Killed my Dolmar 5100S??

[THALL10326]

Thall..no problem. With so many posts in this thread it is easy to get lost in the forest

The saw is less than 12 months old, and has always run "hot" from day one, even cutting wood other than Osage (I posted previously here with that issue). As my first chainsaw I lack experience to successfully diagnose small high performance engine problems, but I suspected something has never been right. I can successfully sharpen chain since it chips nicely in anything except Osage Orange. I resharpen every refill and sometimes inbetween if I have been working on Osage Orange. I also know to let the saw pull/swivel into the wood.

I can only get E10, but always use less than fresh gas (3 to 4 weeks max), good chainsaw synthetic oil, and it ran hot on both 40:1 and 50:1. It was last running 50:1 using Stihl Ultra synthetic with 3 week old gas. Also the high speed carb was at the factory setting and could not be richened due to the limiter. At that WOT was 14,500 rpm - right at the limit.

Actually now you remind me, this has been a constant problem. So I should at least try the warranty route first, although I was getting prepared to pay to get it repaired.

Welp if its within the warranty time frame heck yes take the warranty route. If you felt the saw running hot since day one it may well have been, who knows. Take it back and have them repair that saw. If the cylinder is fried it can be fixed and best of all if the fault is in the saw as to why it fried can be found as well. They will pressure/vac test it after the repair to insure there are no air leaks which is a big culprit to burnt up engines. Not saying yours had an air leak but its good to know for certain when you get it back that it doesn't.

E10 at 3-4 weeks old wasn't your issue. Hell if thats the case half the saws in the USA would be toast. Where I work I give a dead line on E10 at 90 days exactly as Stihl has told me to. I rarely ever get a fried saw in that I sold and I tell my customers 90 days use the fuel or get rid of it.

Back to warranty. Warranty isn't worth a hoot in hell if you don't use it. Take that thing in and getter striaghten out on their dime, not yours. Heres the thing. To you its a big deal, to a company one cylinder and piston is no big deal. If they sqauk on ya over that then you got a legit gripe. Ya gotta give them a chance first to make things right.

Did you buy this saw at a walk in dealer or mailorder? I ask because this saw should have been checked out at time of sale before all this happened..

 

[THALL10326]

This poor guy!! tough crowd tonight!!

Tom, Hedge is NASTY!!! Green it cuts like hard seasoned Oak. Not uncommon to se sparks flying off the stuff.

Seasoned, well I just really don't know how to explain it to you!! Have you seen what railroad ties do to a chain? It's worse!!
I guess until you cut some it's hard to understand.

Never fooled with that stuff Red. Hell if its that hard to saw how hard is it to split,LOL If I can't split it I sure as hell aint gonna saw it. Down here we have wood called gum wood. Cuts easy, can't spilt it 100lb maul. Anyone down here who cuts one not knowing what it is gets laffed out the woods,LOL

I think he said he was clearing so if it has to be sawed it has to be sawed. The stuff sounds like some mean ****, I'm thinking bulldozer,LOL

 

[Airecon]

I've got a 5100 so Im curious what happened. I haven't read all the post so I don't know if its been suggested. Why don't you pour the gas in the tank into a clear glass jar and take a look at it. I've seen some pics posted here of some pretty nasty stuff. Maybe it will help you solve the problem.

 

[grandpatractor]

Looks to me like what we have here is a saw that maybe should have been richened up a little. I think the combination of running on the edge of lean along with the E10 and working it hard with that nasty wood and being a high performance saw to begin with,did the old 5100 in. A good dealer would have knocked off the caps and adjusted it right. And a good dealer will probably warrenty it for ya. Just my guess:monkey:

 

[sawinredneck]

Never fooled with that stuff Red. Hell if its that hard to saw how hard is it to split,LOL If I can't split it I sure as hell aint gonna saw it. Down here we have wood called gum wood. Cuts easy, can't spilt it 100lb maul. Anyone down here who cuts one not knowing what it is gets laffed out the woods,LOL

I think he said he was clearing so if it has to be sawed it has to be sawed. The stuff sounds like some mean ****, I'm thinking bulldozer,LOL

Some splits easy, bu if you get a crotch or a twist, you can be there a while! It splits alot like Elm.
But it's about the highest BTU you can get for firewood! 0 outside, no power and a pregnant wife, it was easy to keep 1200sf at 65 deg. Someone likened it to burning coal, not a bad refference!

