394XP oil leak after shutoff

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aquan8tor

ArboristSite Guru
Joined
Oct 3, 2006
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Location
Charlottesville/Crozet area, Virginia
After shutting it down and leaving it in one spot for more than a few hours--at least overnight; there's always a puddle of oil right in the sprocket/ bolt area. I've tried wiping it down & trying to see where the oil is coming from, but its an old saw, and I can't really tell. I've replaced the oiler cover plate, the chain guides, and a couple seals inside the oil pump. So, that's not leaking.
I don't think its coming from the oil adjuster screw, but I'm not sure. It sure does oil a lot even at the minimum setting, however. There's no apparent damage around the threads or the pins that hold it into the oilpump itself, though.
The local dealer and I tried to find the oil vent tube screen in the manual, and it isn't listed as having one. I guess smaller huskys have a vent opening somewhere in the front of the case, and under the muffler. He said if it is clogged, the pressure inside the case will keep pushing out more oil after shutoff.

Any 394 owners have this problem? I don't really care so much, but I'm building up quite an oil spot under my workbench in my shop, and fell on my duff the other day when I left it on the back stoop and didn't clean up the oil.

suggestions, please. I feel like a 'tard here. I'm not used to not being able to fix something. Ordinarily a little oil wouldn't bother me, but now I've tried to fix it, and I'm not gonna stop until its done.
 
After shutting down do you loosen the oil cap to releive pressure, then tighten it back down? My 025 puddles if I don't releive the pressure.

Chaser
 
The tank vent is located between the bar studs. Its a white plastic tube that runs all the way accross the tank and terminates by the oil filler cap. The end of the tube should be as close to the top of the tank as possible.
 
aquan8tor said:
I don't think its coming from the oil adjuster screw, but I'm not sure. It sure does oil a lot even at the minimum setting, however. There's no apparent damage around the threads or the pins that hold it into the oilpump itself, though.
.

I had the same problem on a 372 xp. Turned out that the oil adjuster screw was screwed out too far, due to limiter pin out of place and pin seating damage. The pump piston in that case overshoots the adjuster screw and does not function anymore, although the adjuster screw seems to be working properly. The fact that your pump produces a lot of oil at minimum setting may indicate that. You will have to dismantle the pump to see it. But I guess your dealer will have checked that, and I do not know if both saws share the same pump principle.
good luck.
roland
 
the cap opening-after shutoff does limit the amount of oil that leaks; this is why the dealer thought the vent was clogged. I've been doing the repair work on the saw though. I'm poor, or cheap. I'm a student, so I don't have much extra dough around. I got the saw for cheap, and knew I'd have to fix it a bit when I bought it. He said that was kind of a telltale sign for a clogged vent. As far as the pin in the oil pump, I'll open it up & check again. I did dismantle it according to the shop manual & rebuild it, but I could've put it back together wrong. It got better after replacing a seal in the oil pump, but it still pumps too much oil. It does increase the oil flow as the screw is adjusted, however, so I don't think the pin is stuck open. Still looking for an answer. Thanks for the suggestions.
 
My 395 has always been a bit of a bar oil puddler and when I ask the mechanica at Madsens where I bought it he said it was normal/common.

My new Dolmar 7900 is a puddler as well. I looked in the Dolmar manual and they said puddling is normal and not to consider it defective. Kind of interesting that they even mention it.....
 
thanks. I'm just going to live with it, I guess. I guess its better to have it when you need it than not be able to have enough oil. I had plenty when milling up a 28" crotch section of walnut. BTW, what's the saw/bar combo in your avatar?? big.
 
aquan8tor said:
thanks. I'm just going to live with it, I guess. I guess its better to have it when you need it than not be able to have enough oil. I had plenty when milling up a 28" crotch section of walnut. BTW, what's the saw/bar combo in your avatar?? big.

I just live with the puddling although it still annoys me and my other saws don't do it. I was a little disappointed that my brand new 7900 puddles as we.. I always put my saws on cardboard which I change occasionally. Once at Madsens I saw how they store saws they are working on. On a metal table with sloping surface to a cental area because of all the puddling saws.

The pic is my is my 066 with a 42 inch bar. Can't see it in that tiny pic, but that's what left of a 51 inch maple burl stump that all went home with me. The idea is the sword in the stone kind of think;I don't know if it comes across in such a small and cropped image. I've brought home stumps where that bar barely reached half way and I've needed to develop tricks to get rounds of that size dealt with, as I usually cut by myself after the heavy equipment is gone. Bill
 
The mighty dolmars leak?? say it isn't so. J/K. I used to do the cardboard thing; I can't remember what I took it to use it for. The metal table sounds like an autopsy/embalming table!! They slope to the center so that the blood runs to a drain.

Pic is great--sword in the stone! How the hell do you lift a stump that's 51 inches??!!? I've got a walnut that I'm thinking of cutting that's going to go anyway that is about 40", but just for about six feet, then it goes to a triple trunk 20-24". Its got some rot at the split--that's how I'm justifying cutting it :). All three trunks are straight for thirty feet!! I haven't used a BF calculator, but I'm hoping that and another one that might come down this winter in a storm will be enough to put flooring in a house that I'll buy or build someday. I love natural walnut.

