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Update on Poulan chainsaw..........

Goose

Goose

Well-known Member
A few days ago, I ran a thread on a Poulan 20" chain saw with an ignition system giving me fits. I bought the saw new several years ago, ran it a few minutes to check it out, and it's been in the carrying case ever since.

I have it boiled down now to where there is plenty of fire with the spark plug removed, both by grounding the plug and watching it spark, and with a test light. Put the plug in the cylinder like it's supposed to be and it's dead. Apparently the spark isn't strong enough to fire the plug under compression.

There's a huge annual consignment auction in a nearby town in a couple of weeks. Considering all the time I've screwed away with this saw, that auction is looking mighty tempting.
 
We got a Poulan from someone who gave up on one. I cleaned it and changed the spark plugs and it is the best little saw we use. They were far less mechanically inclined than most. Anyway have you tried different plugs in it? I had some issues with a two cycle that was acting up and the spark plug was cracked. Changed it out and it worked better. Just a suggestion before you abandoned ship.
 
Swapped plugs between the Poulan and my Stihl MS170. The Stihl ran fine on the plug from the Poulan.
 
I had the same Poulan problem, there was fire with plug sitting on cylinder, but none when assembled. The owner had another he had backed over so I swapped Ignition modules. That was the fix. I'm not sure these saws are worth working on either. Sad, the old ones were pretty good.
 
Take it to the sale and don't look back. I bought a stihl 044 about 15 years ago for 300$ cut my house wood with it for 10 years and sold it not running. It was needing a jug and piston. It brought 325$ at a consignment sale. I beats me what people think when they are bidding.
 
Hi Dad used to run poulans that were made in the last 10 years, some of them he wore out some just died one day and wouldn't start for cutting the next log. He then had one he rebuilt twice from the mountain of junk under the bench. The last one he had so many hours in I wanted to run it over with the tractor. One day he saw an echo on offer and brought that home. No more Poulans here, and just to make sure I'm clearing the saw parts store from under the bench and scrapping it this week while he's away!.
I hope from the collective sale comment you are not going to dump the Poulan there, and sell it to some unsuspecting guy. That is not right you would not like it if somebody did it to you.
Regards Robert
 
Just a thought. My Poulan saw takes a 40:1 gas/oil mix. I forgot once and used the 16:1 homelite mix and the poulan wouldn't fire.
 
Hey Goose,

This would be a real long-shot, but do you suppose there could be a break (crack) inside the spark plug wire? In the actual conductor inside the insulation. I would guess that when you had the plug out to check the spark, and when you installed the inline spark tester, that the spark plug wire was bent in a slightly different direction from when you had installed the spark plug and plugged the wire onto it.

Just a wild guess, but it sounds like you've done every normal thing already to diagnose the problem.

Good luck,

Tom in TN
 
Hello Goose,


Put a teaspoon of oil in the cylinder. Use an old plug and pull away. Remove plug and blow out cylinder. Install good plug gapped at .030. Little sqwirt of gas in the intake, and give it a try! You might get lucky,

Guido.
 
Spark is only 1/2 what it takes to make the saw run. As for the oil, the refinment of the oil is the issue basacally you can run any 2cycle oil in any machine as long as you mix it accoranly. In other words if you have 16:1 oil, mix it 16:1 if you have 50:1 oil, mix it 50:1. Your saw won't run good on 16:1 and will smoke more. Pouland are just cheap saws. Not long before Homelight went under, when they were owned by John Deere, they were engineered to run 10hrs. It would last 10 years if you started it up once a year and cut a little wood, like a deer hunter. Poulan is not much better. They are made for weekenders and home owners. Buy a good saw like Stihl or Huscavarna or Jonsred or even Dolmar.(Tip: even those saws are not great if you buy the cheap model.) After you buy it, ethier use the canned premixed fuel or high test non ethynol gas. Use 2cycle oil with fuel stabalizer in it. The old saying, You get what you pay for, still applies, if you are lucky.
 
Additional Info: If you bought it a few years ago and ran a little 10% ethanol gas in it, your pump diaphram in the carb is crisp as momma's bacon and your fuel line has pin holes in it. Not an authority but, I sold and repaired chainsaws for about 12 years.
 
those poulan saws are pretty junky,... for the city slickers to play around with. i have old 40 year old homelites and they get the job done.
 
I wonder ware all the B S about ethanol got started i have old steel that i got new it has always had 10% run in it never had any problems PS its about 30 years old
 
(quoted from post at 11:22:35 03/06/16) A few days ago, I ran a thread on a Poulan 20" chain saw with an ignition system giving me fits. I bought the saw new several years ago, ran it a few minutes to check it out, and it's been in the carrying case ever since.

I have it boiled down now to where there is plenty of fire with the spark plug removed, both by grounding the plug and watching it spark, and with a test light. Put the plug in the cylinder like it's supposed to be and it's dead. Apparently the spark isn't strong enough to fire the plug under compression.....
Click to expand...

I had a Lawn Boy mower that gave me fits. I found the same thing, spark with the plug outside the engine but no spark installed, under compression. If you take the covers off so you can see the coil, turn the shop lights off, then give a good pull on the starter rope with the plug installed; you should be able to see where the spark jumps from. In my case there was a crack in the coil potting/cover.

