A deal so good, I kinda feel bad.

I just went on a nice drive out into the country to pick up a saw I found on Craigslist this past Saturday, a Husky 359 with a blown motor. It was only $50, which seemed a good enough deal even if I had to part he saw out, so I decided to risk the 2-hour round trip. The guy explained on the phone that he'd rebuilt the saw himself after the manifold clamp failed, as they apparently tend to do on this model, and ruined the original P&C. He replaced the manifold clamp and installed a decent aftermarket P&C. It ran briefly, then ruined the new cylinder for reasons he never quite figured out. Not wanting to surrender, he bought another decent aftermarket P&C to try again. He also bought a brand new carburetor for good measure. Put it all together, did as many checks as he could without a vacuum gauge, decided it was fine and started cutting. 15 minutes later it suddenly revved high and then quit. In frustration he put it on a shelf, went out and bought a brand new Jonsered 2173. A year later he put the 359 on Craigslist, and I answer the ad, and when I ask him on the phone whether the motor was totally locked up he can't quite remember. I figured it's a good project and I've got a couple of free hours -- why not? When I got there he was digging around looking for the box of extra parts. I pulled the rope a bit, and the compression didn't feel so bad. He soon produced his box of extra parts -- the original carburetor, a new air filter, an aftermarket non-catalytic muffler, a case gasket and crank seals he'd never used. The deal looked pretty darn good to me, even adding the $110 cost of a new Hyway top end. I happily paid the man, wrapped the saw in a trash bag, and stowed it in the back seat.

On the way home I began to smell gasoline, and realized what had happened. It was just the fuel line.

I got home, put the saw on the ground, pulled out the choke, pulled the starter half a dozen times and it roared to life. Got out the compression tester, and it's blowing 190.

The poor guy rebuilt his saw twice, and then dumped it because of a bad fuel line. I feel like I should send him a bottle of liquor or something.

 

I've been there before too. Sometimes you overlook the obvious and tear up more to get it "right". If he was mechanical enough to rebuild it he should have started with the easy stuff. His loss your gain.

 

I'd rather not know I made someone that good of a deal. I'm sure he would rather not either.

 

Yeah, that had occurred to me. He expressed interest in knowing what he'd missed if I figured it out, but it might be better if this remains a mystery.

 

Agreed better off not knowing.

 

If I was the one selling it I WOULDN'T want to know, that would kill me

 

Now that's a steal! I mean deal! Wanna sell that non-cat muffler?

 

He's probably a member here and already knows!!! Nice scoop Jon.

 

Nice score. Every time I come across one of those deals I feel slightly less jaded about all the used lemons I wish I had passed on

 

I think I'm going to hang onto the parts until I wrap my head around this saw a bit more thoroughly. This is the first 359 I've had to play with, so I have a bit to learn.

Here's the replacement muffler. Besides being non-catalytic, it has an extra nozzle pointing off to the side, that the original muffler lacks. It looks like a lot of modded mufflers I've seen pics of, but this is clearly a mass-produced item because the metallic plating covers everything. Oddly, I haven't even been able to find the exhaust exit on the original muffler.



Another thing to consider is the carburetor. I have the original Walbro, plus the replacement Zama. There was some debate on another site as to which was better, but the threads I found gave off more heat than light. Given the undiscovered gas line leak I have no reason to think there's anything wrong with the Walbro. Is anyone here familiar with the issue?

 

Great deal man !! Dont feel bad . You gave him the asking price he wanted . But I agree with the others.....dont tell him it was such an easy fix Enjoy that awesome saw !!

 

Do you happen to know what goes wrong with the Walbro? The old AS threads I saw implied they were difficult to fix, and recommended shipping them to a particular member for rebuilding.

 

If I had just "given away" a twice rebuilt saw because of a sketchy fuel line I would not want to know about it. Ignorance is bliss.

 

Thanks. Once I get the fuel line replaced I guess I can just swap in the old carb and see what happens. It's not as if it's hard to do.

 

That looks like a mass marked china replacement muffler. I have resold some of those there produced by huztl as far a s I know. I think there is only one exhaust port?? The oe ports are usually on the top of the muffler.

 

I looked at the pic again all I see is the exhaust outlet and the mounting holes for the bracket and mounting bolt holes.

 

Okay, the situation is worse than I thought so now I feel a bit better.

I figured I'd clean the saw up just to make sure there weren't other little doodads (besides a fuel line) that it would need, before I placed a parts order. I removed the fuel line, did a pressure test and was surprised to find that the rather nasty-looking cracks in it did not go through; it wasn't leaking at all. Instead it turned out that the tank vent was completely missing from the socket in the handle/fuel tank where it's supposed to live, and that's where the fuel I smelled was escaping.

I went on to pressure and vac-test the motor, and found no problems there. Finally, I decided to pull the muffler and have a look at the piston, and that's when I discovered a real problem. The piston was slightly scored. Worse, there was a patch of cylinder plating stuck to the surface of the piston just below the ring. *Dangit.* I pulled the cylinder to get a look inside, and found a matching hole in the cylinder plating just above the exhaust port.

Amazingly the hole in the plating is low enough, and the ring was still free enough, to generate the excellent compression I saw when I tested it last night, but it's clear this top end is beyond saving. I'm still not 100% clear on what caused this failure. Does anyone know whether a missing tank vent can cause problems more severe than a minor gas leak when the saw is oriented sideways? Another possibility is that the previous owner adjusted the new carb improperly. Even if such issues contributed, I can't help but suspect that the cylinder plating failure is at least partly a QC problem.

 

Id say plating is a QC issue or failure thing unrelated. New carbs are suppose to just be set x numbers of turns out and not messed with per spa so there must be some wiggle room??? I tune mine though.

You can lean a saw out if its low on fuel..like when you almost run out of fuel but it usually doesnt scratch a piston, maybe cause its aftermarket it couldnt take the slight lean issues due to an underlying QC issue.