Workshop Wednesday-My Saw Quit Oiling

 I've had a few people tell me that they enjoy reading this blog because every so often they learn something new. So to keep the peeps happy I'll continue to throw in a few workshop wednesday posts that are purely educational.
 One very popular customer complaint I hear is "my chainsaw oiler isn't working". We all know what a chainsaw is but I know some of the readers here have never used one so I'll explain. The chain on a chainsaw runs in a groove on a bar at a super (duper) high speed. It needs to be lubed or the bar, chain and drive sprocket will wear out prematurely. Oil is added to a tank and then moved to the bar via a pump.
 Now most everyone that buys a saw knows this very basic information. The problem comes in when some people don't realize how this happens. The oil has to get to the bar somehow and most of the time that path involves the oil moving through a hole in the bar to the groove in the bar where it lubes the chain.

 The hole I'm pointing to is where the oil passes through to the groove in the bar. See, nice and clean...now. It didn't come in that way.

 Here you can see the hole is plugged. The oiler won't work this way. Debris gets under the chain and then gets packed into the hole. By the way...Ewwwww. Look at all the hair stuck to this bar. I suspect some of the "debris" plugging this hole is animal parts. I don't judge. I just fix the saws.

 Sometimes the saw isn't oiling but the hole in the bar is clear. This seems to usually boil down to a few things. One thing could be a hole in the line running from the tank to the pump. Another could be debris in that line. This happens when crap gets in the tank during oil fill-ups or if the filter/screen falls off the line in the tank. Another problem could be a plugged vent in the tank. I find that a systematic cleaning and inspection of the entire oiler system usually reveals the problem. I only dig into this if my initial inspection of the oiler drive gear proves it to be ok.

 The oiler usually lives behind the clutch. Some like the one pictured above are driven by the crankshaft and oil all the time. Others are driven by the clutch and only oil when the chain is turning. This is a bad one. You can see the plastic gear is worn and the pump will never turn this way.
 So there you have it. Some basics on automatic chainsaw oilers. Happy?