TC-W3 in small air cooled engines

[theoldwizard1]

First, yes, I know the W stand for water cooled ! And obviously a water cooled engine runs cooler than an air cooled engine.

Good idea, bad idea ?

How about full synthetic TC-W3, like Pennzoil ?

 

[nwjones18]

I do it just because I already have a lot of it around for my boat. No problems yet that I know of in a weedeater, blower and a chainsaw. Granted none of them get very many hours put on them.

 

[Rand]

2 cycle oil is cheap I'd buy the right stuff.

There is different priorities in the formulations.

 

[Charlie1935]

Stihl instructions for a chainsaw and weed eater I had said "do not use TC-W3 oil" in them.

 

[Panzerman]

I tear down a lot of Polaris two stroke quads and I see a lot of hard carbon on the rings and pistons when they run the TCW3 oil. I am sure it takes awhile before it actually does damage. I bought one that the lady used Castrol GTX 10w30 in the oil injection since it was new and it was about five years old when I got it. Two strokes will take a lot of abuse and the wrong oil for quite awhile. The carbon was terrible on it when I tore it down. the3 only ill effects were it was hard to start. The bottom end did become noisy after the rebuild. I sold it so I don't know if it ever did blow up, but really Castrol GTX 10w30, so how long would boat oil take?

 

[OneEyeJack]

Originally Posted By: Rand
2 cycle oil is cheap I'd buy the right stuff.

There is different priorities in the formulations.


Rand's answer gets my vote.

I use Red Line 2-stroke racing oil in my 16 year old echo along with a dash of Red Line gas treatment every now and then. I use the weed wacker a lot but still it does not use much oil at 50:1. I say use at least the right stuff and consider using a good synthetic if you plan on long term ownership. My Echo starts first pull and runs great, still.

 

[Chris142]

The boat oils don't have the anti wear additives. Those can allegedly contaminate lakes.

 

[andyd]

I ran through a qt bottle of Valvoline Universal. I run oily dino. I mix at 32:1 and use it in everything. My 40 yr Stihl does not mind it The Lawnboy specs TCW3 oil The Mantis and the Husqavarna weed wacker spec 50:1 and they are doing fine. Are they running at 100% Peak Performance? Probably not. They run just fine for my purposes. And the rich oil mixture makes for cool runnings

 

[super20dan]

i own a lawn care biz and have used twc3 oil off and on for 20+ years with no ill effect. i go tru a gallon of mix gas a day so the cost is a factor