Saw dies with throttle, gas in air filter

[Fumbler]

Hey people,

I bought a refurbished Echo CS-330T from Home Depot a couple months ago for real cheap. It looked almost new.

Anyway, it runs fine sometimes, but lately it has been a pain in the butt.

Here's what it does 50% the time:
-I set the choke, pull the starter cord, it it fires usually within 3-5 pulls
-Take the choke off, pull the cord 1-2 times, and it starts and runs.
-Hit the trigger lightly once to bring it to idle and let it sit to warm up
-Disengage the chain brake, hit the throttle, and it immediately dies.
-After it dies it won't start again.

25% of the time it will start and run fine and I don't have problems restarting it.
The other 25% of the time it will be a little difficult to start and it almost dies when I give it gas, but after 10 minutes or so it will work fine.

I have tried setting the carb but have noticed that the rpm's are never consistent at WOT.
The spark plug was fouled when I first bought the saw, but it looks fine after I replaced it and adjusted the carb.

I did notice that there is always a small amount of fuel inside the air filter. Is this normal? It doesn't happen in my Husqvarna 350 which runs great.

I am going to bring it back to Home Depot and have them send it off. However, if you all have suggestions on what may be wrong then I'll make sure to write it down on a note with the saw before sending it off. Or it would be great if it was something I could fix myself. I'm no expert on motors, but I can follow directions and have a little natural mechanical sense.

I don't know much about saws. After reading this forum I've found a few things that might be it like air leaks and such, but I have no way of diagnosing the problem unless it's obvious to the eye.

 

[PES+]

Interesting.....It seems you have a carb problem specifically the metering lever height or a bad diaphram. Return and have them swap it out

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Maybe there's a little something stuck in the reed valve. That would give you the poor running and fuel spit-back into the air cleaner.

 

[PES+]

The 330 is piston port I believe.....I'll stop by the local dealer and confirm it is not at all like the 3400

 

[Fumbler]

Thanks for the input so far.

He's the parts list online:
http://www.echo-usa.com/oot/docs/CS330T_10_042806.pdf

I think the easiest thing for me to do is ship it off.
I don't run a business or anything, so I could do without the saw for a couple weeks.

 

[mini kahuna]

I had a saw doing the same thing,I took the carb and rebuilt it same thing.
I finally took the saw completely apart and found a tiny wood chip caught in the reed valve,took it out problem gone.
I would try to exchange it with another,if they won't do it and want to sent it out for service I would have a local guy repair it for you.
I don't know were they send them but the saw will be gone for weeks and probably come back not fixed or worse.

 

[Fumbler]

I would try to exchange it with another,if they won't do it and want to sent it out for service I would have a local guy repair it for you.
I don't know were they send them but the saw will be gone for weeks and probably come back not fixed or worse.

They won't let me exchange it because it's refurbished.
I know it will be gone for a long time and I know it might not get fixed, but I'm gonna try to let them fix it at least once.
That is why I posted this thread. I figured if I let them know what is probably wrong then I might have a better chance of getting it fixed.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I find just taking the carb apart and gentley blowing it out, checking the function of the metering valve, and making sure there's no tiny pieces of sawdust in the jets, then reassembling, will often fix carb problems.
It's a pretty simple thing to do, it's not rocket science.
Our blower just had a flooding problem. Took it apart and the metering valve was stuck open part way. I just touched it and it made like a click, and then worked freely.
I reassembled and it wasn't flooding any more but still ran bad, so I took it apart again, pulled out the jets and found a little tiny contaminant on the high speed jet when I pulled it out. Wiped it off, reassembled and it runs awesome!
How do you set the high speed on a blower? It's a BR400 and I have a tach.

 

[PES+]

Okay....here's the deal
Home Depot will take it in to the store and it will sit on the shelf out back until someone gets around to looking at it.
They will start it once and say "operator error" and you will be right back where you are now.

If you purchased the saw with a credit card you can contact the CC company about buyer protection and they will tell you how to get it returned.

Give me your zip code and I will tell you how much it would cost to ship it up here and it won't cost much to fix it. The warrantee at a box store is worthless because you will be waiting until you really razz them up justto get the saw back un-fixed.......been there several times

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

That's a nice offer, but I think if he's a forester, he should be able to take a carb apart and diagnose the problem himself. The nice people on this site would be happy to guide him through it, and he'd not only have a running saw, he'd have a new skill, and chicks dig guys with skills!

 

[PES+]

I'll see if I can get an IPL from the dealer here.....the way the intake is on that model makes looks like it could be a little tricky just to get to remove the carb I think.....I will check when I go out today

 

[Fumbler]

I'll sit down with the saw tonight and see what I can find or clean out of the carb.

Thanks for the offer PEST, but I've got a local dealer that I like. He doesn't charge too much, I just thought since I didn't really need the saw then I wouldn't mind having it gone for a month.
But...I guess I would feel safer bringing it to him if cleaning the carb didn't fix it. With the price I paid for the saw I can easily afford to have it looked at by a servicing dealer.

 

[PES+]

Start a good relationship with your dealer and ask that he forgive you not purchasing the saw from him in the first place......dealers are there for a reason

 

[Fumbler]

Start a good relationship with your dealer and ask that he forgive you not purchasing the saw from him in the first place......dealers are there for a reason

Yeah, I know that now:bang:

I just couldn't pass up a nearly new top handled saw for less than half the price.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I don't think an apology is in order at all. There's nothing wrong with jumping on a deal. You are now supporting him with the repairs.

 

[PES+]

Then you can wait most likely.......the dealer pays carrying costs on all his new stock and he needs to move that stock in order to keep afloat.....if you short circuit that how can you expect priority?


The dealers are NOT REQUIRED to fix anything under warrantee

 

[Fumbler]

I wouldn't expect him to fix anything for free since I didn't buy it from him.

 

[CrazyCarl]

??????????

Not familiar with this saw,but can give some input.No reed's>Hole in diaphram or inlet lever not adjusted right.Reed's> Check for obstruction and for warpage.If you can slide a .003 feeler guage under it and not move the reed,then it needs replaced or ,if possible, flipped over and reinstalled.I have in the past,ground off the rivets,flipped the reed and reinstalled with tiny screws.I have done this only in extreme cases where parts were unavailable,and have had great results

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

It looks like it's a piston port according to the parts list posted.

 

[Fumbler]

Not familiar with this saw,but can give some input.No reed's>Hole in diaphram or inlet lever not adjusted right.Reed's> Check for obstruction and for warpage.If you can slide a .003 feeler guage under it and not move the reed,then it needs replaced or ,if possible, flipped over and reinstalled.I have in the past,ground off the rivets,flipped the reed and reinstalled with tiny screws.I have done this only in extreme cases where parts were unavailable,and have had great results

How should the inlet lever be adjusted?