Chainsaw Repair

I got my Stihl MS-250 out today to check it out. At least it has both high and low needles.

I used the MS-250 right before Thanksgiving to cut up some yard tree blow downs up town at a friends house. I noticed that it was on the lean side in the cooler weather and the high needle was against the stop. The saw was OK on the limbs but for the trunk, it was too lean. Now it is even colder and the saw is even leaner!

Being as that series of Stihl is hard to get to the needles, You have to take the intake elbow off to even see the limiters and then the carb is loose and dangling around.

For the life of me I can not figure out those Junior engineers that probably never worked on anything more complicated than a medieval donkey cart before getting their job with the US government, keep trying to defeat the reason for the needle valves in the first place. They do not understand that chainsaws are used in temperatures other than those in a heated and air conditioned office or at different elevations?

I'll cut the tabs from the needles and that will be the end of it. Bye Bye EPA.

But the EPA causes all kinds of crazy things like filling the pockets around the needles with epoxy and having a main jet before the needles that is so small you can not richen the carb up. I bought a Dolmar 6400 and it had a steel pin in front of the high speed needle. The saw was already set so rich it would hardly run. then there's the crazy needle screw heads and the outlawed screw drivers that fit them. I suppose you would say that the EPA stuff was there to be defeated? A Game?

With regular bar oil in the oiler tank, It oiled but just enough to make the teeth shine in the cold air even after I got the crankcase warmed up. It is not very cold today, very low 40's, that's the reason I'm out there.

Also, I found the flocked air filter to be very restrictive. I could not make the carb rich enough to four stroke with the air filter off.

Then next summer I'll be leaning it out.