Why I hate STIHL Ultra

F

Fordiesel69

Joined
Sep 10, 2005
Messages
2,536
Location
Erie, PA
So I let a friend borrow my echo pb-8010h and even topped it off with a full tank of echo red armor so there wouldn't be any chance of any mixing errors.

Well it was not enough fuel, and the blower ended up with a tank of ethanol fuel and stihl ultra ran thru it. The ex port has a slight layer of varnish now. Not a concern it won't hurt a thing but for only a tank I cannot imagine a lifetime of what it would look like. Not liking the varnish in between the rings.

I will be sure to update after running it this year with more red armor. It should clean right up after a few tanks.

Ended up getting this blower a few years ago with a lean seize piston and cylinder failure and got a new genuine echo top end and some new screws that won't back out.

Stihl ultra
1002242024f.webp


Echo red armor (before)
1031221849a.webp
 
Yeah don't use the silver can of death.
If money is no object, Amsoil Dominator.
Best value is probably echo red armor purchased locally and ran 40:1.
VP seems at least decent, run that 40:1 too.
 
Last edited:
jeepman3071 said:
Yep, I still have so many customers and people in my circle that think the Stihl oil is the best oil ever made and will pay whatever mother Stihl asks. :ROFLMAO:
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What about their can fuel. Between my plug in and cordless electric - using my Stihl gasser less and less. Is there a better can fuel out there ? I don’t burn enough for the cost to matter - just want it to start when needed …
 
4WD said:
What about their can fuel. Between my plug in and cordless electric - using my Stihl gasser less and less. Is there a better can fuel out there ? I don’t burn enough for the cost to matter - just want it to start when needed …
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Vpracing or Red armor canned fuel
 
My son brought me an old Stihl hand held blower last year he had picked up from the curb on his neighborhood garbage day. The previous owner had written “ Stihl 50:1 “ on the blower with a Sharpie. It would try to run but just wouldn’t start. I took the spark arrester off and it was caked with oil residue. I used my torch to burn off the old unburnt oil, reinstalled the spark arrester, filled it with my Echo Power blend 50:1 and it started after a couple of pulls. It still starts easy and runs great a year later. I tend to think the previous owner used Stihl oil at a 50:1 ratio because of the Sharpie note on the blower but IDK for sure. I’ve ran Echo Powerblend in my 2 stroke equipment for a couple of decades and have never experienced this with any of my equipment.
 
I’ve run the silver bottle at 40:1 in my chainsaw and blower for about the last 5+ years. I’ve never had any issues. I switched recently because I bought a new Husky string trimmer. I’m using Husky XP at 40:1.

I always use E0 91 for my 2 strokes.

Just my $0.02
 
Stihl is generally overrated. Better than retail junk but I always prefer Echo and use red armor in all the machines I have, including the couple of Stihl tools I still have.
 
RAVL said:
Stihl is generally overrated. Better than retail junk but I always prefer Echo and use red armor in all the machines I have, including the couple of Stihl tools I still have.
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Stihl is resting on their name and brand recognition, and are now more concerned with pushing battery equipment. They used to be on top, and their equipment was well worth the price, but in recent years they have become overrated, similar to John Deere. I've stated this several times on here, but I used to own all Stihl equipment and was a Stihl fanboy. I've slowly phased all of it out and no longer own anything from them. I've also almost completely stopped working on their stuff too, except for a few family members who own the older stuff.

If you have ever taken apart a 4-mix engine the "designed to fail" mentality is extremely apparent. Combine that build quality with parts now only available at special dealers who are more interested in selling you a brand new machine, and they aren't worth it. Even some of their very expensive "commercial grade" equipment like the big backpack blowers have shortcuts in the build quality.

Husqvarna and Echo are all I run and recommend now.
 
jeepman3071 said:
Stihl is resting on their name and brand recognition, and are now more concerned with pushing battery equipment. They used to be on top, and their equipment was well worth the price, but in recent years they have become overrated, similar to John Deere. I've stated this several times on here, but I used to own all Stihl equipment and was a Stihl fanboy. I've slowly phased all of it out and no longer own anything from them. I've also almost completely stopped working on their stuff too, except for a few family members who own the older stuff.

If you have ever taken apart a 4-mix engine the "designed to fail" mentality is extremely apparent. Combine that build quality with parts now only available at special dealers who are more interested in selling you a brand new machine, and they aren't worth it. Even some of their very expensive "commercial grade" equipment like the big backpack blowers have shortcuts in the build quality.

