husqvarna 440 chain saw

When was the last time you did a tune up?

How old is the gas in it?

I used to hang out with some guys that did tree work for a living. They always kept their mixed chainsaw gas in clean 2 liter soda bottles. Those soda bottles full of gas also always had water in the bottom. The ethanol now in gasoline makes this problem worse.

The first thing I would do is change out your gas with fresh and clean up your spark plug. Repost if that doesn't work.

Oh, also, locate your air filter and either blow it out with compressed air, or remove the dust buildup with an old tooth brush. Air flow is also critical.

As Kramarat says; sounds like water in the gas. Next time get a Stihl chainsaw; the best there is.

I have used both Stihl and Husky commercially several models of each, they are both quite capable the Stihl is a little more sensitive to over leaning the fuel. My personal preference is the husky it has a better balance to it. On the other hand the Stihl has an excellent topping saw super light fantastic power for a small saw its topnotch for a slashing and falling saw the old Huskys are tougher and have better ergonomics for swinging it all day, but this is my personal preferences. to each there own and as for maintenance saws with a little guidance and Patience they are a good easy power system to learn on, tough and resilient to, just remember it is a tool not a toy be safe do not over tighten screws you risk breaking parts or striping threads do not do high rpm tests without the chain on it can over rev and have a catastrophic failure!(that is hard to do but would be very bad)

Take it to a repair shop and have a small engine mechanic fix it and tell you how to keep it running.

You will never fix it yourself.

And Stihls are definately inferior to Huskys, in my opinion.

"You will never fix it yourself".You must be a Guru of thought not practice , never say never and she should try to fix herself .

The word Guru is meaningless here.

I grew up running chain saws and I know how intricate they are. There are too many intricate parts and nuances to these small machines to be left to a novice.

This statement, "it goes but doesn't keep started" hardly sounds like the explanation of someone skilled in the working of small, high performance 2 stroke engines.

I'm sorry if you do not approve of my opinion.

Please feel free to give the OP all the pertinent advice you have to offer, which, to this point has been nothing but criticism of my opinion.

It's pretty boring when someone lobs in with nothing but 'personal' input.

It so happens this is a difficult problem to diagnose. It creeps up and can manifest in months, or years, of blended fuel introduction in whatever area a user is in.

And by taking a 'shot' at a member, you contribute less than zero.

Your advice about the fuel hose is relevant and could indeed be the problem here.

Where I work now, we have 8 weed eaters, 4 leaf blowers, 3 chain saws, 2 vacuum/blowers and a pole saw, all 2 stroke. _{(I don't use any of them, but guys who work for me do).}

We replace fuel filters, chains _{(we let the shop sharpen them)}, trimmer string and other SIMPLE maintenance items.

If they don't start on the second or third pull, they go to the shop. They get fixed properly and we have an expert to give us advice on their use.

I, with my half vast experience, might be able to repair them. I don't try.

For the record, they are all Echo, fueled with premium gas and Echo 2 stroke oil. Not an endorsement, just the facts.

And Ron, my personal chain saws are a Poulan and an Echo. I like Stihls just fine.

After you make sure the conditions mentioned by the previous posts are done and that does not solve the problem. The air filter is usually foam it can be washed out with dish soap and water. If the foam gotten hard and crumbles away on the edges replace it. Once it's clean use some of the two stroke oil and work it into the foam. There is a throttle adjustment screw. It should be set for 2900 rpm. In practice in the field the idle screw is adjusted to increase the idle speed rpm just until the blade starts to spin. Then backed off 1/4 turn or more until the blade stop spinning. Blade should never spin at idle.

