Chain Saw Destroyed By Neighbor

Are there any chain saw / two cycle engine experts on this board?

Last week I stupidly loaned out my 16" bar STIHL FARM BOSS chain saw to my neighbor.
I usually have a cardinal rule about loaning out any of my outdoor power equipment. I DON'T loan it out.

Well, this one time last week, I did. My neighbor had asked if he could borrow my chain saw. I politely told him I don't loan such things out and I offered to help him, and that I would run my own saw. He wanted to cut down and cut up a bunch of dying trees on his property. I took a walk around his place with him and he showed me what he wanted to do. I said yeah we can do this. But it has been hotter than hell out here in central TX, with temps approaching or exceeding 100 degrees daily, with a killer heat humidity index on top of that. I suggested to him that it was too hot out and why don't we wait until Fall or Winter to tackle this project. Well he had a bug up his butt, he was on vacation from work and he wanted to get this job done while he was on vacation, weather be dammed. So it was a dam the torpedos, full speed ahead sort of thing. Ugh. OK. I told him I'd help.

Enter wifey, putting her two cents in on things as usual. I told her I was going to be helping Jason our neighbor do some tree work on his place over the next two or three days. She says not in this heat you're not, wait until it cools off she says. I told her I already promised to help him using my chain saw. So she says just give him your saw to use I don't want you killing yourself out there in this ridiculous heat.

Well, I caved in to her demands. I called my neighbor and explained to him that wifey didn't want me out working in the killer heat at my age and that he could borrow my chain saw if he still wanted to do the job. He said he understood, and thanked me for my willingness to loan him my saw. I gave him two stipulations- that he must use my fuel, and my bar oil that I would provide. He agreed.

I am very picky about the fuel mix that I use in my two cycle engine equipment- I use 90 octane ethanol free gas, mixed with Shindaiwa brand two cycle oil. So I brought my two cycle mix fuel can and bar oil jug to my neighbor along with my trusty STIHL FARM BOSS chain saw and told him to have fun.

The next day I could hear him out there running my saw. He kept at it well in to the extreme heat of the day, until, silence. I figured he finally pooped out from the heat. Later that early evening, he comes over, with my saw. He says it quit on him. I wasn't to worried in the moment. I told him I'd take a look at it tomorrow, and I put it away in the garage. The next morning, I went out to check my saw. Hell it was locked up- I couldn't even turn it over pulling on the pull start rope. I thought WTF. I called him and asked him what happened. He said he didn't know, he was using it, and it lost power and died. I asked him if he was using my fuel mix that I provided. He claimed yes.

Well crap. The thing is tied up. I think he burned it up somehow. I am pissed in more ways than one. Pissed that I loaned out my saw in the first place when I had always been so religious (or anal???) about not loaning out my power equipment in the first place, and pissed at the wife for talking me out of going to run my own dam saw and then having her tell me to just let him borrow it. Fuck.

Well, I have to look in to it more, but I fear the worst, that it may have seized up and that will not be pretty. Or cheap. Neighbor is silent, no more word from him, like how is the saw? Or to ask what's the matter with it? No apology. No offer to pay to fix it or replace it. NOTHING!

So then, my question for any experts- With the outside temp being in excess of 100 degrees, was it too hot out to be safely running a two cycle air cooled engine? Is it possible that the high outside temps could have over-heated and wrecked my engine?

I think I'm going to be out several hundreds of dollars on this deal. And I'll probably get sticker shock when I go chain saw shopping. I'm sure the prices will be a rip off and ludicrous high, just like a lot of other things are today. Over-priced. Never again!

 

I worked at an equipment rental place on and off for 20 years 20 years ago. We used to rebuild them all the time but I just went on to look up full rebuild kits and it appears it’s probably not worth rebuilding depending on what model you have. Some rebuild kits are almost as much as the saw new. I wouldn’t rebuild to save $80-100 bucks but everyone is different. What exact model is it? That may be the most crucial information in determining exactly what the worst case scenario cost of rebuilding will be based on the exact kit needed. Amazon has full Chinese kits for cheap if you wanted to give it try.