I did not try to repair my coil - perhaps some RTV would work for a while..?

BTW - The way I found my problem was I heard the spark go "snap" as it jumped. No "snap" with the plug held against the engine.
 
i was given a new 16 inch poulan i took it for a borrow saw, somebody is always wanting to borrow a chainsaw and i dont loan out my stihls or my old super xl homelite, they used the poulan, it lasted about a month, same issue it ran when i got it back, never has since, there just a almost disposable saw, as the labor cost of having it worked on even for 2 hours or so in a proffessional repair shop exceeds the cost of a same type saw new , you might go to that auction and see if you can pick up a good used stihl or husky reasonable
 
I agree. Besides this Poulan, I have two Stihls, an MS170 and an MS250. They're both about five years old and have had 10% ethanol run in them most of the time, if not all the time.

In fact, the owner's manuals OK 10% and only caution against using more than 10%. I took the manuals at their word and have never had a problem with either saw.
 
It's both amusing and a mystery that when I clearly have an ignition problem so many people insist on talking about fuel.
 
Hi Goose Thanks for the reply, no problem you just can't tell with some guys these days Good luck and I hope you get it running. With that last one dad messed with, he had so many hours in he could of brought a brand new top of the range saw and still had money in his pocket L.O.L
Regards Robert
 
Just for giggles change the plug. Also buy an NGK copper core one. Have had a couple with crappy plus do just what you are telling us.
 
(quoted from post at 21:51:12 03/06/16) I wonder ware all the B S about ethanol got started i have old steel that i got new it has always had 10% run in it never had any problems PS its about 30 years old
Click to expand...


You're lucky. I've fixed dozens that had issues related to ethanol. It may be that the fuel you get where you live is different than what I get here and that may be it. But I've seen the fuel lines and caps go gummy overnight with ethanol fuels here. I'm running saws up to 50+ years old, so it's not like I don't see the while range of issues that can crop up.
 
(quoted from post at 00:54:44 03/07/16) It's both amusing and a mystery that when I clearly have an ignition problem so many people insist on talking about fuel.
Click to expand...

I dunno Goose. I've seen what you describe before. I'd make certain the coil and head are well grounded, that the wiring isn't frayed or otherwise leaking voltage and I'd try a new Bosch plug. If that doesn't do it, then call it a lemon and walk away. Too bad, because Poulan used to be a good saw.
 
It is a shame the newer poulans are apparently junk. I had a poulan 16" saw and used it regularly for about 15 years until I bought a larger saw still a poulan and I never had a problem and never changed the spark plug. The newer one is not as dependable. Okay when it starts but slow sometimes.
 
It all seems to boil down to the coil/ignition module. I know from experience with another Poulan saw that Poulan had problems with coils several years ago. I bought one new coil that was identical to the original.

As a last gasp, I did some research with another parts company and found that some models of Husqvarna use the same coil, and some other saws I never heard of. I bit the bullet, blew another 20 bucks, and ordered another coil that was cross referenced between Poulan and Husky. I bought the saw new with a big enough discount from MSRP that I can justify that. If that doesn't work, I'll concede defeat. I've tried everything else.

For the record, I was a McCulloch dealer 30 years ago when McCulloch was at their peak so it's not like I'm new to working on chain saws.
 
Bought 1 Poulan chainsaw and was one of the biggest pain in the ---. It spent more time on the work bench than it did in the woods. We could never get it to run right and threw it away and bought a Stihl and that's been over 10 years ago and the only time that saw sees the work bench is for periodical cleaning and servicing.
 
The talk about Ethanol is not BS. I sold Echo saws. I have seen many lock up from using ethanol. It will ruin fuel lines. I have replaced fuel tanks ethanol ate holes in.

Just last summer.I had a Cub Cadet that wouldn't run. The Ethanol ruined the fuel line and plugged the filter with black slime. The slime was the inside of the hose.
 
FWIW--I am not loyal to any brand and work on them all.
In 2012 Stihl made the MS201t and discontinued to 200t.
The ms200t was, arguably, the best, highest performance, factory hotrod that has ever been produced.
Stihl changed virtually everything about the new 201t and it was a cold natured, lower performance replacement.
In the process, they had MANY produced and sold with defective ignition coils and carburetors.
Instead of addressing the problem and calling this a factory defect, they chose to develop what they call an [b:89dbf59f5d]ENHANSEMANT PACK.
[/b:89dbf59f5d]They offered this for sale at over $200 ! Newer production saws will perform close to the old 200t.
I have four of these factory defective ignition coils in my scrap pile.
They lost MANY CUSTOMERS!
 
I have used the T200 and it is a great saw with tremendous HP for its size and is not a saw for the average guy on the street. Its a saw that you want to respect.
 
(quoted from post at 17:01:17 03/07/16) I have used the T200 and it is a great saw with tremendous HP for its size and is not a saw for the average guy on the street. Its a saw that you want to respect.
Click to expand...
I agree and might add that all top handle saws are much more dangerous because of the hand placement , even on ground, and the ability to use with one hand.
 
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