I am getting _extremely_ tired of Stihl

Looking at his photos I know it’s a bigger homeowner/farm & ranch saw not 100% on model but guessing the 251 because of the single bar stud. Also guessing the chain is less than stellar for longer than it should be with it always seeming to be packed in fine dust and oil. Or the wood is all dry dusty dead stuff that makes a ton of fines even with a sharp chain. Also way he makes it sound with the stranded without a saw for a week in peak season. I’m guessing he’s cutting a ton more wood than a 251 is designed for in the first place and he got set up with the wrong saw by the dealer or picked wrong on his own.

 

Leave the Dark Side,
Buy Husqvarna, find Serenity.


Doug

 

You'll like the echo starts everytime and they just keep running.

 

He will like the saw no doubt but the chain brake still won’t work with the drum not installed and it will still pack with fine dust under certain conditions and need maintenance which seem to be his problem. This new echo is also substantially larger than what he has for a Stihl so it will probably be better for his use.

 

Good points.

Ive run Stihls since 1985 and the only bad experience I've had was with a 170 which I knew what I bought. Its since been sent packing.

My former 290 had the clutch bearings seize. I put a lot of hours on that saw and it was a common problem from my research at the time and it was a simple fix.

 

Agreed if the operator has any idea on how to properly maintain, tune and operate a saw. Echo has been the most consistently reliable ope I've owned, and Ive owned many brands.

 

Yes it's a MS251.

Problem with the saw is during the time I've owned it, I've owned and used my Milwaukee M18 saw WAY MORE. That saw has in fact gone down once that I can recall--due to a failed power switch, and was swiftly shipped off to be fixed free of charge.

For every hour of use of the MS251 I get four hours of use out of the Milwaukee.

You wanna talk homeowner saws? The Milwaukee saw is the epitome of a homeowner saw. So why is it 10x more reliable than the """pro""" brand?

Why is Stihl given a pass with this bait-and-switch crap on their product lines? "Oh that's a crap saw, you should have known better than to buy that. See, everyone knows you have to buy even numbers silly!" No, everyone doesn't know that. Some of us are just regular people not forestry professionals. Stihl has absolutely no business selling to consumers or marketing consumer products.

Why does the Stihl have a one-year warranty and the Milwakee has THREE?? Why am I able to drop my Milwaukee in the mail and get it fixed free of charge but I can't get that with Stihl?? Stihl warranty isn't even worth the paper its printed on. I recently took my newish 2-in-1 sharpener into my local dealer to get it replaced after it broke due to a molding flaw in the plastic and was told they don't "do" warranty. So into the trash it went.

I get it that I'm offending basically sports teams or religions here but Stihl has, for me, been an objectively TERRIBLE brand in every conceivable metric. Again, my puny electric homeowner saw has cut MILES more wood than the Stihl with far fewer issues. The problems I have had with it are not justifiable. I keep my chains sharp and my saws clean, but I shouldn't be expected to open the saw up nearly all the way to do routine maintenance on a saw that is only run a handful of hours in spring and fall.

 

Yes Stihl can and should sell to everyone, yes they should also have dealers that know how to get people into the proper product but if your buying a saw and you see one that’s 300$ and one that’s 600$ but both have the same cc and you can’t figure out ones limited use and ones continuous use it’s still on you ultimately. Husky & echo both make plastic case saws for limited home use. Sharp chains and maintenance are a thing and I actually know several people with well cared for 250/251’s that cut 6-10 chords a year for heating. Some of these saws are 10-15 years old, the echo you just bought is basically built like a pro saw but it still won’t tolerate dull chains and poor maintenance for forever they all give up. So yes partly the what they call dealer’s fault for not setting you up with a proper saw for use but lots of times even if they try the person purchasing the saw over rules the shop and buys what they want because of cost. And the Stihl would have a 2 year warranty if you bought a 6 pack of oil for a home owner. Pro use warranty is 6 months husky or Stihl not sure what echo is, some of your complaints are completely unfounded and brought on by you and you alone. The file has nothing to do with Stihl other than the colors it’s made by pherd for Stihl. The even and odd doesn’t always work out on saws either for Stihl no matter what people say. Not sure Stihl’s ever had an actual numbering sequence that they’ve followed over the years. Your new echo is a much heavier duty saw then the 251 but still will need you to blow the dust out and clean it sometimes weekly depending on cutting or it could be wrecked also from overheating ect. You complain how bad Stihl is then in same breath buy a poorly built clone of a 660. What you actually needed in a Stihl brand saw was a 261 not 251 and a c version so you didn’t need to worry about tuning because from your clone post about milling you don’t really know how to tune a carb either. So I tried to help you there describing the process whether you use it or not is up to you. Sharp chains don’t make dust that gets in everything and packs the clutch up unless it’s all dead powdery wood your cutting.