 

If the saw is truly fucked, and the neighbor guy isn't a chainsaw guy, it's possible he doesn't know it's fucked. I would try to figure out exactly what is wrong with it, and figure out your costs to repair or replace will be, and if he caused the issue (sounds like it), I'd ask him for some compensation.

If you guys are on friendly enough terms to help out / loan tools, surely he would help you out if you asked. Amd if not, then you can just say f off in the future.

If I was the neighbor, I would stop using, but not try to diagnose someone else's tool I borrowed, in case I make it worse (or further piss them off). There is a chance he knew it was fucked, but also a chance he's clueless.

First thing I would do is check the bar oil tank and dump the gas into a clean container to inspect. Ethanol / octane won't matter for short term use, but you can at least see if there's oil in the gas (most likely cause for seizing, right?).

 

I'm with you on the tool use though, especially specialty power tools: I'll help you, but not send you off on your own with my stuff. Fortunately only the saw is hurt, he could have cut himself, and then this would be a much worse situation.

 

I bet he didn't add bar oil.

If he had your fuel, he's not going to run out and buy his own.

It'll be fine. Loosen the chain, or remove it and the bar. It's just not lubed.

 

Sounds like the time I loaned my snow blower to my brother in law a few years back after a big storm here in Minnesota. Later in day I needed to do my driveway and went over to his house to get it back only to find the impellers all bent up. He ran it into some bricks and just left it broken at his house and went to work. I got to spend hours fixing it before being able to do mine.

 

Pull the muffler and look at the piston through the exhaust ports. It will be obvious if it's burnt up. I have had this happen for no obvious reason. Could be too little oil in the mix or too much oil in the mix: both are bad. Too little oil means not enough lube. Too much oil leans out the air/fuel mixture and this could kill a saw depending on how it's tuned. Sometimes you can get away with replacing the piston & rings and re-using the jug. And yes, sticker shock, I'd assume $1000 - $1200 for a decent t professional grade saw set up with a nice bar & chain. Last saw I priced was a husky 372 which was about 1200 if I added a 24 inch bar.

Maybe the heat contributed, you will never know for sure. These things can take a lot so I doubt the heat alone killed it.

 

That sucks. Same thing happened to me, but I loaned out a “cheap” chainsaw. Still haven’t replaced it so I guess I never needed a chain saw that much lol.

Maybe you can wait till your neighbor caves and buys his own chain saw to finish the job. Then you could borrow his?

 

Just bought a Stihl Farm Boss with 20 inch bar. Cost was $498. Used it 2 times and it would not idle anymore. Took it back to Ace Hardware and they have had it for over a month and I still don’t know what’s wrong with it. It’s under warranty, so, won’t cost anything for them to fix it. They think it might be a bad oil seal.

 

Thanks for the replies so far guys. It’s a STIHL MS270C. It’s probably considered old- I bought it new around 2005 I think it was??? But it’s had good care and relatively light use / easy life by me. Over the years, I have had to replace the ignition coil once, (using an official STIHL brand ignition coil), and of course a couple new spark plugs along with a couple new air filters. I think it’s on only its second new chain, including the original chain. I do my own chain sharpening.

I’m not interested in trying to put after-market / made in China replacement parts on it. I’ll use official STIHL parts if I decide to fix it.

Here’s a couple pics I just shot of it, after blowing it off with my air hose externally before I try to dive in to it.
It presently has about a third of a tank of bar oil in the bar oil reservoir, and about a third of a tank of fuel. TBC….

 

Is the chain stretched/tight? I've had the same thing happen, loaned and returned, and it wouldn't turn. I loosened it, and replaced the chain, fill it with bar oil. Good as new.

 

Thanks Aces, the chain was OK, wasn’t too tight. It’s something worse. I’ve now already taken the bar and chain off the machine. It’s still tied up. But thanks.

 

Well, I'm sorry to hear that. I was hoping easiest thing first.

I don't know how your neighbor did it, seems like everything else would have been the same as if you used it yourself, oil/fuel being the same. Sounds like it's the engine, and I think you'll need a new saw (more cost-effective to replace than repair). It might be a fun project though, to rebuild.

