What's best 2 cycle oil (chainsaws, trimmers, etc)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Oil is you 2 strokes friend. I see no reason to go leaner than 40:1 on the oil ratio And I use 32:1 myself.

[ June 20, 2003, 04:29 AM: Message edited by: rugerman1 ]
 
"Oil is you 2 strokes friend. I see no reason to go leaner than 40:1 on the oil ratio And I use 32:1 myself"
Sound advice.
 
I jumped all over the map and ended up using 40:1 with Shell's egd advance in MX bikes.
100:1 ?? Good grief, whats the point? A contest to see who can run the least oil?
Well I guess there is no harm in that as long as the consiquence does not exceed the cost of the oil being saved and the machines you are expimenting with are your own.
 
I have heard Shell advance has a great rep with snowmobile guys in the rockies. I would love to test the stuff, but I have never seen it.
 
Shell has both a PWC and snowmobil EG-D oil. I think that they are the same product with different labels. I bought a couple of cases from the bulk lube place for $6.00 CDN/litre or around $4.00 USD/litre.
Then I lucked out at Cannuck Tire and found the stuff mis-priced at $9.99 for 4litre jugs the same day as they had Castrol snowmobile on for $5.99 CDN in 4-litre jugs.......
Needless to say I have 2-stroke oil forever.
fruit.gif
 
Cujet, Why dont you tell them about your expiereance with MX2T and other oils in your Husky?
 
Amsoil 100:1, been runing it in my Craftsman leaf blower it is 6 yrs old, ( which here in NC dosen't get to cold when it is time to clean up the yard and it runs wide open nonstop for four tanks till the yard is done) Mini Mac chain saw that is 7 yrs old, up to this year cut an average of 4 cords of wood a year. IDE weed wacker 9 yrs old. All no problems, never changed a spark plug. I ran it at 100:1 even in my Personal Water Craft a 650 Yamaha Super Jet that called for 50:1.

I too at first was concerned with the mix but since then a tried and true user from my use of it.

May I also say that I don't do anything to the leaf blower, chain saw or weed eater from season to season, just top off and store till next year. Not even a trace of fuel stabilizer.

Yea your saying I'm asking for trouble. Well so far so good and 9 years is a long time with no trouble.

Now watch me go out and have nothing but trouble tomorrow when I go to use the blower on the driveway after I mow.
grin.gif


Oh and if you want a race smell like Bartman that uses Klotz, just run some 114 octane. Makes the same smell like your at a 2 stroke race.
cool.gif
 
I have run mobil mx 2t in my stihl fs 85 trimmer for several years at 32:1(lots of use). I bet my engine is as clean or cleaner than yours run on amsoil 100:1. I would also bet it exibits less wear.
 
quote:

Originally posted by blano:
I have run mobil mx 2t in my stihl fs 85 trimmer for several years at 32:1(lots of use). I bet my engine is as clean or cleaner than yours run on amsoil 100:1. I would also bet it exibits less wear.

Probably does. I just know that my luck with Amsoil has been great and it is easy for me to get. One of those if it works then don't mess with it kind of thing.

I just noticed at Auto Zone they carried the mx2t. Never seen it before anywhere else.

I guess the law of supply and demand on the Amsoil comes into play. I use it and supply of it is easy access for me. I'm sure if the mx2t was easy to get at the time I started using synthetic 2 cycle then I would be using it.
smile.gif
 
alot of these companie shave Spectum bottle their oil. not sure if you had heard of them and how good of a company Spectrum is, but let me know
 
Spectrum very well could be a packageing only company. The companys the\at actually produce stihl, husky, and echo oil are all major, well known companies.
 
OK Ben.

FWIW, I have a 1994 Husky 360WXC 2 stroke. Since new, it has had some problems with loss of compression due to ring wear on the exhaust bridge. As an aircraft mechanic, I keep tabs on what works and for how long. I determined that 30 hours was the maximum ring life in my engine.

The reasons are many, but the fact remains that to exceed 30 hours resulted in piston failure due to blowby.

Almost right away the compression would decrease as the rings wore over the exhaust bridge.

I used a number of brands of oil. I even went so far as to mix it at 16 to 1 in an attempt to extend engine life (Did not work). Oils used include BelRay MC1, Golden Spectro, (Redline Racing Oil at 16 to 1, was by far the worst) Klotz R50, Maxima synthetic and BelRay H1R.

WIth the exception of Redline Racing oil, all of the oils provided an acceptable, normal level of performance.

Mobil 1 MX2t (my current fav) has been in use now for well over 30 hours with no loss of compression. That is better performance than I have gotten out of any other oil. In addtion the powervalves are still free and the powervalve chamber is not full of half burned dirty oil. (which would leak out onto the piston after shutdown) and contaminate the engine.

For whatever reason, this oil and my Husky engine really get along. I cannot predict how long or how much longer it will last using MX2t. It is probably a combination of factors that make this oil work so well. One of which is that it provides adequate lubrication while burning cleanly and leaving little in the way of deposits.

