# Chainsaw



## david23231 (Mar 25, 2013)

I have a 20" poulan 295 superclean chainsaw I got from a friend. The pull on the starter rope is not fluid and smooth. It is jerky and I feel a lot of resistance.

When I pull the spark plug I get the expected smooth fluid pull. I have taken the carb off, the exhaust off, drained the gas, drained the bar oil, and removed the plug with the hopes of alloing gas to evaporate if that is causing the issue (other forums have mentioned hydrolocking) and I still get a jerky pull with the spark plug in.

Anybody got a clue or a recommendation? I hope it is not toast. It's a nice saw. 

If you need a pic no problem, let me know.

Thanks


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

David, Welcome to the DIY Forum. 
Thanks for including your location.
I'm a Poulan Tyro so I would take the saw to repair shop and ask for their opinion.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

A chain saw is a high compression engine and should be some what hard to pull.


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## Bondo (Dec 8, 2007)

david23231 said:


> I have a 20" poulan 295 superclean chainsaw I got from a friend. *The pull on the starter rope is not fluid and smooth. It is jerky and I feel a lot of resistance.*
> 
> When I pull the spark plug I get the expected smooth fluid pull. I have taken the carb off, the exhaust off, drained the gas, drained the bar oil, and removed the plug with the hopes of alloing gas to evaporate if that is causing the issue (other forums have mentioned hydrolocking) *and I still get a jerky pull with the spark plug in.*
> 
> ...


Ayuh,.... That's the motor Compression, it's Supposed to do that....

1st day on the farm,..??


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## david23231 (Mar 25, 2013)

TY for your feedback Bondo.

Like joecaption said it should be somewhat hard to pull. This is not somewhat, it is no the expected resistance. I have used around a dozen different saws and spend two different summers cutting firewood for cords. I have never seen this and before haphazardly pulling on this cord and having a second problem to fix I was hoping for a solution. 

If that is your advice, that this happens somethimes, I'll put it back to gether and crank it. I'm gonna need someone to stand on the saw bc that is how much resistance I'm getting.

I just talked to the previous owner and he said it was not like this last time he ran saw.

If I can fix myself I would love to, single income household, I don't want to have to take it to get repaired.

Any new ideas/thoughts/suggestions?


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

Some saws were actually designed to hold down with your foot. A step through design. This may be an instance where Frontier ( the worst saw ever made ) and Poulan merged or there was some inbreeding. And then there are those humans that believe the rope has to be pulled to the very end in order to start an engine. 

The reason they do it like that is , in general their daddy taught them wrong for years from a lack of knowledge of engines and frustration finally prevails over common sense and the rope often ends up , you know the rest of the story.

If it doesn't start with 3 successive compressions of one rope pull, fix it.

I didn't even need to know where you live.


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## PaliBob (Jun 11, 2008)

david23231 said:


> I don't want to have to take it to get repaired.


 David you have not convinced everybody that your saw needs repair.

Take it to a good shop and *ask* the Pro if they think it needs repair.
They will either say it is OK or blank blank may be bad and it will cost X dollars to fix.
Normally you are not obligated at a Repair shop to pay a fee to have them answer a question.


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Is the brake on?


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## Oso954 (Jun 23, 2012)

> I'm gonna need someone to stand on the saw bc that is how much resistance I'm getting.


You are supposed to stand on it. Or, at least step into the step thru handle with your right foot.

Do you have the starting instructions and have you read them ? If not, you can download them from the Poulan site.


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## paintdrying (Jul 13, 2012)

I doubt Poulan has a de compression valve. I guess my big question is, does it pull and run? Did you use the right ratio of gas to oil. Did you take the muffler apart? I know a lot of people that swear up and down these poulans are good saws. So maybe they are good and your saw is just hard to pull. I am thinking somebody ran straight gas through it and warped things out a bit. You could pull the head and look for damage. You could even reuse the head gasket if you are good with a razor.


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## SeniorSitizen (Sep 10, 2012)

I'm qualified to start, maintain, and overhaul this 2 cycle engine but I too sometimes have trouble starting my chain saw. :laughing: :laughing:


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