Two Cycle oil

I like the Huskqvarna 2-stroke whackers, blowers, and chain saws vs. Stihl, if for no other reason that I can't get them online or without a huge markup in price. I do run some SeaFoam through my equipment once a year and they are so old now I can't remember when I bought them. Interestingly, my Rancher chain saw has a larger engine (55 cc) than my first Honda motorcycle from 1970. I also rode a 2-stroke triple 750 Suzuki GT-750 in the '70s without issue, it had that nice automatic injector system so no mixing, and had to keep the radiator full, LOL. Wing-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

Charlie D. wrote:
Anyone have an idea what the weight is for 2 cycle oil is? Bought a new Stihl weed eater and a 6 pack of Stihl synthetic. Oil was $15.99 plus tax. 6 pack was 4.6 ounces each and will make 6 gallons. Purchase of a 6 pack extends warranty by 2 years.

My local Rental Center is an authorized Stihl Dealer. They've offered the same deal for a couple of years... actually extends warranty to two years total.

You really need to do some diligent research on two stroke oils if you have an issue using the Stihl oil.
There is a lot of bad info in this thread.

I have many two stroke high performance engines. Some in excess of 200hp coming from just two Pistons.
The oil I currently use is $10 per gallon on sale.
I have never ever had a damaged engine because of oil quality.

But you will be using so little oil, why not just use the Stihl stuff for the extra warranty? The amount of money you spend on oil for it will be small, whether it's Stihl oil or cheap stuff.
Once the warranty is up, use whatever you want.
Of course if you were handy with engines, you might not care about warranty.

I've been using Opti2 oil for my lawn equipment. It works for all the ratios. I'm not sure how it works but I've been using it for years without a problem. I originally bought it at the lawn equipment store but many places now sell it. Amazon is probably cheaper.

Opti2

I'm going to talk about my real world experiences.

Synthetic oil tends to do better in colder weather. I ride snowmobiles in our cold Alaskan winters and have seen non-synthetic turn to the consistency of raspberry jam.

However, since you are mixing it, the gas will counter that. (as opposed to oil injection)

I've used a wide variety of 2 stroke oils. I would never dream of using a 4 stroke oil in a 2 stroke. It would most likely cause heat issues, plug fouling, and like others have said, smoke. Lots of it.

If you've ever had to clean up 2 stroke oil from a floor and compared it to cleaning up 4 stroke oil, you know that is a much easier to clean up the 4 stroke oil. 2 stroke oil tends to be a bit more sticky.

I've been running synthetic in everything that is 2 stroke, snowmobiles, cycles, weedwhackers, chainsaws, outboard boat and our 2 stroke generator. I usually use the Amsoil Dominator or Interceptor, but have bought the Johnson Synthetic that Walmart sells for $30 a gallon.

I have used straight 30W for chain lube on my chain saws.

This Is also not a good practice. Some saws have seals that are incompatible with the detergent in motor oils.

If you ever have a saw that needs the oiler pump rebuilt, you'll understand that the pennies saved from using motor oil doesn't equal the repair costs.

midnightsadie wrote:
just remember they can tell if you used junk oil.

It was the first thing we did when a unit came in with a bad bore/piston. People would do the craziest stuff. It was common to see snow blowers come in with the carb full of oil. The snow blower would run out of gas so they dump a whole bottle of oil in and then fill with gas. It's gravity feed so the oil filled the carb first. Not a bad failure as it didn't toast the engine. It was far better than the ones who ran straight fuel and wanted warr.

A good deal of it came down to poor customer care as they were not given a good delivery run down. Part of my job was to help people who the sales guys were disgusted with because they kept coming back with "It wont start". The biggest problem was using the manual choke. After I took them through the steps they wouldn't be back. Then on the backside of that my friend/boss/owner says during my half arse "review" that I was taking too long with the customers. Umm bye bye. :)This was after telling me that they had their first winter of not having to borrow money to make it until summer rush????????

In addition to using good quality 2-stroke oil, I would buy gasoline without ethanol for the new Stihl.

I rode several 2-cycle bikes back in the day. And tore them down several time just to see what things looked like. A ring job on my Kawasaki triple took less then an hour.

The thing to remember is that 2-cycle oil is designed to burn during the combustion process - and to burn very cleanly with an absolute minimum of ash. 4-cycle oil is designed to RESIST burning, even at high temps - and when it does burn you will definitely get a lot of ash and varnish.

At one time I also had a 2-stroke jet ski and noticed that Yamaha sold a 2-stroke oil for air cooled engines and another for water cooled engines.

So, IMHO you are crazy to even consider using 4-cycle oil in a 2-cycle engine. Unless you LIKE having the rings get fouled and start sticking. In the big picture, the cost of using the right oil is minimal.

just remember they can tell if you used junk oil.