This started happening towards the end of last Summer. My Stihl MS 250 chainsaw engine would bog down at the strangest times. I can’t say there was one time in particular, but I guess mostly when I put the saw under a load. When I started cutting with it, it would bog down and then I would stop and rev the engine. I would get it going again and the same thing would happen. Since it was the end of the season, I put the saw in the garage and hoped it would heal itself by Spring.
Well, it’s next Summer now and I had to use the chainsaw the other day. Guess what? It had the same problem. My sharp senses told me what the problem was. For some reason, I knew I had to clean and re-gap the spark plug.
When I took the spark plug out of the engine, I took a glance at the gap. The side electrode and the center electrode seemed to be pretty close together. Since I had absolutely no idea what the gap is supposed to be for a Stihl MS250 chainsaw, I looked it up. I found out that the spark plug gap is supposed to be .020 or 0.5mm metric for the Stihl MS 250 Chainsaw. Yep, I was right. When I measured the gap with my spark plug gapper, it was too small.
Now, .020 gap is pretty tight. It’s actually the smallest size on my gapper. Good thing too. I re-gapped the spark plug and gave it a quick cleaning. Then, I reinstalled it in the chainsaw. I started it up and problem solved. I love it when a plan comes together. Now, the saw is nice and strong when I cut through wood.
Stihl MS250 Chainsaw
Stihl MS 250 Logo
PS – I wanted to write a quick note about trying to diagnose small engines. For some reason, people seem to love jumping into the fuel system. I am not sure why this is, when the easiest thing to check is the spark plug. Take out the plug, clean it, re-gap it and see how that works. Don’t take out the carburetor and rebuild it if you don’t need to. Most of the time, this is unnecessary.
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Some people tend to assume that it is a fuel problem when their chainsaw dies down. Although the fuel mixture is very important, usually it is the gap in your spark plug not being the correct depth!
Here’s a quick tip to see if you are using dirty fuel in your chainsaw:
Pour a small amount of gas onto a piece of disused clean concrete and leave it over night. When you return in the morning and if you find residue, your fuel is dirty. probably parafin has been added to the mixture.
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