Husqvarna and Echo are all I run and recommend now.
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IT's funny you mention the battery equipment. Starting next summer, it will be illegal where I live to operate gas powered blowers (all of them, not just two stroke machines). I am going to bite my tongue and not comment more but I will have to buy a battery blower (or use my wife's salon grade hairdryer - may be just as effective). In any event, I checked out a local hardware store that sell Stihl and the rep told me that the battery line is really designed for homeowners etc. Kind of all I really needed to hear. I used to work on one of my dad's crews in the summers (either commercial landscape clean up or construction) and I learned that there is nothing more expensive than an unreliable tool. The Stihl equipment I bought 20 years ago was good, one blower I bought a few years ago has been a disappointment. Just not the same quality. I haven't tried Husqvarna, but when I need to buy a battery blower, I will check them out with the Echo.

Re John Deere, agree 100%. Number of years ago they wanted Kawasaki to agree to allow Deere to brand the Kawasaki motors as Deere. Kawasaki (as you know probably better than I do) wants its own name on the engine. Deere wouldn't budge and went to Briggs. Now Briggs is decent but it is generally not a commercial grade engine on par with Kawasaki. But the customers don't know and they buy the thing because of the name.

Thanks for the confirmation. If you have insights on the better battery blowers, would appreciate to hear them.
 
Huh. I've been using ethanol-laced pump 87 octane and Stihl 2-cycle oil for many many years. Weedeaters, chainsaws, leaf blowers, and occasionally in my little Yamaha generator.

Stihl doubles your warranty on new purchases - if you buy a six-pack of their oil.

So far, so good.
 
kballowe said:
Huh. I've been using ethanol-laced pump 87 octane and Stihl 2-cycle oil for many many years. Weedeaters, chainsaws, leaf blowers, and occasionally in my little Yamaha generator.

Stihl doubles your warranty on new purchases - if you buy a six-pack of their oil.

So far, so good.
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Stihl has been changing a lot of their brand oils to be more biodegradable. I can't confirm which ones, but I remember reading it somewhere that after a period of time the oil is supposed to be able to break-down. It wasn't bar oil because that has been a thing for some time now. I've seen several issues with fuel mixed with Stihl Ultra, where you can see the oil separating from the fuel. This has all been within the last 3 years or so. IIRC, Stihl oil used to be made by Castrol years ago, but I don't believe it is now.
 
RAVL said:
IT's funny you mention the battery equipment. Starting next summer, it will be illegal where I live to operate gas powered blowers (all of them, not just two stroke machines). I am going to bite my tongue and not comment more but I will have to buy a battery blower (or use my wife's salon grade hairdryer - may be just as effective). In any event, I checked out a local hardware store that sell Stihl and the rep told me that the battery line is really designed for homeowners etc. Kind of all I really needed to hear. I used to work on one of my dad's crews in the summers (either commercial landscape clean up or construction) and I learned that there is nothing more expensive than an unreliable tool. The Stihl equipment I bought 20 years ago was good, one blower I bought a few years ago has been a disappointment. Just not the same quality. I haven't tried Husqvarna, but when I need to buy a battery blower, I will check them out with the Echo.

Re John Deere, agree 100%. Number of years ago they wanted Kawasaki to agree to allow Deere to brand the Kawasaki motors as Deere. Kawasaki (as you know probably better than I do) wants its own name on the engine. Deere wouldn't budge and went to Briggs. Now Briggs is decent but it is generally not a commercial grade engine on par with Kawasaki. But the customers don't know and they buy the thing because of the name.

Thanks for the confirmation. If you have insights on the better battery blowers, would appreciate to hear them.
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Yeah John Deere has been re-labelling things for a long time now. Many of their early compact tractors were Yanmars that were rebadged. A lot of their hand held power equipment were rebadged Echos, and I have a John Deere snowblower from the late 1990s that is a rebadged Ariens. The newer John Deere hand held equipment is made by Homelite, since they bought that company a few years ago.

As far as battery, I do like the Echo and Toro stuff. It seems to be good quality, and you can buy it knowing that adding tools from the same brand in the future is a good option. Some brands make one really good battery tool, but the others are a huge miss, which sucks because then you have 10 different kinds of batteries and chargers to keep around from each brand. Echo also seems to have decent support. I can still easily find parts for 40+ year old Echos.
 
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