Hey everyone! My son and I were cutting over the weekend when the Husky 350 started revving high. I shut it off right away, no damage done. I tore into it yesterday and found the impulse line was hard as a rock and broken in two. This is Tygon and installed about three years ago. Is there a better fuel line available today? Thanks!
that is supposed to be some of the best. Where did you source it from? possible if it was older stock ?
It came from the saw shop, Stihl and Husky dealer. They do a lot of business, so doubt it was sitting around for long. My pro Stihls have the molded fuel lines and no problem with those. I'll have to check my other engines and see if I used it anywhere else. I would feel better if it was just a bad lot.
I use a lot of Echo 3/5 mm black line for replacement where it will fit . Never had a failure with it . Have also used the Husq. Pigtails mentioned above . They are also reliable ,and remain flexible . Tygon is good stuff . But it does get rigid with age .
Tygon is mostly junk. If you’re lucky enough to get the actual Tygon brand rather than a Chinese knock off, it’s not terrible for fuel line. But it gets hard and brittle from what I’ve seen in my weed trimmers. And you never want to use it for an impulse connection directly to the cylinder because it will melt. The line on that 350 is a pre-formed piece from Husky and it should be replaced with OEM. I use Echo 3 x 5 MM black fuel line and have never needed to replace one
^^^^^ Should have said real Tygon . The knock off stuff is definitely nasty when itgets some time on it .
And the problem is all the fakes out there. They will go as far as to advertise it as Tygon and put the same writing on it assuming you won’t know the difference
I'll say echo oem is the best fuel line I've used I have saws that I rebuilt 12+ year's ago still around cutting wood on echo line.
I use oem husky line and buy the Stihl gas line also, haven’t tried echo because no dealers close. Stihl stuff is excellent but expensive unfortunately like everything else they have. But never a failure on anything it’s been used on even with guys running e-10.
I've given up on generic fuel line. For what it costs I just pony up for OEM. Not really a bank breaker.
Year's ago when tygon was king early 2000s I bought a 100ft of tygon from rotary It melted in saws in weeks it was obviously fake but had oem markings
As Kevin mentioned, in this particular application, the only option is to use the pre-formed OEM impulse line. As for regular fuel line, I have had good luck with OEM Stihl or Echo line.
Have you tried torture-testing it yet? aka: 455 Rancher impulse line..... If it'll stand up to that....
I'm going to try OEM next and get it at a dealer. You never know what you are going to get from Ebay and Amazon these days. Thanks for the help everyone!
Melted off the impulse barb on my 7900. It was actually all brown, kinda half burned looking on that end. 455 would probably be a primo test
I had to replace the line in my 455 rancher a couple of years ago. What is it about that saw that makes it torture testing?
The nipple for the impulse line is located on the "hot" side of the cylinder in a spot that doesn't get much in the way of airflow/cooling. It's also a tight spot to access without hemostats or some bent needle-nose pliers unless the saw is disassembled. Considering how many other saws have relatively trouble-free impulse setups, it's just a "What were they thinking?!" moment. It was not at all uncommon to have 455's come into the shop that would start but not stay running. 99% of the time it was because the impulse line had failed in this exact area. Usually concealed by grime and on saws that were used frequently/hard, it was a repeat offender.
Thanks! Sounds like exactly what happened to mine. I just figured it had rotted from ethanol. It wasn't that easy a fix, just as you described! I guess I can expect to do it again. Between this, the leaky bar oil, and the weight, definitely some room for improvement. Still love the saw, especially with a 16" bar.
