Thread: 394 leaking chain oil

Hi everyone, this is my first post. i guess i'll give a quick intro, you can skip it if i ramble and go straight to the question. i turn 22 in on april 29th. i've worked summers and weekends in the bush for just over 2 years. up until now i did forest engineering on vancouver island, but i just got on forest fire fighting. new recruit training camp's in a little over a week. i'm going to college and i'm taking business (yeah...boring). i want to get my degree for sure, but i'm on the fence about whethere to use it or not. i love working in the bush and couldn't picture myself doing anything else. i've used chainsaws lots (firewood and so forth), but i didn't own one until recently. i bought a used husky 394xp because i used one working for my friend's dad and loved the saw right from the start.

The question: my saw drops chain oil when its sitting. I picked it up today and there was a little 2" x 2" puddle of chain oil. I asked my friend's dad about it and he said his does that too. is this normal? how can i stop it from leaking? someone said to pull the cord because of the way the oiler works if the crank is sitting at a certain place it will let oil leak. i tried that and i'll see if there's a puddle tomorrow...thanks for any input! oh yeah i can't see where its coming from, but its somewhere by the drive sprocket. i'm also wondering if it might be the oil adjustment bolt...the oil is kinda spread out and runs along the bottom of the saw.
-gavin

Oil leak is probably pressure build up in the tank forcing the oil to lower pressure ie out of the saw. Easy solution is to open the tank up a few hours afer use and normaly you hear the air escaping and that solves the problem. My 365 does it all the time.

I've doing my degree in geography at the moment got a few months left i'm not i know i'm not going to use it. I want to go into arb work which i wouldn't have discovered without doing a degree it just means now i have to do an extra 2 years of study or so to get into that.

Just leave the saw on its side so the fill caps are facing up. That usually prevents oil from leaking out of the saw for some reason. I usually store all of my saw like that.

Hi Gavin, welcome to the site, I am above you, up on the Charlottes. Oil leaks out of saws, no big deal, I used a 394, good saw. I just put them on the floor, not on the side cause someone could step on it, drop something on it and bend the bar. Someone could gash thier ankle on it, like your dog. Usually I throw my falling pants on the bar if its in a vehicle or where people, animals are.

well i looked today and so far no puddle. i think pulling the start cord so it was sitting at different position might have helped. or maybe it hasn't been sitting long enough to drop oil. anyways thanks a lot for the input.

Like Brushcutter said, it has to do with the pressure buildup in the tank when it is hot. The starter cord, is just a fluke. The oil pump is gear driven, and will seep no matter where the engine rotation sits.

Try this after runnig your saw. As soon as you are done cutting with it, lossen the oil cap. This will help vent it. You don't have to leave the cap loose, just loosen it and then put the cap back on. Also, doing this right before you put it away will help alleviate the leaking.

But, all saws leak. It is part of the way they are designed. Gravity makes oil run out. Also, you will have some oil that remains on the sprocket, chain and bar that will leak when it sits. As long as it isn't leaking the entire tanks worth, then it is normal to leak.

-Steve

I bought my 394XP brand new 12 ?? or so years ago and it has leaked just like that the whole time - I have never worried about it. I have never had to do anything to that saw besides routine maintenance BTW- one of the best I have ever had.

thanks for the info guys, greatly appreciated. so far i'm really impressed with this site and the people on the forum.
-gavin