My 044 has me concerned

[Str8six]

I used my trusty ole 044 the other day to cut down some bigger chunks of white oak for the fire pit and noticed that it was idling funny. If left to idle more than about 15 seconds it would actually die. It would crank back up with a squeeze of the throttle and it runs GREAT when cutting. Well me being the kind of person I am, and the fact that I am waiting on some parts for my Homelite project, I decided tonight was the night to investigate. I bought this saw a few years ago off Ebay from a guy out west. It looks like it has seen is fair share of west coast logging no doubt but it just runs so good! I usually tear a new to me saw down and degrease the whole thing and just get see what I have but I didnt do that with this one so I figured tonight was the night. I started in and pulled the carb and all other things that bolt on to get at the fuel and impulse lines. The good news is everything looked great! I figured this saw was gonna be a pieced together chinese parts built turd but amazingly its all Stihl! Now, the reason for my post. I pulled the Stihl dual port muffler cover off just for the heck of it and what do I see, some lite piston scoring. Off with the jug! It has some very lite scoring on each side of the exhaust port. The intake looks great. Is this possibly from a lean mixture at some point in its past? There is a tiny bit of aluminum transfer but it will no doubt clean up. Take a look at my pictures and tell me what you think. I will fix what is obvious and then do a pressure test to check crank seals and the such. What do you think about the scoring? The rings look great. Oh yeah, I already had a good idea it was but now I know, it is a 10mm!

 

[burnses]

Im gonna say some carbon scoring...clean it up and put in a new set of rings......if ya got the cake new oem piston rings pin and bearing

good luck

 

[nmurph]

It looks like someone has been cranking it and running it hard before it was warmed (four corner scoring). Is there any scoring on the backside?

At this stage, I would put a new Meteor in, but I'm sure that one could be used with a little clean up. Are you sure there's no damage to the rings? If there is transfer, there is usually damage to the rings though it may be very minor. I just went through a saw for a member here. It had a some very minor transfer from I think was an incomplete scoring clean up. The rings had very small lines when you looked at them in the light just the right way. I used a Scotchbrite to buff them smooth and clean up the cylinder very well.

 

[burnses]

"four corner scoring" that from the piston growing from heat before the cylinder gets up to size from heat....

 

[Str8six]

I have looked at the rings with every kind of light at every angle and I cant see anything on them. I will for sure be going back with a new piston and ring set as well as a new pin and bearing. Everything in the saw looks great except for this piston. The bearings are great too. The other side (intake) looks brand new. Is just the exhaust side that has this scoring. I always let my saws warm up before running them under a load but like I said, I cant tell you anything about this saw before I bought it other than it looked well used. Thanks for the relplies guys.

 

[AKDoug]

Meteor makes a decent piston for this saw. The 10mm I did with one worked great. I'd clean up that cylinder and use it. I would take the time to do crankcase seals while I was at it, as well as a full pressure/vacuum check when I was done. This is too good of a saw to mess up. Take a good look at the fuel line too.

 

[Str8six]

Will do AKDoug. Thats exaclty what I am going to do. You are correct, its too good of a saw to mess up. If it ran as good as it did with a jacked up piston I can only imagine how good it will run with good parts in it!

 

[MustangMike]

Good Luck with it, I do like them saws!!!

 

[a. palmer jr.]

My thoughts on the 044 in general are: I would never have another one of them without a compression release. The one I had aggravated my tennis elbow.

 

[MustangMike]

A valid concern, and my elbow also bothers me from splitting wood, so I understand fully. Unfortunately, most of the best running ones did not have CR.

When I see people talk about plugging the CR on an 046/460, I cringe! That saw, IMO, really needs it.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

A valid concern, and my elbow also bothers me from splitting wood, so I understand fully. Unfortunately, most of the best running ones did not have CR.

When I see people talk about plugging the CR on an 046/460, I cringe! That saw, IMO, really needs it.

Funny, I had an 064 and I don't remember it kicking back as much as the 044. I don't believe it had a CR on it either. Now I have a Homelite 330 that kicks, I ended up putting a Stihl Elasto Start handle on it.

 

[Str8six]

A compression release and a better oiler are the only things I would change.

Since I got the cylinder off do I leave the base gasket off or not? What do yall think?

 

[blsnelling]

Have you measured the squish?

 

[Str8six]

I guess I will when I get the new piston and go from there. First saw I have ever modified so there is a learning curve for me for sure.

 

[mdavlee]

A compression release and a better oiler are the only things I would change.

Since I got the cylinder off do I leave the base gasket off or not? What do yall think?

Oiler can be fixed. Decomp I don't see it being necessary.

 

[lone wolf]

A valid concern, and my elbow also bothers me from splitting wood, so I understand fully. Unfortunately, most of the best running ones did not have CR.

When I see people talk about plugging the CR on an 046/460, I cringe! That saw, IMO, really needs it.

You ever pull a 288?

 

[mdavlee]

You ever pull a 288?

Or 2100

 

[lone wolf]

Or 2100

My 3120 just sits but that takes some pulls.

 

[mdavlee]

My 3120 just sits but that takes some pulls.

3120 I didn't think was too hard to pull over. A 288 with compression increase was the toughest with no decomp. A 2100 is kind of rough with 175 lbs of compression on that large bore.

 

[lone wolf]

3120 I didn't think was too hard to pull over. A 288 with compression increase was the toughest with no decomp. A 2100 is kind of rough with 175 lbs of compression on that large bore.

Mine is it sat for 20 years and the carb aint priming