Oil & Ratio for Ice Auger

[Thorn]

I'm getting ready to fire up my one-year old Jiffy Stealth auger that uses a 2 h.p. Tecumseh 2 cycle engine. The manufacturer calls fro the use of conventional oil at a rich 24:1 ratio. I read many ice fishing forums, and a lot of guys recommend using synthetic at 100:1.

So which is best, the mfg's recommended conventional at 24:1 for warranty protection, or synthetic at 100:1?

Also, some guys on a certain forum (IceShanty) swear by Opti 2 oil, but I am not sure if it's a "true" synthetic or not. Anyone have any thoughts on Opti 2, or should I consider Mobil or Amsoil if switching to syn?

 

[Dick in Falls Church]

I's use AMSOIL at 100:1. For as much as you'll be using it, the 1-gal mix package would probably be ideal.

 

[Stooge]

I use the Amsoil 100:1 at 50:1 in every 2 stroke toy. I have a 1981 Echo SRM 3000 weedwacker that still runs strong using 50:1.

 

[blano]

Do you really think its smart to run a 100:1 oil ratio in a piece of equipment that specs a 24:1 ratio?

 

[tmorris1]

I have a Strikemaster Auger that has essentially the same 2HP Techumseh engine. I used the Strikemaster oil at 24:1 for the first 2 years I had it. I now use Mobil 1 MX2T synthetic at 32:1. It seems to burn much cleaner and doesn't puke out the black goop from the muffler. I'm sold on it.

Stay away from the Opti 2. It is a conventional oil that charges a synthetic price. Many people are mislead into thinking that it is a synthetic. I had problems with Opti 2 separating and not mixing very well. You could see little flecks of oil floating around in the gas. A friend of mine was running it in his auger for a couple months. After I told him about the mixing problem that I had, he looked at his gas and it looked the same. His auger had a crank bearing fail a week later. Can't prove that it was the oils fault, but it certainly didn't mix well with the gas. Many people swear by the stuff. I talked to a guy from Opti and asked if there were any problem mixing this oil at low temperature, but he of course said there were no known problems.

 

[mtgrs737]

Thorn,

What Blano said. I would use Mobil 1 Racing 2T but whatever you use make sure it mixes with the fuel and stays mixed at the low temps you will be using it at, and I'd mix it to manufactures specs. Everytime.

 

[Mike_dup1]

I have used the Amsoil 100-1 for over 20 yrs and never had any problems. Back in the 80's our chain saws on the survey crew had nothing but problems with the carbs gumming up and could not be started. The saws often got used/abused (never replaced unless broken) hard for months and then sat for months. Swtiched over to the Amsoil 100-1 and never had the problem again.

Been running my Huskvarna weed wacker on it since 1999. Back then the dealer told me I was going to kill the engine, today the same dealer is selling the oil.. Go figure?

Back in the late 90's we had to do a hydraulic survey on the Little River in Menominee county. Was in Jan and was all frozen over so we purchased 2 of the Juffy ice augers and really beat the crap out of them and they never failed. We must have drilled 1,000's of holes thru ice up to a foot thick, one after another. The 100-1 was used in those machines and they fired up everytime.

[ December 09, 2005, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: Mike ]

 

[blano]

and its great on salad too....

 

[Locomotive]

Blano, Blano, Blano

 

[Eigeraholic]

I too run Amsoil 100:1 in all my 2 stroke equipment. I usually mix it at 80:1. No smoke, lots of power, and still have the cross hatch marks on the cylinder for my 5 year old leaf blower. 100:1 is some pretty good oil. What I really like about it is I can put it in my 4 stroke equipment in a pinch.

 

[blano]

With MX2T I get no smoke, no plug fouling and have pieces of equipment that are used for years commercially that is still going strong at a 32:1 ratio.

 

[Thorn]

mtgrs737,

Are you saying that I should run the Mobil synthetic at 24:1?

Btw, all of last year I did stick with the mfg suggested 24:1 mix using "Strikemaster" conventional oil. My understanding is that Strikemaster and Jiffy both use a nearly identical Tecumseh engine, and the place where I bought the auger did not have "Jiffy" oil. I don't know who makes the oil that Strikemaster puts its label on, though.

 

[Eigeraholic]

Thats great!

 

[mtgrs737]

Thorn,

I think if it were mine and the manufacturer said to use 24 to 1 I would use 24 to 1. Now if I were using Mobil 1, I might use the 32 to 1 that I use in everything else just because I belive in Mobil 1 so much. However if I had no control over the oil that was being used, I'd say stick with the manufacturers recomended ratio. Remember to keep your mix fresh as posible and use stabil if you keep it longer than a couple of weeks.