Questions about my Oiler on my Stihl 461

Ok, I bought a brand new Stihl 461 a few months ago, not that long really. And I was going to turn the oiler up on it shortly after I got it, but I had a 24" bar on it, and gave up on being able to turn it up, past the pin stop.

You Know. That stupid little Pin that you have to drive down to get the full oil delivery adjustment out of it, which I have already done on 362 and my 462, which gave me another half turn or more on those saws.

Well ok, fast forward to the older style 461. It had the pin, but it was hard to get a straight on hit on it with a punch, because of the clearance on the plastic housing of the saw. I tried to tap it down to clear the adjustment screw when I first got the saw, but was unable to get done, however it seemed to be oiling the 24" enough, so I just gave up on it and left it alone after turning the screw to the pin stop.

Ok, so I bought a new lightweight 32 inch bar and mounted it on the 461. I love this long 32" bar, by the way. This is going to be my permanent bar length for this saw, I believe. I love the reach it gives me.

Ok, here's my problem, or maybe I don't have a problem, not sure. I decided it was time to get more oil flowing for this longer bar. So, I grab a pin punch and hammer and this time when I hit the pin, I was able to finally drive it down, where I could turn the adjustment screw past the pin. And I was expecting to be able to turn it another half turn or so, like my other saws. But the screw will just turn and turn it seems. There does not seem to be a stop at all, now, on the adjuster screw.

I turned it a full round or two, and suspected something might be wrong. So, I turned it back, but then lost count as to where I was at. Didn't count my turns. So I guessed, and with the bar off, started the saw, and checked to see if oil was coming out, and it wasn't that much, so I turned it another half turn and it looked like maybe enough oil was coming out. Put the bar and chain on, and then did the old oil flying off of the end of the bar test. Not much oil flying off, so adjusted it another turn, then I though I had plenty of oil flying off, maybe too much so I turned it back about a half turn.

Well, I did some sawing, but all of my cuts were mostly smaller limbs and some falling cuts on a maybe 18" tree, but mostly short cuts on 6" limbs, etc. At this point I didn't think the bar was getting enough oil, and not that much oil seems to be leaving the tank. Anyway burnt about a tank of gas and still had 3/4's of a tank of oil, about like before, maybe even less, I don't know. So, I have kept turning the screw out a 1/2 turn increments and checking it. It is throwing oil off of the end of the bar. But I don't know, maybe I am ok.

But for you saw mechanics or 461 owners, does this sound right to be able to keep turning that adjustment screw? I mean I have probably turned 3 full turns past the original pin stop at least. I think maybe it's using half a tank of oil per tank of gas now, maybe, but I am not sure.

Maybe someone who understands how the adjustment screw interacts with the oil pump on this saw, could chime in?

 

Part of the problem, making me think I wasn't getting enough oil, might be the fact that I was doing a lot of cutting at only maybe 3/4 throttle, just didn't need full RPM on the saw for a lot of my cutting. I am running factory full skip, square grind, and it was brand new chain and seems to cut everything like l am going through butter, so wasn't reviving it up all that much, and short burst, because the limbs are not that big. Still yet, being able to turn the screw so much, has me worried.

 

I've never seen a pin to punch in on a 461. I've bought 3 brand new ones since they've been in production....never saw it, I just turned the pump to max output and never messed with it afterwards...weird.

Anyway, I've seen the "screw keep turning" on a 361 actually, the body of the pump where the stop would have been was either busted off or worn away from the screw getting turned too hard.

 

How long ago did you buy the last one? If it's been a while, maybe Stihl made a little EPA change on the 461 recently, to comply. Either that or I drove a stop pin down that I wasn't supposed to drive down on that saw. But it looked just like the pins you drive down on the 362 and 462's of recent vintage.

 

I just walked to my workbench since I have a few oil pumps for 1128's.

This one is brand new.



I turned the screw to max output. The area where it meets the body of the pump could be broke off not stopping the screw.

 

I have a 2013,2015, and 2020

 

The only saws I personally have that have a pin to punch in for max output are 462s and 661s.

My 201,261,362,461 you just turn the screw up.

 

3/4 throttle really isn't a good idea for chainsaws. All or none...

 

Yep like SAMIKAZE I agree. You should run the saw at wide open throttle.

One of the things I do to get more oil to the chain is to drill out the oil hole in the bar to a larger size. Stihl likes to use a small oil hole in their bars.

 

I am kind of confused, Yes, my 462 had the pin I punched in. But my 461 sure looked like it had the same pin, which I punched in. Could there have been a recent change?

 

Not to my knowledge.

 

My bar is Tsumura Lightweight bar. I will check it for hole size.

 

The tsumura bars have a decent sized oil hole, you're fine there.

 

That is one bar I am not familiar with the oil hole size. Nice bar though.

 

Maybe I broke something off, I shouldn't have. I need to check closer, but it sure looked like a pin I drove down.

 

How does the oil adjustment screw work? In other words how's it designed on the inside, to regulate the oil?

 

I'm gonna say it's highly likely you broke something you shouldn't have.

Good news is it's nothing that can't be fixed, if you need a pump let me know, I have the high output pumps that come standard on the R model.

 

The bolt just controls the piston, it's simple really.

 

The screw that you turn with the screw driver to adjust the flow isn't threaded and has an eccentric knob on the other end that allows the turning shaft of the pump to change the length of the stroke, hence the oil volume. Turning it half a turn takes it from full output to minimum output and another 1/2 turn takes it back to full output again. The trick is figuring out where max and min are. You can turn it 50 times and that will just mean that it went from min to max and back again each time it goes around once.

The pump is easy to take out and look at and compare to SAWMIKAZE s picture he posted. I can't remember if the one in his pic is on min or max. I can look at my saw tomorrow and be able to tell you. Note the notch on the screw also. (technically, screw is the wrong term as there are no threads on that part)

huskihl will know as his post was what I used to modify my pump.

 

It's on max. I turned it up to show him where the screw makes contact with the body of the pump. If the screw keeps turning you've broken something. On max it hits the body of the pump, but with a hard enough turn you can "break" it past max output which like you said the pump with just keep going back and forth on adjustment. The piston in the pump just keeps going from max to minimum.