Stihl Warranty????

[CarbonHunter]

Has anyone on here ever had a stihl tool that they had to take back on warranty?  If you did, how did it go?

I bought a BG 86 blower last month and it seized up after 3 weeks. I was running it full speed and it died, so I restarted it and it ran for about 30 seconds and died again. It did that twice before it locked up so that I couldn't even pull the cord.

So I took it back to the dealer where I got it from and they said it had moisture in the gas tank and had "cylinder wash down."  They said it would not be covered. In the time I had it I mixed 2 gallons of 50:1 gas and ran most of it through my chainsaws. There is no issues with my saws. Stihl claims that running gas with water in it can corrode an engine overtime and can lead to engine failure.

Has anyone ever seen this happen in 3 weeks with 6-10 tanks of fuel being ran through it?

In addition, after looking at the box of parts the stihl dealer returned to me I noticed there is a ball bearing implanted into the spark plug. To my knowledge that ball bearing would have had to come from the lower end of the engine. Does anybody think it is possible for a bearing to fail due to moisture in the fuel without the engine showing other signs of corrosion first? 

Is anyone else having issues with new stihl products now that they aren't made in Germany?

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Haven't had any issues like this with my Sthil equipment. Might be a good question to ask on Arborsite.com...

[Special T]

Lots of companies or thier representatives are failing on thier reputations. 

[CarbonHunter]

This is the first issue I have had with stihl. The rest of my stihl equipment was made in Germany and it is giving me no grief.

Up until last month I swore by stihl but after reading the arborist sites they have been saying for a few years that the carbs are weak and they are made in China. I'm starting to wonder if stihl is selling out and going the way of Homelite. 

[Buckmark]

Something sounds fishy to me....water in fuel can be a problem but you have been runnning thru it fast and its not been sitting for months.
I would get ahold of/send a PM to  hntrspud on here and tell him whats going on, he may be able to help you out...

[300rum]

Gasoline these days is absolutely horrible on small engines.  I know that by using Stihl brand pre-mix fuel for my saw the warranty increased by a year (Or maybe even more, I can't remember exactly).  I just go with their pre-mixed fuel.  I don't burn a lot of fuel in my saw anyway and the stuff in the can is good for a long, long time.

I think if we could get rid of the emission junk that the government put on the saws/small engines and could (easily) get real gas, there would be a lot of small engines that would last longer and run better.     

[timberfaller]

   If you noticed before the thing froze up on you, a increase in RPM it could be from a air leak.  They had that problem back a few years.   

The air leak would cause a quick increase of RPM's,  then the bottom bearings would go.   Had one falling saw do that twice on me.   Stihl rebuilt it the first time and I didn't give them a second chance at it!!!  Air leaks can come from various places though.

If its only three weeks old, your going to have to fight them to honor their warranty.   They don't like giving $$$$$ back! 

[L8NITE]

Bought a new Stihl weedeater last summer been in the shop three times since...so far not impressed! Have older stihl saw and never had any issues now I am beginning to wonder!!! They told me it was bad gas the last time i took it in...crazy thing is the gas was only three days "old".  Have an old echo weedeater that I bought 18 years ago...never been to the shop. Thought maybe I had gotten a lemon but sounds if stihl is going down hill?

[Jingles]

Quit dealing with the local rep/dealer and contact national HQ

[CarbonHunter]

I bought it in Auburn and took it there for the warranty work and after they rejected it I went to Enumclaw to ask there opinion. His mechanic is unavailable for a few weeks but he said he would contact the local stihl rep and see if they are seeing this issue. He says he can't do a lot after one dealer says water in the fuel and that I would have to prove to stihl that there is a manufacture defect in order to get them to actually warranty it.  He did say that it would be hard to believe that moisture in the fuel caused failure after 3 weeks but if stihl sees "water in fuel" they will not warranty.

With the ethanol in fuel today you could probably get almost any fuel to test positive for water. If it doesn't the water bottle on his work bench will make sure it does and his job is done...

[BigGoonTuna]

did you use fresh mix, or is it something you've had around?  stihl recommends not using anything over 30 days old in their equipment(obviously if you've got good E0 gas you can stretch that out).  the ethanol tainted fuel we have around mostly has a very short shelf life before it starts causing a lot of trouble.

however, 3 weeks is an incredibly short time to blow something up in, unless you straight gassed it.  i would try to find a different dealer and if that falls through, call stihl northwest and ask to talk to JD.  odds are, he'll have the shop send it in for analysis and more than likely good will warranty the parts and labor(on something like a BG86, you should get a new unit).

i know a thing or two, i used to be the mechanic for a stihl shop in hoquiam...

[netcoyote]

You should not be using ethanol tainted gas in ANY small gas engine. There are a few gas stations scattered around that supply ethanol free premium gas that is the best fuel to use in these engines. There are a few web sites that keep up-to-date listings of these stations.
http://www.buyrealgas.com/Washington.html
I talked to a Stihl/John Deere dealer one time about this and it is a major headache for all these small engine dealers. Good for their service departments but they really have to be on their toes to only use good ethanol-free gas and keep it fresh for their in-stock machines. That dealer was the one that tipped me off to the ethanol free stations.

[Firedogg]

 We were getting "real gas" for all our fire department small tools but recently switched over to getting the Stihl pre-mixed fuel. There were just too many problems with bad gas/mixes.

  I go out to Elbe to fill my cans with real gas for my mowers, saws and generator.

[netcoyote]

We were getting "real gas" for all our fire department small tools but recently switched over to getting the Stihl pre-mixed fuel. There were just too many problems with bad gas/mixes.

  I go out to Elbe to fill my cans with real gas for my mowers, saws and generator.

The Mini-Market on South Hill has it also, if that might be closer for you. That's where I get my small engine fuel.

[KFhunter]

don't run 50/1

I can pretty well guarantee you're engine would still be running fine if you mixed 32/1 or even 40/1.  Cylinder wash was probably from too much ethanol and very little lubricant. 

What could happen if you run more oil?  Change the spark plug a bit more frequently, tiny bit more carbon in the muffler - that's it.  Muffler is easy to clean out and spark plugs are cheap.   If you're an eco warrior type the added carbon you add to the air by using more oil in your gas is offset by not having to mine more minerals for pistons, heads and other engine metal parts and since most of these things are junked when they break there's less in the landfill and less plastic to make using petro-products



50/1 is EPA mandated crap, extend the life of your 2 cycles by running no less than 40/1 even with non-ethanol.  With ethanol fuel I dang sure wouldn't go less oil than 40/1,  I usually richen it up a bit more with ethanol fuel and don't let it sit in the jug or especially the engine tank. 

Is there any possibility you used an E15 pump?

Small engine manufacturers are caught between a rock and a hard place, EPA forces them to run the bleeding edge of fuel lubricity vs emissions.  weed whackers, chain saws need to be light weight enough to pack around and meet a price point, tough to put e-tec type technology in such a small engine and stay within those parameters.   So help them out and run richer fuel, add a stich more oil and it'll run much longer for you.