Best saw oil?

[Ed Penney]

it's made by Castrol here in the US also, it's sketchy but I think it was contracted a long time ago by Stihl. Of course you pay more for the orange bottle.

 

[Ed Penney]

Good luck getting them to warranty anything past the first year, and that pretty much goes for any mfg, unless there is a

 

[Ed Penney]

Good luck getting them to warranty anything past the first year, and that pretty much goes for any mfg, unless there is a

 

[Ed Penney]

by the time they check the problem and get them approved under warranty you would be better off repairing it yourself unless it was catastrophic failure on the manufacturer. Echo is one of the worst about any warranty repairs. We would check them out in tool rental at home depot, if it was not a quick fix and the customer got the extended warranty, they would walk out with a new one. We would ship the old one back and recoup the cost. Lowes quite often does the same thing with their extended warranties. The big box stores are mostly about keeping their customers, not always, but most of the time. I threw away a lot of cheap chainsaws when I worked at Lowes with alot of other warranteed/replaced outdoor power equipment. They send them all to a return to vendor warehouse now. Both stores, they were losing to much money with crap equipment overhead. You get what you pay for. If you buy cheap junk, get the extended warranties from the store. It's a gamble otherwise.

 

[huskihl]

it's made by Castrol here in the US also, it's sketchy but I think it was contracted a long time ago by Stihl. Of course you pay more for the orange bottle.

Bottled in the US at Omni in Shreveport, LA

Thread 'Stihl 2-stroke oil made by Castrol or Not??'
https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/stihl-2-stroke-oil-made-by-castrol-or-not.170657/

 

[Captain Bruce]

Don't interject warranty verbage into a simple thread about, Hey, what do you like to mix with your fuel......its stupid, and non-topic.

 

[sean donato]

Don't interject warranty verbage into a simple thread about, Hey, what do you like to mix with your fuel......its stupid, and non-topic.

Thanks for adding nothing to the conversation. The echo warranty was brought up as a means to justify using their oil, perfectly on topic.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Here is a contrast for you. The plug was cleaned and then put in a blower ran with Saber at 40:1. for 10 mins, full throttle, I took it out and took the top photo. Gummy and shiny - too much oil for the application and that it’s a thick synthetic.

I didn’t clean the plug, put it back in with a mineral oil - castrol 2t activ and ran another 10 mins, same tune but used even more oil (32:1) and as you can see it burns cleaner, it actually started to clean up the plug in places.

Not taking anything away from Amsoil, I love Saber (apart from the price) but it goes back to when I said before there is no perfect oil or ratio, it’s all based on application, load and tune. Then you have synthetic vs mineral as well as different manufacture ratios. Put that Saber at 40:1 in a chainsaw and it will burn much cleaner. Or in the blower at 50:1-80:1 and it will be a very clean.

 

[puzlrock]

ECHO is what I use, they were one of FIRST to offer synthetic (and FIVE YEAR WARRANTY), so they believe in their oil. STIHL was synthetic 3-5-yrs later to the game. I WOULD NOT hesitate to use any name brand synthetic, but would NOT use non-synthetic, and very, very happy w/ 50:1 for any/ all despite label. OIL chemistry has shown great improvements in past few decades.

I use Echo in all my saws, have for quite awhile and I never have any problems.

My grandson works in a Stihl shop, good saws but he said if people aren't paying attention the oil can clog up the spark arrestor screen.

Echo 2 cycle doesn't do that.

 

[bwalker]

it's made by Castrol here in the US also, it's sketchy but I think it was contracted a long time ago by Stihl. Of course you pay more for the orange bottle.

It's not made by Castrol unless it's a very recent development.
Stihl oils have always been terrible when compared to the other OEM's.

 

[bwalker]

Here is a contrast for you. The plug was cleaned and then put in a blower ran with Saber at 40:1. for 10 mins, full throttle, I took it out and took the top photo. Gummy and shiny - too much oil for the application and that it’s a thick synthetic.

I didn’t clean the plug, put it back in with a mineral oil - castrol 2t activ and ran another 10 mins, same tune but used even more oil (32:1) and as you can see it burns cleaner, it actually started to clean up the plug in places.

