Okay, so I've had my big dumb heavy MS290 for a little over a year now, and cut lot of wood for myself and others. I haven't really been counting, but I think I'm around 100 running hours. Spark plug looks kind of brownish, but but the only deposits on it are on the collar below the actual arc zone. Piston has no scoring, exhaust port is getting coated with a carbony kind of junk, and there's some oily burnt crud just around the muffler gasket (if you can call a metal plate a gasket?). The spark arrest screen is not coked up significantly at all.
Does this all sound pretty normal or is my mix maybe a bit rich? The saw is run wide open 99% of the time I'm cutting, and idles some.
How often is a guy supposed to lubricate the needle cage inside the sprocket drum? I don't want to over do it and have the clutch pads all greased up. I understand that bearing is only rotating when the saw idles, so I'm not super worried about it, but I don't want to ignore it if it needs attention.
Thanks all!
Hi Neighbour
Sounds like the saw is running just fine. Are you running Stihls oil at 50:1? As long as you are off the warranty period, you might try OPTI-2. I have been running it in my Husky 345 for three years and am still on the original plug.
The sprocket bearing only comes into play at idle so I would not be too concerned about it. Give it a light coat of white grease when you change the sprocket
I'm running Stihl (Castrol) oil at about 43:1. I don't mind switching oils (had a motorcycle racer tell me he tested Bardahl 2 stroke against castrol and figured the Bardahl was something like 10 times better...). Where would I get opti-2 around here?
I noticed last winter that the saw was a little hesitant accelerating below -10 C. Is this maybe due to the air density making things a bit lean? The other side of that question is will my dealer have set the saw up a little leaner than normal because we're 1000m above sea level?
I use amsoil in my chainsaws that is the best stuff I have ever run I like it much better then stihl, husky or castrol.
Hi Dan,
I`m interested in your opinion on Amsoil, what makes you say that you like it better than any other oil that you`ve run?
Russ
Just to add a quick Q to what was touched upon a bit up the page...
Do Husky get really pedantic about using their bar oil and fuel oil for warranty puposes?
Just bought a 372 and don't want to do the wrong things
I've read that Husky, to determine if scoring is a warranty issue or poor mix problem, can test a saw to see if the mix ratio was correct & if the right oil was used. For some reason I don't know just how much stock I put in that ???. Seems that a name brand 2 cycle oil, mixed to manufactorers specs, would cover the consumer during the warranty period. I use Castrol at 40:1, & am going to switch to Mobil synthetic when the Castrol runs out.
Hey Mucha, I agree with your skepticism regarding Husky`s ability to determine oil brand but they can easily determine if the mixture was too lean.
In a case where warranty is an issue, why not buy some OEM oil and keep the receipt just in case you need to show it? You could also ask the selling dealer how he feels about honoring the warranty in a lube related claim if you feel that he can be relied upon.
It`s not unusual for logging and forestry crews to use a mixture of OEM oils in their equipment at any given time, besides the OEMs all meet the same specs and the saw shops realize this.
Russ
FWIW, Stihl mentions in the manual that Stihl oil is specially designed for blah blah blah but any premium grade TC rated oil is fine. I would think that this would mean they can't get you for not using Stihl oil. Don't know if there's a similar line in Husky or not...
They doubled the warranty on my trimmer for buying a 6 pack of stihl mixing oil...
I like amsoil because It dows not smoke as much as the stihl or anyother things I have tryed It also has a waranty that says that if the motor seized with amsoil in it then they will replace it for free. I have been using it for three years now and have never had any problems with it I take my equipment to the dealer oince a yer to get checked out and they have like new compression.
Stihl is sticky on warranty so dont mess with oil. Theirs is brewed by Castrol who probably put dye in it. An oil residue analysis will tell them what oil was used. We get opti-2 from our Husky distributor. Husky has an oil bottled under their brand but does not require it be used for warranty purposes
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