best bar oil

[Stihl Alive]

I've always heard never to use motor oil in a saw, but I visited an "Elite Super Duper Stihl Dealer" a few miles from where I work and he advised me to. My chains continue to have wood "melted" on to the links after cutting thick trunks. Also some of the lsprocket hooks on one chain had a blue tint. My normal dealer said the chain is not getting enough oil and is over heating. He told me that sooner or later this will temper the chain and make it harder to keep sharp and eventually break. The powerheads are pumping oil fine, and I keep the bars and oil holes clean religiously. I usually sharpen the chain, soak it in some purple power cleaning solution, then wash it with a hose, dry it, and soak it in oil for a couple of hours. But the Stihl rep at the "Elite" dealer told me that motor oil will keep the chain 25% cooler, but would of course run through much faster as it doesn't have the tackiness of normal bar and chain oil. He said as long as I kept an eye on my oil levels there was no problem with using motor oil.


your thoughts?

 

[OilHead]

It's been discussed before . Conclusion was just cough up the :censored: $ 15.00 a gal for the stihl.

 

[bump_r]

Were you using bar oil or engine oil when your chain woes occurred? If you were using engine (non-spec'd lube), well, "there you go". If you were, however, using actual bar oil and developed problems, I'd look for oiler adjustment or pinched rails. What model saw? what type of cutting (long hard pulls or light limbing or somewhere in between?

 

[bump_r]

It's been discussed before . Conclusion was just cough up the :censored: $ 15.00 a gal for the stihl.

Should we check with Gary just to be sure?:monkey:

 

[OilHead]

Do you clean your bar groove? How long of bar & what kind of chain ? Is the oiler turned up. Have you been making face cuts with it, to much to list..

 

[Octane]

You can pay more for Stihl bar oil if you want, but Ive never seen where Stihl bar oil works any better than any other bar oil.
I simply wait until Poulan bar oil goes on sale at the local Farm and Fleet and stock up for $8 a gallon.

 

[Poley4]

You can pay more for Stihl bar oil if you want, but Ive never seen where Stihl bar oil works any better than any other bar oil.
I simply wait until Poulan bar oil goes on sale at the local Farm and Fleet and stock up for $8 a gallon.

:agree2:

 

[67 Mustang]

If you can't wait for a sale, check out your local Walmart. The one closest to me here in NC has Poulan oil for $5 + change/gal.

Steve

 

[scootr]

I have been using the bar oil that Auto Zone sells for 8 bucks a gallon. The stuff is very tacky, seems to stay on chain better than Stihl or Husky. Give it a try, I think you'll like it.

 

[Rusty99]

As many have said before, doesn't make sense to cheap out on bar oil to save yourself $5-$10 on a $500+ chainsaw.

Personally its not worth the risk to me. I could see using cheapo oil if you have a P.O.S saw that you don't care about. If you have good tools and your treat them well, they will last you a long time. Buy the Stihl Bar oil or something equivalent and be done with it.

Just my 2 cents

Question? Why doesn't Husky make their own bar oil, or do they?

Rusty

 

[wigglesworth]

What do you run in your new truck, do you run premium all the time or regular? I think it is a matter of choice, yea the premium is better, but the regular gets the job done. Just user preference. my .02

 

[67 Mustang]

Yeh, Husky has bar oil. They sell it at Lowe's around here. Probably at the service shops too.

Steve

 

[Justsaws]

S.A.-, without knowing your saws particulars there are some saws oilers that work better with a thinner oil.

Instead of new motor oil you might try and find a 30wt/winter bar lube or simply thin your existing stock of oil with kerosene or something similar. The tack is still there and they will flow better.

In general a sharp maintained chain seems to fix a lot of oiler issues.

 

[2dogs]

You need the tackyness that makes bar oil bar oil. Motor oil has a different purpose. Check out the bulk oil dealers for bar oil like Chevron. If you don't like the price then you may as well run spill oil, also from your local bulk jobber.

 

[Jacob J.]

:agree2:

Used motor oil also has acidic properties to it that will not do your oil pump any favors. If it's price you're worried about and buying bulk oil doesn't work for you, you could try mixing some good stuff about 50/50 with the cheapest 30wt motor oil you can find, before it's gone through an engine of course.

 

[Poley4]

As many have said before, doesn't make sense to cheap out on bar oil to save yourself $5-$10 on a $500+ chainsaw.

Personally its not worth the risk to me. I could see using cheapo oil if you have a P.O.S saw that you don't care about. If you have good tools and your treat them well, they will last you a long time. Buy the Stihl Bar oil or something equivalent and be done with it.

Just my 2 cents

Question? Why doesn't Husky make their own bar oil, or do they?

Rusty

I can hardly see the risk of ruining a $500 saw with cheap bar oil. It doesn't lube anything but the bar and chain. I have used the stuff from Wal-Mart for years with no ill effects.

 

[MS460WOODCHUCK]

I can hardly see the risk of ruining a $500 saw with cheap bar oil. It doesn't lube anything but the bar and chain. I have used the stuff from Wal-Mart for years with no ill effects.

The tech 2000 bar oil from wally world is good oil for summer, not for winter. That stuff won't even pour out of the bottle at 20%. So I just stick with STIHL.

 

[Stihl Alive]

I'm using Stihl oil. Its a relatively new 441 25" bar. Some limbing, mostly cutting the trunks up. I've made a few face cuts with it. The oiler is turned up all the way. I sharpen by hand after every fill up (cleaning the bar and oiler holes and flupping the bar over every 2nd sharpenning). I don't mind paying for quality oil, I just want to find out why my chain is getting that hot and the tree is sticking to it so badly. If I'm doing something wrong I want to fix it before I ruin a chain or bar or worse.



Thanks for the input guys.

 

[kissfan113]

I hope someone can shed some light here too, I have a brand new ms460 with a 20" Stihl ES bar, oiler turned wide open (the whole 1/4 turn they give you), stihl chain, I've run Stihl and Poulan oil and have the same issue you have, brown colored residue on the chain, I keep my saw cleaned religiously, Blow it out every night, dismantle the saw and clean the bar and chain every 2 days, It happens sometimes and sometimes it doesn't, and It will occour on both green and seasoned wood, so I'm feeling a bit lost, acts almost like the oiler refuses to put out enough oil most the time but then from, time to time it will oil enough....

 

[Slamm]

I can hardly see the risk of ruining a $500 saw with cheap bar oil. It doesn't lube anything but the bar and chain. I have used the stuff from Wal-Mart for years with no ill effects.

I agree, people run motor oil for years with little if any consequence. I'm not advocating it, but they do it. That is on the cheap end of the spectrum. Others run the most expensive and nothing happens.

I have run stihl, walmart, jonsered and husky. I ran the walmart stuff for 1.5 years without any noticed effects either positive or negative. I ran a lot of Walmart oil during the summer of 2006 it was 14+ hours of cutting per day and 90 plus degrees, I ran it all summer and nothing happened.

I can't say I have ever used motor oil, so I have no experience there, but whether or not cheap bar oil is any better than expensive bar oil remains to be seen by me. My chains aren't blue, they are not broke, wore out or failing me.

My bars, (Stihl and GB's) last a long time, so while it doesn't matter if anyone else wants to spend extra money on bar oil, I personally haven't observed any reason why you would.

My opinion your money,

Sam