Only Took 7 Years to Get it Working

I got my Echo Timberwolf chainsaw running, finally. I did two things. I did a half-rebuild on the Walbro HDA-327 carb (same rebuild kit for all 60cc Echo saws), and I finally got straight information on the starting procedure. I learned some simple things which, oddly, are not widely known.

If you have an Echo CS590 saw, I can help you start it.

First, you need to know about the choke. It’s not just a choke. It also holds the throttle open. It does this when it’s engaged, and it also does it after you disengage it, so if you pull the choke and then push it back in, the throttle will stay open.

With that in mind…

1. Lift the on/off toggle switch that controls the spark. Without this, you have no chance of starting it.

2. Engage the choke. Leave it engaged. This chokes the engine and opens the throttle so the saw will get a lot of gas when it tries to start.

3. Depress the compression release. Some people claim it keeps saws from starting because you need compression to start, but my saw starts with it depressed, so that can’t be true. It makes it easier to yank the cord.

4. Engage the brake. No one listens to this advice, but it’s bad to have a saw start at high speed with the chain spinning like crazy.

5. Put the saw on the ground and put your foot through the handle to hold it down. No one does this either, but it’s safer than the showoff way. One problem: it’s not actually possible to put your foot in the handle unless you have tiny feet. Put a piece of wood through the handle and step on it.

6. Pull the cord out a couple of inches and then yank as hard as you can. After a few pulls, the saw should make some kind of noise. When you hear that, disengage the choke. It doesn’t matter how feeble the noise is. If you keep yanking, you will flood the engine.

7. The saw should start within a few pulls. When it does, tap the throttle to release the detent that holds it open. The extra gas is only to make the saw start. If you run it fast with the brake on, you’re going to fry your clutch.

8. Release the brake.

That’s about it. If it doesn’t work, your saw is badly tuned or has some other problem. Fix it.

Other tips:

1. Avoid canned fuel. This one surprised me, but there is a very sharp saw mechanic on Youtube who says she has repeatedly “fixed” dead saws by pouring out Trufuel and other canned gas. Get yourself some ethanol-free gas if possible. If you can’t find it, get ordinary gas. Treat it with Echo Red Armor oil and Biobor EB to make it last longer. Don’t use Sta-Bil red. The blue stuff might work. Supposedly, you can get 6 months out of regular gas treated with the right things. Biobor EB promises “up to” 18 months, but it doesn’t mention “down to.”

2. If your saw won’t start, dump the fuel and replace it before doing anything else. Just find a quiet corner of your yard and dump it on the ground. No one will get cancer.

3. If you’re storing your saw for a while, dump the fuel, put canned fuel in it, and run it dry, pulling the choke to get all the gas out. The big problem with this is that a dry saw may have problems with dry seals later, but you can’t have everything.

4. When you treat your fuel, take a Sharpie and write the date on the jug. Never use a jug you also use for gas that has no oil in it, because you will get confused and ruin your engine. If you know how old your fuel is, you can make intelligent decisions later.

5. Start your small engines every week. Pick a day and start them all. If you avoid letting your saws sit idle, you should be able to avoid the business of running them dry.

6. If you flood your saw, make sure the throttle is open and try again. Engage the choke and disengage it. You can also put a velcro strap around the trigger to keep it depressed. This sometimes works.

To start your Echo warm:

1. Make sure the switch is on.

2. Engage the choke.

3. Disengage the choke. Now the throttle is open.

4. Engage the brake.

5. Put saw on ground and immobilize it.

6. Yank until it starts.

7. Tap throttle.

8. Disengage brake.

Here’s something really important: whenever you see the saw when it’s not running, turn the switch on. It won’t hurt anything to have the ignition on when the saw is not running, but if you leave it off, you will forget to turn it on before starting the saw, and you will flood it.

Here’s some more interesting info. Heat ruins saws. How do you get rid of it? A few ways.

1. Keep your blade as sharp as possible. Believe it or not, pulling a dull blade will overheat your saw. You will ruin the cylinder, piston, and possibly other things inside the engine. When that happens, you have a parts saw.

2. Ask around and see what knowledgeable people think about your saw’s factory exhaust. Some saws have pretty restrictive exhausts, and they contribute to heat. There are known ways to fix this, and they are simple.

3. If you have an old-fashioned bar with a lube port, lube it.

My saw runs like an F1 car now.

Echo CS590’s come with plastic caps on the carb screws to keep people from adjusting them too far. You will eventually want to get rid of these caps and adjust the saw correctly, but this will probably violate your warranty, which is generally regarded as worthless anyway. It doesn’t even apply to carbs.

The carb has a main jet with a hole in it to prevent it from running too lean, and this causes problems. You can buy a better main jet, pound the old one out, and pound the new one in.

I put a bigger carb (from the 620P) in my saw because it allows for upgrades later on. I’m also getting a new exhaust deflector to reduce back pressure and heat, and I will be putting two small holes in the muffler for the same purpose. I’m going to install a new key on the flywheel to advance the timing and give the saw more power.

Once all this is done, I’ll have a saw about as capable as my new twice-as-expensive Husky 562XP, which is not modified. I might put a 24″ bar on the Echo, because it’s the perfect size for this farm. A 20″ bar is a bit handier, though.

I’m going to take the Echo to the shop to have a pro tune it before I use it. If the carb isn’t right, I could damage the saw, and I would rather pay than see that happen. As I learn more about carbs, I’ll be more confident about fixing it.

I found out that 2-stroke carbs usually don’t need full rebuilds. I watched a Steve’s Small Engine Saloon video, and all he did was replace the diaphragms, internal fuel screen, and needle. I did the same things, and my saw started running. I squirted some carb cleaner into appropriate places while I worked on it.

My carb will start if the H and L screws are out 1-3/4 turns, so yours should too, if it has the same carb. Doesn’t mean these settings are optimal, but if you can get the saw to run, you can adjust the screws.

This is a good saw, and for the price, it’s fantastic, but it has a reputation for flooding very easily, and the advice you will get on the web and in the manual will generally make things worse. If you don’t know the secrets, this saw will make you wish you were dead. It’s worse than having no saw at all.

I would advise people to avoid the 60cc Echo saws and get saws that are less troublesome. If you’re a pro, you will not notice any problems with these saws, but an uninformed amateur with dubious tools and skills can make better choices, in my opinion. Any saw that works is better than a garage princess.

A bargain saw that ends up costing you hundreds in parts and labor, in addition to preventing you from clearing your land, is no bargain.

I’ve been relying on new Chinese carbs for a long time, but if I can fix up my OEM carbs with rebuild kits and get good results, I’ll continue doing it. I can’t keep supporting my local shop as though I had two X chromosomes and a dresser full of skinny jeans and yoga pants.