Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Stihl 390 chain saw decompression valve coming apart!

I have a Stihl 390 chain saw that is three years old that I have used to cut my own firewood (residentual use) I probably cut about a total of 20 cords of wood with it at this point. I was cutting with it today and it made a terrible noise and stopped running. I pulled the starter cord and could tell it had lost compression. I started checking into it and I noticed that when I pushed on the decompression valve that it didn't feel normal. I took off the rubber cover and sure enough the middle of the valve was gone. i removed the rest of the decompression valve and looked into the cylinder and see the rest of the valve stuck in the piston :mad: It looked like a big rivit or roofing nail. I was wondering if anybody else has had issue with the decompression vale coming apart? If so has Stihl compensated them with some labor or parts? I really don't see how this could be caused by anything that I did but with it three years old I got bad feeling I'm on my own! Any thoughts would be appreciated.

three years old you have no warranty. the part is cheap and easy to replace.

Thanks for the reply flopshot, but I think it's going to more than replaceing the decompression valve. I'm thinking a piston at the least and maybe some head and cylinder work. I won't know until I pull it apart, but I was hoping that if I called Stihl that they may work with me on it. I'll find out on Monday when I make the call.

check the cylender walls for damage and scoring same with the piston. if everything looks ok then you might just get away with a new valve.

I've never seen that happen before. Unfortunately, you're probably not going to get any warranty, but call the stihl dealer and ask... can't hurt. Sounds like you'll need a piston, cylinder, ring, related gaskets, and decompression valve at the least.

Yea guys, I agree that I'm probably on my own on this, but Im going to contact Stihl just to see if they will do anything. I figure it's worth a try. If they won't help I'll take the head off and do an assement on the damage and go from thier. I have a feeling when I pull the piece that's lodged in the piston out that I will have a hole through the piston. With any luck I might be able to get away with just the piston. I'll let you know how I make out after I call Stihl. Thanks for the replies.

Yea guys, I agree that I'm probably on my own on this, but Im going to contact Stihl just to see if they will do anything. I figure it's worth a try. If they won't help I'll take the head off and do an assement on the damage and go from thier. I have a feeling when I pull the piece that's lodged in the piston out that I will have a hole through the piston. With any luck I might be able to get away with just the piston. I'll let you know how I make out after I call Stihl. Thanks for the replies.

It's certainly worth a shot. When I was an equipment dealer, I always found that the manufacturers were much more open to satisfying an end user (customer), then the dealer. In other words they may tell you yes they will fix it, while they may tell their dealer NO. They may also offer a compromise, along the lines of covering the parts, while you cover the labor. You never know if you don't ask.

Good Luck...

Thanks 30 year tech. That gives me some hope that Stihl may work with me. I really liked the saw and up to now I have not had any problems. Thanks

After reading the comments on this thread I went back to the dealer that sold me the saw and insisted on seeing the owner and not just the counter person. The owner charged me $40.00 to inspect the saw and said he would reimburse me the money if he could get it covered by Stihl. After three weeks at dealer I had not heard anything so I decided to call today. I got a hold of the service department and they informed the parts have not showed up at this point and that they would call me when it's done. I asked if Stihl was going to cover it under warranty and the service guy said he did not know as the computer screen did not say either way, but he did say if they didn't call me ahead of time to get an approval on the parts order then it was probably going to be covered as the cost of the parts were in excess of $240.00. With this kind of money for the parts they would traditionally get an approval from the customer before ordering the parts and since they didn't do that he figured it was going to be covered. Here's me crossing my fingers ???