2 stroke oil brand change

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I'd like to know the effect on an engine when you change 2-stroke oil. I have an 85 Kaw Tecate that has a new big bore top end. I do love to change brands of oil and do so often on my vehicles with no noticeable ill effects. I was wondering if I can change premix oil on my Tecate fairly often and not expect any problems. The reason I ask is because I have built quite a stash of various brands of premix oil. All of them are top-notch synthetic oils, I won't run a Castor based oil or a blend in my 3-wheeler. I push the engine pretty hard at times and want it to last. Recently at a big 3-wheeler event I rode it hard for 4 straight days and ran it in the drag races, placed 5th by the way. Anyway I only ran Neo Big Red while I was at the event and really liked the way the engine felt at the very top end of the rpm range running the Neo. I'm concidering actually sticking to the Neo dispite the fact that I have several gallons of high quality other brand oil to use. I'm torn, I want to use the stuff I bought, but the Neo is really great running oil. By the way, I run all oil brands at 50:1 ratio, like I said they are all top-end synthetics.

Any insight is greatly apreciated. Thanks, Chris
 
I think you will be fine, most of the top tier oils burn really clean.

A neighbor was moving so he left me a can of premix (with Pennzoil 2 stroke). Rather than dump it in the cars, I ran the stuff in my weed wacker. It ran OK, smoked a bit, but did fine. So then, when I went back to my Saber premix – man lots of goop blew out the exhaust for the first 10 minutes or so. The Stihl never did this before. Then it settled down, and does fine now. My guess is the Saber was blowing out the excess oil and goo. Again this shouldn’t be a problem in your situation, and if it is, it will rapidly self clean.
 
There were some problems in the past blending low-ash with ashless oils. Also some miscibility problems with some of the synthetics in long term storage. But if your only experimenting with 1 oil at a time and premixing, and shaking the can before each fill, you should never have any of these problems.
 
Thanks guys, makes me feel a bit better about using my stash. On another note, I am always surprised at how long it takes to clean out the bottom end of the engine when I switch from my breaking premix to my normal ratio premix. On this latest topend I ran 3 gallons of Elf Moto conventional premix at 20:1 to breakin the topend. The bore was freshly nikasiled. Anyway when I switched over to the Neo Big Red at 50:1 it actually took a couple of hours for the extra smoke of the Elf conventional to clear up which tells me that the Elf oil stayed in the crankcase for that long before I blew it all up into the topend to burn. I really though premix oil migrated faster than that. Anyone have any insite on this?
 
Master I was running richer than I thought I would. I live and ride in Louisiana, altitude about 250 feet above sea level, I went to a rally in Indiana. Guy with a GPS said the altitude was about 1,100 feet. I know it richened the mixture up more than I thought it would. I put the smallest main jet I brought with me and it was still on the rich side. You think it filled up the exhaust with oil?

wileyE, I've seen that article before and read it several times to try and digest it completely. Seems to me it is an old article and the key is that they were using castor oil. Being a vegitable oil, castor oil burns in the cylinder and maybe? contributes to the combustion. I run only top tier synthetic, Neo Big Red and Elf Tech DX and Mobil Racing 2T. I question whether oils in this class contribute to the combustion process. I don't think they burn in combustion, and if they do I can't imagine they contribute force to the combustion. Most 2-stroke guys believe that premix raises the octaine level of the fuel mixture and this may be true running a richer mixture of castor or petroleum premix, but the new leaner mixtures of the synthetics, it's only 2% of the mix at 50:1, can't contribute to raised octaine.

I've strayed from my original question, but this 2-stroke oil stuff is really interesting. I'd like to see more discussion on 2-stroke engines and oil, but, alas they're going the way of the dinosaurs in most applications.

Know any source of 2-stroke lubrication information? I've read all I can find and am still craving more. Thanks, Chris
 
Also fwiw even though bean oil was used back in the day (and still is) the principles still apply with modern oils even if their formulation is different. You may be able "get away with" a litlle lighter ratio with some of the new oils, but theres a point where no amount of additive or superduper basestock is going to make up for the lack of oil film being there when it needs to be.
 
i dont think ya filled the exhaust up, but i bet the internals of the mufflers were coated.

its not a big deal. everyone knows its far safer to run a 2 stroke rich compared to lean, but you just lose power when overly rich.
 
The exhaust of a 2T engine consists of the pipe, silencer can, and the packing inside the can. When we run an overly rich air/fuel mixture,(meaning how the carb is jetted for whatever the ratio is), there will be residal unburnt oil and components from the fuel that will coat and start to fill the expansion chamber of the pipe. This unburnt "spooge" will also collect in the silencer packing and help to clog it up.

After you have run for awhile on an overly rich mixture, the residual carbon and goo living in the exhaust, will continue to exit for quite some time, even if you have sorted the jetting out and have a cleaner burning air/fuel ratio in the combustion chamber, the old oil will still be spooging out the exhaust as if it were still running very rich. Many will make the mistake of continuing to lean the mixture out simply because they still see smoke coming out of the pipe. Often times leaning the mixture out to dangerously lean conditions.

If you feel that you have the fuel/oil mixture where you want it,(I would never use less oil than you are now..in fact I run small bore 2T engines with 20-26:1 ratio always)
and then have the jetting sorted out in all circuits so that you are providing the combustion a good air/fuel ratio, then you need to get your pipe cleaned.

You can clean a 2T pipe out with eazy-off oven cleaner and a garden hose, but this is not a very efffective way to get the pipe spotless. Another way is to take the pipe to a radiator shop and have them boil it out. It will be clean as a whistle afterwards.

Then you need to repack the silencer can. Although some have used regular rolled up fiberglass from home depot for this...it is best to purchase some real silencer packing.
Follow the instructions on the package, or just mimic how the old oil soaked packing was placed in.

This will make it so that you can see the results of your labor without the smoke of old work.

I want to also add a couple of old articles. Both by bike legend Gordon Jennings. (oldies but goodies)
If you do anything, read up and learn to properly jet the carb at all circuits. Doing so will provide you with the tools to make the cleanest burning, most powerful engine it can be.

http://www.strappe.com/plugs.html
http://edj.net/2stroke/jennings/oilpremix.pdf

Just an observation...
But if you were jetted up properly when using the 20:1 ratio, then switching to a 50:1 ratio without changing the jets and metering devices will net you a very rich running engine. You have effectively added more fuel to the mixture at burn than the 20:1 provided.
Now if you were indeed jetted close with the 20:1, you could simply return to that ratio and will be much closer than you are now. Or you will need to change all the devices when using a richer fuel ratio like 50:1

Understanding how the oil/fuel and air/fuel ratios relate to one another, and how the bike responds to jet changes is key to providing the most performance for the 2T engine.
 
All very interesting stuff indeed. wileyE, thanks for the link, I've seen the book and haven't bought it.

This 2-stroke stuff does have allot of variables and I may be further along in mastering those variables than it seems through the ether of the net. I truely find it ineresting and am thinking of buying a test engine to experiment with 2-stroke lubrication myself. Just a small one to play with. My big bore Kawasaki isn't for experimentation, it's for whiping up on Hondas.
 
Lot of pipe drool is also water, two stroke cases condensate quite a bit internally after being shut down warm.. The pipe condensates also because of it's large surface area.
 
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