How much bar oil is enough?

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ColoCoug

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I recently picked up a used Husky 440 which runs great. I cleaned it up, put a new chain on it and have yet to cut with it. But I noticed that when I hold it over a piece of cardboard and blip the motor up and down for a minute, I don't get any visible bar oil thrown off the chain as it moves.

With the saw off, I determined that there is lube on the chain, and I pulled the bar to confirm that the oil feed holes are clear and the oil feed slot next to the bar has lube. So I'm getting lube to the bar, but not a lot of it.

Is there any rule for how much oil I should be getting on the bar?
 
Some say 1:1 ratio, meaning one tank of fuel to one tank of bar oil. Personally I think that’s ridiculous. I’ve got a couple old Poulans that will run at that ratio with the oil pumps turned up all the way. Anyway, make sure your oil pickup screen in the oil tank is clean. You should definitely be getting some oil sling off the tip of the bar, but it’s not gonna be a whole lot. 440 is a homeowner saw with non adjustable oil pump.
 
Manual states 9 ml or cc per min at 8500 rpm, or basically at the normal cutting speed. See attached kink, page 11.

Lots of variables like temp, lube brand & viscosity, etc., but worth a test to see the output running with the bar off. Try a 15 second burst & see if you get 2-3 cc, as I don’t suggest running it WOT unloaded for a full minute.

A standard size cattle shot syringe is 10cc.

https://manualzz.com/doc/54724774/husqvarna-435--435e--440e-workshop-manual
 
I recently picked up a used Husky 440 which runs great. I cleaned it up, put a new chain on it and have yet to cut with it. But I noticed that when I hold it over a piece of cardboard and blip the motor up and down for a minute, I don't get any visible bar oil thrown off the chain as it moves.

With the saw off, I determined that there is lube on the chain, and I pulled the bar to confirm that the oil feed holes are clear and the oil feed slot next to the bar has lube. So I'm getting lube to the bar, but not a lot of it.

Is there any rule for how much oil I should be getting on the bar?
1 tank oil per 2 tanks fuel. Every saw. 50 yrs.
You are expecting to more than offered.

In this particular case, those small Husqvarnas sold cheap. Many have a "R" brand on the underside.
What oil flows is what oil flows.......and its got to be bar oil. Nothing else will answer your "see" mystery.
 
Good advice here. I solved the mystery with your guys' info and the help of a couple of YouTube videos.

First I removed the bar and determined that there wasn't any real oiling going on. So I watched a couple of videos and determined that the problem was most likely some kind of failure in the oil pump system. The oil pickup in the bar oil tank looked clean so it wasn't the culprit.

This video was very helpful:



I found that my problem was identical to that in the video. The drive for the worm gear at the base of the sprocket was worn out and burned. The worm gear was not being driven by the sprocket because there was nothing left for the notches on the back of the sprocket to drive. Also, the drive on the horizontal portion of the oil pump was stripped. The sprocket had enough chain wear that although it would still work, I decided to replace it as well.

Parts are on order and I'll probably have it together in the next week or two, depending on delivery time.
 
After waiting weeks for three parts ordered from one dealer, I gave up and split the order three ways. The sprocket came from Amazon in 36 hours, and that one item was $20 less than the parts dealer. That paid for the separate shipping on the worm gear and the oil pump driven by the worm gear. No one had all three but each was in stock at various sites.

I have two of the three parts in hand, and the worm gear is due tomorrow. Hopefully that will work and I'll have it working. We also have guests coming in tomorrow and that may slow me down on trying it out.
 
With the saw off, I determined that there is lube on the chain, and I pulled the bar to confirm that the oil feed holes are clear and the oil feed slot next to the bar has lube.
First I removed the bar and determined that there wasn't any real oiling going on

So in your initial assessment was this just oil making its way through due to gravity?
 
So in your initial assessment was this just oil making its way through due to gravity?
I'd say that there was some oil trapped around the chain and it was just enough to be felt.

I just got it back together, tried it and still no oiling. This time I'll blow out the oil passage to the bar oil, and I have a spare worm gear and oil pump coming.

I also discovered that the "chain guide plate" which screws onto the body on the engine side and protects the oil delivery tube is very bent up, especially the circular opening around the worm gear. In just a minute of run time it scored the edge of the worm gear pretty badly. I tried correcting the guide with a hammer but no joy. I don't need the saw in the next few days, so I ordered a replacement - of course, at $7 for the guide, the shipping cost more than the part.

This is one of those cases where there's damage to more than one small part, and it's a trial of patience to get to the actual cause and correct it.
 
Well, now I have a new worm gear, oil pump assembly, and a chain guide plate. It seems odd but the chain guide plate has kind of trimmed the worm gear down to the diameter of its opening...but it's working. Ss all parts in the bar oiling unit are new except the rubber oil delivery unit that presses into the body of the saw.

I've cleared the rubber oil delivery unit, blown air through the bar oil container and confirmed both are free of obstruction. The oil pump is turning and delivering oil, but not very darn much! SO I'm back to my original question - how much is enough?

The photo shows just specs of oil that were thrown off the chain running it over some newspaper for about a minute. There sure isn't very much, and it's definitely not a "streak" or visible line of oil. The oil thrown off is in a vertical line to the right of the sunglasses in the ad. Remember, this was the oil shed by running the saw for a full minute and varying the engine speed.

The saw cuts just fine, and in cutting through an old 10" log it shows no signs of heat on the bar or chain. My inclination is to use it and see how it does. I guess the worst that could happen is to wear out the bar.

What are your thoughts? I don't see what else I can do to improve the oil delivery.

Oil marks Husky chainsaw.jpg
 

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