Or dont
............. My fathers old Husqvarna Chainsaw died. It would surge at idle then die at full throttle. Just started happening mid way thru a big project. Now this saw is about 12 years old and gets regular use thruout the year. He took it to a small engine shop and was told the cylinder and piston were scored. No change was made to the gas oil mix ratio nor to the oil brand. It was about $30.00 more for a new one at Lowes so he dropped the hammer for a new one and gave me the old to play with. 
I dont know a lot about two stroke and was wondering if any one has played with one of these?
Jake
HalfDork
2/2/09 10:34 a.m.
I'd check and see that the carb doesn't have anything wrong with it. I had a mower doing the same thing (not a 2-stroke, though) and the fix was to replace a membrane/reed in the carb that wasn't letting it idle evenly.
That said, if they have had it open and saw a scored piston and cylinder, it's possible that it's just worn out. Could have got hot or pinged hard once and broke loose a piece of ring or something. Maybe somebody had mixed up some gas and it got old and the oil separated out, etc. Who knows. How hard did it get used for those 12 years?
Pretty hard use. Both he and my self heat with wood. We both keep a fire going 24/7 in the winter. He also has a wood burnig furnace. No gas in the house other than when my wife makes chili 
. We cut and split our own wood on site from trees that sucumb to natural causes.
i assume you tried cleaning the spark plug?
mine needs done every few weeks during normal use - we have a big woodburning furnace and heat 2000+ square feet with wood all winter.
Assuming you've taking apart the carb (which is probably not complicated) and made sure there is no debris or seriously worn parts, sounds like it's just worn out. If the piston is worn out, then it probably can't generate enough compression at high speeds and is basically filling up with unused gas.
I'm willing to bet you could find a piston/ring kit for it fairly cheaply. If you're just looking to play with it and get it running for fun, might be a neat project. Especially one with a son or daughter.
-Rob
