Huztle MS361

[a. palmer jr.]

Time to revive this thread. Begin cpr...on my 361 lol. Has anyone else had re-starting issues when the ambient temp gets in the 80s-90s. Today I got it to start to cut some wood and stopped to sharpen the chain. Did that and couldn't even get it to pop again. Believe it's getting flooded again, even though it is tuned correctly. Bad carb, faulty tank vent? What else could it be? I had the same problem not getting it to restart Friday also when it was in the low 90s. Thankfully I either was either done or had another saw both times, but I do not need this to happen again.

It wouldn't hurt to do a pressure test on the carburetor and check the tank vent like you said.. I haven't used my 361 enough to know if mine has that problem or not..

 

[Van462]

It appears the tank vent may be reacting to the fuel and hardening. I had some issues with my saw running and did a diagnostic teardown. Luckily I found an air leak under the cylinder before I did any damage. So I while I had the cylinder off I ported it, and did a vacuum/pressure test on the assembled motor. I found that a piece of bike inner tube sandwiched between the heatshield and exhaust port works great. I just shoved a grease syringe into the intake boot. Ran the saw and it flamed out. I did a vacuum check on the tank and it showed it was sealed and not venting. I poked a small drill bit thru the tank vent and it starting sucking in air. I tried to clean it up but it seems a bit too tight, so a Stihl one will go on order. With the twist part of the drill in the vent it can suck air thru the drill flutes and runs great.
Another 361 tip, don't lose the washer/gasket between the carb and the rear housing. It has been on backorder for months . Not sure it really a necessary part but I made a new one out of cardstock. Hutzl does have them for 59 cents.

 

[Bedford T]

What do you think caused the cylinder leak?

 

[Van462]

Likely I damaged it. I had the cylinder off once before as I pulled it to to inspect the bottom end when I first built the saw. I smeared the gasket with sealant with permatex gray fuel proof sealant. I had tried to make a block off plate for the exhaust port and had issues getting a seal. I never had a successful pressure/vacuum test the first time, it leaked air out of the exhaust but I soaped the rest to look for bubbles and didn't see any and called it good enough. At first it ran great, maintained idle and great throttle response. Looks like it failed right where the case halves mate under the cylinder.
Luckily I have learned a lot from reading post on this board and it made tracking down two separate issues a bit easier. I think I should have opened up the intake port a bit more while I had it off this time. I mostly wanted to port match the exhaust to the muffler gasket and there is a big difference there. Hopefully I can get this thing in some wood, but I usually cut volunteering in county parks and I suspect fire bans will stop sawing this week for the rest of summer.

 

[Bedford T]

My first one leaked. Pressure gun and sealing plates solved that. Cost one cylinder and new tools. One great lesson...use the tools.

 

[67L36Driver]

Ref wrist pin retainers:

028 Farmertec above.

The Stihl retainers are .032" wire diameter vrs. 040" Farmertec.

Shorten the 'ear' to a minimum.