Chainsaw storage advice

[David Heaf]

The manual for my Sachs-Dolmar 123 (Tillotson carb) says store the saw long term with fuel in to avoid drying out the carburettor diaphragms. But web pages I've seen on storing Husquarna and Stihl saws say run them until the fuel is used up. Which is correct?

[Fatboy2017]

When the manual was written we didn't have fuel with ethanol in it. For long term storage use Aspen or other canned fuel. I use Aspen 4 and add FD spec oil at min 40:1 or 32: 1 for older / bigger saws. Assuming the saw not used too much then just use Aspen all the time. If used a lot and using E5 or E10, then before storage run the saw till out of fuel, top up with Aspen, run up again to make sure fuel is throughout  carb, top up to full to stop the risk of condensation and store in ideally dry area, not on concrete floor. 

[Stubby]

5 hours ago, Fatboy2017 said:

When the manual was written we didn't have fuel with ethanol in it. For long term storage use Aspen or other canned fuel. I use Aspen 4 and add FD spec oil at min 40:1 or 32: 1 for older / bigger saws. Assuming the saw not used too much then just use Aspen all the time. If used a lot and using E5 or E10, then before storage run the saw till out of fuel, top up with Aspen, run up again to make sure fuel is throughout  carb, top up to full to stop the risk of condensation and store in ideally dry area, not on concrete floor. 

Why do you mix your alkylate fuel at 40:1 or 32:1 ?  Its the saws that are old not the oil . I always mix my alkylate fuel ( Husky x power ) with Red line racing oil at 50:1  no matter how big or old the saw .

[pleasant]

37 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Why do you mix your alkylate fuel at 40:1 or 32:1 ?  Its the saws that are old not the oil . I always mix my alkylate fuel ( Husky x power ) with Red line racing oil at 50:1  no matter how big or old the saw .

You are correct. Always mix according to the oils recommended dilution ratio...not what old handbooks state.

[Fatboy2017]

Personal choice, you use 50:1, I choose to run a little bit more oil to lube the bottom ends, they don't smoke or carbon up so a little extra security. Plus after stripping some saws especially strato saws the bottom end were always dry plus after a lot of bottom end failures on some of the later saws ( not mine) extra oil seems to solve that. 

[Stubby]

10 hours ago, Fatboy2017 said:

Personal choice, you use 50:1, I choose to run a little bit more oil to lube the bottom ends, they don't smoke or carbon up so a little extra security. Plus after stripping some saws especially strato saws the bottom end were always dry plus after a lot of bottom end failures on some of the later saws ( not mine) extra oil seems to solve that. 

So not the older saws then .

[Fatboy2017]

I use 40:1 across all my saws to make it easier so all saws use the same mix, from the old to the  newer,  from old and new Dolmars and Makita's from small to the largest, plus Husky's 353 upto 2100, Oleo-mac and Partners as well. I haven't counted recently but probably about 50 in total. I feel that as some are not used regularly it helps to run a bit more oil to keep a little extra oil in the cases to reduce the risk of drying out and corrosion,  just my take on it. Upto quite recently Husqvarna stated on the larger saws to runs a stronger mix on their bigger saws, I believe due to the impact on environmental issues rather than other reasons they don't show this anymore,  of course the later oils are far superior than oils from yesteryear but as all manufacturers aren't interested in products lasting for a a long time and to satisfy environmental restraints,  I except the 'go with what the oil manufacturers recommend' but having spent my working career as a mechanic/ engineer with most of it in motorsport I prefer to run a little bit extra!  I liken it to some people like to remove cats and mod exhausts to help with breathing and temperature,  but manufactures don't recommend this.

[Muddy42]

Oil ratios are a contentious topic, very hard to test or prove one way or the other!

 

Personally I use 40:1 across everything whether old or new machines, milling or crosscutting, using aspen or pump fuel.  I tune the older saws for this.  I also believe the USA environmental push for 50:1 and I am just a fan of oil. I have a friendly mechanic that has been repairing saws for years (he does bearings and rebuilds for me) who insists on 40:1, so that's what I do.

 

The infrequently used machines run on aspen and I don't so anything special before putting away.  The strimmers drink a tank of aspen before being run dry and stored.  My goto Stihl 261 uses pump fuel and gets used daily.  

[Mark_Skyland]

I'll echo going by the oil manufactures recommendation. A good quality oil at 50:1.