# Chain saw won't oil.



## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

I've got a Poulan chain saw that has quit oiling. I had to quit using it yesterday because it was stretching the chain and I noticed that it was using only about one-fourth the oil that it should use. 

Does anyone here know how that oiling mechanism works & how to get it cleared up and oiling again? 

So far all that I can tell is that it has a rubber block thru which the oil enters the bar & chain assembly just forward of the sprocket. To get to that block I have to pull the sprocket and remove a metal shim plate that separates the bar from the plastic in the case. Easy to do, but I really do not know where to go from there, other than emptying the oil tank and flushing it out with solvent, perhaps blowing out the passage with air. 

Any experienced suggestions?
Ox


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## agmantoo (May 23, 2003)

Ox,
Remove the oil from the oiler tank and then fish around and find small filter attached to a plastic tubing. You can bring this filter out through the fill hole. Remove the filter and observe if it is clogged with debris. Remove the sprocket as you described and then blow compressed air back through the tubing to remove any possible clog. Now, flush some brake cleaner back through the tube in the direction of normal flow and see that it exits unobstructed. Provided the line is clean just blow dry the solvent and reassemble the saw. I do not think there is an adjustment for the volume of oil delivered on that saw.


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

The first Poulan I bought lasted over 20 years.

The second one lasted less than 1 year.

I wont buy a third one


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## moopups (May 12, 2002)

My homeowner grade Poland did fail to oil also, the spiral activation pump was in the wrong place. Its under the right side clutch/sprocket. You must bent tabs to remove it. It is activated via the crankshaft, it failed due to a distance problem. Simple to fix if your alert to mechanical devices.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

there is a vent for the oil resivoure behond the chain sprocket make sure it is clean had a freind take his back and get a new one after afew hours of cutting because it had stopped oiling they called him the next day from the shop at the store they had looked at it for some time before figuring out what had happend. they said after cleaning it it worked fine.
his was the polan pro 20 inch


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

We have 3 Poulans w/ same issue....1 we bought, 2 donated for parts JUNK in my book.
Since bought Husqies.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Appreciate the help. I knew it could not be too complicated on a cheap saw. 

I understand the comments, but I refuse to spend another $350 just so that a thief can steal a better saw. 

I usually buy Poulans at pawn shops and use them for my stump-cutting and brush clearing saws. (It is my stump cutter that quit oiling) I keep a "Sunday Saw" for firewood cutting, but this time it too is a Poulan. Thieves got my big Huskie. Chain would not stay on the new Poulan until I devised a fix. Poulan is in the consumer market big-time and making them cheaply. They will not stand up to hard use unless you know how to make a saw last. This is the first time I ever had one of them quit oiling. The usual problem is that they leak oil when sitting.
Ox


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

A funny aside...
Our camp was broken into....they stole the Husky and threw the Poulan in the driveway!

I had written down serial numbers and thieves were stopped (very rural area) and caught because I confirmed the numbers....every one got their stuff back minus change and booze and a new door.


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## moopups (May 12, 2002)

Another thing to check is to pull off the clutch and sprocket and look at the spiral spring wire that turns the pump, sometimes they slip back too far to engage.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

I appreciate the info. I have no idea how these pumps work. I did not have time today to do it all, but I did dump the oil and look inside. The pickup tube is too short to come out of the tank thru the fill hole. The filter on this model is simply a coil spring stuck in the short pickup tube and plugged at the end. There was a bit of trash in the oil reservoir. 

Tomorrow I will pull the sprocket and clutch and look at the rubber block from which the oil is ejected. From the appearance of the pickup tube I suspect the entire assembly is pressed into the tank from the outside. That would be a neat, cheap design, easy to manufacture, assemble and replace. I've had old Poulans that ate dirt until they just died of old age, and this is the first that ever quit oiling. I want to get it running again because I need to cut up and pile some brush I laid over in the Spring. Don't want to use a good saw on old dirty wood such as that. 
Ox


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Finally got around to pulling the saw down and looking inside.

The crankshaft has a coil spring shoved over it right up against the crankcase. That spring acts as a worm gear and drives a nylon gear on a shaft that extendts into an aluminum cylinder. When that shaft rotates in that cylinder a flat spot on it sucks oil out of the reservoir and into the oiling slots on the saw. 

As nearly as I can tell a metal burr in one of the cross holes finally worked loose and dropped into the flat of the shaft, binding it. That locked the pump and stripped the nylon gear.

Looks as If I need a new pump. 
Ox


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## moopups (May 12, 2002)

About $21.00 bucks.


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## Blu3duk (Jun 2, 2002)

and though you found the problem was actually the pump, another problem many folks have with low oil flow is they forget to clean the rail out in the bar and the oil hole that allows for oil to get to the rail, with me it has been either a daily or every time i switched chains depending on how i was running the power saw.... the rails tend to collect a bunch of gunk that kinda slows down the oil from getting around the bar properly.

William


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