 

[flatpikr]

I'm taking a new 5100 out tomorrow for it's first outting. Did a little surgery first on the limiter tabs. Just richened it up a little. I'm guessing that my small surgery may have warranty implications. Yes? No? Seems strange to do the saw a favor and maybe void the warranty. Go figure. What is a good tach? Only ethanol out here in the sticks is in my Jack D. Cheers.

 

[THALL10326]

Some splits easy, bu if you get a crotch or a twist, you can be there a while! It splits alot like Elm.
But it's about the highest BTU you can get for firewood! 0 outside, no power and a pregnant wife, it was easy to keep 1200sf at 65 deg. Someone likened it to burning coal, not a bad refference!

Welp thats good information. If I ever lose my mind and get married again I'll know just what to do. Honey I'll saw, you split,hehehehehe

 

[huskystihl]

I'm taking a new 5100 out tomorrow for it's first outting. Did a little surgery first on the limiter tabs. Just richened it up a little. I'm guessing that my small surgery may have warranty implications. Yes? No? Seems strange to do the saw a favor and maybe void the warranty. Go figure. What is a good tach? Only ethanol out here in the sticks is in my Jack D. Cheers.

If the tabs don't looked messed withthe dealer will never know,besides you doing that may avoid any issues.

 

[Andyshine77]

This post I find interesting because if its true and I'm not doulting for a second it isn't, what type of failures are we looking at here. Are we talking crank, bearings, cylinder failures, what type of failures? Also with most failures there is a cause, a fault of somekind. Air leaks at different points in the saw, thats kinda across the board there. Seems to me if there is a common failure of somekind the cause is usually a common one as well. Nail down these the types of failures your talking about Andy, I'm curious to see what these failures are.

I have read posts concerning the filter on these saws letting some dust in but for the life of me I haven't had that with my 5100. I read some posts concerning air leaks at the intake but not on mine. My 5100 has been fine since day one but I do admit it hasn't seen alot of use. It runs at 14,00-14,500 and seems to be holding up fine but I'm very picking about fresh fuel and clean filters and sharp chains. I guess its possible neglecting any of the three things I just mentioned could kill a saw turning those high Rpms pretty quick.

THALL. I'm glad you posted this.

As of now I am not at liberty to point out exactly, the possible cause of the failures. I promised several sources that I would not be specific about the problem.

No this is not a cop out. Some of the people involved I consider friends, some are dealers, and one guy is a local Dolmar rep. The rep handles the B&S power equipment at my local Stihl dealer. The problem is not caused by high rpm's or operator error, as some have suggested. I do believe heat to be part of the problem, and how heat effects the magnesium case, as the 510's tend to be more reliable.

The filter could be better, but I doubt it is the cause of any low hour failures. Tuning is an issue with any saw, especially with the EPA butting in.

 

[THALL10326]

If the tabs don't looked messed withthe dealer will never know,besides you doing that may avoid any issues.

I agree, not that big a deal. In fact speaking of warranty. Week before last our main distributor service manager and some quality control guy from Stihl Inc walked in my little shop. Their purpose on stopping by was to find out if I was seeing any common issues occuring over and over on any Stihl products. I really had nothing to give them. In the course of the converstaion they made one thing clear to me about warranty.

The quality control guy told me warranty is a good thing and it needs to be used whenever there is a issue of anykind within the warranty timeframe. His reasoning was this. He said before looking for a fault file the warranty and lets examine the failure. He said the manufacture needs to know whats going on with their products and one of the ways they keep tabs on their products is through warranty claims. If they see a bunch of warranty claims on some issue occuring over and over they set forth to correct the problem. In other words as he so cleverly put it, if we don't know the issues we can't correct them.

I think this explains to me why I've never been denied a warranty claim by those guys no matter what.

 

[grandpatractor]

I know of 2 dealers -If you buy your saw from them,they will check your carb setting a couple times a year with their tach. No charge. Another way to get you in the door and look around while you wait a few minutes. Both "good" dealers.

 

[THALL10326]

THALL. I'm glad you posted this.

As of now I am not at liberty to point out exactly, the possible cause of the failures. I promised several sources that I would not be specific about the problem.

No this is not a cop out. Some of the people involved I consider friends, some are dealers, and one guy is a local Dolmar rep. The rep handles the B&S power equipment at my local Stihl dealer. The problem is not caused by high rpm's or operator error, as some have suggested. I do believe heat to be part of the problem, and how heat effects the magnesium case, as the 510's tend to be more reliable.

