I bought a new Stihl MS180 chainsaw in March 2009. Started it today 13 months later, note that it's one month out of waranty, and it blew a hole in the top of the piston. This saw has not even had one gallon of gasoline ran through it yet. It's been used very little. I'm not impressed at all. Are these things known for being cheap, short lasting or is it a fluke that I got no more use from mine as I did. I will get in touch with the dealer Monday and if they don't make it good even though it's barley one month out of waranty, I'm going to go to Home Depot and get an Echo brand. At least they have a 5 year waranty ! Thanks for any legit replies !

Charlie, April 2010

Through my experiance working with sthil products i would say that your situation is a very rare one. i would ask if you used the correct fuel mix and was it stihl oil? their mixture should be at 50:1 on this product. also was the spark plug you used the correct one? if it was longer than the one that should be in their the piston wouldnt take long before if got damaged. if you contact stihl then check the dealers are genuine stihl dealers. It could have been a dodgy piston from the factory but i would say the chances would be slim

Jamie, April 2010

If he's taken it apart, then he's invalidated any warranty anyway- irrelevant of whether it's in or just out of warranty.

The warranty only covers manufacturing defects and two of the three possible causes listed below are human error so not covered anyway.

Unlikely to be timing as it's fixed.

I would suggest fuel mix/ fuel quality problem, such a detonation which is user error.

pleasant, April 2010

Very unusual to see a holed piston, it is normaly due to detonation caused by ignition timing out, poor fuel, or people useing piston stops to remove clutches, not too sure what the dealer will say, have you taked this thing apart to see this hole? is it a nice round hole, or does it look like it is eroded around the edges of the hole? nice round holes are normally due to the use of a piston stop, eroded holes are due to detonation.

Husqvarna man, April 2010