Husqvarna 268 metal chunks in exhaust

[singinwoodwackr]

Unfortunately I'm not that well equipped. All I've got are my eyeballs and a headlamp.

The saw has been dead reliable for all these years, and in spite of whatever these things are it still runs just like it always has. I think I will just keep running it and see what happens. I'd imagine if those bits came from the motor and didn't cause an issue then, then running it shouldn't make it worse. If it was going to blow up then it should've done it already, surely.

My first new saw was a 266xp in ‘85. I worked on a firewood crew…6days/6hrs a day. Rotated it with an 031 Stihl until early 90s… got the 066.
the husky cut hundreds of cord wood for many yrs. I re-ringed it and sold it to a friend who put another 10yrs of hard use on it. I finally gave up around 2015. Not bad . Imo the that model was/is the best all around firewood saw out there.
one of these days I’ll find another for a project.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

I have over a dozen 268 and 272s

Any extra 266xps you want to part with?

 

[WoodRaider]

If you ever need to do a piston swap the hyway popup does very good in those
It gives them a nice compression bump.

Awesome, I'll keep that in mind. This was my uncle's saw and I'm not sure what he did to it throughout the years, but it certainly takes a solid pull to turn it over! Always been like that and I've been running it for years too.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

That's a really good theory. It looks like weld, or at least something that melted at some stage. I like that sound of that a lot better than my theory of it being bits of piston and cylinder!

As stated, if it were piston and/or cyl it would have grenaded by now.

 

[WoodRaider]

My first new saw was a 266xp in ‘85. I worked on a firewood crew…6days/6hrs a day. Rotated it with an 031 Stihl until early 90s… got the 066.
the husky cut hundreds of cord wood for many yrs. I re-ringed it and sold it to a friend who put another 10yrs of hard use on it. I finally gave up around 2015. Not bad . Imo the that model was/is the best all around firewood saw out there.
one of these days I’ll find another for a project.

Wow that's great! I'd bet you have plenty of good stories and memories out of all that!

Nothing like these old Huskies. I'm only a young whippersnapper compared to the saws I'm using, but the 268 and the 394 XP have been running flawlessly for me for a few years now, and before me they served my uncle for much longer than that!

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Awesome, I'll keep that in mind. This was my uncle's saw and I'm not sure what he did to it throughout the years, but it certainly takes a solid pull to turn it over! Always been like that and I've been running it for years too.

When it starts to lose compression…and power, just re-ring it. Get another 10+ years out of it.

 

[Czed]

My first new saw was a 266xp in ‘85. I worked on a firewood crew…6days/6hrs a day. Rotated it with an 031 Stihl until early 90s… got the 066.
the husky cut hundreds of cord wood for many yrs. I re-ringed it and sold it to a friend who put another 10yrs of hard use on it. I finally gave up around 2015. Not bad . Imo the that model was/is the best all around firewood saw out there.
one of these days I’ll find another for a project.

I started running 2 series in the early/mid 80s
We had a tomos metal tanked 266 and a early course thread 266
In the family and neighbors borrowed and ran them also
Absolutely bulletproof saws we ran them for a couple decades and there was never a bearing failure on dino oil
Lawnboy 40/1 usually or Valvoline 2 cycle
Eventually just a rering or piston swap occasionally
we all preferred the twin coil saws to the later 268/272
Now saws can't make it a couple year's without parts failure's
I only have 1 of the 2 series with new crank bearings it came with new bearings I bought it ported 272 from zoo city saws it's a strong saw.
My stumpshot saws ported 266 Is my favorite it has almost 5 year's on it since I had it ported
I've cut hundreds of tree's with it.
After having run everything out there Husqvarna I went back to running the 2 series
I do like the 372s I have a couple of them ported by zoo city saws they are beasts.

 

[Czed]

Any extra 266xps you want to part with?

It took me year's to get spare parts for my 266s I just have a couple of those
And the coarse thread parts are rare now as well as the coils and intake parts.
268/272 are plentiful

 

[SteveSr]

I tried a magnet and nothing. Same magnet would pick up the bar nuts but no reaction to these chunks.

Take a file to one of the bigger chunks to see if it is aluminum. If it is it is likely debris left from a prior melt down that was never cleaned/removed from the muffler. Luckily, the debris stayed in the muffler and didn't get sucked back into the engine.

 

[David Ellis]

Take a file to one of the bigger chunks to see if it is aluminum. If it is it is likely debris left from a prior melt down that was never cleaned/removed from the muffler. Luckily, the debris stayed in the muffler and didn't get sucked back into the engine.

I really like this idea!

Also... thinking... maybe the parts are some melted teflon (very high melting temp) that cooled enough to form pebbles in the exhaust. The crank seals might be teflon. Maybe the inside of the seal got hot and melted ?? I am guessing.

BTW, the exhaust side of the piston looks wonderful !!

Please do post your findings. I am curious too.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

I really like this idea!

Also... thinking... maybe the parts are some melted teflon (very high melting temp) that cooled enough to form pebbles in the exhaust. The crank seals might be teflon. Maybe the inside of the seal got hot and melted ?? I am guessing.