You may need a new fuel hose. Ethanol blends cause cracking in the older 'rubber' compounds. This lets air into hose/fuel, and the saw will 'die lean' (refuse to run).

there's also

a fuel filter floating around in the tank that can get plugged

the pulse line may be cracked or disconnected[same size as fuel line]

husky & stil are both fine saws

I had the same problem with my Jonsared saw. Started fine and died immediatly. Found the the gas line was shot and leaking; replaced it that fixed it.

i had a problem just last week with my sthil ms270. it would start once in a while and run for a while - very agravating. so after doing all the initial tests and checks i bought a new ignition module and put it in. same thing. next i gapped the clearance of the ignition module to as little as i could make it using very thin paper to set the gap on both of the stacked laminated pole pieces and boom it starts and runs now with no problem. it runs with the old ignition module set up this way also. this will be something i will do in future if i run into this problem again.

If you're going to repair it yourself, check out the 440 manuals on YouTube.

1) Inspect the fuel lines, primer bulb, Fuel pick-up/filter for cracks, clogs and kinks. Replace if necessary.

2) Adjust the low and high speed mixture screws. Start with them in the middle of their range then adjust them toward the lean side until the engine falters and then richen it slightly until it smooths out. NO CHAIN ON THE SAW! Have an assistant operate the throttle for the high-speed adjustment.

3) Obtain a carburator repair kit. (10-15 dollars plus shipping). While you have the carb. off the saw and dis-assembled, spray every orifice you can find with carb. cleaner to assure that there are no blockages. Install the rapair kit components and re-install the carb. Proceed to step 2. hese steps do not help you may need a new carburator.

These steps can be performed by anyone who knows the pointy end goes into the screw. If they do not help a new carb may be in order as there may be a deeper internal problem.

Good Luck and Safe Sawing.

all the saws I have worked on the jets were removable just spin them out blast some carb cleaner through spin back in to the bottom being gentle just touch down (DO NOT TIGHTEN)back out 3/4 to 1 turn start there adjust your low speed first so you have a smooth idle with a low rpm as you can using the idle screw to adjust rpm and the low speed jet to adjust the quality of idle (smooth or rough) the high speed is second while idling blip the throttle it will probably stumble or hesitate slowly adjust the high speed needle until it revs up quickly and smoothly (this your base point adjustment remember it for next time) then put it on a log and cut does it bog adjust it till it pulls strong then richen up the mix (back out the needle / turn counter clockwise)this cools down the burn leaving more lube oil in cylinder to protect your saw.

when checking the fuel and breather lines don't miss the one in the tank for the fuel pickup filter but for a few bucks you should pick up some new fuel line and replace the old lines this should be done every 3 to 4 years when cleaning the air filter use the old mix gas from the tank (the system is designed for gas not water) wash from the inside to out when it's a foam filter after washing use a few drops of mix oil pour directly to foam work it through then squeeze out the extra to re wet the foam if it is a plastic cartridge they make a spot where a large screwdriver is used to pop it open then wash from inside out shake out remaining fuel let dry (they don't get oiled) .The primer bulb on most saws is a pull through system, meaning the fuel is drawn from the tank through the carb to the primer then pushed back to the tank. There is a small one way check valve in the carb preventing back flow and airing the fuel flow to the carb jets. The carbs on these saws are fairly simple typically 2 gaskets inside you just need to note how it came apart camera phones are excellent for this. cleaning is part of regular maintenance and needs to be done regularly every 5 to 10 hrs. of use

I also have a 440, had the same problem. I know this is a very old thread but I will outline some of the things the shop did.

1. winter front (worked a little in the winter) still stalled

2. tune up and filter, plus the small hose in the tank, still stalled out when cutting i thebush

3. New carburater (not a kit) this fixed the problem

4 fixed the problem until I used all the fuel they had put into the tank, took it back they dumped my fuel and it worked again.

I was using 89 octane not 82 or higher. My bad.

a month later the saw stalled out again, by buddy came over and looked at it, he smelled the fuel, said it was flat (less than 2 months old)

5 I dumped all fuel mixed new fuel and it rand great never stalling, I only use fresh fuel, now and it starts with 1 or 2 pumps and a choke, temperature -33.

thats my story, hope it helps someone.

All good tips, but once I stopped using ethanol gasoline in my 2 strokes, the problems ended.