Stihl 038 won't run on diesel fuel


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Old 06-10-10, 12:57 PM
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Stihl 038 won't run on diesel fuel

I hope that got someone's attention. Anyway, a friend brought me his Stihl 038 chainsaw saying it wouldn't start. His son mistakenly filled it with diesel fuel. My friend dumped it out, filled it with 50:1 but it still wouldn't start. I took the carb out, cleaned it out as best I could without disassembling it and it still won't start. I blew the fuel line out and took the filter off the end in case it was clogged. No go. What next?
 
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Old 06-10-10, 06:28 PM
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Prime the engine a little with some gas mix and get it cranked that way, repeat if necessary until the unit is flushed of the diesel fuel.
 
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Old 06-11-10, 03:03 AM
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You didn't mention cleaning the plug.....I would assume it is soaked with diesel fuel and fouled as well. Clean well or replace. While you have it out, spray some starter fluid in the plug hole and pull the starter rope a couple dozen times to help clean/dry up the cylinder area.

Actually he is lucky the kid filled it with diesel and it just fouled it out, rather than filled it with plain regular gas and it ran until it burned up from lack of 2 cycle lube oil.
 
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Old 06-11-10, 07:21 AM
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Went out and got a new plug. I cleaned and flushed as advised. I also removed the carb again and this time removed the top and bottom. I saw a very small brass screen that was absolutely plugged with crap so I cleaned it off. I primed as advised and it seemed like it wanted to fire. It didn't seem as if it was sucking the gas out of the tank so I removed the fuel pick up and noticed how soft it was. You might say it was almost gummy. Diesel wouldn't attack the rubber fuel line, would it? What the heck, I'll go get one today and see what happens.
 
 

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