Having trouble with Stihl customer service

[Osagebndr]

Ill start off by saying there isn't a better chainsaw( in my opinion anyway) than Stihl. However I bought a ms271 in feb of this year and have had a awful time with the oiler not keeping up with the saw. I'm using Stihl winter grade bar oil and cleaning the saw inside and out everytime I use it. The bar is start to show extreme signs of wear fur to over heating and the chain is a mess. Can't keep it sharp for love nor money. And to top it off the dealers in my area aren't really that keen in doing anything about it and neither it seems is Stihl. That's a $425 investment that's aggravating me something awful. Anyway enough of my rantings, has anyone else had this issue

 

[cityboy172]

Sorry to hear about your problems, interested to see where this goes with stihl.

This advice was probably worth what I paid for it, but my dealer advised against using winter weight oil. He made the point that the oil tank is on the back side of the crank case, and under the exhaust. After about 30-60 seconds of run time, regular oil is warm and no longer in a molasses state.

Edit. - you're in central Indiana. I wouldn't even consider winter weight.

 

[Ashful]

The bar is start to show extreme signs of wear fur to over heating and the chain is a mess. Can't keep it sharp for love nor money.

Sorry to hear about your trouble, but your statement about having trouble keeping the chain sharp has me curious here. A dull chain will quickly overheat a bar, much more so than you might expect. Please elaborate on the chain sharpening / staying sharp issue.

 

[Ashful]

This advice was probably worth what I paid for it, but my dealer advised against using winter weight oil. He made the point that the oil tank is on the back side of the crank case, and under the exhaust. After about 30-60 seconds of run time, regular oil is warm and no longer in a molasses state.

I suspect that at our temperatures (usually above 0 F), standard bar oil will pump and distribute okay, even in a cold saw. However, pouring it becomes very difficult on cold and windy days. Stihl winter grade on a 10F - 20F day pours just like standard grade does at 60F - 70F, which is why I use it. Pouring standard grade into a saw on a cold winter day is an exercise in patience, that I don't care to perform a dozen times on a given Saturday. My temperatures are pretty similar to the OP's central Indiana.

 

[cityboy172]

Sorry to hear about your trouble, but your statement about having trouble keeping the chain sharp has me curious here. A dull chain will quickly overheat a bar, much more so than you might expect. Please elaborate on the chain sharpening / staying sharp issue.

Good catch.

Don't take this personally, but is this your first season cutting frozen wood ? I personally find that chain life is INCREDIBLY shorter in frozen wood. I went through a lot of frozen hard wood this winter, and it was real hard on my chains. And me.

 

[Osage]

Ill start off by saying there isn't a better chainsaw( in my opinion anyway) than Stihl. However I bought a ms271 in feb of this year and have had a awful time with the oiler not keeping up with the saw. I'm using Stihl winter grade bar oil and cleaning the saw inside and out everytime I use it. The bar is start to show extreme signs of wear fur to over heating and the chain is a mess. Can't keep it sharp for love nor money. And to top it off the dealers in my area aren't really that keen in doing anything about it and neither it seems is Stihl. That's a $425 investment that's aggravating me something awful. Anyway enough of my rantings, has anyone else had this issue

Interesting--------- I just took my new in January, MS290 in for the same reason. Would cut fine in smaller stuff where it had a chance to catch up on oiling, but as soon as you tied into something big it would run dry. Had the oiler adjusted as open as it would go. Don't believe it had anything to do with a sharp chain because it would do it on a new one.
Hate to say it, but I fired up the old Jonsered, which has never let me down to finish my three year plan.

 

[Ashful]

Interesting--------- I just took my new in January, MS290 in for the same reason. Would cut fine in smaller stuff where it had a chance to catch up on oiling, but as soon as you tied into something big it would run dry. Had the oiler adjusted as open as it would go. Don't believe it had anything to do with a sharp chain because it would do it on a new one.
Hate to say it, but I fired up the old Jonsered, which has never let me down to finish my three year plan.

I've owned a few Stihl's, and used many more. I have also owned Husqvarna, Homelite, Craftsman, and Poulan. The oilers on modern Stihl's and Husq's are a little more stingey than older automatic oilers, likely in some effort to reduce pollution, but they still work plenty well on my saws. If you want to talk about "big stuff", most of the time spent with my 064 is with a 28" or 36" bar buried to the nose in green oak or ash. The oiler has never had trouble "keeping up".

Most of the time I see someone having trouble with an overheating bar / chain, it's because the chain is dull. The second thing I see is folks who don't clean their bar groove on each chain swap. I've bought used saws where this bar groove is so compacted you almost can't tell if the clean-out tool is hitting sawdust or metal, when you plunge it into the groove. Do you have one of these?

 

[TreePointer]

Pics of this "wear" would help, too.

 

[Fifelaker]

I use a hacksaw blade to clean the grooves. I had a 18" stihl es that would not oil to my satisfaction and the cure was to enlarge the holes it the bar a bit.

 

[TreePointer]

I haven't had it happen with Stihl bars, but some bars have excess paint in the oil holes. The solution is to remove the paint from the hole and in the groove near the hole.

Also, ensure that you are running the proper chain and bar combination. It's not unheard of for a dealer to make a mistake by not having matching pitch and/or gauge on a saw.