 

None of this angry rambling wall of text actually addresses the points I made.

Anyway,

Well that is certainly an opinion. Another opinion is that Stihl's warranty lists hand tools as having a lifetime warranty and it's reasonable to expect their dealers to abide by it, especially when the dealer is my ONLY way to get warranty service.

I do in fact blow out my saws with compressed air on a regular (daily) basis. What I should not be expected to do is to dis-assemble the entire clutch mechanism on a saw to clean it on a regular basis. This is a task suited to repair shops or skilled DIYers and should not be considered regular maintenance. To use an analogy you might understand since you brought up car brakes earlier; nobody should be expected to open up their drum brakes on a regular basis because crap is accumulating inside there. There are machining tolerances on such things that preclude buildup from being possible.

Completely unrelated to this.

That's fair. I'm not on here bitching about Stihl carb design also. Fair?

 

BTW I was curious what other brands do to keep the clutch housing clear. Here is a shot from an Echo:



Stihl has the same little round plate doohickey. However, on the Stihl it's about 30% smaller and doesn't cover the entire area leaving huge gaps where crap can get in.

 

Sounds like a solution has been found. Hoard a bunch of Milwaukee electric saws with spare batteries up the wazoo and use an Echo when it makes sense to.
If one were to look hard enough, they can find fault in everything and come up with problems for every solution.

 

files and holders are wear items and not lifetime warranty, the extra gap should allow it to be cleaned easily and the small one will still pack with dust as oil you just seem to have the it’s everyone else’s fault/ problem mentality.

 

Files of course. What part of the 2-in-1 design do you think justifies no warranty at all? Why is it okay for Stihl to not list this as an exception in its warranty document?

How? I'm serious, please explain specifically how you would go about utilizing the extra gap to clean easier. As far as I can tell you need to remove the assembly to do so but if there is something I am missing here I'd love to hear it.

Like I said earlier, this is a sports team religion thing. You can tell right away too, because I attack Stihl but you attack me.

 

No not attacking anyone I have faith you’ll either learn how to treat a saw and sharpen a chain or you’ll be complaining about the echo also. Your an equal opportunity nit picker is all. Far as files you realize the file and holder are considered wear items just like the chain. No warranty on the chain either or do you think there should be on that too? Hand tools are certain hand saws and clippers ect and it’s limited to defects not the purchaser being dumb and wrecking it. Big gap is easier to clean out than small one and it will also take more to fill it up. You just like to complain about Stihl because you can you also complained about the China clone asked questions. Most people hinted if you wanted to actually use it send it back and buy a used oem but you decided to return one piece of crap for another and complain it doesn’t run. See equal opportunity

 

I see you've met Ms. buZZsaw?

 

You say you aren't attacking me and then immediately call me dumb while ranting about an unrelated thread. You are a bitter angry person. Go crap up someone else's thread, I'm done responding to you.

Moving on.

After marinating on this topic some more it struck me that the actual problem with my saw isn't that dust is getting inside the clutch. The problem is that bar oil is getting in there and mixing with dust. It dawned on me that bar oil has no business getting inside there in the first place. This should have been obvious from the get-go I suppose. This is the root of my particular problem.

I did some preliminary research and this is actually not an uncommon issue. It looks to be caused by a leak from the oil pump either some sealing ring or the hose and grommet itself.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how to diagnose which part is leaking? I've not run the saw since repairing it so it should still be clean enough inside there to identify the leak source since I cleaned all the gunk out thoroughly. Best I can think is just rev it up a bunch of times and then open it up. Maybe I could stick dye in the tank or something? IDK.

 

it could actually be a cracked pump otherwise it’s likely the grommet on the hose coming out of the tanks.

 

Ordered, thanks. I didn't know there was a kit I could just shotgun all the parts at. Easier than debugging which part it is.