Discoloured bar oil

[Bayhales]

Chap I work for had 25l from local agricultural supplier's which I have been using. This stuff is very orange and looks like its been mixed with the spice turmeric!! It shows up on the chain, bar and clutch cover and sort of stains!

Now I have noticed my t540 leaking oil from the crankcase!

Be this a coincidence or not I have my suspicions that this oil is doing the saws no good..

Any one had this??

[Conor Wright]

There's chain oil, for chains running in oil baths, it's not the same as chainsaw oil, although I've used both. It could be that. It's a little less "tacky" and lighter than saw oil in my experience, smells a bit more like hydraulic oil.

It never did any harm to my smaller saws, but I'd watch it on longer bars, seems to fling a bit more.

Can't really comment on the leak,  maybe it was about to happen anyway and the lighter oil (if it is that) just seeped through?

[Bayhales]

4 hours ago, Conor Wright said:

There's chain oil, for chains running in oil baths, it's not the same as chainsaw oil, although I've used both. It could be that. It's a little less "tacky" and lighter than saw oil in my experience, smells a bit more like hydraulic oil.

It never did any harm to my smaller saws, but I'd watch it on longer bars, seems to fling a bit more.

Can't really comment on the leak,  maybe it was about to happen anyway and the lighter oil (if it is that) just seeped through?

I got ya!

Like you say it was probably about to happen, It sounds like its fairly common on the t540. Oh well will just have to get the almost new 200t out and stop using curry sauce for bar oil ?

[spudulike]

Unlikely any oil will cause a saw to leak from a crankcase join. You may be able to sort it by doing up the crankcase screws either side of the leak but don't tighten too much.

[adw]

I have seen this before, the oil hose was shortened to stop the pick up filter rattling against the gasket from the inside, this in turn causes the gasket to leak.

[peatff]

2 hours ago, adw said:

I have seen this before, the oil hose was shortened to stop the pick up filter rattling against the gasket from the inside, this in turn causes the gasket to leak.

 

How the hell do you hear that when the saw is running and you have ear protectors on  The gasket doing the work is trapped between two layers of metal how can it make it leak? Oil will find the path of least resistance eventually, having colourant helps you spot it sooner and tells if it's oiling the bar so can only be a good thing. 

[monkeybusiness]

Chain oil is simply a single-use very basic cooling lubricant that you unfortunately spray all over the countryside.
In reality you can chuck anything in there as long as it prevents the chain and bar from overheating, doesn’t block the pump and oilways, and doesn’t kill the operator or environment. Don’t concern yourself with colour/smell/how nice the font on the can is - as long as it isn’t corrosive it can’t really hurt your saw.
I doubt that the oil you are using has caused your leak. 
 

[timbernut]

Clark Forest bio chain oil is similar colour to that, like others have said it won’t have caused leak!

[wyk]

My guess is you are noticing the leak because the oil is discoloured. It's likely been there a while now.