8" chainsaw - won't start twice in a row, have to remove and reseat battery between each trigger pull
I've had this saw for about a year and use it for my winter work, it's been a real money maker for me. It's light, easy to use one handed, and sized perfectly for the job I'm doing. About 3 weeks ago it started occasionally acting up and is now doing this consistently. It's started seriously slowing me down so I'm looking for solutions or, if needed, to buy a new one.
Basically every time I reseat the battery I get a single trigger pull and the saw runs fine, but if I release the trigger and pull it a second time the motor jerks like it's trying to start and then stops. A third pull and nothing happens. When I remove and reseat the battery it seems to reset and the first trigger pull gets the saw moving great once again.
I mainly use two 8ah 20v XR batteries with the saw, which work fine on my other tools. When I use different ah batteries I own the same thing happens.
This is actually the second 8" saw, when I first started doing this work last winter I got one that stopped working within 2 days of purchase. I was able to replace it at the store I purchased from after their tech couldn't figure out what went wrong (small non-chain hardware store). I'd go back but I'm a state away doing this work and an hour from the closest hardware store.
A few things to note: - I'm working in the snow and the cold. I do my best to keep the tool out of contact with the snow but it does happen.
I keep it relatively clean, though I'll admit to not cleaning out the chain cover after every work day. I don't let it get too caked up in there.
I did open it up and look for any obvious issues but saw none, as well as to clean inside the clamshell. There was definitely some caked sawdust and general grime where the motor vents but nothing extreme. Cleaning did nothing to help. Yes, I know I probably voided the warranty.
Any thoughts on what it could be? My uneducated guess is the problem's in the computer and reseating the battery resets the tool so I'm not particularly hopeful on fixing it.