I'll be milling up some big cherry this weekend that someone trespassed and cut on my family's land!! It looks like it partially fell in a storm--the root ball is somewhat exposed, & its got a big hollow inside, but there's a very suspicious 6-8 foot section missing that looks like it would've been the only perfectly straight section. I know someone that works there for the local mill. I'd ask, but I think it was him.

Whole lot of talk. sorry bout that. Happy sawing.
 
aquan8tor said:
The mighty dolmars leak?? say it isn't so. J/K. I used to do the cardboard thing; I can't remember what I took it to use it for. The metal table sounds like an autopsy/embalming table!! They slope to the center so that the blood runs to a drain.

Pic is great--sword in the stone! How the hell do you lift a stump that's 51 inches??!!? I've got a walnut that I'm thinking of cutting that's going to go anyway that is about 40", but just for about six feet, then it goes to a triple trunk 20-24". Its got some rot at the split--that's how I'm justifying cutting it :). All three trunks are straight for thirty feet!! I haven't used a BF calculator, but I'm hoping that and another one that might come down this winter in a storm will be enough to put flooring in a house that I'll buy or build someday. I love natural walnut.

I'll be milling up some big cherry this weekend that someone trespassed and cut on my family's land!! It looks like it partially fell in a storm--the root ball is somewhat exposed, & its got a big hollow inside, but there's a very suspicious 6-8 foot section missing that looks like it would've been the only perfectly straight section. I know someone that works there for the local mill. I'd ask, but I think it was him.

Whole lot of talk. sorry bout that. Happy sawing.

Mine does. I've still got small personal issues with my new 7900 but that darn thing has me hooked. Just plain like to run it.

I try to cut BIG stumps into "rounds" when I can't move them other ways. So if no machines around what I often to is make a full horizontal cut using wedges or running the bar backwards to fill the kerf so I don't need wedges. Arborist brother showed me that trick and pretty cool. Then I use my Granberg edger mill or whatever it is called , with saw vertical , and continue to cut up the round in place into big pie slices (side grain cutting). ONce I get pieces down to the 300# to 400# size I can usually manage them by hand and with a dolly. One of my dollies is the Sherrill green giant and supposedly is rated to 1500#, although it would take a small army to stand it up with 1500#.

That stump started out at maybe 6 ft and took me a few hours to block and take home in pieces. I also have a custom built trailer for hauling wood, very low with torsion axles for clearance. Its a slick setup which allows me to get wood that noone else wants to mess with.
 
That does sound like a sweet setup. I'm still a little unclear as to how you use the mini-mill thing (I have one too). Are you cutting along the top of the stump piece, or did you knock it over first? I'm just trying to visualize this. Neat idea. I'm just planning on blocking my walnut section in the woods and cutting 3" slabs--that's about the limit that me and one other person can carry up the hill to the road. I figure a 72x36" x3"thick section would weigh a couple hundred pounds or more green. I don't know what a cubic foot of walnut weighs on average when green.
 
aquan8tor said:
That does sound like a sweet setup. I'm still a little unclear as to how you use the mini-mill thing (I have one too). Are you cutting along the top of the stump piece, or did you knock it over first? I'm just trying to visualize this. Neat idea. I'm just planning on blocking my walnut section in the woods and cutting 3" slabs--that's about the limit that me and one other person can carry up the hill to the road. I figure a 72x36" x3"thick section would weigh a couple hundred pounds or more green. I don't know what a cubic foot of walnut weighs on average when green.

Yea, walnut is heavy wood.

Since what I am after is for woodturning I can get away with short (say 20 inch) rounds. My technique wouldn't work for boards, of course.

If a "round" is only say 5 or 6 hundred lbs I pry bar it off the stump so it sort of leans against the stump. Then i cut it some more from the side based on how I read the woodl

Once I was cutting on an honest 70 inch on the tape stump and it was in a golf course so the crew brought over a front loader and pushed the rounds onto their edges (standing up) that must have weighed around 1000 lbs. No way to even wiggle the round by hand. I had a ball plunge cutting out 20 inch cubes with my 395 and a 28inch bar. I wish I had a picture of that round as tall as me and turned to swiss cheeese from removing the cubes.

If a round is heavier than that, I make the full cut and then while the round is still in place, set the mini mill to the depth of the cut I made and after reading the wood for how I am going to use it in my work, I lay out lines and cut with the saw vertical on the round. Tried edge guides, but now just draw lines and use the mill free hand to the lines. Then I can manhandle the pieces.

If you ever need to draw accurate lines on cut wood wet or dry here's a tip that I find absolutely invaluable: The sanford no blot ink pencil is a wonder. It's a pencil that gets sharpend just like a pencil. It writes on dry surface just like a pencil, but equally writes on wet wood magically writing kind of like a soft ink pen. If you have do alot of layout on cut wood, you will thank me for that once you try it. Not kidding.
 
aquan8tor said:
thanks for the tip. I've never used a lathe, but maybe someday. I can't imagine blocking up a mass like that!! sounds like a lot of freakin' work.

/QUOTE]

I generally study the wood and trim it down and subdivide before turning. I rarely actually start on the lathe with a piece bigger than 150lbs. Just didn't want to give the impression I was turning 400lbs pieces, although there are those that do. The big pieces of wood give me the best choice of final grain orientation for the actual bowl. Bill
 

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