Chainsaw oil

[Al_Smith]

Three different designs of Briggs engines, all 8 HP .First, IC industrial,cast iron liner , ball bearing crankshaft bearings.IC commercial grade ,iron liner bronze bushings.Third what I thought was plated lining with bearing surfaces simpley cut into the aluminum of the block.

Coincidently I had worked on all three designs and it appeared to be just an aluminum bore which I could not understand but I now believe it to be just this aluminum alloy ,heat treated or what ever other process it might be.I had assumed it to be some type plating.

Fact I had assumed that the Chevy Vega was a plated lining but according to that article was indeed this type of aluminum.It was not one of General Motors greatest success stories.

Now as far as the danged period put it where ever you want to..In front of the sentence if you like ;)

[Fifelaker]

 Something I find odd is they chrome plate the piston. I took basic metallurgy in college for one of my filler classes. I passed but didn't retain much  : I will get out my notes this weekend and read up on this. What you're saying makes sense. I think it boils down to heat treating with some alloys. I would like to see a phase diagram of this alloy and see if I remember how to read it.

[bandmiller2]

They can do a lot with aluminum today but its still al. you will notice the good stuff uses cast iron liners or in the case of chainsaws a good plating.Cast iron is hard to beat for engine blocks. Frank C.

[welderskelter]

I always use stihl oil on my stihl. But I do remember back when I was a kid. Dad and I had a remington and a mono. The mono being mine. Dad bought a gallon of hydraulic oil and somehow the can got to close to the others and as close as we can figure we used it up as mix. Dont know as it hurt the chainsaws any.  Ha. Maybe they were tougher back then.

[Al_Smith]

Most likely you were running it at 16 to 1 ratio. Which you still could I imagine.They'd just smoke a little bit. Well actually about like fogging for mosquitoes which this time of the year might not be a bad idea.

Now then I'm not questioning the Almighty but someone tell me what mosquitoes are good for other than feeding bats and purple martins.They could certainly alter their diets I would think if there weren't mosquitoes.

[Axe Handle Hound]

I switched to Amsoil synthetic by the quart at 40:1 for my Stihl 028 WB and John Deere CS81 when I realized that the equivalent volume of Woodland Pro/Husquvarna/etc. in those little bottles was actually more expensive.  I figured why spend more for something of potentially lower quality?  Note I did say "potentially" because I am not an oil expert either and am likely speaking out of turn. 

On the 4 stroke side of the fence, I switched my JD 400 lawn tractor over to Mobil 1 10W-30 after doing the required break in with straight 30 weight.  I was running straight 30 weight when the oil pump failed and caused the pistons to seize last summer.  The rebuild was so darn expensive that I figured I'd rather spend a bit extra on oil if only to make myself feel like it couldn't happen again. 

[terrifictimbersllc]

Having just purchased new MS460 and MS660, I recently started using the Stihl Ultra oil (silver bottle). Previously the regular Stihl oil (orange bottle).  There's one in between too.  Stihl advertising shows much cleaner cylinder with Ultra use.  It is not a big extra expense.

[Al_Smith]

   

I switched my JD 400 lawn tractor over to Mobil 1 10W-30 after doing the required break in with straight 30 weight.  I was running straight 30 weight when the oil pump failed and caused the pistons to seize last summer.   

Now there's a little thought on this perhaps worth mentioning although it may or may not apply in this circumstance.

I'm not familiar with a Kohler KQ 532 engine however some of the Briggs two cylinders used an oil slinger that sits on the left side of the engine looking back to front .In an extreme situation of side hilling on ditch banks etc. if they are ran for any length of time tilted extremely to the right looking forward the oil slinger cannot broadcast the oil to the engine .It usually snaps the rods on the Briggs engine and coincidently according to reports on the internet evidently also the Kohlers used on the JD 400 .

[Axe Handle Hound]

Now there's a little thought on this perhaps worth mentioning although it may or may not apply in this circumstance.

I'm not familiar with a Kohler KQ 532 engine however some of the Briggs two cylinders used an oil slinger that sits on the left side of the engine looking back to front .In an extreme situation of side hilling on ditch banks etc. if they are ran for any length of time tilted extremely to the right looking forward the oil slinger cannot broadcast the oil to the engine .It usually snaps the rods on the Briggs engine and coincidently according to reports on the internet evidently also the Kohlers used on the JD 400 .

