Uh oh, oil thread
Hey just remember guys that we can discuss till we're blue in the face different oil brands but the facts are they're basically all good when run at the correct rates. Very few of us will ever run saws enough to notice a difference in internal wear between oils and unless you forget to put any oil in at all the chances of blowing a saw up due to oil are basically zero (unless you run a Stihl 880
). In my experience the differences between an expensive oil like Castrol TTS and something way cheaper like Jakmax's US made ALCO oil is zero. I've pulled a number of my saws down running 40:1 Jakmax full synthetic and I have always been very happy with the amount of oil through the bottom end and on the piston skirts so I'll keep running 40:1 in all my saws except the 3120. Each to their own but I see no point in spending $26.50 a litre on TTS when Jakmax is less than half that. If the Jakmax oil was coming out of China I may have a rethink
I have heard that some stihl dealers recommend using 25:1 for milling in extreme conditions.
Just a FWIW on the fuel mix debate, when Matt was in Tassie a few years back one of the big Stihl shops there told him they recommend 33:1 for the 460's up (I think, or at least the 660 and 880) and when they pull them down they look much better inside than the machines that have been using 50:1 on Stihl/Castrol oil.
Hopefully he chimes in later and fills in the blanks.
I think 25:1 is too fat unless you are running really high compression, big ports and lots of revs but i don't have an issue with 16 to 25:1 on air cooled race two strokes at all.
Husky dealers recommend 25:1 on the 3120 as well Rudy. You're right as well Rick. Stihl Shop Huonville said that they had a whole heap of loggers using 660's that were running 50:1. A few guys continued using 25-30:1. When these saws were pulled down there were marked differences in internal wear between the two rates with the 25:1 rates being well ahead. A lot of the loggers went back to 25:1 after this little piece of information was available. They didn't actually mention the oil type but it seems interesting that some of the Husky manuals I've seen have stated 25:1 on any of their saws over 90cc. For some reason the general saw using population seem to think that they know more than the manufacturers do about oil rates. There have been a sh*tload of unexplained bottom end breakdowns on Stihl 880's in Australia and I can't help but think it is from sustained hard work with low oil rates, possibly combined with poor filtration. I can't say I've heard of similar issues across other Stihl saw models.
I'll be sticking to full synthetic at 30:1 in my 3120 regardless of what anybody thinks. In fact if my 3120 died under warranty I was told by the dealer it WOULD NOT be covered unless running 25:1 oil ratios with filter oil to stop dust ingression.
Whats the go with Castrol Power 1TTS guys? fully synthetic and stinks apparently :hmm3grin2orange: any good or bad reports? I never here anyone recommend Husky HP oil either,part synthetic and only FB rated.Any thoughts?
It is no doubt a good oil Dave but very aggressive on the sinuses, lungs, and nostrils. I remember near choking to death in Tassie stumping a big Pinus radiata with the 3120. The exhaust fumes combined with the fuming pine sap near killed me
I'll never use it again and it is pricey.
I use Jakmax full synthetic made by Alco in the US (it's also cheaper than stihl oil), 50:1 for all my saws 50 or 5 years old.
that stuff has a fuel stabilizer in it as well would like too see someone let it sit in a container for six months and see if it works just not on a realy good saw don't want no one to toast a good saw
The Jakmax 2 stroke full synthetic I've been using Darren is over 2 years old and still fine. It's good oil. I've actually been using up a 20L of AGIP semi sythetic I've had here for about 3 1/2 years and nearly through that but the second that's finished I'll be using Jakmax exclusively. The AGIP smells like Bubblegum. Funnily enough when I was using mineral oils in my 7900's they became hard to start after about 10 tanks. That problem was solved by going away from full mineral oils with no other saw changes.
Dont know if you guys saw the tv the other night but they had something on fuel bowser rip offs and fuel containers and and how the litre markings on most are not right ,one of the bad ones was the red plastic fuel container the 5L mark actually held more than 5 1/2 litres some were closer to 6L,even some of the tin ones are out,if you mix in these bottles/tins ............beware.
My little 5 litre plastic containers will take just under 7 litres full
My 20L plastics will take 23L.
We have issues at work with 1000L IBC's (shuttles) and volumes. Legally we are meant to weigh these shuttles when decanting liquid fertilisers from bulk tanks to ensure volumes are correct (by knowing the SG of the liquid). As yet we don't have scales. The issue is that when these shuttles contain something like 85% Phosphoric Acid (SG of around 1.7) they have 1.7 tonne of liquid slapping around in them which expands the steel frame and stretches the plastic bladder. You find out later that despite the liquid showing level with the 1000L indicator mark on the shuttle it actually means the customer has received up to 1100L of product (maybe more) for a 1000L price. For some reason the customers don't seem to mind...
As far as bar oil prices Castrol is insane. We are Castrol dealers at my work and although I won't say exactly what our cost is on the Castrol B&C oil I could buy the 20L Stihl branded Castrol from Huonville Stihl by the palletload for nearly 60% of what my work cost is. Castrol have tickets on themselves as far as I'm concerned.
I'm running Jakmax B&C oil now but would most certainly run Tru Blu if I was closer to Melbourne. I priced it up a while back and they seemed like they'd be really good to deal with but freight was the issue. They're on the other side of Melbourne so had to be handled by two seperate carriers. The Jakmax stuff is basically the same price in 5 x 4L as it is in 20L so I'm taking the environmentalist approach and buying the easier to handle smaller containers
