This paper presents a large solid angle measurement of the positive pion absorption cross section on 4 He and its decomposition into partial channels. The total absorption cross sections at incident pion kinetic energies of T ϩϭ 70, 118, 162, and 239 MeV are 35Ϯ5, 52Ϯ4, 51Ϯ5, and 27Ϯ2 mb, respectively. These values are lower than those reported in some previous experiments. At all pion energies a large fraction of the absorption cross section is due to multinucleon channels. ͓S0556-2813͑98͒03108-2͔