two stroke oil

[Button]

 What kind of two stroke oil do you use  ? I used to buy anything on sale thinking they were all the same. The more I read and learn the more I find this is not the case.  Been thinking of going with opti 2, lots of advantages, environmentally safe, etc.  A little more expensive than the "on sale" brands but the convienience of the little tubes might make up for the difference. I freind that works at amtrack raves about it. :P ;)

[RSteiner]

Not all two stroke oil is creatated equal.  There is two stroke oil for air cooled engines and two stroke oil for water cooled engines.   Two stroke oil for water cooled engines is not designed to operate at the higher temperatures of an air cooled engine such as a chainsaw engine.

I was advised years ago to use only two cycle oil made for chainsaws in my saws, which I have followed and have not lost a saw in 30 years because of poor lubrication.  I have noticed there are different mix ratios between the different brand saws, some are 40:1 and some are 50:1 mix ratios.

I don't know how the synthetic two cycle oils are having never used them however one chainsaw dealer gave me a sample to try once but I never was brave enough.  I only mix a gallon at a time to ensure the fuel is fresh even if it means mixing it twice a day.  I want to do all I can to protect my $400.00 and $600.00 investment in my saws.

Randy

[rebocardo]

I buy two stroke for chain saws at Advance Auto, Havoline TC-W3 for less then $3 a quart. My mix never sits around more then a month at a time and I shake the can before pouring every day. My saws "call" for 50:1, I use 40:1. I run the Husky 365 saws hard with no ills effects, though I have not kept one for more then two years. Saws are sold before the warranty runs out so I can not give any 10 year reports. I might keep the Stihl 180 until it dies though.

[Alta]

I use Stihl oil for Stihl saws. Stihl recommends 50:1 with their oil and 25:1 with any other brand oil. This is becauuse you can not count on the quality of bargan brands. Stihl also has a fuel stabilizer in it so you dont have to rotate your fuel nearly as often. Since lean fuel failures are expensive and take up a lot of time to repair, Im sticking with the mfgr recomendation on all 20+ saws I take care of.

[Rocky_J]

Rebocardo-
The 'TCW-3' rating is for water cooled engines (W stands for Water). Your success is in spite of your actions, not because of them.

[snowshoveler]

ouch thats a bad oil for a saw.
outboard is less than 200 degrees temp,you can always lay your hand on the cylinder.
chainsaw ...over 550 degrees, i do my best not to touch the cylinder when running it.
chris 

[Ianab]

http://www.havoline.com/products/na/motoroil_tcw3.html

I dont know what magic ingredients they use, but Havoline claim this oil is suitable for both water AND air cooled 2 strokes.  ???

I dont know how good it actually is, but the manufacturer claims it "meets API TC requirements for use in aircooled two-stroke applications."

Cheers

Ian

[sawguy21]

What Alta said.

[rebocardo]

Ian,

Would you please stop doing research on my choices before posting your comments, it is too fair, too informed, and level headed of ya     ;)  :D

I guess the only real question is who in the USA puts the oil into those expensive little orange bottles

Stihl 6.4 oz = $2.79 at Husky/Stihl dealer
Haveoline 32 oz = $2.98 at Advance Auto

and is it exactly the same product and formula offered on the shelf in bigger quart bottles under a different brand name? Unless of course Stihl is cracking their own oil and packaging it up themselves in their own plant in Louisiana.

I have not checked the quality of the packaging by running each brand through a filter to see how much sediment is left over from a quart of each brand. Maybe when I am bored and having nothing to do.

Yes, it does work in air cooled and water cooled engines and it has worked fine in most of my saws (Husky 365 and Stihl 180) along with my lawn mowers. I have not tried it in my Husky 316 yet.

On my lawn mowers that do not require mix, I still use the same gas, works fine   8)

[StihlDoc]

Stihl has their own oil formula. Has higher amount of ingriedients for added piston seizure protection and more detergent additive to clean those ingredients out of the cylinder after they have done their job. Water cooled oils are ashless, air cooled mineral oils are low ash. The ash producing additives provide additional lubrication under higher temperatures. Water cooled engines don't like ash forming additives since they cause ring sticking and plug the exhaust ports on low temperature engines.

[16:1 mix]

I use Redline synthetic at 40:1 in every two stroke that I use.

Husky 350
Toro string trimmer
Weedeater hedge trimmer
Mantis garden cultivator
Poulan Wild thing


Stange odor, little smoke and never a problem.