 

[Osage]

I've owned a few Stihl's, and used many more. I have also owned Husqvarna, Homelite, Craftsman, and Poulan. The oilers on modern Stihl's and Husq's are a little more stingey than older automatic oilers, likely in some effort to reduce pollution, but they still work plenty well on my saws. If you want to talk about "big stuff", most of the time spent with my 064 is with a 28" or 36" bar buried to the nose in green oak or ash. The oiler has never had trouble "keeping up".

Most of the time I see someone having trouble with an overheating bar / chain, it's because the chain is dull. The second thing I see is folks who don't clean their bar groove on each chain swap. I've bought used saws where this bar groove is so compacted you almost can't tell if the clean-out tool is hitting sawdust or metal, when you plunge it into the groove. Do you have one of these?

View attachment 130422

Always clean the groove when I replace the chain. A plugged groove, oiler hole or dull chain is not the issue.

 

[TreePointer]

Osagebndr, does the saw throw oil off the tip? This is a test you should perform before every time you cut with your saw.

Turn your oiler screw (bottom of saw) to the fully opened position and perform the test seen at 21:15 of this video:

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If you haven't already done so, the entire video is worth watching

 

[Osagebndr]

Plenty of good advice here . I have cut frozen wood with older Stihl saws I had with adjustable oilers and I use a lot of Stihl winter grade bar oil you just can't beat it as far as pour ability when it's extremely cold out. Spoke to Stihl today and am going to take the saw in to have it looked at again or sent to them for service whichever it takes to fix it.

 

[TreePointer]

Edit. - you're in central Indiana. I wouldn't even consider winter weight.

I'm going to disagree with this statement. I've had regular weight bar oil (Husqvarna and TSC) mix with chips and dust to form a slurry in the bar groove and then freeze there. This won't happen when you first use your saw in cold temps, and especially if you store your saws and bar oil jug in a warm garage. This can indeed happen if you use the same saw in cold weather and set it down for a while. The bar will get extremely cold and actually solidify the slurry. Once that happens, damage may occur, including throwing and snapping chains. I've had it happen at 20*F.

 

[Osagebndr]

Ill take apic shortly . The ms271 has an automatic oiler it is not adjustable from the bottom like the older saws were. As far as the oil slinging from the end of the bar it just spits it out on the cardboard no pattern like it should have

 

[cityboy172]

I'm going to disagree with this statement. I've had regular weight bar oil (Husqvarna and TSC) mix with chips and dust to form a slurry in the bar groove and then freeze there. This won't happen when you first use your saw in cold temps, and especially if you store your saws and bar oil jug in a warm garage. This can indeed happen if you use the same saw in cold weather and set it down for a while. The bar will get extremely cold and actually solidify the slurry. Once that happens, damage may occur, including throwing and snapping chains. I've had it happen at 20*F.

Zero issues here to date. I probably run as much in the winter as I do in the summer for 7 years now. I'm not saying there isn't a need for winter weight, I just think a lot of people use it more then they should. Personally, I going to keep running orange jug until I have a problem with it. Knock on wood, I've only jade one snap on me to date, and that was in good weather.

 

[Osagebndr]

As promised here are some pics

 

[Osagebndr]

Anyway seems like a lot of wear on something I just bought 6 wld ago. Cut 9 Rick with it

 

[Ashful]

Always clean the groove when I replace the chain. A plugged groove, oiler hole or dull chain is not the issue.

Was as much for the OP as your issue.

 

[Ashful]

Ill take apic shortly . The ms271 has an automatic oiler it is not adjustable from the bottom like the older saws were.

Not an old saw feature, but a pro saw feature. Homeowner saws have fixed oilers, most pro saws have adjustable oilers. Some exceptions to this rule, tho, like 036 (fixed) and 036 Pro (adjustable), both being pro level saws.

 

[Osagebndr]

Didn't know that joful. My 290& 039 both have adj oilers

 

[TreePointer]

Looks like a 20" bar, right? That's the max "recommended" bar length for that saw. Those ratings are more selling points than practical limitations. In hardwoods, I wouldn't go that long on a 50cc saw.

From the wear pattern on your bar, it looks like you bite in with your dogs and lever down into the wood a lot. If so, you could be creating a lot of extra friction (heat) that can't be handled by the B&C oil. Try letting the sharp chain cut the wood without leaning on it.

Another test is to have the dealer swap a known to be functioning 16" bar & chain (or 18") onto the saw to see how it throws oil. If the dealer doesn't have one of those around, leave the store and find a good full service dealer.

 

[Ashful]

290's aren't old! ;-)

Probably lots of exceptions to that "rule".

 

[Osagebndr]

Lol you're rite joful 290 s aren't old and a very good saw to boot. Ill take that under advise tree pointer i really don't bear down on my saw, it cuts very well just seems to get hot real quick compared to my others. Ill talk to the dealer tommorrow and maybe buy an 18" b&c for it. Most of the larger rounds I cut are 16-18" max anyway. Mostly tops from where the forestry has been logged

 

[Beer Belly]

I had my Oiler get clogged, and the dealer charged me $50 to clean it.....it was at that time I decided to start looking at this saw. I found that it wasn't slinging enough oil.....so I read the manual, and found the Oil Adjustment on the bottom of the saw....turned it all the way up, and it seems better. I'm thinking my 290 came set for a 16 inch bar.....I'm running a 20 inch, so maybe that's why the oiler needed to be cranked a bit...bigger bar ?