# craftsman 358.360280



## retiredguy9 (Apr 24, 2009)

Was talking to my neighbor today who was having a little trouble with his 18" 2 cycle saw. He's started burning wood to save money since the investment market went belly up. I guess he'll be alright as long as he doesn't have to burn the furniture. 

Anyway I observed that he opened the choke half way, hit the primer bulb 8 times then started pulling and 8-10 pulls he got it to run. he had to baby it some because it would bog down, had been off about an hour. He adjusted the low end a little then revved it up and adjusted the high end until it seemed to sputter a little then he cut on some wood. After getting it good and hot he shut it down. We talked for a few minutes then tried to start it again just as said in the owners manual to do it. It took more effort this time, more pulls but he finally got it started. I asked him to cut a little and then sit it on the ground. Doing that the chain continued to run. He then adjusted I think the low end as it was loading at idle. He got it to stop but over the course of the tests the engine would slowly pick up speed, while sitting on the ground at idle. He turned the unit off at this point for about a minute. I then asked him to try starting it again but without choking or priming it. started on the first or second pull. I asked him what work he had done on the carburetor , and he said he removed and cleaned the jets. To make it easier or doable, he didn't really say which, he loosened the carburetor and pulled it away from the head. After reinstalling the jets and before tightening the carb back down he checked the fuel line. He said the line ends were supple but stretched, not fitting as tight as he wanted them to, so he trimmed them and put them back on. He said he was thinking about going out and buying a new 20" Poulan since the Craftsman was so old but I said, let me see if Sears still carried parts for it as he doesn't have a computer. Well you can get many, if not all of the parts. A new Carb was like $20.00. While I was looking these things up he called me to say he ran it and cut some more after I left and got it really hot it then started bogging down then quit and wouldn't restart and didn't restart for 1 hour to hour and half.

Don't know what to make of this, seems he should have pulled the carb off and did a full cleanup since he was going to loosen it up anyway but he's going to be cutting down a dead ash yet this week so I guess he didn't want to make the situation worse. Any thoughts on this particular problem?? Not really an engine man. Thinking about it, he has cut and split at least 2 cords of wood, maybe a bigger saw wouldn't be a bad idea..


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## geogrubb (Jul 28, 2006)

Sounds like it may be set too lean and getting too hot, something to try, with the engine runing at wide open throttle(WOT) adjust the high needle so the engine runs it's fastest then back it off until it just starts to sound like a 4-cycle(if you don't it will be too lean and burn up) then at idle adjust the low needle so the engine runs as fast and as smooth as possible then adjust the idle down using the throttle linkage screw. Have a good one. Geo


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