Running 40:1 in a 50:1 world.

[oil pan 4]

I have been running 40:1 now for a while with regular ethanol free pump gas and red armor oil.
My echo saws smoke a little bit more if I let them idle for say 20 seconds or more then I get back on the throttle.
Biggest change I noticed is the 60cc echo pops on the first pull most of the time and if I'm quick I can get the 40cc saw to start on the first pull. They never did that with 50:1 and I have had the 40cc echo for 12 years and the 60cc echo for 6 years.

 

[64bawagon]

None of my Stihl items will run right with a heavy mix. My Jonsered chain saw runs fine with it.

 

[Brian123]

I have been running 40:1 now for a while with regular ethanol free pump gas and red armor oil.
My echo saws smoke a little bit more if I let them idle for say 20 seconds or more then I get back on the throttle.
Biggest change I noticed is the 60cc echo pops on the first pull most of the time and if I'm quick I can get the 40cc saw to start on the first pull. They never did that with 50:1 and I have had the 40cc echo for 12 years and the 60cc echo for 6 years.

Go back to 50 :1 and see what happens.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I can't find any information what to run in my Polaris Xplorer 300 2 stroke as it has oil injection. It sat for a few years so the oil pump lost it's prime. I've been running 32:1 in it. The oil pump primed. The smoke is ridiculous and it doesn't like to idle long before fouling the plug. Runs great, though!

 

[jeepman3071]

I have been running 40:1 now for a while with regular ethanol free pump gas and red armor oil.
My echo saws smoke a little bit more if I let them idle for say 20 seconds or more then I get back on the throttle.
Biggest change I noticed is the 60cc echo pops on the first pull most of the time and if I'm quick I can get the 40cc saw to start on the first pull. They never did that with 50:1 and I have had the 40cc echo for 12 years and the 60cc echo for 6 years.

Probably has way more to do with your carb tuning than it does 40:1 vs 50:1.

 

[oil pan 4]

Go back to 50 :1 and see what happens.

Never. I set the idle at 50:1 so the crank case doesn't load up with oil when idling for 3 minutes and the highspeed so it 4 strokes at wot no load. It's just about perfect. I have had it too rich and too lean a different times over the years.

 

[BISCUT]

None of my Stihl items will run right with a heavy mix. My Jonsered chain saw runs fine with it.

I'm running Echo commercial grade trimmer and leaf blower. Mine also do not run well with a heavier mix.

 

[billt460]

I NEVER run 50:1 in anything. In my big Echo power blower I run 32:1. In my Homelite saw in run 25:1, the same in a my Chi-Com Salem Master large saw. (Which has a 25:1 sticker on it). For my Echo hedge trimmer I also run 32:1.

I don't foul plugs, and the only smoke I'll get is if I idle for over 1 or 2 minutes, then nail it.

 

[thastinger]

I run 32:1 in everything, all Stihl except for my Echo telescoping pole saw. Everything runs fine on that mix of E0 89 octane and VP 2 stoke oil.

 

[97K15004WD]

50:1 is for emissions per Stihl:

"Modern internal combustion engines, in particular single-cylinder internal combustion engines, are operated with a lean mixture for environmental reasons; this may cause an increased operating temperature. In order to ensure a satisfactory cooling action, a corresponding volume stream of cooling air must flow through the motor housing. On the other hand, increased operating temperatures also cause a corresponding heating of attached parts, for example, the exhaust gas muffler."

US Patent Application for Cooling Air Passage for a Motor Chain Saw Patent Application (Application #20100122674 issued May 20, 2010) - Justia Patents Search

A motor chain saw has a motor housing with a drive unit for driving a saw chain on a guide bar. The drive unit is an internal combustion engine with a cylinder and a crankshaft extending transversely to a longitudinal axis of the motor chain saw. A drive pinion is mounted on a first end of the...

patents.justia.com

I run 32:1 (red armor) in all my two strokes.

 

[oil pan 4]

I NEVER run 50:1 in anything. In my big Echo power blower I run 32:1. In my Homelite saw in run 25:1, the same in a my Chi-Com Salem Master large saw. (Which has a 25:1 sticker on it). For my Echo hedge trimmer I also run 32:1.

I don't foul plugs, and the only smoke I'll get is if I idle for over 1 or 2 minutes, then nail it.

Yeah things that run wide open all the time like weed eaters and leaf blowers should never run 50:1.
The electrode arm on my redmax weed eater was getting scorched so I went to 40:1 I rarely cut a lot of big trees so I didn't know if the saws would like 40:1.

 

[wpod]

More oil means less wear if the carb is tuneable.

 

[IndyIan]

Yeah, 30-40 to 1 for me. Never seem to foul plugs as I try to tune the carbs to chocolate brown.

In my teens I used to run 20 to 1 in my 1984 IT200, which probably was a bit much, as the pipe would carbon up every couple years, and my t-shirts had oil spots on my back... It may have had like 600+ hrs on the top end though! Lots of road riding, MX tracks, for 6 years I had it, never really thought about it, just put gas in it, cleaned the air filter a couple times a year and rode.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

Same here on 40:1. I get some smoke out of my Ryobi leaf blower and string trimmer if I let them idle then nail it. My Stihl saw is the same. I will tolerate a little smoke for better performance and life.

Just my $0.02

 

[Fordiesel69]

Red armor is so good that you could in theory run 50:1. But I also like to run mine 40:1.

I want the stuff to last a long time.

 

[billt460]

What I want to know, is what am I going to "improve", only in regards to my equipment, by running 50:1 instead of 40:1?

 

[oil pan 4]

What I want to know, is what am I going to "improve", only in regards to my equipment, by running 50:1 instead of 40:1?

Emissions.
I wonder if the man ever bothered to figure 50:1 but your replacing stuff twice as often. They probably looked at tail pipe emissions and figure "meh the engine won't immediately fail on that little oil".

 

[gathermewool]

I’ve been away for a bit but I‘d swear the richer than 50:1 used to be akin to the 3k OCI in cars. That doesn’t seem to be the case in this thread.

I run 50:1 TruFuel in all of my 2-stroke. I go through a couple of cans per year. I hope not to learn a bad lesson in another half a decade when my stuff starts to break down. So far so good.

 

[billt460]

Emissions.

That's all it is. Most all the landscapers around here that I have talked to, all run 32:1 or at the very least 40:1.

They can't afford breakdowns, or to be constantly replacing expensive equipment.

 

[oil pan 4]

I’ve been away for a bit but I‘d swear the richer than 50:1 used to be akin to the 3k OCI in cars. That doesn’t seem to be the case in this thread.

I run 50:1 TruFuel in all of my 2-stroke. I go through a couple of cans per year. I hope not to learn a bad lesson in another half a decade when my stuff starts to break down. So far so good.

Trufuel is the worst. I would probably run e10 at 40:1.