Chainsaw Repair

My Craftsman 5.2/30 (Red Sears badged 5200) and Poulan 8500 are two of my favorite saws. 

I agree that his saw sounds like it may have a leaking crank seal.  Probably the FW side, as when the PTO side seal leaks on these they usually smoke a bit as that seal has the wet side of the auto oiler pump over it.  My 4900 ran great when I first got it, but smoked and was a bit slow to return to idle.  Both symptoms went away when I replaced the crank seals.

530019075 is the Poulan # for the seals.

SKF 6904 and National/Timken 471466 are numbers you can use to get seals from bearing houses and auto parts outlets.