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Post by dickjurgensen on Jan 1, 2016 12:49:36 GMT -5
Greetings Gents:
I've been using Homelite XL's for as long as I can remember. 40 years maybe. Surely are light and handy. Reliable too.
I've finding that few shops will work on these units anymore.... so here I am with hat in hand asking DIY advice.
I've got an XL Automatic built probably in the mid 1980's. Lot and Serial numbers are no longer visible.
Plastic body... ANSI decal dated 1985 on top near the On/Off switch. Hi/Lo adjustments on the carb.
It is slinging/dripping a lot of oil when running. Maybe too much. Maybe not... but I hate puddles upon sitting and like to keep my equipment clean and easily maintained.
I guess that too much bar oil is better than too little... and oil is cheap.... but still???
Is there a way to adjust the oil output that goes to the bar?
I've replaced oil lines of recent, thinking that might account for some of the oil puddling when unit has been just sitting... and the oil lines were certainly due to be replaced big time.
Besides all that oil seems to attract grit/grime/dirt/debris/funk/untidiness which may or may not be the nature of the Homelite Automatic oiling system.
thanks,
d.j.
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Post by Supercharged86 on Jan 1, 2016 15:22:43 GMT -5
Hi Dick, These little saws rely on crankcase pressure to operate the oiling system and are for all intense and purposes are non-adjustable. Although, at some point Homelite did make an adjustable oiler version, at the moment the model number escapes me. Here's a question for you; is the small brass sintered filter and duck-bill valve in place at the end of the oil tank pressure line? If it is, there's suppose to be a very tiny gap, only about a 1/16" between the duck-bill valve and hose end (this would be 1/16" of sintered filter exposure). This tiny exposure I believe regulates the overall tank pressure. No gap equals to much pressure and too much gap equals less pressure, thereby effecting oil flow. I'm not 100% sure about this but it seems logical. Cheers. Steve
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Post by dickjurgensen on Jan 1, 2016 16:10:01 GMT -5
Hi Dick, These little saws rely on crankcase pressure to operate the oiling system and are for all intense and purposes are non-adjustable. Although, at some point Homelite did make an adjustable oiler version, at the moment the model number escapes me. Here's a question for you; is the small brass sintered filter and duck-bill valve in place at the end of the oil tank pressure line? If it is, there's suppose to be a very tiny gap, only about a 1/16" between the duck-bill valve and hose end (this would be 1/16" of sintered filter exposure). This tiny exposure I believe regulates the overall tank pressure. No gap equals to much pressure and too much gap equals less pressure, thereby effecting oil flow. I'm not 100% sure about this but it seems logical. Cheers. Steve Steve: I checked and do have a bit of filter exposure. I could certainly increase the amount of exposure considerably.... in order to drop the overall tank pressure if that is what the filter does. I would never have guessed in a zillion years that this little connector is in fact a filter. Surely does not look like a filter. Check this out: www.ereplacementparts.com/images/homelite/XL2.pdfThis link ^^^ is for an XL2 Auto (which I also have) and shows the filter as being outside of the oil tank whereas in my XL and in my vintage 1975 XL2, it is mounted at the very tip along with the duckbill inside. Hmmmm.... d.j. |
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Post by dickjurgensen on Jan 1, 2016 16:43:27 GMT -5
Hi Dick, These little saws rely on crankcase pressure to operate the oiling system and are for all intense and purposes are non-adjustable. Although, at some point Homelite did make an adjustable oiler version, at the moment the model number escapes me. Here's a question for you; is the small brass sintered filter and duck-bill valve in place at the end of the oil tank pressure line? If it is, there's suppose to be a very tiny gap, only about a 1/16" between the duck-bill valve and hose end (this would be 1/16" of sintered filter exposure). This tiny exposure I believe regulates the overall tank pressure. No gap equals to much pressure and too much gap equals less pressure, thereby effecting oil flow. I'm not 100% sure about this but it seems logical. Cheers. Steve Steve: I checked and do have a bit of filter exposure. I could certainly increase the amount of exposure considerably.... in order to drop the overall tank pressure if that is what the filter does. I would never have guessed in a zillion years that this little connector is in fact a filter. Surely does not look like a filter. Check this out: www.ereplacementparts.com/images/homelite/XL2.pdfThis link ^^^ is for an XL2 Auto (which I also have) and shows the filter as being outside of the oil tank whereas in my XL and in my vintage 1975 XL2, it is mounted at the very tip along with the duckbill inside. Hmmmm.... d.j. *************** s30387.gridserver.com/partsDiagrams/Homelite%20XL.pdfOK... this XL diagram shows ^^^ on page 2 a "connector" and a duckbill mounted inside the oil tank. It doesn't suggest that the "connector" is a filter of any sort. d.j. |
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Post by Supercharged86 on Jan 1, 2016 17:33:14 GMT -5
Hi Dick, Yes, Homelite does call it a connector (as it connects the pressure line to the duck-bill valve); I refer to it as a brass sintered filter as it is porous. Try increasing this gap a tiny bit to see if you get a decrease in oil flow. When the crankcase is pressurized on the down stroke that pressure is transferred thru a small opening from the crankcase thru the pump diaphragm cover and down that pressure line into the oil tank. On the compression stroke, vacuum is created in the crankcase and subsequently this draws on the oil tank line and thru that small gap in the "connector". This is how I think the overall oil flow is regulated. Just a theory though; perhaps someone else will chime in. Steve
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Post by onlyhomelites on Jan 1, 2016 17:49:29 GMT -5
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Post by dickjurgensen on Jan 1, 2016 19:26:31 GMT -5
Thanks guys.... more questions to come.
