395xp Issues

[SpaceBus]

Also, a new plug wire will be here next week, but thank you for the offer.

 

[huskyboy]

Don’t pull it out with pliers. Simply .... unscrew the coil wire sir. Not hard at all. Lefty loosey righty tighty.

 

[cuinrearview]

The wire threads in. Lefty loosey

 

[huskyboy]

I had a coil that was slowly dying on a 394xp. (They use the same coil). But the symptoms I were getting were hot start issues with the saw flooding easily. I did have a “sputtering” problem with a 395 and a dolmar 7900 as well... that was easy to diagnose... they were sucking the choke shut at wfo throttle. The choke spring and notch in the choke shaft were weak and needed fixed. But that’s easy to see... if your choke was pulling out while it was sputtering. I’m guessing you would have noticed that. Try the coil wire first... it cost almost nothing and easy to do.

 

[huskyboy]

Also did you replace the plug? Check the impulse line/fuel line? Fuel filter? It’s worth a shot.

 

[SpaceBus]

Don't have a spare plug handy, but I did order one.

Edit: I also ordered some fuel filters, which are on their way.

 

[angelo c]

almost all my 395 issues were coil...
im not a big husky guy but almost every response in this thread was made by an experienced user/tech. heck Cus even offered to send you one...on his dime...thats not un common here. id take him up on that before i ever put another AM coil on a saw. (btdt)
also if Shawn Carr says today is monday...its monday.
OEM coil is my bet.
best of luck and keep us posted

 

[SpaceBus]

almost all my 395 issues were coil...
im not a big husky guy but almost every response in this thread was made by an experienced user/tech. heck Cus even offered to send you one...on his dime...thats not un common here. id take him up on that before i ever put another AM coil on a saw. (btdt)
also if Shawn Carr says today is monday...its monday.
OEM coil is my bet.
best of luck and keep us posted

Indeed, I've been educated and ordering the AM coil was a mistake, but it will at least tell me if the original is still good or not. Didn't have time to work on the saw today. I am able to work six hours a week from home and had to do some time today and then spent the rest of the sunlight milling with the 460. Sharpening the chain helped the little saw compared to the chain out of the box, but it was significantly slower than the 395. I think 10" logs will be the max for the 460. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time to trouble shoot the 395 because I was really missing it today.

 

[SpaceBus]

This morning I tried to get some spark by pulling the starter cord with the plug out grounded to metal, and nothing. While the plug is out I put a compression tester on and only came up to 60-65 PSI on twelve pulls.... I'm pretty crushed now. With a heavy heart I pulled the muffler back off (tore the gasket this time...) and snapped the attached pics. I guess my lighting was insufficient to see the scoring by the top of the cylinder. The same thing happened to my XS 346xp, but I didn't need a flashlight to see how bad the cylinder was. So I'm starting to think the problem is me. Could my fuel mix be off? I measure out 2.6 oz of two stroke oil for every gallon of 93 octane pump gas. Perhaps sometimes the mix ratio is a bit off, but only by a few drops or so. I'll get some pics of the 346 to compare. What else could I be doing that is killing these saws. My 460 runs like a top as does my Stihl MS-150 TC, and I run the same fuel in all of my saws.

I also reached out to Aspen Fuels to see if there were any distributors in New England (before I knew the compression was toast), but it seems I'll have to order in bulk and have it freighted here.

 

[cuinrearview]

I don't see scoring. Looks brand new to me.

 

[SpaceBus]

Photos of my sad XS P&C and the compression test results from the XS and the 395 (65 PSI)

 

[SpaceBus]

I don't see scoring. Looks brand new to me.

That's what I thought when I saw it the other day, but only getting 65 PSI tells me something is up.

 

[cuinrearview]

65 psi is probably from that adapter on your tester. Does it have a valve in the end of it?

 

[SpaceBus]

I circled some areas in red that look roughed up, but I agree not enough to cause 65 psi compression

 

[SpaceBus]

65 psi is probably from that adapter on your tester. Does it have a valve in the end of it?

It does have a schrader valve below the dial, and I did suspect the tester to be not the best, but should still read above 100 PSI. Anything else I can do differently?

 

[Czed]

That's what I thought when I saw it the other day, but only getting 65 PSI tells me something is up.

Compression gauges are notoriously unreliable
Pull the cylinder and find out for sure
But even completely wore out saws i rebuilt had 90-100# usually
Your Cylinder looks new
The am coils work fine for me I have 10-12
Never milled with one though.

 

[SpaceBus]

Glad to hear from those with more experience that the P&C look good. I guess I'll be waiting for the coil since I couldn't get an spark pulling the starter cord. If it runs with the AM coil then I will get an OEM ASAP and use the AM coil for spares. Any suggestions for muffler gaskets? I can give my local dealer a call, but I try not to deal with them unless I have to.

 

[SpaceBus]

Also puts my heart at ease that I can keep using my 460 without fear it will die suddenly as well.

Edit: I also could see and smell fuel in the carb when I was trying to get the 395 to start this morning. I did tape the plug wire and that didn't make a difference.

 

[srcarr52]

I circled some areas in red that look roughed up, but I agree not enough to cause 65 psi compression

Those marks are there from the original honing of the cylinder. It's fine, looks perfect.

 

[SpaceBus]

Looks more and more like the coil then. I've read that heat can kill these coils, and it was really hot on Wednesday when this all went down. Accuweather says it was 85 df, but they aren't always accurate for our area, but it definitely got above 80.

Thank you guys for putting my mind at ease on the piston and cylinder. I almost cried when the compression tester wouldn't go over 70 psi!