[Pullinchips]

i understant the use of quality two stroke oil, which i beleive all manufactures meet.  I also do not use tcw-3 oil in my saw.  I have a stihl ms390 that is a little ove 1 year old, and i use husky xp oil in it from lowes.  Do you really think that there is a substantial difference in stil oil vs husky oil, so that i would need to mix this non stil oil at 25:1.  I would think that this would cause excessive carbon deposits to build up on rod berings and piston tops and exhaust port.  The difference in the oil formulations in these two top of the line saw manufacturers can not be that much difference.  They are the industry leader for saws they must have similar needs in regard to oil lube.  I know husky's rev more and stihl has nor torq etc.  i have heard all those arguments but bottom line is both are quality saws with very similar performance so the oils can not be that for off from each other to need to double the mix in my stihl.

Just a side not i know a logger that i saw a bottle of tcw3 oil in his service truck.  this is a big logger moves 120+ loads a week and has two guys with huskeys that are limbing the trees after they go through the gate to remove residual limbs.  This might have been an emergency purchase out in the middle of nowhere, but if he uses this oil i have not see to many of his saws blow up and these are used hard 10-12 hours a day sometimes.  If that was his regular oil it shows no ill effects.   But like i said i cant prove that that is what he uses every day.


It makes you wonder though some of the tcw3 bottles show chain saw pics on them and saq that they can be used in saws, conflicting stories from oil and saw companies.  ??? I would not think that a oil company would say that if it was not even slightly ok, for fear of liability from blown up saws from there product.  Oh well i have rambled enough.

Again i do not use tcw-3 oil  in my saw and do not recommend others to do so.

-Nate

[beenthere]

When in any doubt with oil, I error on the safe side. The cost difference vs the risk just isn't in the cards, IMO. I trust the Stihl oil, and it really isn't but penny's diff. in price.  Now the cost of repair?  priceless? 

Good friend of mine, use to mix just regular motor oil in his gas for his Homelite. To him, he didn't think there was any problem in that. Who knows for sure? 

[rebocardo]

The Havoline is designed to be used in chain saws, there is no conflict.

[Pullinchips]

but if you use havoline tcw3 in your saw and it blows up under warrenty and you admit to using it they might not fix it because it is against the manufacturers recomendations.

-nate

[boboak]

   Trying to save a few pennies by using questionable oil is just shooting yourself in the foot.  My dad had a sign in his hangar that said "Maintenance isn't expensive...downtime is expensive"  The little you save by using "bargain" consumables will hurt you in the long run.  When that saw is in the shop it can't make a dime for you.

[rebocardo]

Well, it is not questionable to me  ;)  and it saves me $9 a week  8)

[Sawyerfortyish]

 I have a big list of stihl saws 18 in all. I buy my oil from a stihl dealer when I go to the New york woodsmens field days. I buy it by the case it's usally between 35-40.00 in 25 years of running saws never seized a saw yet. I wore out an 032 16 yrs cutting slabs every day in the mill. But never had a saw fail. An 066 today is around a grand or more I got an 084 that cost 1200.00 about 15 yrs ago 9.00 a week savings for a year wouldn't cover half the cost of replacing some of these saws. Because i'm a commercial logger and sawmill my warrenty on a new saw is only a couple months whereas a homeowner will get a couple years. The couple bucks that can be saved on cheaper oil may come around one day and bite you.

[Ianab]

Any oil that has an API TC rating is a good quality oil, and that rating applies to Air Cooled engines. The TCW3 rating is a similar standard that applies to water cooled engines (lower temps). By some chemistry magic Havoline can make an oil that meets the specs for BOTH standards.
On their web page it's the only 2 stroke oil listed, they dont make different mixs for the 2 types at all. I agree with the posts about running a good quality oil, it's the only thing that stops an engine wearing out. But if an oil has passed the API TC testing it IS a good quality air cooled oil, just happens that this one can pass the TCW3 standards as well.

Buying the oil in bulk from a discount auto parts store is probably where the savings come from, cos it's not cheap dodgy oil.

Cheers

Ian

[alex_30]

after reading all the comments, i`m a little bit confused about the hole discusion because most chain saw useres here in germany are using the motomix from stihl or aspen for there chain saws.

i dont know whether this ready mixed gas is available also in the us, but i think it is. this ready mixed gas is toxic reduced and the exhaust gases from a normal chain saw are equal to the catalytic converter one, but without any loss of power. never the less, the lubrication is even better then all the other quality oils.

[Pullinchips]

Alex, What?  ???

Are you saying you buy mix gas from a pump there. Here the only mix gas from a pump you may find would be at a marina gas dock.  But i was not clear on your comment.

-Nate

[alex_30]

@nate

i dont know whether i translated it right, but the mixed gas i`m talking about is from sthil and you can buy it at your stihl dealer.
maybe this gas is not available in the us?

[Ianab]

Stihl motomix fuel

We dont have that in NZ either, so it must only be sold in certain markets?

Ian

[sawguy21]

I have never seen pre-mixed gas either. Is it provided due to emission concerns to discourage users from improperly mixing their own?

[Sawyerfortyish]

Wow pre mixed gas thats a new one. Whats next remote controll saws