Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire stihl bar oil

was running my 290 last weekend a bit and it seemed to not use as much bar oil between gas refills. maybe 1/3 of a tank of oil to a tank of gas. it was cold as hell and i noticed the jug i was using said it was summer weight. saw seemed to cut ok but i only ran two tanks. i honestly never noticed there was a different types before but i guess it makes sense, viscosity, etc. i usually do my cutting in warm weather. i went out and bought another jug but couldn't find "winter weight", just all purpose. do any of you change it up in the winter or just dump and go like me?

I use the same bar oil year round, didn't know there was a difference but i'm going to keep using what I have until it's gone.

I've never used a winter weight bar oil, but here in the South I doubt that it gets cold enough to make much difference. I have read of folks adding a little diesel fuel to their chain oil to thin it in really cold weather.

Never paid no mind to the weight/viscosity of bar and chain oil.

I've only ever used 1 weight but I doubt I've cut much wood below 25 degrees unless it was something laying across the road.

Seems like once the engine warms up it wouldn't be a problem.

Blue in winter orange is summer.
It is -14 today, neither myself, nor my chainsaw want to be outside.
But I do switch oils back and forth with the seasons.

I honestly never knew there was a difference. My saws use a tank of bar oil per tank of gas or very near.

I run Stihl 260, 360 and a 661.

I used to thin it in the winter -20 otherwise you could not pour it in

Blue jug is for winter, orange is for summer. If you're not cutting a lot in the winter it shouldn't matter. If you're cutting every day you might want to use the right one just to be on the safe side

I used winter weight chain oil all year long in both my saws -- a Stihl and a Husqvarna. Use a bit more in the summer, but that is not an issue. My saws were set up to go through one tank of chain oil to two tanks of gas. Bar wear was not excessive.

ok then i'm not the only one who never knew there was a difference. i guess my concern is that i wasn't using as much oil as i thought i should. maybe its time to take off the bar and do a good cleaning around the oiler port.

SOMETHING SLIPPERY IS BETTER THAN NUTTIN!

Aww come on guys. What the Koombayah!!!!!

No diatribe full of ISO code particulate reports? So disappointed.

I have seen 100 page violent arguments started by something like " Gee, I prefer Pennzoil".


Must be the weather.

i was actually expecting that. lol

Its a marketing gimmick. Have you never warmed your hands on the muffler of a saw? I have, lots of times. Guess where the oil tank is? Right under the muffler! Turn your pump up a little if it concerns you.

how do you do that? can you do it on a ms290?

Former forester here. I've never changed the weights based on summer or winter. I know some to add a teaspoon of gas to the oil in winter. When I changed my own engine oil, I'd save it and run it through the chain saws. It's a little thinner than regular bar oil, so it worked great in the winter, more frequent fill ups on the summer. Someone is going to say this is a horrible idea and Stihl bar oil is the only option. Ok, you run only Stihl oil then.

Just to play devil's advocate what if the viscosity difference is for when your pour it in? Honey vs 5w20 type of thing due to the extreme cold. I don't recall one costing more than the other when I bought them. Used to go through a couple cases of each a year so I ran blue in the winter and orange in the summer. I don't believe it is a gimmick per se.
I've never heard of anyone burning up a bar because of using summer oil in the winter or vice versa fwiw. Just something to think about since it was brought up. I probably won't contemplate it much more beyond that, it's not worth it

I cut bar oil with some used motor oil in cold weather. Otherwise right out the jug.