I thought Stihl was a good saw!

[Fuddyduddy]

I just cut a fairly good sized dying white pine down, was limbing it when the muffler fell off my MS291. Can't figure out why. Soon as I got it in garage it's raining like crazy, so had to quit anyway.
Getting the one bolt recessed will be fun. Any ideas...thanks in advance.

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[stretch5881]

Stuff breaks, no matter who made it. My garage has a boat load of Stihl products that I'm waiting on parts for. Why? Because people throw away the big box store stuff. I don't know too many people that throw away their Stihls.

 

[Redfin]

Center punch, left hand drill bits.

 

[Nutball]

Is it under warranty? They have like a 5 year warranty right?

 

[Fuddyduddy]

Is it under warranty? They have like a 5 year warranty right?

I'll check. Thanks.
Meanwhile I drilled the bolt broken side. New screws, tight...tight-tight! Muffler fell off AGAIN! After 5 minutes use.
I finished cutting with no muffler, my hearing is shot anyway [emoji2955].
What's causing the blankety-blank muffler to fall off?!?!?

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[Nutball]

Need red loctite or is there a better high heat thread locker? I've only seen that happen to one 291 out of maybe 5 I've used, and so far they haven't backed out again, and I didn't use threadlock.

Heat and vibration make loose mufflers quite common on small 2 stroke engines. It happens a lot on RC airplanes. Chainsaws often have the muffler also bolted to the case for extra support. I would retighten the bolts after warming up the engine.

I was sort of kidding about the warranty, Stihl tends to have a super short one.

 

[Redfin]

I'll check. Thanks.
Meanwhile I drilled the bolt broken side. New screws, tight...tight-tight! Muffler fell off AGAIN! After 5 minutes use.
I finished cutting with no muffler, my hearing is shot anyway [emoji2955].
What's causing the blankety-blank muffler to fall off?!?!?

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What bolts did you replace with?

 

[NPKenny]

What bolts did you replace with?

This is an important question. The proper stihl bolts, when tightened well, generally stay put. The back of the head locks down and they have a slightly out-of-round shape.

 

[Nutball]

They don't even look like machine screws from what I remember, more like the kind of threads used in plastic and what Echo uses in magnesium to my surprise. Are they self tapping?

 

[Lightning Performance]

The 290 was too good. They never had troubles.
Wait for it....

 

[Billy Currie]

The 290 was too good. They never had troubles.
Wait for it....

No, you're correct.

 

[Billy Currie]

If this continues and there isn't a warranty, you may want to consider drilling the bolt heads and using safety wire.

 

[Maintenance Chief]

I fixed an MS391 with this issue, new bolts with blue removable locktite .
You can also take the muffler lay it on its face and peen the bolt holes foward creating a built in lock washer ,the peening will help tension the screws.

 

[Fuddyduddy]

Just got off phone with Stihl after 28 minute wait. I haven't used it that much but they said DOP was 2/2015. I had to fix chain brake bar couple years ago, top housing screws fell out. They said vibration caused issue, usually bent bar or chain missing teeth(?).
I have replaced bar once and chain twice (Stihl). I bought from Ace hardware, Stihl said nothing they can do because of time, although I may have 20-30 hours on it.
I have a Greenworks 40v saw more hours on it that that...still works.
My experience with Stihl hasn't been good. I'd never recommend them or buy another.
You'd think $500 would buy a decent saw.

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[NPKenny]

What is the story on the chain brake handle?

 

[Maintenance Chief]

Could you post a picture of the bar you have on it now?

 

[Nutball]

People tend to have bad luck with some brands and good with others, but nowadays it best to just stick with the pro models. Stihl has excellent bars and chains, puts part numbers on almost every part, and usually has good overall durability, but cost way too much with not enough warranty.

I ripped a 291 plastic handlebar apart last week. I'm the guy who tells people don't tug hard if the saw gets pinched, use a wedge to free it, but I have an automatic reaction to pull a saw out if the log starts to close on it, and the handle broke in 2 places. Thin hollow plastic

 

[Fuddyduddy]

What is the story on the chain brake handle?

It broke soon after I used it. Why I don't know.

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[Fuddyduddy]

Could you post a picture of the bar you have on it now?

Bar.
Stihl said it could be bent? Checks straight to me.

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[Duce]

That's what you get for buying Stihl!!