Can you use motor oil for bar and chain oil? I have got some leftover oil sae 30 and 10w-30 that is new oil but has been sitting around a few years. Ok or a bad idea?
I don't think it'll hurt anything, especially if you mix it 50/50 with some bar oil. Personally, I don't like the smell of motor oil, so I wouldn't use, but I wouldn't worry about it causing any problems. Now used motor oil on the other hand is something I wouldn't even consider. I've met people that use it exclusively, but it really makes a mess of saws!
I have used it in the past, it doesn't work that well. Like they said, bar oil has some snot like properties that make it work well. I use the Wal mart kind. It doesn't work as well as good kind, but it works better than motor oil.
Kubota M59, Kubota L3800, Grasshopper 428D, Topkick dump truck, 3500 dump truck, 10 ton trailer, more lighter trailers.
I usually use the $8 a gallon bar oil at tractor supply that goes on sale for $6 a gallon. I've used hydraulic oil in a pinch. Bar oil is obviously better, but I don't think occasionally running a tank full of whatever new oil you have laying around is going to hurt anything.
I have about three quarts of oil laying around I want to get rid of. I have a conainer that is about a pint in size that a dump out of a gallon jug and use to fill the saw. I blended maybe 20% motor oil with bar oil and thought maybe it was a huge mistake. I did some reading on the internet and got some conflicting data. It doesn’t sound like a big deal. Thanks for the responses, I often trust this web site for answers more than other random web sites.
Bar oil has "tackifiers" that help it do the intended job, just like oils you'd use on various machinery where you want the oil to stick to a surface. Motor oil doesn't. I know a guy who used uses motor oil in his saws on occasion, because he's cheap and can't bear to not use/reuse/hoard materials, and even he says it's not nearly as good.