Hi all, no it does not idle much, and I keep it sharp, so not loading it up or pushing hard on it, but yes, the clutch drum is discoloured too. The bearing is dry cos I'd just washed it out in gas.
I am meticulous about keeping the chain very sharp, and bar groove/oil hole clean, although it does have a stupid small oil hole in the bar, I might try to enlarge it a a little. I run Stihl bar and chain oil which is fairly runny. But I never overload it, here in NZ I cut mainly Pine which would be considered a softwood.
I've taken it off a few times and washed it, lubricated with high pressure grease too..I'm blown away by it, have ordered a new one so will have to inspect it a lot more often. But I take care of this saw (cost me $2500 here) and never push hard or overload it so I'm dumbfounded.
Cheers guys, out of interest is there a better quality bearing available than the Stihl one? The 038 has a steel caged bearing, yet this is plastic? Cost cutting maybe?