just gave up on my Husky 350

[chuckwood]

Two chain oiler pumps in a row locked up on me and destroyed the plastic pinion gear. I cleaned everything thoroughly.
Cleaned the bar, the tank, everything. The pump worked fine for about five minutes and then failed. I just left it at the saw shop, maybe they can figure it out. The only thing else I could think of is the tank vent. I spent a lot of time looking for it,
looking up forum posts, and couldn't get the information as to how to find it and clean it. I rarely give up on a saw, but this one didn't work out. And now the saw shop tells me that they are backed up three or four weeks so I have a long wait.
Got two more saws with bad crank seals, an echo CS-4600 that I can't find parts for (another chain oiler problem). Looks like its time to go shopping for more saws! I figure once I get about a dozen or so, I'll have a few that are actually ready to go to work........

 

[atlarge54]

PM sent. I'm still looking for a good 45mm jug.

 

[rmh3481]

Chuckwood,
Dont get too bent out of shape. When things are difficult, that is when you learn something new.

On the Echo 4600, what does the Piston & Cyl look like?
Crank Seal part numbers are, clutch side: 10021232430. Ignition side: 10021219830
Get them local for around $5 each.

 

[towingace]

If the shop is going to take that long to get started on it you should tell them to forget it. More than likely, somebody on here could
give you some tips and guidance.

I know you said you tried looking up some forum posts, but if you started a new thread on the subject , I'm guessing there would be all kinds of expertise on here eager to help you.

 

[sunfish]

The 350 is likely the best plastic homeowner saw ever made. Get it from the shop and fix it yourself. They evidently did something wrong.

 

[CbusRog]

Don't give up on the 350 if it otherwise runs fine. The oil tank vent is near the oil pump, underneath the stainless steel chain guard plate. It's just a tiny orifice from what I recall when I replaced the oil pump on my 353. Parts Tree shows a part number for it on the 350, depending on the model year, so in theory it should be replaceable. Whether it is threaded or press-fitted is anyone's guess. If it's slotted for a screw driver one would assume it's threaded.

In any event, and I don't know this for sure, it is unlikely that there is a check valve in the vent. The orifice seems small enough to prevent bar oil from leaking, yet large enough to relieve tank vacuum. You might try carefully probing it with a thin wire to dislodge any suspected debris.

My workshop manual for the 340, 345, 346XP, 350, 351, 353 does allude that the oil pump is lubricated with bar oil, but makes no mention of the vent. It does stand to reason that if the vent is blocked, no oil can flow and the pump could seize.

Also, check the plummet and filter. And one more afterthought, which probably should have been a forethought, were you getting any oil on the bar with the last pump that went bad?

 

[chuckwood]

350 oil pump issue

Don't give up on the 350 if it otherwise runs fine. The oil tank vent is near the oil pump, underneath the stainless steel chain guard plate. It's just a tiny orifice from what I recall when I replaced the oil pump on my 353. Parts Tree shows a part number for it on the 350, depending on the model year, so in theory it should be replaceable. Whether it is threaded or press-fitted is anyone's guess. If it's slotted for a screw driver one would assume it's threaded.

In any event, and I don't know this for sure, it is unlikely that there is a check valve in the vent. The orifice seems small enough to prevent bar oil from leaking, yet large enough to relieve tank vacuum. You might try carefully probing it with a thin wire to dislodge any suspected debris.

My workshop manual for the 340, 345, 346XP, 350, 351, 353 does allude that the oil pump is lubricated with bar oil, but makes no mention of the vent. It does stand to reason that if the vent is blocked, no oil can flow and the pump could seize.

Also, check the plummet and filter. And one more afterthought, which probably should have been a forethought, were you getting any oil on the bar with the last pump that went bad?

I got my saw back from the shop to fiddle with it some more.
I did find what must be the oil tank vent. It's a round metal plug about 1/4 inch in diameter, with a small orifice in the center. There's no driver slot on it and I assume it's pressed in. I tried to ream it out, and my reamer only went in maybe 1/8 inch and then hit something very solid. Maybe it makes a sharp bend at that point and I hit a corner or something. There's no way I know of to remove that metal plug without damaging something.

I washed the tank out with kerosene, refilled it, and when I turned the saw over with the tank up, oil flowed out of the hole where the pump intake fits. So I know the line and filter aren't blocked.

With the last two pumps that went bad, I got good oil flow on the bar for some minutes, and then the pump seized. I think it highly unlikely that I bought two bad pumps in a row. I'm still stumped, and I'll probably take it back to the shop. I don't feel inclined to burn up a third pump.