The filter could be better, but I doubt it is the cause of any low hour failures. Tuning is an issue with any saw, especially with the EPA butting in.

Fair enuff. I don't expect you to bring your freinds into the converstaion if they can't speak for themselves.

Far as high heat affecting the crankcase that would mean expansion of the crankcase I guess. So let me ask you a direct question. Have any of these freinds of yours experianced any bearings spinning in the case???

 

[Airecon]

THALL. I'm glad you posted this.

As of now I am not at liberty to point out exactly, the possible cause of the failures. I promised several sources that I would not be specific about the problem.

No this is not a cop out. Some of the people involved I consider friends, some are dealers, and one guy is a local Dolmar rep. The rep handles the B&S power equipment at my local Stihl dealer. The problem is not caused by high rpm's or operator error, as some have suggested. I do believe heat to be part of the problem, and how heat effects the magnesium case, as the 510's tend to be more reliable.

The filter could be better, but I doubt it is the cause of any low hour failures. Tuning is an issue with any saw, especially with the EPA butting in.

Seems like you know something we don't! Sounds like a serious problem with the saw. Maybe Dolmar should recall it. Hope they do something before my warranty runs out!

 

[Mister Twister]

I ran mine all summer using E-10 fuel cut about 40 Face cord or 13 full cord of mixed firewood. I adjusted the carb it seemed to run a little lean at first but so didn't my Husky. I paid $410 with a 18" 3/8 chain new and I love the saw. I have the same bar on my 455 Rancher so I keep one size chain loop and one extra bar for both saws. I think the 5100 is a little lighter and cuts slightly faster. I am going to buy a Stihl next just because I have never owned one. I want to try them all but I would buy another 5100S without hesitation.

 

[Lakeside53]

The part that most owners AND dealers miss, is that any saw tuned for Standard gas will run leaner unless richened for E10... Really simple, but...


That's why Stihl bit the bullet and tuned all their OPE with E10 from Jan 2007. However, even though there's millions of pre-2007 units in uses, I'm not seeing any surge in burned up cylinders.. and I've taked to many other dealers (stihl) who say the same thing. E10 is here to say... work with it...

 

[THALL10326]

The part that most owners AND dealers miss, is that any saw tuned for Standard gas will run leaner unless richened for E10... Really simple, but...


That's why Stihl bit the bullet and tuned all their OPE with E10 from Jan 2007. However, even though there's millions of pre-2007 units in uses, I'm not seeing any surge in burned up cylinders.. and I've taked to many other dealers (stihl) who say the same thing. E10 is here to say... work with it...

That it is. Biggest problem I've had with E10 is the landscapers hauling those metal cans around. Seems the cans go from cold at nite to hot in the day and draw water. I've had several bring in trimmers that all the sudden won't run. I dump the fuel and yikes. They dump the can and all is learnt.

 

[cuttinscott]

That it is. Biggest problem I've had with E10 is the landscapers hauling those metal cans around. Seems the cans go from cold at nite to hot in the day and draw water. I've had several bring in trimmers that all the sudden won't run. I dump the fuel and yikes. They dump the can and all is learnt.

LOL Tommy now you going to start a gas can war between metal and plastic..........:monkey: personally I prefer plastic



Scott

 

[Lakeside53]

I'm all metal, but I screw the lid on tight!


Yep... landscapers... Some haven't cleaned the fuel can out in years.. Just add a few gallons of gas every few days, add about the "right" amount of oil... Some of it gets way way out of wack. And... Cap/lid? LOLOLOL

Grass, dirt, water.... They look at me like I'm a stupid gringo when I tell them to dump the gas can out now and then. Oh well, they pay in cash.

 

[THALL10326]

LOL Tommy now you going to start a gas can war between metal and plastic..........:monkey: personally I prefer plastic



Scott

LOLOL. No, but I do try to sell a new can with every unit I sell, we carry the plastic and metal. Those metal cans we got cost too dayumm much.

I had one landscaper bring in a FS110 he was moaning about wouldn't run. Outside the door he had parked his truck and trailer. On the trailer was his 5 gallon fuel mix can but something was missing, no cap on the spout. I didn't make a big deal out of it but the guy that works in the store with me saw it and goes well ya dumbazz no wonder ya dayumm stuff doesn't run, look at your gas can, where the f-ck is the top to it. The guy with the trimmer goes awwww shut the f-ck up, I don't wanna hear it. I thought those two were gonna duke it out,LOLOLOLOL

 

[04ultra]

Paper or Plastic at the grocery store.......





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