201 TC manual adjustment?

Djax

Treehouser
Joined
Mar 17, 2022
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Location
Boston
The chain on my 201TC is racing. Is there any way to manually adjust it without having to plug it in? I took the tab off where you would normally (I think) adjust a Stihl climber but it just has a plug:/
 
Try the Mtronic calibration routine. Check your manual for correct procedure for your Mtronic version.
 
The ms201T just became officialy today the less reliable of my saws. Shitty Mtronic.
Some of the things annoying me : 10 pulls to cold start, lack of power, inconsistant speed, difficult to prime when refuelling... At full throttle in air, to clear the saw dust, I can clearly feel the electronic shifting the setting alternatively between two levels. Baaa booo baaaa booo. There's no reason to do that.
Then this, today I was cutting an overgrown edge of Leylandii, not too big so I wanted to spare time and worked from the ground. For some of the trunks, the idea was to salami cut at 6' high, stuck the spar in the ground and lay the top "gently" against a cherry, where I could cut out a bunch of firewood lengths from the butt to make the top fit in the open area. It worked well for tree trunks (size between 6 to 8" diameter at the cut). But for some reason known only by the Mtronic, the cut turned to shit for two trunks. The cut was going well, slanted underside, then slanted upper side, full throttle, good cutting speed, trunk started to shift, then, when I needed the most the full power to free the butt, the saw went from baaaa to bebebebe ! Of course, the top didn't want to wait that the saw recovered its spirit and crashed in the cherry. Not one, but two. Why ? Is that me, or ...?

New saw, well broken in now, but acting like an old piece of junk, like the previous one for that matter. It's curious, because the Mtronic on the ms661 works good for me..
 
Racing as in spinning while the saw idles?

It is possible something else is wrong like too much oil in the gas making it run lean. This can happen when you top off a gas can early before it is empty and add a whole bottle of oil to the can. Some people do this thinking too much oil can't possibly hurt, but too little can. Well, too much can throw off the tuning beyond what the electronic carb can compensate for.

The clutch drum bearing may need cleaning, oiled or replacing

The oil pump worm gear may need it's bearing cleaned or the crankshaft cleaned. Ideally the brass bushing and shaft should be clean, dry and polished smooth, or moist with oil. Some greases can dry out and attract dirt that can add too much friction, so I prefer dry lube on them.

The clutch drum could have too much buildup causing it to bind against the clutch.

The clutch springs could be stretched or broken caused by overheating the clutch, rough use, or manufacturing defect.
 
From the 2 mechanics who work on my saws, the M-tronic arrangement on MS-261 and smaller has been an unmitigated disaster (can never tell what's wrong with them, to the point the Stihl engineer who came out to one of them basically told him to toss the diagnostic software/tool, and just start stocking every replacement part for each saw model they sell./deal with; wonderful philosophy), while the larger saws (362 and above) have been mostly stable (albeit for that batch of 661s I wrote about earlier). I have a 201 and a 661; the 201 gave me some trouble early on, but has been good since the mechanic supposedly "reflashed" the system. The 661 has been fine, no M-Tronic related issues.
 
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A new white fuel solenoid and orange filter are sold as a kit and fix mtronic running issues about 90% of the time.

I’ve heard this about the solenoid a few times before. I might order this kit and shelve it until needed. For now, my 201TCM is wonderful, I really like this saw.
 
I’ve heard this about the solenoid a few times before. I might order this kit and shelve it until needed. For now, my 201TCM is wonderful, I really like this saw.
I think the solenoid is $55-60 by itself. The kit with the orange filter was $42 a year ago. So if you do get one, make sure you buy the kit. Haven’t bought any recently so I’m not sure of the current price. Good luck with it
 
Ok, Im a long time lurker, love the splicing section, and long time member over at AS, messed about with saws for many years, and used to be a mechanic.

Busy household with family, but wanted to reply before dinner.

Dont have time to investigate, but I remember there was a basic adjustment for the LA on the 201tc, but only after the solenoid was replaced.
Seems the M tronic is pretty reliable until the solenoid packs up, the rest of the carb is like a normal H, L needle carb, just the solenoid and the brains in the coil adjust the mixture.
Usually, the wood pulp messes with the solenoid, which results in over rich running, and poor starting and stalling after cuts etc.
Replace solenoid and filter as already mentioned, and do a reset as per factory specs, and your good to go.
In rarer situations, adjusting the butterfly or LA as we more commonly know it as, is required, followed by a mtronic reset.
Also worth noting, that any adjustment with the L side, requires a period of 30+ seconds to allow the saw to re learn before adjusting again.

have a look in the service manual.

I have both the 201t and 201tc.
 

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Just checking in to see how the saw is going ?

I offered the initial advice assuming that you had taken off the clutch cover, and cleaned out the clutch properly so no oil soaked saw dust would be causing it.

When you said the chain was racing, I thought of it moving above normal idle speed, thus the reply.
 
Thank you @Trains for the pdf and welcome to the house!
With my 201tc and thing I do to it that would need some carb adjusting or if it's idling roughly and dieing when I change fuel mixture, a reset of letting the saw warm up and then shutting it down and starting it in triangle mode for at least 30 and no more than 1 min and then holding the throttle wide open untill it peaks in the rpm and then drops again. Has always set it right. I also have the newest mtronic version older ones have different methods.
 
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