Al, the Kohler KQ 532 uses a full pressure oil pump instead of a slinger to move the oil around.  It's an obsolete engine so I was really lucky to find a good condition used replacement oil pump on your favorite online auction site.  Luckily when the pump failed I heard the RPMs on the engine drop drastically and quick shut it off.  The pistons still seized, but I was able to preserve the connecting rods.  Good thing too because they're impossible to find these days. 

[cuterz]

I use lucas 2 cycle semi syn. 45:1 with no problems   .

[Oliver1655]

I have used Quaker State® Universal 2-Cycle Engine Oil for Air-Cooled Engines for several years mixed 40:1 with 91 octane ethanol free gas for all my 2 cycle engines. I buy it by the case in quarts.  Much cheaper than the pre-measured bottles.  Over the years I have used Stihl, Oregon, Itasca, Husqvarna, Jonsered, ... the saws continue to run.   8)

Point of interest:  The Stihl S10 manual (late 1960's) recommends a 25:1 mix using 30wt engine oil.  My Stihl S-08 (same time frame) states 50:1 if using the Stihl brand of mixing oil otherwise use a 25:1 ratio.  I tried a 25:1 mix once & man did the smoke fly.   :

[sawdusty1]

I use walmart super tech two stroke oil.

[jd2007]

I use Stihl Ultra & haven't had any issues thus far, figured if Stihl believed in it enough to double the engine warranty on a new purchase then it must be alright stuff.

[Al_Smith]

Point of interest:  The Stihl S10 manual (late 1960's) recommends a 25:1 mix using 30wt engine oil.  My Stihl S-08 (same time frame) states 50:1 if using the Stihl brand of mixing oil otherwise use a 25:1 ratio.  I tried a 25:1 mix once & man did the smoke fly .< quote

You know in this age of high tech synthetic oil those old saws did extremely well on 30WT oil mixed heavy .There are still some 40 plus years old examples that survived .It's not out of the ordinary to find old outboard boat motors 50 plus years old still in running condition .

However in spite of being an old hard head I won't argue that 30WT is a better choice than modern mix oils. Synthetic or otherwise .

[labdad]

I have a buddy who has a tree service and that all he uses is cheap 30wt. He's been doing it for years'

[beenthere]

No real reason 30 wt shouldn't work as the saw will run on it, and if it doesn't work as well as the recommended oil, your buddy probably wouldn't be the wiser for it.

[Icehouse]

This is where I tell you I use nothing but Amsoil Dominator and non-ethonal supreme at 50:1 in my Stihls and Huskys with no problems. But my sawing partner uses any kind of 2 stoke oil and regular 10% ethanol gas at 50:1 with no problems. Now the only difference is he saws about 3 times more than I do, now what do you suppose this means. I do love a good "oil thread". Everyone have a good evening.

[Al_Smith]

Well I can't argue the fact that SAE 30wt wouldn't  work because it has for decades .It's just there's better mix oils on the market now .

I gotta kind of draw the line on that Amszoil at 100 to 1 ratio but most likely at a more reasonable ratio it's probabley pretty good stuff .For that matter probabley that Purple Royal stuff is okay too .Lots of hoopla about both of them though .

Ah the good ole oils wars ,gotta luv it . 8)

[John Mc]

Yep... the oil wars just won't die.

One thing to keep in mind when you hear comments like "I've been using X for years and it works fine for me":  saws these days are running a lot leaner and hotter than they used to (they have to to meet EPA regulations).  What worked for years may shorten engine life in a modern saw.

I've got a couple of friends who on the one hand say "this is what I've been doing for years, and it works just fine", then turn around and complain that "they just don't build 'em like they used to".   

Somewhere here on FF, I read the statement from someone whose saw had just died: "I know it wasn't the fuel mix, because my old saw is running from the same fuel can with no problems".  It may well be that there is a problem with the new saw, or it may be that that "old tried and true" method just ain't cutting it anymore (or perhaps your old saw is just set a bit richer, so it's running cooler)