Dealers Charge for Firmware Update?!? on brand new carb

[Woodslasher]

Auto parts stores do not do a free engine light diagnostic check. They pull a code and sell you a part. The never check any thing much less know a damn thing about how any system on a modern vehicle even works.

You're $100 carb is only useless because you are too stubborn to have the dealer help you for a small fee to get your saw up and running. Complaining on the Internet about woa is me because I have regrets on my garden tool purchase is getting you no where. Pay the fee, thank the dealer, and cut some trees already.

I'll do ya one better, NAPA says employees can/should no longer do anything other than install wiper blades and even back when we were privately owned we could NEVER read a code and/or sell a part based on a customer giving us a code. Why? Because of incompetent employees and or sue happy customers. Autozone got reamed because they would sell an o2 sensor to fix an o2 code, it wouldn't fix it, and the customer couldn't return the part. Everyone has suffered because idiots who think they're mechanics offer to install parts for customers and eff things up. I'll compile a nice post in the I work with idiots thread giving examples, but yeah, free chit longer happens.

But, I'll toss in a different view too. On new cars a replacement battery has to be "flashed" to the car. What this means is Joe blow gets to pay $250 for an AGM battery, $175+ for a battery flash tool, and do all the work himself or pay a shop to do all that. Joe's dad pays $140 for a regular, budget battery for his 71 C20 and spends maybe 20 minutes swapping a battery. I think that is fairly stupid. I don't think dealerships should swap batteries for free, mind you, but needing a several hundred dollar tool to swap a battery is ridiculous.

 

[Poleman]

No different than taking your vehicle in when a Check Engine Light comes on…. Hard to diagnose without being hooked up to where to find out issues. Just like an Auto tune saw… you can see running issues and what’s been going on with it….and that requires time and equipment to do. Time is money to Dealers/Techs to hook up your was and on an update pull the starter cover to get the coil number to match it with carb, then set it up for an update. The equipment costs the Dealer money from Husqvarna/Stihl and most Dealers are there to make money and provide a service. A wealth of information can be had through this technology, especially when having a hard to diagnose issue.
Most the time if I change a carb out that’s bad I use the old software from the old carb, if it runs good after I leave it alone if not I’ll update it. That gives me an idea and confirms the carb is defective. If I do that I don’t charge but I do if someone brings in their runny saw and just wants/thinks they need an update. That’s time and most time the saw will need cleaned before work can start to be able to see numbers and not get dirt in connections( they don’t like dirt/debris).
Just like people coming in wanting a Pressure/Vac test on their saw and thinking it’s free because they can’t do it. It’s NOT a free service. Most don’t realize what’s involved and what special equipment/tools are needed.
Sorry for the rant…. Just my take on this…

 

[Mig_Selv]

There's an easy solution to this issue.
Just stop buying saws from companies that are blocking you from repairing something as simple as a saw.
As long as we play along, they're gonna see how far they can take it.

The analogy made above to cars, is not entirely correct, as the tool for reading error Codes and so forth, is readily available, and will work on any car by law.

Had the saw manufacturers done something similar, it would be ok, but they couldn't stop themselves, with a nice meaty added income in sight.

I personally have bought my last Stihl or Husqvarna saw. The ones I have, are getting kicked to the curb, next time they stop running, and the issue is related to the carb management.

Echo makes saws that are every bit as good (bought 2 this year), and they can be repaired on the spot, by me, no matter how far I may be from a dealership.

 

[redneckhillbilly]

I cannot remember the exact phrase my local dealer used to describe what was wrong with a 555 autotune saw.

but pretty much he said the person ran it soo stupidly that the computer quit learning and it needed a reset. it kicked it self out of auto learn mode or something along those lines.

he said the problem with the saw was the owner.

maybe ask whoever actually does the computer work part of it about that.

 

[Nutball]

I wonder if they have fixed that? I ran a 572 a whole lot at around half throttle and it eventually tuned itself to that. It actually got quite lean, so I made a few full throttle cuts to reset it as the high rpm at half throttle was defeating the purpose of using half throttle, and I didn't want to risk messing up the carb.

 

[TheWizard]

I was told by local dealer when I asked about my 550, they said £50 so I said if I bring just the carb in and plug into computer, still £50.
All I wanted was the hours run time and he said it wont tell me that. So thats another main dealer that knows sod all and is charging top dollar or would be pound stirling. No way would I take anything there to be looked at or worked on, we should all have the right to use the software after buying their saws. It's the way of the world these days, they dont want anyone fixing their own and eventually leasing everything. I cant see electric cars taking off in my lifetime but if and when they do they will control them too. If you dont get it checked/services by expensive main dealers they will shut your car off. If that sounds far fetched trust me its not.