OK, this may seem a little naive, but its never occured to me until now. Is two stroke oil all the same? I have a Craftsman chain saw that uses a 40:1 mix and a Stihl edger that uses a 50:1 mix. I've run out of the 2.6 oz. oil containers that I've been using in my old 50:1 edger/trimmer. I have Craftsman two stroke oil in 3.2 oz. containers and it states that its for 40:1 mix. Is the Craftsman oil just labelled for 40:1 because of the amount in the container and it would be safe to use it in the proper ratio of 2.6 oz. per gallon in my Stihl edger? If so I can just dump 3.2 oz of the Craftsman oil into 1.25 gallons of gas. I rarely use my chainsaw and figured I might as well use up the oil I have for it before buying more if I can.
Question about two stroke oil
- Thread starter Oddball
- Start date
Other than synthetic vs. dino. there are two types of 2-stroke oil, one for air-cooled engines and one for water-cooled. You don't really want to interchange those because air-cooled engines can run very hot and water-cooled ones, especially older outboards with no thermostats, can run below optimal temperature. Also, engine manufacturers will specify the mix ratio, usually with a specific recommended oil, whereas many oil manufacturers, particularly synthetic, will leaner ratios, claiming their oil is "superior". Unless you want to experiment, go by what the engine manufacturer recommends.
reynoldston
Lawn Pro
When I was young and living on the farm (40's) as I remember in all 2 cycle engines my father used non detergent 30 oil. They cut a lot of wood with big 2 cycle two man chain saws. Then in the early 60's when I first stated riding 2 cycle engine snowmobiles I used 30 non detergent oil. I never had any engine problems other then I used a lot of spark plugs. Bought spark plugs by the case. Then they started to come out with the 2 cycle oils and the spark plug troubles went away. Now this pass summer I was talking with a older person that heated his house with wood. I got talking with him about oil and he told me that the only oil he ever used in his 2 cycle chain saws was 10W30 car motor oil. Myself I use the proper 2 cycle oil in what I am using just because I don't want problems and it just doesn't cost any more and also I think it has to be better for the equipment. But as I see it it really wouldn't matter what 2 cycle oil you used as long as it mixes with the gas, needed oil in a pinch or wanted to use something up. The only time I real ever had a 2 cycle engine burn the piston up was when the engine was running with the fuel mixture too lean not the wrong oil.
Wow, thanks for the history lessons in 2 stroke oil. So they actually came out with the engines before the 2 stroke specific oils to use in them? Well, on second thought I guess that makes sense. Just out of curiosity what happens if you run a higher oil content mix than required, i.e. 40:1 in a 50:1 motor? Will it just not run as well and foul the plug or will it likely damage the engine?
ILENGINE
Lawn Royalty
I have thought about that and has brought up at my engine update meetings but lets look at it in another way. Doubling the mix ratio say from 50:1 to 25:1 only makes a 2 % change in the amount of gas being consumed. If 2 % is enough to cause an engine to run lean and overhead I would think you already have a problem with the engine.