Chain oil v motor oil for the bar? Noob question.

[Rainman72]

Hello,
My user manual says to use 30-40w motor oil as chain oil, its from the mid 80's Shindaiwa 500.
so would chain bar oil better than what is recommended in the manual?
Any input appreciated.

 

[lone wolf]

Well bar oil would be better because it uses tacky additives to make it stick better.

 

[Cycledude]

Yes

 

[AVB]

This can be a can of worms. Personally I have always use SAE30ND for bar lube. I have doing it since the '80's. I even used oil drained from my cars on one McCullough saw when the oil pump failed and was non replaceable. Used motor does have things in it that can damage things so I would not normally use it. Now with that said I have used customer's saws here that had chain bar oil and it does have a much better tack agents but seems to me to make things messier as more dirt and trash seems to be sticking to everything.

Personally I would stick with the SAE30ND but that just my opinion.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Bar oil stays on and lubes better. My bar and chain used to heat up with motor oil. Stays much cooler with real bar oil.

 

[Conquistador3]

Economic considerations: a 2 liter can of Oregon branded bar oil is €5.80 at the local agri consortium. You'll be very hard pressed to find an engine oil, even a no-brand one sold in bulk, at under €5/liter. For me it's a no-brainer.

All chainsaws I saw with a bad oil pump, every single one of them, had been run at length on used engine oil. I am not talking about the usual worn worm gear but about the oil pump needing replacement. When I bought my present 290, I looked into the oil tank and saw some black goo sloshing at the bottom. I correctly assumed the oil pump wouldn't last long but stupidly didn't order a brand new pump right away, though the seller proved amenable to discounting the price of the oil pump. Now I am waiting for a new oil pump to turn up in the mail.

 

[jakethesnake]

Any clean oil will work I use tranny fluid when it's real real cold as the bar oil I have tends to get too thick to flow proper

 

[grizz55chev]

This is an argument that will never be answered, as many on this site will testify. Bar oil is cheap, used oil is even cheaper but using old oil puts your saws oiler at risk. Use what works for you. 30 works in a pinch.

 

[alderman]

I've run bar oil in lots of Shindaiwa saws including a dozen 500s without an issue.
I've been running them with a 32:1 fuel mix also even though the filter cap says 24:1.
Lots of years using Shindaiwa saws and this is what works for me.

I gave this one a good workout just this week.

 

[Skipper]

I've run used motor oil and bar oil, sometimes both of them mixed together.

I ran nothing but used motor oil in my MS270 for a few years, never had an issue once, cutting a little bit of everything not on a daily basis. I swore by it. Got into cutting and selling hardwood firewood, making lots of cuts, bought a Husky 365 special and running it hard for hours on end in the summer heat, and I found the motor oil wasn't doing it's job as well as bar oil.

Just my observation.

 

[fordf150]

motor oil will never lube a bar and chain as well as "bar oil" and in almost every instance bar oil is cheaper than motor oil, trans fluid, gear oil, or any other oil.

why would anyone ever use used motor oil as a bar lube? the contaminants/ metal shavings in used oil are hard on oil pumps, bars, chains. any money saved by using used motor oil is quickly spent on the early replacement of oil pumps, bars, and chains.

 

[C Dixon]

Try using Stihl Wood Cutters Bar and Chain Oil. I like it for winter use and it ain't to expensive. I use Itasca B&C oil in summer months. It has a lot of Paratac additive that makes it super tackey. And it is thicker than the Stihl oils. It also cost about 2 to 3 bucks a gallon less. Don't use burnt or used motor oils. I did for a short while they have acids , particles of carbon , and metal that can and will damage oil pumps , Bars and Chains. Not to mention combustion by products that are nasty for your health. The use of 30 w non detergent oil works really well especially in cold weather.

 

[Redgap]

Years ago a logger in Idaho taught me to run trans fluid as bar oil in the winter, and I liked the way the red color showed up when I checked to see if my saw was oiling. Now I pick it up cheap at garage/estate sales and mix it with bar oil all year round, so it flows better and still has color. When it's dead of winter in northern states, commercial bar oil is like STP. I figure if it can handle thousands of miles of heat and friction in a transmission,, what the heck.

 

[grizz55chev]

Years ago a logger in Idaho taught me to run trans fluid as bar oil in the winter, and I liked the way the red color showed up when I checked to see if my saw was oiling. Now I pick it up cheap at garage/estate sales and mix it with bar oil all year round, so it flows better and still has color. When it's dead of winter in northern states, commercial bar oil is like STP. I figure if it can handle thousands of miles of heat and friction in a transmission,, what the heck.

4+ yr old post, just so ya know!

 

[farmguywithasaw]

Bar oil good
Clean motor oil ok
Used motor oil BAD!

 

[Huskybill]

Inspect your bar while running used motor oil, chunks of metal will be missing on the rails. If I was running older bars I wouldn’t care. For wintertime cutting the used 10/40, motor oil is thin.

There is summer bar oil and winter bar oil. Winter bar oil is lighter. Summer bar oil is 30wt. If I’m using summer oil in the winter I thin the 30wt with kerosene. Or I use ATF auto trans fluid.

During the winter my saws are in a heated shop. They go from the shop to a warm truck. The bar oil is kept warm too.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Necro thread? Alright I'm in.

As far as the saw/bar/chain are concerned, I've never run anything that didn't work. ATF, new clean motor oil, hydraulic oil, vegetable oil, or bar oil, saw didn't seem to care.

In that regard, used motor oil would be fine too. Anything that'd harm your saw would destroy your engine too. If your drain pan is like mine, well there's your contaminant and damage issue.

I'd never run used motor oil as bar oil, though. A good chunk of bar oil is aerosolized by the chain moving 60+mph and then gets breathed in by the operator. What bar oil I run makes a bigger difference to how much my sinuses burn at the end of the day than what fuel and 2 stroke oil I run. If my options are used bar oil or nothing, I'm going with nothing or just not cutting that day. Clean oil is bad enough, I'd never run used. Vegetable oil was best, but what a mess it makes of the saw.

 

[Maintenance supervisor]

Used motor oil? If you can't afford at the very least unused oil what the hell are you buying a chainsaw for! Go get a job to buy oil!
Old thread hell yesssss.
I've mixed lucas oil treatment with non detergent 30wt for milling, it worked well but not as good as bar oil.