would personally follow the grounding out path...

 

[bwalker]

My stihl cut out on me in the rain once alos. I sprayed the plug cap with a little wd-40, put some dielctric grease in the cap and never had the problem again. If a saw just quits when its wet 9 times out of 10 its electrical.

 

[stihltech]

spark

Check the wire. I have never seen a saw freeze up the carb unless it was pretty cold out.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi there, sometimes water in the fuel tank can be the problem especially if the filter is dirty as well. Huskies can drink more water than Stihls under the same conditions without problems because the filtering system on Huskies tend to atomize the water into finer particles.
Gypo