 

My two cents - go easy on your wife. Heat exhaustion can hammer you quickly, and who wants a stroke? Her decision was to risk damage to the chainsaw instead of risking your health or your life for a task that really should wait for better weather. She doesn’t want to drag your butt to the ER. A new chainsaw is cheap by comparison.

An option in the future - loan on condition that if it breaks while the borrower has it, the borrower fixes/replaces it.

 

I'm really sorry this happened to you. Is it possible that he used up all the fuel mix you gave him and added some gas with no oil in it?

If you have to replace the saw, consider getting the Stihl 261cm. It's a professional grade saw, and it's expensive (around $700), but it's one of the best tool purchases I've ever made. It's light, starts easily, runs like a banshee and cuts through anything with ease and speed. I don't use mine that much, so I use only the Stihl premix fuel in it. Yes, that stuff is ridiculously expensive, but a gallon can of it lasts me a year or more, so the cost really isn't relevant. If anything happens to my saw, I want to be able to take it back to the shop and tell them it's never had any other fuel in it, so don't give me any crap about ethanol or bad fuel, etc.

 

Yeah, I’ll never know if the same thing would have happened with me over there running it instead of my neighbor.

I’m still very suspicious of the extremely high ambient temperatures we’re having here having played a role in this debacle. I’ve never ran my saw in such high temperature conditions before. …..maybe in the high 80s to low 90s, when I was up in Michigan.

But still, there is currently a lot of wild fires in the west and California. And in high temperatures from what I’ve been reading.

Surely professional fire fighters are using chain saws under these high heat conditions??? I wonder how they are fareing with using their chain saws under extreme heat conditions???

 

I don't understand people that live on acreage and won't buy the tools needed to maintain their property. It doesn't make sense. If you want to have enough property to have some elbow room, there's a cost associated with it. Part of that cost is investing in the tools required to maintain it.

 

Well, now you have a reason to never lend him anything again. That's a win....

 

I bought a place in the sticks in 18. The first weekend after purchasing the house I went to the stihl dealer and bought a chainsaw, weed whacker, 2 leave blowers(backpack /hand held)and shortly after picked up an ariens walk behind weed whacker as well. Some folks don’t even know enough to know they don’t know. My brother in law is exactly that guy.

 

I've started a policy that anyone borrowing my stuff has to give me a deposit worth the price of the equipment.

That usually dissuades any borrowers.

 

Maybe it's the cost of friendship.

 

I am surprised that he hasn't asked about it or offered to pay for repairs since he broke it.

 

Could the high ambient temps have helped hurt it, yes. BUT, thats not likely the sole reason.
So i have seen this happen before, same as you are describing. Typically saw on its side cutting against the ground for extended period of time. The heat generated, along with ambient temps, cause the piston to swell enough that it starts scarring the cylinder, this friction causes more heat and causes the piston to swell even further which leads to more scarring of the cylinder wall which quickly leads to the piston locking up inside the cylinder.
i can almost bet this happened, and the cylinder and piston are fried and melted together in a scarred up mess. This is most common when one is too lean, but i have seen it running standard store bought already mixed fuel like TruFuel do this.

 

It doesn't appear he broke it. From everything stated, he used it in the same manner the OP would.

 

This is 2024 lad, hes probably playing video games, or watching sportsball on the couch and hasnt thought a minute about it.

 

Or being USED.....

 

This is an important point.

 

After 5 weeks, I finally got a call from Ace Hardware last night about the chainsaw. The mechanic got it to run (it’s brand new) without smoking, but, it won’t idle. He requested a new carburetor from Stihl which he said would take a week and a half to get.

 

The Googler says "Take regular breaks to allow the engine to cool down and prevent overheating." Completely unquantified of course. https://www.echotools.com/en_us/news/maintaining-your-chainsaw-in-hot-weather

No experience with 2-stroke engines. Have you pulled the spark plug, in case of vapor lock or hydro lock?

 

I’ve repaired and cleaned quite a few in the past and have not had to replace a carb yet. If you are handy and take your time they are pretty easy to take apart,clean and repair.Being new I’m guessing you don’t need a new carb but an hour of your time to clean it will probably get you back up like new. It probably just needs a cleaning and it’s so easy to do.