Hi folks, I picked up a used but decent shape Stihl MS660 recently as well as a used complete Granberg 36” Alaskan mill and top rails to mill some big white oak logs from dying trees we had to have dropped. I’ve been running chainsaws for firewood most of my life but this is my first “big” chainsaw. When I picked it up I got is started fairly quickly. I brought it home and it set for a couple weeks until I had time to play with it, and I just tried to get it started again. On full choke I did get it to “burble” as usual with my other Stihls, an MS250 and MS290 and immediately backed off the choke one setting and pulled again. Repeatedly. I can’t get it to start even though it definitely started to turn over on full throttle. Full gas and oil, chain brake is off, decomp button working properly. Anything simple I might be missing? Admittedly I don’t have the strength and stamina I used to have (after surviving multiple strokes) so I might not be pulling hard and fast enough for this saw, although I have no trouble starting my other two.
Got it running. Dang, this things a beast. Halving a dozen large honey locust rounds for bowl blanks for my lathe right now.
Yeah, I think that’s the case. Plus I got a 20 something year old friend to pull it a bunch of times for me. I’m 57 and had multiple strokes when I was 50, so I just don’t have the strength and stamina to pull the starter on a big stubborn chainsaw at this point.
Choke on, decomp engaged, pull til it pops, or burbles...anything more than nothing at all, then take the choke off (fast idle setting) and give 'er a few more pulls. My experience is that the 660's will load up (flood) pretty easily if pulled too often with the choke on. Nothing like a flooded big bore saw either!
Doesn't hurt to make sure the choke is responding to the master control lever the way it should. I've seen a couple that would stay closed after flipping it to the warm start position. Usually it's the other way, they don't fully close when they should. But if it sticks closed, that will give even an experienced operator a headache. Glad to hear you got it running!
I tried elastostart and didn't like it. It absorbs the energy you are trying to put into the flywheel. It seemed like it was letting the engine stop each revolution rather than powering through the compression cycles.
It's not just absorbing it. It's storing it and releasing as soon as the engine flips over TDC, as long as you aren't releasing the cord as soon as you pull. (people do that...) You're trading a 1"/25mm longer pull (geared down if you will...) on the compression stroke for an acceleration boost on the power stroke that makes each subsequent compression stroke easier to overcome since more energy is stored in the flywheel. Personally, I like 'em. The older Easy2Start system uses the same principle but to a greater extreme. Those, you don't go ripping on the cord, just pull gently to wind the spring and all that stored energy releases on the first flip, usually starting the engine. Stihl actually toned that down a bit on newer units to just dampen the compression stroke resistence and those tolerate more "traditional" cranking methods. (1) Stihl MS230C-BE Easy2Start Demo - YouTube
Due to a hist A friend less than half my age yanked the starter for me at least a dozen times and it finally started. Wow. What an amazing saw. I had a dozen large honey locust logs I’m going to make bowl blanks out of for my wood lathe so I needed to cut them in half longways. This went through them so easily compared to my MS290.
Silly boy, Ms290 and 660 is not much of a comparison! That's like racing a Ranger with a 2.3L 4 cyl against one with a 5.0 V8!
