Those are the only gas cans I use now. I never could figure out how to use those new cheap EPA cans. Some sort of twist and pull/push crappola. I broke three of them in one day LOL. Only problem with these new cans is built up pressure. First time I used one I doused my pick up with gas. Hot sun, no vent, gotta be aware of the possibilities. Release the pressure slow. Keep em in the shade
I have one of the older ones, a 1G with the black spout ya have to pull the little button back with the thumb, and then squish the handle down to run. TSC et.al., sell a spout for gas cans seperately, have not looked into. I guess I'd rather deal with a little pressure in the saw box, than a can that vents fumes. Maybe a safety can in the garage, but not in the truck box. I could care less about a no drip system over all.
The directions on the can say to turn the can upward and away from yourself and depress the valve to vent the pressure before using the can. I finally took the label off mine recently so I don't have it anymore. Its good that the most volatile vapors are kept in the can because that's the stuff that helps getting an engine started. Its a bad thing also because the can builds pressure. I prefer the no spill cans and the racing fuel jugs.
I took it to a shop and that was his first question. No, I always add oil to my fuel. But it is possible maybe I didn’t shake the can enough after it had been sitting on the shelf awhile….maybe the oil settled and I didn’t shake it up enough? I brought it home after the price to repair he quoted and am contemplating making the repair myself, or possibly using this as my opportunity to buy a bigger saw which has been something I’ve been wanting….still haven’t decided. I might just do both and turn this one into my backup.
Seeing as it leaked oil from the chain reservoir maybe the gasket let go in that area allowing oil to leak and air to be sucked into the crank? FWIW I was under the impression 2 stroke oil doesn’t separate like it did 40 years ago. I still give it a little shake out of habit and precaution.
I doubt that it was the fuel separation from the oil. Something else has caused this. I think you should rebuild it yourself. There are plenty of people on here that can help with any questions you might have, and you will gain a lot of knowledge concerning your chainsaws. When you go to disassemble the saw make sure to take a lot of pictures and you will not have any problems putting it back together. Even after taking plenty of saws apart, I still take pictures.
Thanks! Sounds like good advice. I’ll probably be back and forth a lot. Right now I am having trouble finding a new Stihl MS 291 cylinder that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. I can find every other model for anywhere from $20-$50 for a piston and cylinder and I can find a piston alone for $15 to 25 but it’s the cylinder that I’m still searching for at a reasonable price. Of course the model I have is the hard to find one.
You have to take the cylinder off and then remove some of the aluminum transfer that is on the cylinder and then look and see if it is grooved. If it has grooves in it then is it no longer usable, but sometimes you can remove the aluminum transfer and find that the cylinder itself is ok or has very minor grooving in it. If the cylinder is scored on just the exhaust side, then chances are it was an air leak, but if the cylinder is scored on both the intake and exhaust side then sounds like it was straight gassed.
Is there a chance you could remove it and post some pics? If it looks horrible, with deep scratches, it's probably not worth trying. If the aluminum is somewhat smooth, probably is. Like this is pretty much trash: This is easily cleaned up: Sometimes you won't know till you remove some of that piston material. Then deep scratches show up, like this: The cylinder wall plating is very tough stuff. It can withstand a lot of sanding.
Yikes! That's not looking good at all. Could be several reasons why it did that and finding it sometimes isn't easy. Pressure/vac test would be my first step to try and locate possible air leaks. I'd imagine probably a new cylinder and piston kit is in it's future if you want to keep it going, plus the leak fix which could be crank seals. Could be a tear in an intake boot. There's a couple places to look.
Seems to me from my reading & others experiences on 290’s, crank seals would be a good place to start.
