Oiler Adjustment - How Much Oil is Enough?

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leeave96

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When you adjust your oiler, how much adjustment is enough? What is your visual sign that enough oil is getting to the chain?

Thanks!
Bill
 
Visual reference is get the saw up to running temp and got to WOT for a couple of seconds with the bar tip aimed at a piece of wood/log... You should see the oil "spray" coming off the chain onto the wood.

If it's slingin' oil in stringy streams... it's too much... if it's barely showin' up on the log/wood... it's not enough. Adjust accordingly.

I believe the Stihl owners manuals tell you to do this... Not sure about other brands.

Gary
 
I was thinking that if you held the tip of the bar towards the ground over a visible flat surface, like a stump or piece of cardboard, that when you rev'd the engine you would see a slight spray of oil sling off the bar onto the surface. That's kind of what I see with my Stihl's, but my Echo CS-306 is a different story.

The Echo doesn't really sling oil, even with the oiler opened all the way up - except after it idles for a bit and then it hurls a good chunk of oil and after that nothing. I can't say it runs out of oil, but I have never seen a chainsaw with so much oil around the sprocket area after use - it is a mess, oil, wood dust and chips!

I'd like to dial it in a little closer. It may be that the stock chain doesn't do as good a job of moving oil on the bar as does the Stihl ones.

Thanks,
Bill
 
Sounds to me like the Echo's oil passages in the bar are a little gunked up... it's buildin' up at idle... but not goin' through durin' normal operation.

Take off the bar and chain, and give the bar groove between the rails a good cleanin' and make sure the oil hole is clear.

Gary
 
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Saws with a pulse driven oil pump, or gear drive off the crank shaft will tend to over oil if left idling for longer periods. Saws with the oil pump driven off the clutch will only oil while the chain is moving.

As noted, ideal conditions would be the bar oil tank lasting as long as the fuel, I have a couple of saws (036 and 066 Stihl) where this is normal, others seem to use a lot more or a lot less. The Jonsered in particular seem to run out of oil before the fuel is expended.

There was a great story in a thread a while back about holding the tip of the saw near his trailer tire to check for oil slinging off, needless to say when the throttle blipped the tip made contact with the tire, and no spare on hand...

Mark
 
The owners manual on Stihl and Dolmar says point the bar toward a stump,rev up the saw, and you should see a line of oil on the stump.

If I don't see that, then I start trying to find out why.I really like to see oil like the 026 or 112 puts on the bar, but these newer saws are not going to do that.
I have had saws pump oil but almost none showed up on the bar. One the oil hole in the bar was plugged. Another the oil hole on the bar was not drilled to match up with the saw body.

If your bar starts showing burn marks, you can be pretty sure the bar is not getting enough oil.
 
In comparison to bars and chains, bar oil is indeed realtively inexpensive.

On the other hand, plugging up the cooling fins in the cylinder, plugging up the clutch (and brake if so equipped), and coating the whole saw with a mix of sawdust and oil is not really desireable either.

If you ever have a chance to take apart an old horizontal saw that has been run with a combination of lots of oil and a dull chain and you may have to revise your thinking that you can't have too much.

Mark
 
Yip

Visual reference is get the saw up to running temp and got to WOT for a couple of seconds with the bar tip aimed at a piece of wood/log... You should see the oil "spray" coming off the chain onto the wood.

If it's slingin' oil in stringy streams... it's too much... if it's barely showin' up on the log/wood... it's not enough. Adjust accordingly.

I believe the Stihl owners manuals tell you to do this... Not sure about other brands.

Gary

+1 here... I used to use a tank to tank. I've since gone to about 1/2 to 5/8 oil to tank of fuel and no difference at all in performance or life. Longer bars you have to up it, but the standard 16/18/20" you can get away with the amount above...

:cheers:
 
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