ms461 problem

[Forest2Furniture]

My 3 year old ms461which is a lovely saw and my daily go to has a problem,

it's leaking oil from the join at the front where the oil reservoir is.

Any useful advice

[stihlmadasever]

Strip out oil resevoir and inspect it.

Could be a leak in the resevoir pipe or resevoir itself.You can buy epoxy to seal the hole,if thats the problem or new reservoir unit.

I had same issue with a little stihl ms180 with alot of hours on it.

Hope its an easy fix for you bud

[Forest2Furniture]

1 hour ago, stihlmadasever said:

Strip out oil resevoir and inspect it.

Could be a leak in the resevoir pipe or resevoir itself.You can buy epoxy to seal the hole,if thats the problem or new reservoir unit.

I had same issue with a little stihl ms180 with alot of hours on it.

Hope its an easy fix for you bud

Thanks

 

[Wonky]

My advise would be to really clean the whole area, then look to see from where it is really coming from, say after an evening or a day of sitting around. Maybe even a few days more then on to a week.

 

it could be leaking from the case gasket,  mine is doing this but only very slightly after some time of sitting around. I don’t leave that much oil in it as I find more seems to leak out of the pump/chain oiler area, as it warms and cools. But all saws seem to do this.

 

if it is coming from the same as mine then I think there’s two options, either tighten the case bolts up (all of them and I would check what they are with a torque wrench ) or split the case and fit a new gasket etc. I’d go for the former first.

 

but having said this it’s hopefully it’s from some easily fixed place.

[Forest2Furniture]

46 minutes ago, Wonky said:

My advise would be to really clean the whole area, then look to see from where it is really coming from, say after an evening or a day of sitting around. Maybe even a few days more then on to a week.

 

it could be leaking from the case gasket,  mine is doing this but only very slightly after some time of sitting around. I don’t leave that much oil in it as I find more seems to leak out of the pump/chain oiler area, as it warms and cools. But all saws seem to do this.

 

if it is coming from the same as mine then I think there’s two options, either tighten the case bolts up (all of them and I would check what they are with a torque wrench ) or split the case and fit a new gasket etc. I’d go for the former first.

 

but having said this it’s hopefully it’s from some easily fixed place.

The reason I know it's coming from the join is because I stripped it down cleaned it off so it was all nice and shiny like new last week.

[spudulike]

OK, sounds like it is leaking between the mating surfaces. Next thing to do is to work out where the screws are that provide the clamping action between the two crankcase halves and to torque them down hard - don't go mad to the point they snap but tighten them.

If it still leaks then...you are buggered - bottom end split, new gasket and rebuild. A lot of expense in there and a relatively big job for someone.

If part of the gasket hasn't been sucked in to the tank then it should reseal but if it has been pulled in then it will be almost impossible to push back in to the gap and re-clamp.

I have had some success re-tightening older 560XP cases - the 461s are generally OK but this would be my course of action!

[woodwizzard]

Call it a bodge, quick fix or whatever, but I had a leak from the gasket on a saw right under the exhaust. I cleaned the area with de-greaser and rubbed over with wet and dry and then used the black heatproof silicone glue that you fix fire rope into wood burner doors with, and ran a short bead over the leak. That was well over a year ago and is still holding fine.

[spudulike]

Trouble is that it is where the saw gets a few knocks and is likely to damage anything stuck on.

[Forest2Furniture]

2 hours ago, spudulike said:

OK, sounds like it is leaking between the mating surfaces. Next thing to do is to work out where the screws are that provide the clamping action between the two crankcase halves and to torque them down hard - don't go mad to the point they snap but tighten them.

If it still leaks then...you are buggered - bottom end split, new gasket and rebuild. A lot of expense in there and a relatively big job for someone.

If part of the gasket hasn't been sucked in to the tank then it should reseal but if it has been pulled in then it will be almost impossible to push back in to the gap and re-clamp.

I have had some success re-tightening older 560XP cases - the 461s are generally OK but this would be my course of action!

That's where it seems to be coming from, I'll try your advice and in the mean time I'll go back to using the old faithful 660.

I've sent you an email about sorting out my 880.

Thanks

[spudulike]

Received and answered. Thanks