By the way, it meets EGD and API TC requirements. So, use in a SeaDoo engine is OK as far as warranty is concerned.

Chris
 
for somthing like a line trimmer or blower just use any old oil. it doesnt really matter. use 10w30 or tcw3 or whatever.
little 2stroke engines will run forever and a half on any kind of oil.

i think you guys are too picky about things.
i can understand wanting a good 2stroke oil for a dirtbike, pwc, outboard, or some high end chainsaw. but for simple little $150 string trimmer or blower, using a GOOD oil is a waste of money. i used klotz in my dirtbike, but i wouldnt waste my money putting it in my blower or string trimmer.
what is more important, is to properly tune your engine. adjust the low and high speed needles for proper air to fuel ratio for whatever gas and oil you use. i have a green machine string trimmer thats probably older than i am, and it runs great to this day using whatever oil i had sitting around, even used car motor oil. it uses a zenoah g32 engine, which is specked at 32:1 oil mix. do ya think i care? i just dump a bit of oil in the gallon gas can, dont even bother to measure it. if i had to guess id say i average about 50:1 mix for the thing.
my point is that it just doesnt matter. little 2strokes dont require good oil, they dont require good gas either.

proper tuning of the carb is what keeps your engine internals cleanly, and keeps your exhaust from plugging up. just about every single small 2stroke is set way to rich from the factory, and as the air filter plugs up, it gets even worse.
thats as simple as it needs to be , a little carborator tweak once in a while and your off and running for another month.
 
Crypto, I dont know where you are getting your info at, but todays modern two cycle OPE engines do not cost $150. A good stihl, shin, redmax, or echo can easily cost double that and back pack blower even more. Further more todays two cycle are required to run very lean on light mix ratios to meet epa standards. Using tcw3 or auto oil is not only stupid, but it doesnt save any mony as decent two cycle oils can be had for about $3.50 per pint. If you want ot mistreat your equipment go ahead. i choose to trreat mine properly and the always last a long time even under comercial use.
 
blano, it has been my expierence that modern 2strokes are still set way to rich from the factory. i dont care what you think the epa says or doesnt say. my air/fuel ratio guage doesnt lie, neither does my perception of the engine running at wot. you can "tell" when a 2stroke is running at optimum by how it sounds, feels and how the rpm's hold up. and if i cant tell by instinct, then welding a nut into the exhaust and screwing in an o2 sensor and hooking it up to my air-fuel ratio guage sure tells me whats going on.

i know 2strokes of the past were WAYYY too rich.
modern ones are not so bad. but they are still rich. if by "lean burning" the epa really means "closer to optimum" then i can agree with that. but they are NOT running lean in the more common sence. i have not yet encountered a new modern or older 2stroke that was mechanically sound condition, and came from the factory running lean, unless it was leaking air past the intake, or some other abnormal problem.

as i said in my earlier post, i can certainly understand using good oil for an expensive 2stroke. if you have some $500 backpack blower, than by all means run whatever oil you want. if i had a $500 blower i would probably run good oil in it too. but my blower is a 32cc homelite yardvark i got for $115 at home depot. you think im going to put $25/gallon oil in this thing? no way man. that thing is lucky is it gets real 2stroke oil at all and not just motor oil.
and i bet alot of people are similar to me in that they might not have top of the line equipment. some people just cant afford to fork over $500 for a backpack blower. or some people might not need that much blower.

[ July 12, 2003, 11:27 PM: Message edited by: cryptokid ]
 
Not that it matters, but a a/f gauge is useless in tuning a two cycle motor. Even very spendy Bosch beta type sensors leave alot to be desired. As far modern two cycle OPE engines being rich from the factory. I disagree whole heartly. A chain saw I just bought was lean to the point of meltdown as delivered and a trimmeer I just purchased is spot on. BTW I know when a two cycle is runnign properly as I have raced and tuned them for years.
 
I don't know much about 2-stroke stuff. I have been using valvoline tcw3 oil for 3 years now (bought a quart on sale for 50 cents). I have no idea what tcw3 means. I just always assumed it was some sort of classification such as sg,sl,etc. It seems to work fine in my 65 dollar trimmer and my 100 dollar leafblower. Is this stuff bad for the engine?

[ July 15, 2003, 10:04 PM: Message edited by: sbc350gearhead ]
 
SBC, TCW3 oil is not the right oil for your application. Tcw3 is outboard oil. What you need is aircooled oil.
 
Blano,
I have a question to ask since you seem to be very knowledgeable.
IN my 2 cycle stuff I have been using a product called OPTI-2. It is rated E-GD+, I think is the designation. It is about 1.3 ounces per gallon and it is widely used here in the south. Noone seems to have trouble using it. It is made of a German caompany called OPTIMAL.
Since listening to some of your posts I bought some MX2T.
Any ideas on the Opti-2. I admit sounds like so little oil for my Stihl. I agree it is best not to skimp on things like this, It was recommended and I tried it, but now worrt a little.
Thanks
Greg H
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top