I ordered a new chainsaw. The 38cc Poulan I have works fine for firewood. But it just isn’t powerful enough or long enough to mill boards. So I got a 62cc 20″ X-Bull. A no-name chinese saw. A name brand 62cc saw is $400-$500 minimum. This was $109 so I took a chance. I received it and it didn’t start. Big disappointment. Followed instructions. Mixed gas 25:1. Added chain oil. Set throttle. Set switch on. It pulls nice but will not start. Removed spark plug. There is spark. Gas gets to primer pump. With air filter off appears some gas in carb but not very much. Spark plug was wet when removed. Tried adding a little fuel directly anyway. Still does not fire at all. Even tried another spark plug. Even tried remixing fresh gas. Nothing. And I have been keeping other chainsaws running for years but didn’t want to tear this down so I can still return it.
Contacted the seller and they said all engineers are on vacation and might be back in a week to respond. Must be a celebration of a pretty big slaughter by Chairman Mao of his own people to last a week. Or maybe the engineers got called up to shoot civilians in Hong Kong.
My patience ran out so I tore it apart. Found the coil gap about 1/16″. I was taught to gap the coil with a piece of paper so I knew it would never have enough spark with that big a gap. Gapped it to a paper width and buttoned it up. Two pulls and it started. Still not happy I had to fix it brand new but I’ll keep it. I’m no expert and someone without at least a little knowledge of small engines would never have got it going. They are supposed to test start it before shipping. They even warn there may be oil from the testing. But there is no way they could have test started this one.
Chainsaws, or any small 2 cycle engine, are not that complicated. Maybe, as an amateur, I’ll do a basic instruction on keeping one running. Most “professionals” always make it sound harder than it is. I guess that’s so you bring it to them instead of fixing it yourself. I’m not going to tell you the secrets of fixing computers.
