Bought a decent used 036 Pro (or so i thought) a month ago from a friend who flips OPE mostly chain saws. He liked it and kept the saw, ran a couple tanks through it after he did wholesale rubber replacement. Gets bored with it, sells it to me and i did the same. Last time i used it, saw starts but when you hit the throttle it dies out as if its out of gas. Brought it back to him and he checks it out and determines its the crank seals. He doesnt have the time to fix it and im not about to do it either as im not a chain saw mechanic. (i mean that with zero disrespect to those who are) Any other thoughts as to the issue could be? How involved is this and are parts expensive? No rush to do this but seem to prefer this saw over my 361.
Usually they will still run but be hard to tune with a small vacuum leak like that. A bad vacuum leak will cause them to rev half throttle at an idle. I think you need a new fuel line, filter, and clean the carb.
He did that. He was trying to tweak the carb while it was running to no avail. Saw ran flawless prior to this. Cold or hot start, idleing etc.
Have the seals been replaced yet? They usually last 20-25 years or so. Any chance the gas being used was old or was E85? Both will cause lean running issues
Just got off the phone with him. He never cleaned the carb. Says even with all the tweaking it still wouldnt run correctly which made him think its the crank seals. I dont know the age of the saw. The last model year for the 036 is 2001 based on what i just looked up. He only uses the Echo non E stuff out of the bottle. I use 91-93 octane with 40:1 Stihl silver bottle mix.
At an idle, spray carb cleaner at the clutch area and between the cylinder and flywheel. If the seals are bad the saw will idle down or quit.
He did that after trying to tweak the carb and brought him to the crank seal failing conclusion. (just called again to confirm)
Why would the saw run flawlessly though 4 tanks of gas and then suddenly do that? Nature of the failure?
Naw. I’m still going with probably not lol. Honestly, if it is the seal that’s leaking, I’d take a good look at the bearings. 036 was known for the flywheel side plastic bearing retainer to give up for some reason
Only way to know for sure is to pressure/vacuum test. The brake cleaner test works well to diagnose pto side leaks. The saw will die quickly if there’s a leak. The fw side is a bit difficult due to the recoil and the cleaner getting near the intake and air filter. Go through the carb. Grab the crank and wiggle. Any play is bad.
That saw has a leaking bearing pocket. It’s a junker I picked up just for smalls. Case is trash. Huskihl is right about those bearings. I think the sealed bearings Stihl tried caused a buildup of crud and lack of lube. I replace the fw side with Nachis.
Just got the call from buzz-saw and it was the carburetor. He ordered crank seals and i watched him replace them yesterday. Fired up the saw and seemed okay at first but then same thing. He rook the carb off, blew it out, reinstalled and back to square one. Used the ultrasonic cleaner at his work today, reinstalled carb and it did the trick. Kevin huskihl was right! Ill give it a run this weekend. Thanks to all for your insight and knowledge sharing!