And I like puddin almost as much as I like my XL's.
d.j.
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Post by Supercharged86 on Jan 7, 2016 21:19:52 GMT -5
Hi Guys,
I was almost defeated by a little bastard of a saw and nearly tossed it into the scrape bin with frustration but I finally succeeded (after umpteen hours) in getting it fixed. So my latest project a ’74 XL-2 runs great but as I expected, didn’t oil. So I was figuring on a simple fix; you know, replace the worn out oil lines, reinstall the brass connector that luckily was sitting in the bottom of the tank and then replace the missing duck bill valve. As it turns out, it wasn’t going to be that easy, naturally!
So after making those repairs still no oil, now what? Well, after some testing with a Mity-Vac tester I found a leaking oil tank, well that’s certainly not going to help the system. So after replacing the leaky cork gasket I figured I’d be all set, wrong again. Still no oil. Damn!
Take the saw all apart AGAIN, how many times does this make now? I’ve lost count. So now I figured the only part left to check is the diaphragm plunger. Of course this requires taking the clutch and sprocket drum off to get at the little diaphragm cover. So with diaphragm in hand, everything seems good. The diaphragm is pliable with no apparent damage (I say apparent because ultimately my problem will be with the diaphragm but didn’t notice the problem at first). I double checked the internal check ball and spring with a paper clip to make sure it wasn’t stuck closed. I even used the Mity-Vac with some pressure on the guide bar oil outlet and the oil inlet fitting to be sure the check ball was holding and releasing when I manually actuated the check ball.
So with everything apparently OK, back together it went. And once again, still no oil. WTF!!! At this point I was nearly fresh out of ideas and frustrated to no end. So back in the box the f#*king saw went, tomorrows another day. Make that a couple of days. I figured I’ll sleep on it a while.
I was fairly convinced that the problem was related to the diaphragm plunger, since it couldn’t be the tank or the lines and I had crankcase pulses, so what else is there. With several days to think about it and discussing the problem with my chainsaw partner (my 78 y/o Dad), I needed to somehow test the diaphragm and to be sure it was fluttering inside the little pump chamber. So I made a temporary aluminum cover with a ¾” hole in the middle of it. This way I could see if the diaphragm was fluttering as I manually spun the motor over using a high speed hand drill. WELL WOULDN’T YOU KNOW IT! NO FLUTTERING ACTION! So the next question is WHY?
So when I first examined the diaphragm it seemed like it was OK. No apparent rips and the inner and outer gaskets were good too, because there were no air leaks around the edges. So after CLOSER examination, I found that somehow the plunger shaft had loosened up from the diaphragm material and apparently the crank pulses were leaking by the center. No problem, all it needed was to be re-peened with a drift and now it was nice and tight. I reinstalled with the temporary cover and lo-and-behold, it fluttered like a humming bird. It’s gotta work now. Do I dear say that?
Reassembled the saw for hopefully the last time, fired it up, ran it through a 12” red oak log and I’m glad to report, I’ve got oil now. Thank God. So the moral of this long drawn out story is that if your having trouble with the oiler on your XL, XL-2, Super-2, etc., double check the plunger shaft on the diaphragm. If mine had come loose, chances are others have too. Cheers. Steve
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Post by onlyhomelites on Jan 7, 2016 22:49:23 GMT -5
Wow Steve, great advice! That is one condition I've never come across before (That I know of)!
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Post by dickjurgensen on Jan 8, 2016 8:36:12 GMT -5
OUCH..... I guess my problem of having too much oil beats your problem of having too little oil... by a wide margin.
d.j.
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Post by sweepleader on Jan 8, 2016 9:01:39 GMT -5
That's great information. Thanks. Can you post a picture or two of the custom diaphragm checking tool?
Dan
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Post by Supercharged86 on Jan 8, 2016 9:27:15 GMT -5
That's great information. Thanks. Can you post a picture or two of the custom diaphragm checking tool? Dan Hi Dan, This is just 1/8" aluminum flat stock, of course anything would work, whatever you might having laying around. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the diaphragm plunger being re-peened. I supported the shaft side with a small steel cylinder piece that was already drilled down the middle. This was placed on top of the flat anvil section of my bench vise, while I tapped the outboard side of the plunger section where it gets factory pressed. Because the diaphragm already has a "set" in it from years of the inner spring pushing against it, it fluttered back and forth without any trouble. Cheers. Steve  |
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Post by dickjurgensen on Jan 11, 2016 17:40:20 GMT -5
UPDATE: I installed A-78889 (oil filter pick up) and restriction plug (93703-B) both used in a pressurized oiler system as suggested above.... and that has stopped my XL from dribbling/puddling/draining/leaking chain oil when sitting up idle. These two working together seem to supply more than adequate lubricant to the bar/chain when the chips are flying. So now I have the best of both worlds when I crank up my Homelite... efficient, effective chainsawing that creates no mess afterwards. Life is good! Thanks guys! d.j. |
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