Homelite Super XL Auto question

[Robert Garcia]

Greetings, glad to be a member of such a great site. I have a Ryobi I bought from Home Depot and it worked for a couple of seasons and then wouldn't start. I bought fuel hose, filter and meant to replace this and it's been sitting for three years. Not a self starter obviously. Well at the dump someone dropped off a Homelite chainsaw and I took it. Like I need another one to sit for years, right? Well I cleaned it up slightly, pulled the muffler and looked at the piston and looked ok. The pull start rope was hanging out but it seemed really hard to pull. Good compression or a problem I thought. Not familiar with this chainsaw and no manual I poked around and found posts along with this site. I filled with fuel and tried to start it would not light off. Pulled the spark plug and it was not wet, turned the motor and it was free. So it seemed to me the difficulty in pull starting the saw was good compression. Good news. Realized that I had the switch in the off position instead of run. Duh. So switched to run, choked the carb and pulled 3 or 4 times and it fired! Got it running and will take it home to try some cutting with it. How do I work the oiler? I have no owner's manual and a web search didn't give me the information. I see the choke knob, and there is another knob a pump of some sort? Is that part of the oiler or what is that other knob for? Thanks for the knowledge in advance.

 

[Brent Adams]

Knob on the left is the oiler pump. Meant to be pushed down with your thumb to oil the chain.
Looks to be in decent shape. Probably sat in someone's basement or garage until the property was sold, then whoever cleaned up just threw it out.
You Will most likely end up replacing some fuel lines, filter, and spark plug to get it to be reliable.
They are good saws, and well built. Unlike the newer ones unfortunately.

 

[Wright Saw]

Welcome to Arboristsite. Glad to hear you got the saw running.

By the serial number, this saw was made on the 4th day of 1979 (January 4th), #184 made that day.
Here is an owner's manual for the Super XL Automatic: https://www.manualslib.com/products/Homelite-Super-Xl-Ao-3821287.html
The oiler is automatic on this saw, so there is no need to manually oil it. But like Brent Adams said above, you can push the button to manually give it more oil.
These old Homelites are good saws, I own one very similar to yours and it's very well made.

 

[Robert Garcia]

Thanks Brent Adams and Wright Saw for the replies. So January 4th 1979, this saw has been around! Tried cutting but chain is very dull. Going to get a chain saw file for this and see about sharpening it up. I noticed the centrifugal clutch slipping at some points while trying to cut, do you suppose it's worn and needs replacing? Or will a sharp chain reduce or stop the slippage? I added oil to the saw and the manual oiler works and I'm guessing the auto is working too.

 

[Robert Garcia]

 

[Robert Garcia]

Thanks to Ray Benson for this.

 

[champion221elite]

That saw should clean up nice. I have a 1978 version of the same saw. It's loud, and sucks fuel but I love it. Not a high revving engine, but it happily pulls chain with loads of torque. If I ever feel the desire to piss off my neighbors, my Super XL is the first saw I fire up.

 

[Wright Saw]

View attachment 732093

It's been a little while since I decoded a Homelite serial number, looks like I forgot exactly how and got it wrong. But that chart has refreshed my memory, and it would have been made on the 4th day (January 4th) of 1979, #184 made that day.

 

[CJH]

Here's a link to a Homelite site. Specifically the XL12 forum.

http://houseofhomelite.proboards.com/board/41/super-xl-12-family

Parts, diagrams, manuals and repair videos are available from:
https://www.leonschainsawpartsandrepair.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html