Questions about my MS440...

sharpshtr · Jul 4, 2004

If I remove the air filter cover on my saw there is a "half-circle" shaped opening in the engine cover to the right of the spark plug. Anyone know what that's for. Just curious-I'm guessing it's to allow for air flow over the engine??

Also, how often should you have to change the plug on this saw? This saw is only a few months old and Id ran about 10 gallons of fuel through it. The last few gallons it got hard to start. It really got hard to get started after the saw was warmed up and needed to be restarted.

Pulled the plug and it was really coated black. I put in a new one (Bosch) and it runs like a new saw. Starts cold on the 3rd pull and restarts hot on the first with no choke now. Just wondered if I had a bad plug or what? Maybe the gas mix in the saw from the dealer was bad and fouled it up or was it due to break-in period?

I pulled the new plug out after running 4 tanks of gas through it and it looks real clean-no carbon to speak of.

NevadaWalrus · Jul 4, 2004

I think the opening you refer to should have a cover on it, probably a slide. In cold weather it can be opened to allow warm engine air to enter the air box to prevent iceing over of the air filter.

Kneejerk Bombas · Jul 4, 2004

Hey Sharpshooter, if you pooped in your pants a lot and it got hard to walk, then you changed your underwear and it was easy to walk, would you say your underwear was bad?
Well, it the same thing with spark plugs, they really don't just go bad, they do indicate other problems though. Oh yeah, there are guys here that'll tell you about this or that time they had a bad spark plug, but it's very unlikely that the spark plug was th only problem.
You might want to try to figure out why the plug is getting all black. The carb setting might be out of wack, it could even be the way you run the saw, or there could be something wrong, but trust me, the plug didn't just go bad.

sharpshtr · Jul 4, 2004

Hey Mike, yeah if I pooped my pants I'd say my underwear was pretty bad and I'd change them and throw 'em out just like I did that dirty plug. Call me weird. Would you save yours?

The thing is I am just trying to figure out why the new plug is staying in good shape since I didn't adjust anything and I run the saw the same way. Like I said, maybe the first tank of gas from the dealer was bad or it got fouled up from the engine breaking in.

Kneejerk Bombas · Jul 4, 2004

Yeah, I guess it's the german "work hard and save every penny you ever made" ethic. I'd just scrape off the chunks, turn 'em inside out, and put 'em back on.

As for your plug, I guess it could be a few different things, like those you mentioned. If it's working good now, forget about it.

There was some idiot offering good money for bad plugs a while back, for a research project or something. From what I heard, he never found one. They are a rare bird indeed.