Stihl Carburetor

[Nate Surveyor]

I keep a Stihl 017 saw on my 4-wheeler.  Well, it started running poorly, and I sprayed carb cleaner through it. It ran worse. I took it to my local Stihl dealer, and he said I had ruined the carb with carb cleaner. He put a new carb on it, and it ran fine.
My questions are: What is going on here? Is there really some kind of parts in these that carb cleaner ruins, and if so, I'd like to learn about it. It is some sort of auto adjust carb. It is called  an "IntelliCarb™ compensating carburetor"
Are these carbs user servicable, or not?

I think this saw is about 4 yrs old. Thanks for any replies. N

[Saw Dr.]

I do not know what cleaner you put in the carb, but I doubt it ruined anything.  High pressure air will foul the check valves if you hit it with an air hose.  Most Stihl dealers will not fool with carburetors anymore.  The price of troubleshooting plus the cost of a kit usually approaches the cost of a new carb.  They pretty much just change carbs out.  Those 170 and 180 carbs are a strange bunch.  They have NO adjustment on them except idle speed.

The "intellicarb" name gets everyone.  There is no intelligent anything on there.  All intellicarb entails is a port open from the air filter into the back of the metering diaphragm on the carb.  Should the filter become partially contaminated, the lower pressure air inside will act on the diaphragm and lean out the mixture slightly.  For those who maintain their filters properly it does absolutely nothing.

[Al_Smith]

If you pull that little rubber nipple off the intetellicarb going to the air filter and vent it to atmosphere it becomes just as stupid as the rest of them . Well actually a little more stupid because the large vent hole lets more fine dust in the atmosphere side than a normal vent cover .