What's the ideal 2 stroke oil brand and mix ratio to have?
- Thread starter purellbear37
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Surprised bwalker has not called you an idiot
I don't believe I have ever given him a reason too.
Saying you used Amsoil successfully would seem to be reason enough.
Schaeffer's 7000 boat oil 40/1 is the cleanest burning oil i ever used ran it 6 year's until it practically doubled in price.
Same with shindaiwa/echo red armor i ran it around 8 year's good oil but got spendy
I saw egg shooter on another forum had a bunch of tests on different oils in trimmers dominator was near the top but I'm cheap and the inexpensive castrol go 2'cycle did very well so I bought 6 quarts for 32.00
Then i bought 12 more quarts no complaints burns pretty clean.
Same with shindaiwa/echo red armor i ran it around 8 year's good oil but got spendy
I saw egg shooter on another forum had a bunch of tests on different oils in trimmers dominator was near the top but I'm cheap and the inexpensive castrol go 2'cycle did very well so I bought 6 quarts for 32.00
Then i bought 12 more quarts no complaints burns pretty clean.
You could use Itaska just as successfully.
My mistake, it is not professional.
My mistake, it is not professional.
I still say people should worry more about the crap fuel that's out there. It seems there are more failures due to gas than oil .
It alway makes me chuckle when people say oil is expensive. Go buy a new saw, that’s expensive.
He is new and likely was unaware that this is a well covered topic. Now he knows.
We wish him luck with all his saws and safe sawing.
Probably true. Not easy to tell if the gas is bad, though. Smell gets bad eventually, but the gasoline has to be pretty bad for that to happen. I use StaBil, which seems to work out for me OK.
I said it before, I am not a post policeman/narc/ red flag sissy or anything, but the OP is new to the site. He may even be new to forums in general. If we treat his question like sarcastic jerks, he may just get a sour impression of Arborstsite.com.You might want to try a search. There are more oil threads on arboristsite than there are subatomic particles in the known Universe.
As I see it, he previously posted a thread asking questions about general tips on upkeep of saws that he hopes to learn how to keep his saws in good shape, and now he just wants US to give him a simple answer on oil. If I see things from his viewpoint, he is likely fairly new to saws, and wants to get off on the right foot as far as Oil/ Mix gas, and maintenance practices from more experienced guys from the forum. Rather than poke fun, if you don't want to make a simple direct answer to the man, maybe hold off on the hassling type posts and direct him to some links about oil that are already here.
My "secret formula":
Calm down Nancy, I AM trying to help him...by suggesting he do a search. One simple search will find enough information to keep him reading for the next 36 months, plus we won't have to re-type the same crap we've posted 250,000 times already so far this week alone.
I know, and Like I said, Not being a Nancy, but how would a newbie know?
The OP can sort it out from here.
The OP might be a newbie to saws (I question even this, considering that he owns saws "20 to 30 years old"), but my hunch is that he or she is not new to the Internet. Coming onto AS and asking what oil to use -- without first doing a search - is like going onto a car repair forum and asking, HOW DO I CHANGE MY MOTOR OIL??? without first doing a search.
Considering that it's probably one of the most commonly-asked questions on the forum, not doing a search first is the equivalent of saying, "My time is more valuable than yours, so please explain it again for the 250,000th time this week, because I'm too busy to do a 5-second search."
I doubt the OP meant it to be rude, but that's how some people see it. Hence my humorous memes suggesting that a search might find some answers.
No worries brother.
I knew the OP said he had some older saws. I saw this and originally thought that maybe he inherited them from his dad or grandpa or something, so it didn't matter to me.
I got my first saw at age 30 when I went to a good dealer back in 1994 and they didn't have salesmen per se, they had a team of hardware and equipment specialists. It began as a hardware store, and gradually expanded to rentals, then Echo and Stihl dealer and I guess I lucked into my first saw being of decent repute even now some 30 years later. My dealer recommended to me an 026 which came with an 18 inch bar and case. If I remember right, it was under $400 out the door back then. They started me out with Stihl 2 stroke oil and the owners manual. Having only used saws that were some older friends' saws or the one that a landscaper boss of mine had when I as around 18, all I knew about saws, I would learn from my manual, from good safety principals and from knowing when to defer to more experienced arborists if a job was above my experience. As far as 2 stroke mixing goes, I went by the book from Stihl, Echo ( my new 1994 SRM string trimmer), and my Honda and Suzuki dirt bikes.
There was lots of good oil back in the 90's, and as I have learned, many new and better oils out there here in the 2024's.
Thankfully we have resources like these forums and the guys and gals who pass on their knowledge. I know I appreciate everyone, even those who give and take a bit of " the business"
Here is one thing about OIL and OILS that I bet has been covered in some of the plethora of oil threads, but, when I got my first OLD saw. My Mac 200 a few years back, I think I saw that it had markings on it that called for something like 20:1 and SAE30 or something like that. This led me to ask, WHAT should I use in it NOW? Considering today's oil/fuel etc.
YUP, you guessed it, I either asked some Mac guys here or did a search or both.
Here is one answer one guy posted from 2008,
I own a small fleet of McCullochs, including a couple of the big reed engine saws, and I run them all on 40:1 mix. This type of question has probably been discussed literally a thousand times in the chainsaw forum. The reason those old saws used a richer mix was due to the quality of two-cycle oils at that time. Many of the manufacturers' instructions even allowed for the use of SAE 30 motor oil as the mix. Because the two-cycle lubricants have been so much improved since the 50's and early 60's, you can readily use a 40:1 mix today. However, if you feel so inclined as to use the original mix recommendations, go right ahead and be prepared for the smoke cloud!
Do any of you guys worry about what the best oil is in your diet ever? That's more important, actually!
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