# MS362 not oiling enough.



## mujgy (Jul 23, 2010)

Greetings, I've been a on this site for a few months now but this is my first post. 

As the title says my MS362 I bought new this spring doesn't seem to keep up with oiling when making big cuts. I'm running a Stihl Rollomatic 20" bar with a 3/8 RSC chain. Using Stihl summer bar oil. 

This past weekend I was felling a standing dead ash that was about 25" diameter. After I made the pie cut on the one side and started in on the back I noticed the chain was starting to smoke. Saw was cutting fine and I wasn't pushing it hard. I do have the oil pump adjusting screw turned all the way up. The wood is very dry as it was girdled by beavers 2 years ago. However, I would think that this saw should be slinging enough oil to keep up. The chain stays fairly oily when making smaller cuts.

Is this a problem with the 362? I ran just the power head to see how much oil was coming out of the slot, and it didn't seem like a ton of flow but it was pumping. 

Any thoughts?

Thank you.


----------



## TXTreeSurgeon (Jul 23, 2010)

I own a 362 with a 20" bar and I keep my oil pump turned all the way up as well. Everything that you just described sounds normal. When you make the felling notch (I think that is what you meant by the "pie cut"), you have to cut the wood at a steep angle. This is makes the saw work harder because it has to cut across the fibers... similar to when you are "noodling" a big log in half. Also, cutting dry wood requires lots of bar oil and will dull a chain faster. If your chain isn't sharp enough while cutting dry wood, it will "burn through the wood," which could be the smoke that you were describing. Sharpen your chain next time you notice the smoke and this may fix the problem.

All in all, it doesn't sound like there is anything wrong with your saw. Make sure your clean the bar well after each use. I always take an old hacksaw blade to scrape out any crud that gets lodged in the bar and then used compressed air to blow out the bar grooves, nose sprocket, and oiling holes. If my bar gets dirty while I am cutting in the field and doesn't pump enough oil, the problem can usually be fixed by simply cleaning out the grooves that the drive links on the chain ride in with a hacksaw blade. I know that some of what I said is elementary and you may have already known it, but I thought it might help. Best of luck!


----------



## TXTreeSurgeon (Jul 23, 2010)

Oh, by the way, welcome to ArboristSite! 

How could I forget?...


----------



## mujgy (Jul 23, 2010)

Haha yes felling notch is what I meant by pie cut, couldn't think of the term last night. I'm pretty keen on keeping my saw clean. If I take the bar off I always clean the mounting area, and I check and clean the groove as well.

But as you said the dry wood is very hard on the chain, and this was my first instinct. I do need to sharpen the chain now though, I've cut all the branches up and was working on the trunk. As far as burning the wood, that was my thought as well but when I pulled the saw out and looked where I was cutting there were no burn marks, so it was just the oil burning off the chain.

Overall I've been very happy with the MS362, great power and decent weight. I was running an 038 and 028 last year. 

I mostly cut dead trees or ones that have blown down, though I've got most of them cleared from the property I cut on, about 50 acres of river bottoms, mostly oaks and ash and a handful of box elders and elms.

I'll have to post some pictures sometime.

Thanks.


----------



## oneoldbanjo (Jul 23, 2010)

If you do a search you can find out how the MS361 people increased the flow of their oil pump. Maybe this applies to the 362 as well.


----------



## mujgy (Jul 23, 2010)

Well after doing a quick search looks like there are a couple options. One is to mod the adjustable plunger or get a pump parts for a MS460R 

So a I'll have to see. I might try the mod first. It's to bad these new saws don't put out more oil.

Thanks again.


----------



## oscar4883 (Jul 23, 2010)

I run the oilers at max on all my saws. How tight is your chain? Are you tweaking the saw in the cut by accident and binding the chain up by any chance? Please don't take my comments to be insulting. X2 on cleaning thebar groove. Now go sharpen that chain! LOL


----------



## oneoldbanjo (Jul 23, 2010)

oscar4883 said:


> I run the oilers at max on all my saws. How tight is your chain? Are you tweaking the saw in the cut by accident and binding the chain up by any chance? Please don't take my comments to be insulting. X2 on cleaning thebar groove. Now go sharpen that chain! LOL



Your signature doesn't show you have a 361 in your collection......they are very oil stingy and it has been a common issue on this site. It sounds like the 362 has the same issue.


----------



## saxman (Jul 23, 2010)

I have a 361 and a 362 and have not had a problem with lack of bar oil while running a 20" bar. I don't think that the oil will sling off the chain even at the maximum setting, but there is a film of oil on the cutters. I have upgraded the oil pump on my MS660 that I keep the 36" bar on all the time, it did OK up to a 28" but needed more for the 36"


----------



## TXTreeSurgeon (Jul 23, 2010)

Well, you almost never can have too much oil. The 362 puts out plenty of oil for my 20" bar. However, when you are cutting in very dry hardwood that is the length of the bar, then yeah, the chain can get a little starved for oil. 

I have never had the chain slow down on the bar or anything like that, but sometimes after making a really tough cut the chain looks dry when I take it out of the cut... so I just blip the throttle two or three times and, BOOM, the chain is soaked with oil again. 

I guess it would be nice to have a higher volume oil pump, but stock seems to be sufficient. I plan to get a 25" bar and RSF chain soon. That might need a little more oil than the stock pump can put out. If you do any mods to the saw to increase the oil flow, report on it here and let us know how it goes!


----------



## oscar4883 (Jul 23, 2010)

oneoldbanjo said:


> Your signature doesn't show you have a 361 in your collection......they are very oil stingy and it has been a common issue on this site. It sounds like the 362 has the same issue.



Correct. That does not mean that I have not run a few though. Seems to be a common theme that the newer saws,some in particular, are poor oilers. I switched to vegetable oil some time ago and have plenty of oil now. Seems to work well and I have not noticed any problems due to the lack of tackifiers. Yet, anyway. LOL Maybe something to consider.


----------



## Wood Doctor (Jul 23, 2010)

*Loosen the Chain a Tad.*

If the chain is too tight on an MS 361, she can lock up on you. Whenever this happens, I shut the saw down, wait 10 minutes, loosen the chain a tad, and start sawing again.

That's all it takes. Then it never locks up again. Heat is the villain. Chain oil cools as it lubricates. If the chain is too tight, the chain oil cannot work like it's supposed to.


----------



## mujgy (Jul 24, 2010)

I do my best to keep the chain at the right tension, and to me the right tension is lifting the chain mid way down the bar and having about a 3/16 to 1/4 gap between the links and the bar but never having a gap between the drivers and the bar. I usually check every few cuts or every few minutes.

I picked up the filing kit today to make sure I'm getting angles just right.

So far I feel that the 362 isn't putting out enough oil to maximize chain and bar life, oil is far cheaper then those parts. My old 038 and 028 were always throwing a good trail of oil and lubrication was never an issue when cutting full length bar cuts.

So my question is this. Does the 362 use the same style pump as the 361 or 460? The swap for the 361 using 460R parts seems very simple and for 35-40 bucks well worth it. And as mentioned in other posts, I like the idea of just turning it up for big cuts for extra lube and turning it back down for the easy stuff.

I have several big cuts yet to make. The trunk was about 28' and was 25" diameter 16" off the ground and is about 20-21" where I cut it below where it forked out. I usually cut into 16-18" cobs. And this is just this tree, in the woods where I cut most trees are over 20" and some are nearing 30" so I might be getting a 25" bar for this saw down the road also.

Thanks.


----------

