Originally Posted By: boraticus
I bought a Toro QE221 back in January. Excellent SS machine.
I also own a couple Tecumseh 5 h.p. two cycle powered SS snow throwers to play with. I over-ride the governors on the Tecumseh engines to run a twice the operating rpms producing probably twice the power.
I flogged an old 1997 Craftsman machine mercilessly all winter running at 6000+ rpms and it runs great. At those speeds, it will out-perform the Toro. At it's stock speed of 3600 rpm, it's extremely lame.
I do not use TC W oil in any air cooled engines and for the life of me, I cannot understand why Toro would recommend a TC W3 oil for an air cooled engine.
Two cycle oils with the W in the rating nomenclature is for use with engines that will be used on the water. It has more to do with the use of organic components to improve exhaust emissions dispersal and reduce environmental impact than engine lubrication.
I own over twenty air cooled two cycle engines in all kinds of applications from motorcycles, snowmobiles to OPE. Everything air cooled gets TC-3 Canadian Tire Brand Motomaster two cycle oil. Been using it for twenty years or more with NO problems. At $15.00 or so per 4L jug, It's great oil for a great price.
See following excerpt from an article published by Spectro Oil:
"To prevent carbon buildup in the piston ring grooves, these TC oils used metal based detergents that were very effective in motorcycle engines but caused some problems in outboard engines when operated at long periods of time at one throttle setting. A whisker-like bridge could form across the sparkplug gap to permanently foul a cylinder under these conditions while the motorcyclist operating his engine at a constantly changing throttle setting never encountered this problem. When the BIA developed the TC-W rating, they excluded the use of these metal-based detergents in favor of organic detergents to eliminate this problem in outboard engines. These TC-W oils (two-cycle, water cooled) also contained lighter base oils without the bright stock 150. For engines operating in the 4,000 rpm to 5,000 rpm range, the absence of the bright stock 150 had no affect on piston and bearing life. However, off-road motorcyclists testing these new TC-W oils were disappointed with the bearing life of their engines operating at 10,000 - 11,000 rpm and quickly returned to using the TC oils."
For more of this article, here's the link:
Oil Info
Im coming from a 2 stage 7 year old craftsman that took a beating this past winter. I like the lighter Toro that I can get on my deck to clear the snow from it. The 2 stage wouldnt fit on my deck. Im only a little concerned about the street side of my driveway with the plow drive by's but other than that I think the Toro will suit me just fine, and take up less space. Plus I can load it into my CR-V and bring it to my Mom's or in for service if need be.