BTW, the exhaust side of the piston looks wonderful !!

Please do post your findings. I am curious too.

If the seals had melted you’d have a dead saw.

 

[82F100SWB]

While it's unlikely that the saw would still run fine, I would take the time to pull the carb, or the whole top end, and have a look at the intake side of the piston skirt. I think the odds of chunks that big making their way to the muffler and the saw not showing other signs of failure are very low, but, given the number of them I have seen wear the intake side of the skirt to the point that it eventually breaks up, I would have a look just for piece of mind.
FWIW, if you remove the front handle, you can pull the jug with the carb still attached and save yourself having to replace those gaskets if the search finds nothing. The base gasket usually survives on that chassis, but, they usually take well to a delete and end up at .0195-.020 squish.

 

[WoodRaider]

While it's unlikely that the saw would still run fine, I would take the time to pull the carb, or the whole top end, and have a look at the intake side of the piston skirt. I think the odds of chunks that big making their way to the muffler and the saw not showing other signs of failure are very low, but, given the number of them I have seen wear the intake side of the skirt to the point that it eventually breaks up, I would have a look just for piece of mind.

I no longer believe these pieces came from the inside of the saw, or at least they didn't come through the cylinder. As mentioned, if they did then my saw would be cactus. I took the muffler off again and shined a light inside as best as I could, and may have identified the culprit. Someone else mentioned it could be dags of weld (or whatever material they use for joining the 2 pieces of the muffler together) from the inside seam of the muffler, and I could kind of see similar bits hanging from the inside seam. It's hard to see because of the angle and I couldn't get a good photo, but I'm 95% sure that's what it is.

At this point it's a really old saw, and it's still running great. I used it for a couple more hours since making this post and it's running perfectly. I'll refrain from pulling it all apart until it actually gives me a good reason to do so.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

I no longer believe these pieces came from the inside of the saw, or at least they didn't come through the cylinder. As mentioned, if they did then my saw would be cactus. I took the muffler off again and shined a light inside as best as I could, and may have identified the culprit. Someone else mentioned it could be dags of weld (or whatever material they use for joining the 2 pieces of the muffler together) from the inside seam of the muffler, and I could kind of see similar bits hanging from the inside seam. It's hard to see because of the angle and I couldn't get a good photo, but I'm 95% sure that's what it is.

At this point it's a really old saw, and it's still running great. I used it for a couple more hours since making this post and it's running perfectly. I'll refrain from pulling it all apart until it actually gives me a good reason to do so.

Sometimes tearing down a good running saw causes more problems that never would have cropped up in the first place.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Maybe it's my imagination but there seems to be some scoring on the piston in the picture and the jug is filthy with wood chip buildup. If anything it needs a good cleaning and a new exhaust gasket.

 

[hotshot]

I no longer believe these pieces came from the inside of the saw, or at least they didn't come through the cylinder. As mentioned, if they did then my saw would be cactus. I took the muffler off again and shined a light inside as best as I could, and may have identified the culprit. Someone else mentioned it could be dags of weld (or whatever material they use for joining the 2 pieces of the muffler together) from the inside seam of the muffler, and I could kind of see similar bits hanging from the inside seam. It's hard to see because of the angle and I couldn't get a good photo, but I'm 95% sure that's what it is.

At this point it's a really old saw, and it's still running great. I used it for a couple more hours since making this post and it's running perfectly. I'll refrain from pulling it all apart until it actually gives me a good reason to do so.

Good find! So the three rattling nuggets were NOT magnetic? They looked more like balls of flux or the bronze rod that they brazed with, or a mix.

Likely the muffler was made early on Monday morning, by a hungover braze tech…somehow it got past QC inspection.

 

[WoodRaider]

Good find! So the three rattling nuggets were NOT magnetic? They looked more like balls of flux or the bronze rod that they brazed with, or a mix.

Likely the muffler was made early on Monday morning, by a hungover braze tech…somehow it got past QC inspection.

That's right, they weren't magnetic. The saw's fine. I was worried about it but calmer minds prevailed and I found out where they came from. At least I couldn't see any more dags that might come loose in future, so hopefully that's the last scare.

Maybe it's my imagination but there seems to be some scoring on the piston in the picture and the jug is filthy with wood chip buildup. If anything it needs a good cleaning and a new exhaust gasket.

There are 2 very tiny scratches on the piston, so small that I'm not sure if they're visible in the photo. I wouldn't even consider that to be scoring, given the age and the hours that piston has done.

The saw's now squeaky clean and wearing a new gasket. Good as new.

 

[HuskyShepherd2016]

I haven't, good thinking 99! I'm not sure if I have a magnet or where one might be if I do. I'll scrounge around for a bit and see.

Is it possible the spark arrestor melted around the wire edges? Or maybe rough ground spots on the edges of the muffler that have a few shavings stuck to them which finally got too hot and melted? That could happen if the muffler was aluminum or a lower quality alloy steel.

If it was pieces of the internals and bearings on the crankshaft and piston you’d know it pretty quick.

 

[Husky77]

Them bits been in there a while, now they are out dont worry about it. The saw will carry on as normal and give you no trouble.