Troubleshooting my M18 Sawzall

[Fugio]

I have an M18 Sawzall and am having some trouble. It always works great for pruning our shrubs around the house with pruning blades.

But yesterday, in the middle of the job, it lost more than half of its power and rpm's.
It doesn't sound strange or do anything else weird. It just has zero power. I have 4 Red Lithium batteries and they work 100% in my other tools, so I'm sure it's not the battery.

So right now my sawzall can't even cut through a half inch thick limb.
Any idea what might be wrong? Is there something inside that I need to service?
Thanks!

 

[LB-1911]

Have you attempted to clean the contacts of the saw?

 

[Fugio]

Nope! You think that might be the issue? Could dirty contacts make it do this suddenly?

I got the thing used, so I didn't get an owners manual. So if I'm supposed to clean them regularly, I wouldn't know.

I guess I'll try cracking it open and taking a look.

 

[Ign]

Date code? Eligible to just send in for warranty?

 

[LB-1911]

Milwaukee 2620-20 M18 Manual @
http://demandware.edgesuite.net/aae.../miln2620-20/documents/miln2620-20_manual.pdf

 

[Fugio]

Hey, did you mean to clean the battery contacts, or did you mean the motor contacts. I'm not sure if that's a serviceable motor or not.

Where's the date code? Is that part of the serial number?

Thanks for the owner's manual link!!!

 

[LB-1911]

Clean the male battery connectors on the saw.

Milwaukee Date Code explained @
http://pacificnail.com/makita-date-code-milwaukee-date-code/

 

[Milton Shaw]

Are you sure you didn't move the speed control that is on most of Milwaukee's. If it does not have one and uses the trigger for speed control that it is probably trashed.

 

[tarbellb]

Are you sure you didn't move the speed control that is on most of Milwaukee's. If it does not have one and uses the trigger for speed control that it is probably trashed.

This ^. Look for a dial/knob for speed control. If no, then likely a bum chip or dirty battery terminals.

 

[Fugio]

Nope, no speed control. It's trigger dependent.

 

[Ign]

I'm also wondering about trigger as the culprit. I mean they're variable speed, no? If your trigger's getting flakey it might act like 1/2 throttle even at WOT?

But if it's within 5 years I'd just send it in, Milwaukee will pay the shipping to them also.

 

[Fugio]

Well, I talked to Milwaukee and they emailed me and said it's under warranty. It's 18 months old.

So I took it to their service center and the guy said nope, 12 months is the warranty cut-off for these. But I showed him the email and he made a few calls and got it approved anyway, which is good because it's a hundred dollar repair! Yikes!

And FYI, Ign and others were correct, it's the switch that has gone bad. $100 to replace a switch!!! Thank goodness for warranties!

Now I just have to wait a couple of weeks because they had to order the part. Grrrr!

 

[Mohawk Dave]

Why the heck did he say 12 months?!?! Isn't it common knowledge these things are 5 years?

 

[dnschmidt]

The service guy was trying to rob you. Everybody on planet Earth knows that all Milwaukee tools come with a 5 year warrantee. They put this in big letters on every box they sell.

 

[Ign]

Unless it was initially recon....

 

[Fugio]

Hmmm, very strange then! Maybe the switch going bad is considered normal wear and tear?
This one wasn't reconditioned for certain. But I believe it was the floor model at HD. I wonder if that makes any difference?

 

[Ign]

Either way I bet if you looked up the switch at ereplacementparts.com you'd find 80% of that $100 was labor.

I've not replaced a switch on a recip saw, but if it's like drills and grinders, a chimp could almost do it.