Chainsaw Repair

Had a guy bring a LIKE NEW 5100 into the shop last night. It was starting to score on the PTO side.
The owner said it lost fire and just quit. He has had the saw for over a year and it has been in the shop most of that time.
He ran it cutting one medium sized tree up in firewood lengths.
Before the second tank of fuel was consumed, it lean seized. He took it back to the dealer where it was purchased and a new top end was installed under warranty. He took it back home and cut 11 sticks of wood and it just quit with no fire.
I was aghast! I started tearing into the engine and found the scoring on the PTO side of the new cylinder. When removing the cylinder, I found out why it lost spark, the kill wire had been pinched between the case and the cylinder itself. When the cylinder got hot it melted the kill wire, dead shorting it against the cylinder.
The shoddy dealer had actually done him a favor. If the cylinder hadn't burned through the wire, the new cylinder would have been toasted in a very short amount of time I'm sure. The limiters were still on the carb but were completely ruined by the dealer trying to turn them past the limit. There was no longer any sign of a screwdriver slot, and naturally the carb settings were outrageously lean. The fuel line was installed from the top and was just sitting there. (they have to be pulled in from the bottom until they seat in a grommet)
I just can't believe that a DEALER would do that to a saw and send it home with the owner.
I worked on the cylinder tonight and it came out nicely. I ordered a piston and ring and it should be here by Monday.

It sure is frustrating for me to preach incessantly about how great Dolmar saws are and have a DEALER, basically cut my throat with the public.
I assured the owner that when he got it back this time, it would be RIGHT!!!


Mike

I hate working on stuff that someone else got into and messed up.   

We have shops around here that charge a "diagnostic fee" and then disassemble things with a 5 pound sledge, worn out vise grips and a fifth of Jack...I have had motors come in with no rings in them, rounded fasteners, missing gaskets and my all time favorite, the Stihl cylinder in a box with a guys 460 rancher. The mystifying fact to all this is the shop does a boat load of repair work and usually I only see their stuff when the customer wants it back right away or does not fall into their trap of "it is shot, let's sell you a new one".  They had one guys JD rider there for two weeks for a head gasket and when he got it back it still didn't run right, he finally got in touch with me through a friend and I put new rings, cleaned up the valves and even reassembled it with all the head bolts tight that time.
I don't think work for hire should be anything less but perfect before it goes out the door.