Not taking anything away from Amsoil, I love Saber (apart from the price) but it goes back to when I said before there is no perfect oil or ratio, it’s all based on application, load and tune. Then you have synthetic vs mineral as well as different manufacture ratios. Put that Saber at 40:1 in a chainsaw and it will burn much cleaner. Or in the blower at 50:1-80:1 and it will be a very clean.
View attachment 1087052

Saber isn't really designed to burn cleanly at the ratio you used. To make a 100:1 oil work without many issues you have tonuse a thicker base oil and more AW additives. Both of which cause dirty burning/deposits.
Also your test is pretty meaningless because all oils have different burn characteristics and require different tuning. To me it looks like one plug was running slightly richer than the other.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Saber isn't really designed to burn cleanly at the ratio you used. To make a 100:1 oil work without many issues you have tonuse a thicker base oil and more AW additives. Both of which cause dirty burning/deposits.
Also your test is pretty meaningless because all oils have different burn characteristics and require different tuning. To me it looks like one plug was running slightly richer than the other.

I’m really not sure honestly, the deeper I go into oils and the more I read, the more I realise the less I know. All I know was the tune / rpm was the same, but oil and ratio was different.

 

[KostasVolos]

Saber isn't really designed to burn cleanly at the ratio you used. To make a 100:1 oil work without many issues you have tonuse a thicker base oil and more AW additives. Both of which cause dirty burning/deposits.
Also your test is pretty meaningless because all oils have different burn characteristics and require different tuning. To me it looks like one plug was running slightly richer than the other.

Myself have noticed that my MS180 runs somewhat better and cleaner with Saber at 50:1 ,while at 40:1 I get oil oozing from muffler ,tar-like deposits on the spark plug and -maybe my idea only - a kinda "muted" / "heavy" engine sound and operation also.

While with Castrol Power 1 Racing ,also a full synthetic /JASO FD , at 40:1 ,seems that the engine could feast a bit more oil- being just a rough estimation from muffler, spark plug and piston skirt oil residue inspection .Maybe I should try 32:1.I think being a really thin oil (of ultra low viscosity )has something to do with it's ideal ratio .

 

[bwalker]

Myself have noticed that my MS180 runs somewhat better and cleaner with Saber at 50:1 ,while at 40:1 I get oil oozing from muffler ,tar-like deposits on the spark plug and -maybe my idea only - a kinda "muted" / "heavy" engine sound and operation also.

While with Castrol Power 1 Racing ,also a full synthetic /JASO FD , at 40:1 ,seems that the engine could feast a bit more oil- being just a rough estimation from muffler, spark plug and piston skirt oil residue inspection .Maybe I should try 32:1.I think being a really thin oil (of ultra low viscosity )has something to do with it's ideal ratio .

Couple of things, Amsoil does not make a JASO FD oil and if Saber was tested it very likely would not pass.
Unburnt fuel and oil coming out the exhaust is most often a sign of poor carb tuning and has about little to do with oil ratio. Trying to eliminate muffler drool with oil ratio is foolish at best.

 

[bwalker]

I’m really not sure honestly, the deeper I go into oils and the more I read, the more I realise the less I know. All I know was the tune / rpm was the same, but oil and ratio was different.

The carb settings where the same, the optimum fuel are ratio was not.

 

[KRP]

Don't interject warranty verbage into a simple thread about, Hey, what do you like to mix with your fuel......its stupid, and non-topic.

It's another oil thread so anything goes.

 

[Ed Penney]

Thanks for adding nothing to the conversation. The echo warranty was brought up as a means to justify using their oil, perfectly on topic.

thanks, funny thing about the whole thing to me. We sent alot of Echo's back especially their weed eaters. I do own an Echo that was given to me. It's a 650 Evl still runs but it's way underpowered for it's emmense weight. When I fire it up my close neighbors call the sheriff thinking the dirt bike hooligans are out again. it should of been called a 650 evil. stupid is as stupid does.

 

[JohnL]

I’ve done a bit of digging around, but haven’t found much.
So what do you guys consider the ‘best two stroke oil’? My dad and I have pretty much run Stihl HP Plus for a as long as I can remember, and hasn’t ever seen to harm the saws as far as I can tell. I have seen in some thread that people don’t consider stihl to be good for some reason? If not, what’s a good oil to switch to? Amsoil?

Any modern brand name oil meant for air cooled 2 strokes, no leaner than 50:1.

 

[cheeves]

It seems on this forum and others there is only one agreed-upon truth about oil for 2-strokes:

Some type of oil in the fuel is better than no oil

Other than that... good luck.

WE USED TO USE STRAIGHT 30 W IN THE OLD MACS AND HOMIES 16:1.
SHAKE AND BAKE. LOL NEVER BLEW A SAW.

 

[Ed Penney]

Better compression in well used old saws. Good insect repellent with the blue tinted smoke.