In this video I’m working on an old STIHL 026 chainsaw that’s been sitting for many, many years, and right away it doesn’t feel right when I pull it over. I walk you through how I diagnose a used saw like this—especially the kind you guys pick up at auctions, yard sales, or classifieds where you can’t always inspect it properly. I point out the obvious red flags (wrong cheap air filter that doesn’t fit right, lots of dirt, wear underneath, and the usual used-saw reality that bar and chain can be a write-off), then I go into what I check next: fuel, compression feel, and how it behaves when you try to start it. What surprised me is it actually ran, even though the compression “feel” was awful and it was making weird noises. I show how I had to adjust the carb (L and H screws) just to get it to idle and rev properly, and why low compression or internal damage can make carb tuning a moving target. After a quick cutting test, I pull the muffler and you can clearly see scoring on the piston—big trouble, even if it starts and even if a gauge shows decent compression (this one hit around 150 PSI). My takeaway: don’t get fooled by “it runs” or even a compression number—do the quick pull-cord drop test, and if you’re unsure, pull the muffler and look. With scoring like this, my advice is run it AS-IS until it quits and treat it as a parts saw, not a full rebuild.