Stihl MS250 Chainsaw Rebuild

I bought a Stihl MS250 chainsaw on craigslist for $40. The seller was honest about the condition of the chainsaw and said it had no compression and he was selling it as a non-working parts saw. He included an almost new bar and chain which would cost more than $40. It was a no brainer and we both knew he was being generous with the price.

I purchased an aftermarket cylinder kit and a carburetor kit that included a new carburetor, fuel lines, all filters and gaskets needed for about $55 on Amazon. These were not Stihl parts (OEM), which could have made the repairs much more costly. As an aside, the original Stihl carburetor is made in China by Zama, but a chinese clone can be purchased for much less.

The original piston was badly scored on the exhaust port side. Likely due to running too lean for an extended period of time. The piston rings were fused to the piston.

The barebones saw with the new cylinder installed.

Parts, parts, and more dirty parts. I bought a car washing grate and a 3 gallon bucket and filled it with a gallon of degreaser and the rest with water. With a little scrubbing and an air compressor all the old parts were clean again.

The chainsaw runs very well. I'll run the first few tanks of fuel with more oil than the usual 50/1 ratio. While I have done many maintenance tasks on chainsaws, I have no experience rebuilding them...this is a first. All in all it was a good learning experience.