How long do 200s last???

emr

emr

Location
WI
We have had multiple MS200s and they never seem to last more than a year or two. After that time period, the cost to repair them is over half the way to a new saw. Is this a common occurance or do we not maintian our saws properly?
 
Yes, you should get more than a year out of one, two might be pushing it if the saw is pushed really hard with poor maintenance. The two main 200's we use are going on their third year, one was bought new, the other used from our local dealer. My guys aren't exactly easy on these saws either, they push them to the limit.

What exactly are you have problems with, the engines or the outside parts???

Larry
 
I would expect 3 years of normal use. if you use thn more than normal, or arehard on them and dont call down for a bigger saw for bigger wood than 2 years is right on thrack.

What has gone wrong on them? This will help us determine poor maintenance or a fault in the saw from use.

Are we talking about the MS200, or the MS200T....two completely different saws.....
 
MB I figured you would have known about the 2 saws......

The MS200T is a TOPHANDLE Pro saw.

The MS200 is a REAR handle pro saw. Very similiar design, same engine but rear handled.

The T signifies Tophandled versions in ALL Stihl Products, made fter a certain date somewhere in the mid seventies I believe.

MS200..... http://www.stihlusa.com/chainsaws/MS200.html

MS200T.... http://www.stihlusa.com/chainsaws/MS200T.html

And for anyone wondeing there will be a new rear handled version of the 192T coming out this spring too!
 
Well now I don't really know about the 200T's but I've done minor repairs on 020T's that were likely 7 or 8 years old.Normally just a carb rebuild and a little tweek here and there then good to go for a while longer.On several occasions I've taken two or three and made one.It seems they don't like that 60 foot fall from a tree for some reason or another.
 
Common problems I've seen (besides breakage from dropping the saw) are
1- oil leaking through the bottom of the case.
cause- worn through the case due to not having a proper storage box for saws on the truck, every saw gets pulled out of the bed and set on the sidewalk at every job.
2- clutch side cover broken, metal washer insert spun or fell out.
cause- overtightening the bar nut every single time you put a wrench on it.
3- scored cylinder
cause- never properly adjusted the carb, ran the saw lean for a year. Carb adjustment limiters MUST be removed in order to properly adjust the carb. You're welcome to reinstall them after adjusting your carb if you want. Blame the government if you like.
4- carb issues
cause- see #3
5- cap leaks and fuel tank vent leaks
cause- crappy overengineered design, part of the cost of owning a Stihl. Replacement caps are $12 each and tank vent assemblies are about $10. Replace parts as needed.
6- loose or missing screws, saw falling apart.
cause- ummm, you never bothered picking up a scrench when you noticed it, or you never noticed it because you never bothered looking at your saw when servicing it. Oh, you never serviced your saw?
 
I guess the only 020T's I've worked on were in fact owned by the climbers themselves and they were real protective of them.The one that fell caused much weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Then there was the time some yahoo left an 044 on the rear bumper of a truck and drove off.The saw was jettisoned at about 60 mph.It wasn't pretty.
 
Its not the years, it is the miles and the work that the saws are doing.

If they are doing ground work and cutting brush in a trailer, they won't last long.

Day in, day out climbing work, 3 years easy.
 
I would say that we are not hard on the saws compared to many of you. Most of what we do is pruning with occasional removals. The problem with one of them was something with the cylinder bearings or some such thing. They charge us $250 to fix and never really fixed the problem. They told us another $250 to 300 to really fix the problem, so we junked the saw. The second 200 just couldnt stay running, after taking it to two dealers with no luck, we junked that one too. Since then we have been using 192s with great results, again we mostly prune with few removals. All of our 200s have been top handles, and they dont seem to last as long at the 020s did (just my observation).
 
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Day in, day out climbing work, 3 years easy

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I agree. I have one that is 5 years old and still running strong.


And the vent cap issues were resolved over a year ago. Al new saws have the new design.
 
Those air filters got to be blown out pretty much every good day of cutting. spark plugs changed every two weeks. mine is 2.5 years old and running strong. I have also been told by the saw guy to try and only burn gas that is not cut with ethanol. Has anyone else heard that? Around here, there are a few BP stations that have pure gas and shell is good too. Premium gas and get the mix right. I would say dont skimp on the mix or the octane. Cylinder bearings sound like something caused by bad mix. From what I hear, that can screw a saw very quickly.
 
One of our Stihl deals told me the same thing about the ethenol gas, but he said that you dont have to buy higher octane than 87. He said that might not be the case depending on where you live and what regulations the government set on the gas. In Wisconsin for example, he said along the lake shore of Lake Michigan, the gas is formulated differently than inland so along the lake shore you must use higher octane. He also addressed the mix topic. He said that it is better to run the saws leaner after a few months because the saws dont actually need that much oil. Two different Stihl dealers around here told me they went to a Stihl class and one demonstration showed 2 new saws running full out. One saw had no oil in the gas and one was mixed rich. The saw that had the rich gas died after a few minutes while it took the saw with no oil 3 tanks to worth of gas to die. I normally wouldnt believe that story, but 2 seperate dealers told me that story on 2 seperate occasions.
 
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Two different Stihl dealers around here told me they went to a Stihl class and one demonstration showed 2 new saws running full out. One saw had no oil in the gas and one was mixed rich. The saw that had the rich gas died after a few minutes while it took the saw with no oil 3 tanks to worth of gas to die.

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What was the ratio on the "rich" mix? Why did the "rich" mix saw die, what happened to it?
 
I dont remember exactly what the mixture was so I dont even want to guess. As for why it died, again I dont remember. I will call our Stihl dealer today and ask again. I will post tomorrow with the info. I dont want to spread rumors, so I will get the answers.
 
So here is what I found today, the mixture is still unknow, sorry. As for the reason why the "rich" saw died first was that gas acutally cools the engine while oil lubes the engine. If there is too much oil then there is not enough gas to properly cool the engine, thus the engine seizes. This is not my logic, so if you disagree, talk to my 2 Stihl dealers because that is what they both told me.
 
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gas acutally cools the engine while oil lubes the engine.

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I agree with that 100%, But without knowing the ratio its kind of a mute point. I know guys that have run current modern saws at 16:1 with no problems. I'd also like to see the saw torn down so I (we) could see what happened. Was there so much oil in the mix that it just fouled the plug and made it stop running?

emr
I know you do not have the answers, as I have heard this story before and no one seems to "really" know what happened. Kind of makes me wonder about the quality of the mechanics taking the course, since they do not ask questions.
 
EMR , I will agree with you . My own personal saws all get 20-1 oil ratio because I work them quite hard and at real high rpms with no piston or bearing trouble at all , now if you lean the saw out to much it doesnot matter how much oil is in the gas it will still burn the piston
 
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