Chain lube oil flow?

Robert P

TreeHouser
Joined
Jul 11, 2014
Messages
275
I had my Echo saw apart, the worm gear was fine, looks as good as the new ones I ordered along with new oiler pumps anticipating I might need to replace them. The oiler pump gear turns easily with a screwdriver tip. Checked the oil pickup in the reservoir which looks fine, shot some parts cleaner into the outlet hole by the bar attachment, put it all back together, filled the oil, fired up the saw without the bar - the oil doesn't come spraying out, it comes out at what I'd call a solid ooze which increases as the saw speed increases - is that about what it's supposed to be?
 
I've never seen it spray. A good ooze sounds about right. The real test is how it oils the bar. If it's getting sufficient oil, I'd call it good.
 
The chain won't seize tight when properly tensioned. Usually the chain looks relatively clean too, while not enough oil lets fine dry dust smear on the chain. You can try cutting with no oil on one of your older bars and chains just to see for yourself, it shouldn't hurt anything too bad if you just do it once for around 10 cuts in a firewood log, if you can even make it 10 cuts. Keeping the chain spinning is the primary goal, reducing wear is next, but soon you reach a point where the saw gets caked in gooey sawdust.
 
Objectively? I'm not sure tbh. Stihls are a little stingy with oil imo. I like to see the chain fairly wet after cutting wood using 75% of the bar length. Not buried IOW. I don't get that with my Stihls, but bar wear seems acceptable, so I guess it's good? You should see oil in the bar groove, and the chain shouldn't look absolutely dry with normal cutting, but it can with some wood. Ash for example really seems to suck the oil out. You should be using a bit more than half a tank of oil per tank of gas with a "dry" saw like Stihl, and I'd like to see about 80% of the oil gone per tank of gas.
 
A quick look on the fly is made by running the saw with the bar's tip near something (do not make contact). The oil flies away when the chain turns around and that lives a darker line on the something. If you have to wait more than a few seconds to see the line, or no line at all, there's a problem. Running the saw at WOT in air can help the oil to flow out if the oil hole in the bar is plugged by sawdust (very common with the ms150 and 201T). You see no line, then the chain spits a bunch of crap, then comes the neat line.
If the chain sizes due to lack of oil, don't try to force it, The clutch won't apreciate that. Just loosen a bit the chain by the tensionner, free it and spin it by hand, run the saw at WOT in air for a few seconds, you see the chain loosening more on itself when the oil flows again, tigthen the chain again gently and that should be good. If not, the problem is more serious and has to be looked at closely at home.
 
Objectively? I'm not sure tbh. Stihls are a little stingy with oil imo. I like to see the chain fairly wet after cutting wood using 75% of the bar length. Not buried IOW. I don't get that with my Stihls, but bar wear seems acceptable, so I guess it's good? You should see oil in the bar groove, and the chain shouldn't look absolutely dry with normal cutting, but it can with some wood. Ash for example really seems to suck the oil out. You should be using a bit more than half a tank of oil per tank of gas with a "dry" saw like Stihl, and I'd like to see about 80% of the oil gone per tank of gas.
My Stihls use most of a tank of Canola, but not enough to totally empty the tank.

I turned my Echo 2511t's back from full oil output in the summer with canola, as they were running dry at the very end.

I switch my saws on and off a lot while climbing, so most run time is oiling time.
 
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