This is just a quick post to show Sharkey's carburetor mod for the Echo CS-600P, in case the stock HDA-268 gets clogged and cannot be cleared/cleaned AND if the carb mounting threading in the rear handle assembly become stripped out. Big thanks to Sharkey for his advice on what parts to buy and how to go about the fix!!
My CS-600P, which sees only occasional but demanding use when called upon, basically refused to start. After proper diagnosing (spark, fuel and impulse lines were good, intake tube was good, no piston scoring, and good compression), I concluded that there was an issue with the carburetor. I tried a rebuild kit, and that did not work as the carb still was refusing to pump fuel. At the point of reassembling the carb to the saw, I realized that one of the screws was severely loose to the point of barely catching any threads...as this was probably an air leak that had been there for a while. Anyway the engine still would not burp at all. After checking for replacement parts from the major online parts places, I became shocked at how expensive the damn HDA-268 costs, at roughly $100+ with shipping. The gas tank rear-handle assembly would fix the stripped mounting hole problem, but was annoyingly $65. I scoured the net for an alternatives or folks with the same issue, and stumbled across the site here. I read through Sharkey's guide (and learned that the jet is semi-fixed, meaning fixed), asked him some questions, and bought an HDA-203 ($47) + the CS-8000 carb nuts/bolts ($8-$10). The new carb worked immediately, and brought the saw back to life after tuning the carb. I was really happy at that point. However the performance was still the same as before...with the saw once warmed up and after getting through a heavy cut the saw would momentarily go into a lower idle than normal then rebound. It would never sound right doing that. Today I finally got around to installing the CS-8000 nuts and bolts, then retuning.. pics are below and I can attest that this combination of parts fixes the air leak problem. Reason I didn't partake the warranty was because it was purchased at Home Depot 20 months ago as a refurbed saw for $380, real Echo dealer's were far away from my house, and I didn't want to deal with convincing them to honor the warranty. Plus I wanted to learn more about small engine repair. Its really strange that the carb died, as this saw has got some real good use and drank many many tank fulls of gas... and has never been stored with gas in the gas tank. Only thing I never used to do, but have now learned, is to run the carburetor dry after emptying the gasoline out of the tank.
As I had the saw apart, I couldn't believe how much mechanical engineering detail went into this saw, as well as the quality of the build. This saw is like the Apple of chainsaws! The only thing I can think of is that Echo purposely decided to select a carb design without replaceable/removable fuel jets + intentionally using aggressively threaded screws into plastic to secure the carb to the intake port, which eventually would warp the holes or become stripped during a semi-advanced cleaning. Maybe its meant to go bad after a year of use by you guys who use it every day or immediately after the year 5 warranty during homeowner use which sits in a garage 99% of the lifetime. This drives parts sales, or otherwise leads to the purchase of a new saw. Anyway, below are pics of the fix.. This cost me roughly $60 between a new HDA-203, and CS-8000 carb nuts/bolts.