Meteor 372xp cylinder failure?

[Nate.]

Well guy’s i installed a new meteor top end on a 372xp (xtorque version) yesterday. Today it came back with low compression. Tore it down to take a look & you can see the pics. They said they got about 6 hours of run time before it died which corresponds with the amount of sawdust in the saw. What are your thoughts? I’ve never seen a cylinder do this before & I was under the impression that meteor had some of the best plating in the AM world. I installed another of the same meteor kit on the saw today and tuned it fat we will see what happens.

 

[jacob j.]

There's definitely bubbling in the plating. I hope Meteor is not outsourcing their stuff to the Malaysians...

 

[Czed]

Well guy’s i installed a new meteor top end on a 372xp (xtorque version) yesterday. Today it came back with low compression. Tore it down to take a look & you can see the pics. They said they got about 6 hours of run time before it died which corresponds with the amount of sawdust in the saw. What are your thoughts? I’ve never seen a cylinder do this before & I was under the impression that meteor had some of the best plating in the AM world. I installed another of the same meteor kit on the saw today and tuned it fat we will see what happens.View attachment 428057View attachment 428058View attachment 428059View attachment 428060

I'd get a refund on that or throw a fit.
Rumor is meteor either produces or uses the same castings as china companies do
I don't know for sure
But I've had many made in Italy branded chinese cylinder kits over the year's.

 

[Nate.]

I bought 3 of these kits from bailey's because they aren't far and we needed them asap. Started the warranty process but it sounds like it could take a while. Now I'm a bit nervous about those other 2 kits. Can you guy's think of anything besides the coating not being well adhered that'd cause something like that?

 

[farminkarman]

Meteor jugs look to have the same or similar plating as the junk Hyway cylinders. I would run Farmertec over the meteor or Hyway cylinders any day.

 

[Nate.]

interesting! I hope I don't get 2 more saws back with low compression.

 

[farminkarman]

interesting! I hope I don't get 2 more saws back with low compression.

Some people have good luck with them (according to the internet), but mine is 0 for 4…two meteor and two Hyway

 

[Czed]

The consensus is the china cylinders are trash
Meteor has never failed on the dozens of saws I've put top ends or just piston kits in
But I'd suspect they'd make it right.
I know recently i got a new neotec 372 with a bad topend from the factory
Garbage ports and compression.
I got a couple of the holzfforma g288s and they have the best looking cylinders I've seen on china saws.
Haven't had a new farmertec 372 cylinder in year's
I've rebuilt 3 saws with hyway bb kits 372s they are still together after 3-4 year's.

 

[Nate.]

Well that gives me some hope. Only time will tell . They certainly ain’t gonna have an easy life though. If anyone can make them fail the fire crews will.

 

[srcarr52]

That is common with Meteor and HyWay cylinders. Their plating is poorly adhered to the cylinder making them prone to flaking like that.

 

[hacskaroly]

. If anyone can make them fail the fire crews will.

That's for sure, I have been going through a fire crew's junk pile and resurrected two 372s, 376 and 562 for less than $250 and that's including a piston and cylinder kit and clutch cover among other things. They know how to break them but not how to fix them.

 

[Stump Shot]

@Nate. First thing I would ascertain is if it indeed is a true Meteor cylinder or not. Obviously, it should have the words, Meteor and Italy cast into the lower sides. Underside of the piston and in the dome should have an M cast in. The top of the piston should be laser etched with the Meteor part number. The plating should be an off almost yellowish in color and flat in sheen, not shiny and look like chrome for example.
So, either the Ol' switcheroo happened, when someone orders a hi end product and returns it with a lo end product in the box. Or could be the Ol' fakearoo, certainly wouldn't be the first thing that Chinese manufacturing has ripped off and sold as counterfeits of the real thing, packaging and all. The thought of a company that makes good things outsourcing half their product line with crap is a concerning last alternative theory as to what goes on.
Personally, I have yet to run across examples like this, I also believe the reports of them as well, the odds that it's both are slim, and some kind of trickery is more likely a culprit than not. We may never really know for sure.
I've came to the conclusion years ago that if you are working with professional people, they should get their professional products fixed with professional parts, i.e. OEM. If it starts nearing the price of a new saw, then it gets to be a parts saw for the rest of the fleet and is replaced.
Not sure if any of this, is of any help on the matter, best of luck resolving this and please report back what happens with your claim etc. etc..

 

[MG porting]

Looks straight gasted to me.

 

[Nate.]

 

[Nate.]

 

[Nate.]

Everything looks legit to me . As far as strait gas, I could go with that argument except it came back with quarter tank of mix in it. Also the same crew has 4-5 of these and the others haven’t showed any signs of low comp. also the exhaust side has deep gouging in the piston rather than just normal score marks. I assume this is from little bits of plating going through. From now on it’ll be OE cylinders in these saws but unfortunately I still have 2 of them out in the field.

 

[Bjorn]

Air leak?

 

[farminkarman]

Air leak?

Pretty sure it is just crap plating.

 

[Stump Shot]

@Nate. Everything looks good except the plating(of course), will be interested to see what is said about your warranty claim.
I can remember buying some Farmertec cylinders years ago, that were marked Tecomec Italy in a white box marked China. Except when compared to an actual Tecomec it was plain to see the bore looked different, I can't remember all the particulars now, however it was obvious that they just took the Tecomec and re-cast it.
Another story was I rebuilt three 200T's with AM cranksafts and all three came back in the succession they went back into service, wore out. Two weeks was all they would last. That ended that owner's affinity with aftermarket parts. OEM became cheap after that.

 

[Stump Shot]

Air leak?

Pretty sure it is just crap plating.

I think I would check it anyway, that's two cylinders down, you wouldn't want a third. Doesn't take too long for a pressure/vac test, or cost too much, and is good assurance/insurance.