Used Stihl garden & outdoor in Islamabad & Rawalpindi
Is a used Stihl garden & outdoor worth buying?
Stihl is imported, and in this market it is the saw of people who cut for money rather than for a garden, so most used machines have done real work. Two things follow. The small MS 170 and MS 180 are homeowner saws routinely used well past what they were built for, and lookalikes wearing the same orange and grey are everywhere.
Imported
Parts usually have to be imported or sourced from the grey market, so a repair takes longer and costs more — which matters more on an older unit than the build quality does.
Stihl is imported, but the common models are numerous enough here that pistons, coils, carburettor kits, bars and chains for them are sold in the tool markets of both cities, genuine and aftermarket side by side. That trade is cut for the genuine models, so a lookalike is the harder machine to keep running, and it is worth asking a repairer which sort of part he is fitting.
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Checking a used Stihl garden & outdoor
These are specific to Stihl. The general garden & outdoor checks apply too and are on the garden & outdoor page.
Work the master control lever
Stihl runs choke, run and stop off a single lever on the rear handle. Click it through every position with the engine off: a lever that will not hold, or that drops out of run on its own, means worn detents or a broken linkage inside the handle.
Seat both filler caps
The tool-less fuel and oil caps have to turn and lock with the lever folded flat. A cap that will not seat, or whose insert has spun in its housing, leaks bar oil in transport and lets dust into the tank, and it has to be bought as a part for that model.
Read the bar stamping
Pitch and gauge are stamped on the bar, and the small saws and the MS 250 class do not run the same chain. Read the numbers rather than trusting the description, since any chain and sprocket you buy afterwards have to match what is fitted.
Match bar to model
An MS 170 or MS 180 carrying a long bar has been asked to do work it was not built for. Compare the bar length against the model, then look at the felling dogs and the clutch cover for the wear that goes with daily cutting.
Check the tensioner slider
Wind the side tensioner through its full travel and watch the slider move in the bar slot. A stripped screw or a chewed slider is common on hard-used saws, and the assembly differs between the plain models and the quick-tensioning ones, so a replacement has to match.
What Stihl garden & outdoor are worth
- The MS 250 class holds value better than the MS 170 and MS 180, because it is bought by people cutting for money who can absorb a repair, while the small saws compete against cheap lookalikes sold new alongside them.
- Model-specific parts — the master control lever, the filler caps, the tensioner assembly — cost more than they look, since each is matched to the model rather than substituted, and a saw missing one is discounted past what the part itself costs.
- A genuine machine holds value over a lookalike of the same size for a testable reason: the pistons, coils, carburettor kits and bars stocked in the tool markets here are cut for the common Stihl models.
Model lines you will see second-hand
- MS 170 and MS 180 chainsaws
- MS 250 chainsaws
- FS brush cutters
- BG blowers
General garden & outdoor checks
These apply whatever the badge on the front says — the garden & outdoor page covers them in full.
Press the frame feet
Turn a chair, table or gazebo leg over and press hard where the tube meets the ground. Rust works from the inside out where rainwater collects, so a leg that gives or sheds flakes under a thumb is finished even when the paint above it looks sound, and bubbling powder coat near a weld says the same.
Flex the sun-facing plastic
Bend the arm and the back edge of a plastic chair or resin planter and listen. Sound plastic gives quietly, while UV-brittled plastic makes a dry crack and leaves a chalky white bloom on your hand. Chalking on the top surfaces with none underneath confirms sun damage rather than dirt.
Start the engine from cold
Ask that a petrol mower or trimmer has not been run that morning. Pull the cord slowly and feel for a firm compression stroke, because a cord that pulls almost freely means worn rings; then let it idle and watch for blue smoke, a note that rises and falls on its own, or a machine that will only run on choke.
Check under the mower deck
Tip the machine with the carburettor side up and look at the underside of the deck for rust holes and at the blade for chips and a bent edge. With the plug lead off, spin the blade by hand and watch the shaft, because a wobble means a bent crankshaft and that finishes the machine.
Open and close the parasol
Work the crank or pulley through its full travel twice, checking the rib joints where the aluminium rivets sit. Pull gently at the canopy stitching by each rib tip, since sun-rotted fabric tears at the seam instead of stretching, and a replacement canopy for an older frame is rarely possible to match.
Inspect burners and gas hoses
On a gas grill or patio heater, look into the burner tubes for rust flakes and blocked ports, and at the firebox floor for burn-through. Bend the flexible hose in your hands: hardened or cracked hose and a corroded regulator are safety items rather than cosmetic ones, and nothing else about the appliance is worth judging until they are sound.
Stihl garden & outdoor — questions
Is a used Stihl chainsaw a safe buy?
What is the difference between a used Stihl MS 170 and an MS 250?
Other garden & outdoor brands
Selling one instead? We buy used Stihl garden & outdoor for cash.