I've been cutting for years with no oil pump problems until a couple years ago when I found some bar oil at Home Depot that was marked down to 10% of the original price. I bought 8 quart bottles of the stuff, made by Green Earth Technologies, and thought what a deal! Then I found out why they were selling it out so cheap. Some of it turned into a hard paraffin like substance, and locked up the pumps on 5 saws. Two were cheap box store saws and there seemed to be no way to get to the oil pumps without splitting the cases. Junked 'em. A husky, a Stihl, and an Echo CS-4600 were the other victims, but I just replaced the pumps. My Husky 350 never saw any of the "Green Oil" - but now it's got big oiler problems. My Echo is about ready to go but I lost a special washer that goes under the pump, and now the clutch won't engage the pinion, too much slop in there without the washer. I finally found that washer online, ordered it, and in the mail I received an empty plastic bag with no washer. I lost momentum on the Echo. I'm waiting for a parts saw to show up on Ebay. The 25 bucks I thought I saved at HD ended up costing at least ten times that in parts and time.

Now I feel that God has chosen to punish me for some reason by messing up all my pumps.

 

[chuckwood]

gettin' bent

Chuckwood,
Dont get too bent out of shape. When things are difficult, that is when you learn something new.

On the Echo 4600, what does the Piston & Cyl look like?
Crank Seal part numbers are, clutch side: 10021232430. Ignition side: 10021219830
Get them local for around $5 each.

The Echo runs great, I'm just missing a hard to find washer for the oiler. Nearly all the parts suppliers listed the
washer as no longer available. There is a different oiler setup that doesn't use that washer on 4600 models
with higher serial numbers than mine. I may just have to forget about the new pump I bought for it and try to
install a pump setup for the newer 4600's. Thanks for the crank seal info, sooner or later I'll be needing seals.

 

[nenicu]

Look in the oil tank whit a light for accumulation on the walls . The filter might be bloked after a little run time.

 

[spike60]

Got a feeling that something might be mismatched or not lined up correctly.

First need to be sure the shop is giving you the correct pump gear. 503892202 is the correct gear for a 350 with a spur sprocket. There are 4 gears used on this chassis, and mixing and matching can cause some problems. The metal cased saws use a gear that is not as deep as the plastic case saws. The other 3 gears are:

503892103-346 with rim sprocket. Can also be used on a 351/353 with rim set up.

503892002- This came on 351/353 equipped with spur sprockets, and could be used on a 346.

503931801- Used on the 340/345, as well as the newer 445/450. (all with the non-adjustable oilers) These gears have a metal wire wrap for gear teeth. On these saws, the plastic pump piston fails rather than the gear. Only a $6 item.

 

[4492011]

So which gear would you use on a 350 for rim sproket?

 

[CbusRog]

Oregon shows the same part number for their drum/rim kit for the 353 and 350. PartsTree lists the same oil pump for both the 353 and 350, so it stands to reason that the same pinion for the 351/353 would work for a rim setup on the 350.

I too thought about an interference between parts, but the difference is fairly obvious between a rim-drum pinion and a spur-drum pinion. Either pinion should screw right in with no effort, but match the drum drive-protrusions. That's not to say someone couldn't install the wrong pinion and just crank everything down. But you'd think one would see something amiss (debris, scoring, stripped teeth, #etc.) when replacing the first and second oil pump.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[chuckwood]

my Husky 350

Oregon shows the same part number for their drum/rim kit for the 353 and 350. PartsTree lists the same oil pump for both the 353 and 350, so it stands to reason that the same pinion for the 351/353 would work for a rim setup on the 350.

I too thought about an interference between parts, but the difference is fairly obvious between a rim-drum pinion and a spur-drum pinion. Either pinion should screw right in with no effort, but match the drum drive-protrusions. That's not to say someone couldn't install the wrong pinion and just crank everything down. But you'd think one would see something amiss (debris, scoring, stripped teeth, #etc.) when replacing the first and second oil pump.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

I took this saw back to the saw shop, hopefully they'll figure out a way to fix it. I'm pretty sure the parts I installed were identical to the original factory pump and pinion. I've dealt with gas tank vents being plugged up before, I never thought about oil tanks having vents. But it makes sense. If you develop a vacuum in the oil tank, the pump will eventually run with no lubrication and then seize up and trash the pinion. In the repairs I did, everything seemed to fit and run smoothly at first, I was getting good oil flow for a while.