# 2 stroke guys oil recommendation



## Snowbelt_subie (Dec 20, 2016)

I was talking to a couple mechanic friends at the local equipment shop that sells everything from snowblowers to trimmers lawn-equipment ect. 

we got started on oil specifically 2 cycle oil how these shops try and sell you specific oil like stihl and echo have their names on the oil to try and make more money but they actually the grade of oil isnt very good.

one guy who used to be in the marine industry swears by marine 2 stroke oil and he runs it in everything. he was saying its the best grade of 2 stroke oil you can buy its TW-3 as most good oils are but they are also NMMA(national marine manufacturers association) certified by them for warranty regulations on the most expensive 2 cycles on the planet outboard marine engines.

so needless to say i am going to start running it you can actually get a large jug of the supertech marine oil for like $10 at wal mart so that is what i am going to be running in all my 2 strokes weed eaters, blowers, chainsaws ect.

what oil do you guys run? do you think it matters?


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## jtclays (Sep 24, 2010)

Res


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## Freezn (Mar 1, 2014)

I use Royal Purple 01311 HP 2-C High Performance Synthetic 2-Cycle Oil exclusively in all my 2-stroke power equipment. Not sure it's any better than other brands of 2-cycle oil, but I like that it's a full synthetic oil, engines always start right up with one or two pulls and run super smooth with very little smoke.

What I refuse to run is any "Universal" "Easy Mix" 2 cycle oil "formulated for 30:1, 40:1, and 50:1 engines all with the same oil to gas mix ratio??? Sorry, but I just don't trust an "exact mix" 2-cycle oil that's compatible with all three oil mix ratios at the same time.


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## nwcove (Mar 2, 2015)

jtclays said:


> Research water cooled 2-stroke engines versus air cooled and see how fuzzy you feel:wink2:


^^^ exactly ! air cooled two strokes run much much hotter than a water cooled two stroke.


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## Dragonsm (Nov 24, 2015)

Way back in the day, I owned both a 2 stroke outboard along with a 2 stroke snowmobile and plenty of 2 stroke OPE.

A little research upon buying the snowmobile (have used yamalube, klotz and amsoil), I never used the outboard oil for anything else and vice - versa.

At first when I got the boat, I used either quicksilver brand (I believe they are Mercury) or other brands before ultimately trying Amsoil in it. I definitely noticed a difference between the cheaper 2 stroke oil vs the more expensive stuff. I rarely fouled plugs, and the engine did not load up when idling for a long period of time. In the snowmobile, it burns much cleaner and less fouled plugs.

I now have a 4 stroke outboard, so no more 2 stroke outboard oil........

However, in owning enough 2 stroke equipment (chainsaw, leaf blower, trimmer, hedge trimmer and an ice auger) and having multiple mix ratios for each, I decided one year to try a gallon of the amsoil 2 stroke 100:1. That was about 10+ years ago. In the winter for my ice auger, it runs a lot cleaner, more responsive, and starts quickly. I have burned thru plenty of fuel in that and no issues to date. From a summer standpoint, I continue to run the same mix/fuel in the others and haven't run into an issue either. Figured the first thing I'd grenade would be the chainsaw, but zero issues with that. I normally mix up a gallon at a time with 87 non-oxy and run thru the can every couple of months.

The 2 stroke oils today are much much better than the stuff from years ago.

I won't give you my thoughts on what you should do, but I have found better results from some good synthetic 2 stroke oil and have had zero issues with running 100:1 in anything. We have a distribution center for Amsoil here in Sioux Falls so I pick everything up locally. Normally for my 2 stroke mix, I pick up a couple of pillow packets for a buck or 2 each so I don't have to store any large jugs of oil at any one point in time.

Steve


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

plan old school here. good old straight HD 30w engine oil. never ever had a issue 
yes marine 2 stroke is made to better specs but who needs big containers like a out board has for it's oil pump system, last one i had a evinrude v6 200 hp held 2 gallons at a time. ka-ching!


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

The only 2 cycle oil to use is synthetic unless you have old equipment and older 2 cycle oil around. I've never used Amsoil but it's been around for a long time and is considered to be good oil.

Synthetics run cleaner with less plug fouling possibly because they recommend to run it leaner because it's better oil.


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## 43128 (Feb 14, 2014)

i use either amsoil or stihl synthetic oil(works great but has an odd odor)


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## wfd44 (Nov 10, 2014)

For my chainsaw and gas weedwhacker I run Tru-fuel (or equivalent non ethanol) pre mixed in the manufacturers recommended ratios. I only go through a little more than one can of each per season and we can't get ethanol free at the pumps around here.

In my snowmobiles I have always run Ski-do and Polaris injection oil. Going forward I am swapping to Amsoil because I am tired of carrying two brands of oil around with me. The Ski-Doo manual is very specific to NOT use TC-W3 outboard oil for some reason.


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## russkat (Feb 25, 2015)

I have the following 2 stroke equipment...
String trimmer, chainsaw, snowblower, leaf blower and lawnmower.
I run whatever I have around at the correct ratio and I've never had any lack of lubrication issues with any of them.
Just don't let someone borrow your stuff, they or their family members may just put straight gas in it and it all goes badly soon after.


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

Amsoil Saber here. I mix a little leaner them 50:1. Great oil with very low smoke. I can’t quite pull the trigger on a 100:1 ratio. Old habits...


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## Dragonsm (Nov 24, 2015)

drmerdp said:


> Amsoil Saber here. I mix a little leaner them 50:1. Great oil with very low smoke. I can’t quite pull the trigger on a 100:1 ratio. Old habits...


Old habits are hard to change......the one thing that opened my eyes a to the point where I said "What the heck...let's try the 100:1" was my very first ice auger I owned. Fresh out of college, bought a house and got married....I purchased a complete portable set up which included an older Jiffy Model 30 (the price was right and my new wife kept a close eye on the finances)....by far the heaviest, slowest and loudest ice auger I had. This thing had a Tecumseh 3hp 2 stroke motor on it which was a bear to first start cold....but had the coolest pop/rap when it was going on ice and drilling holes....a very distinct sound you could pick out when on the ice even if one was fired up a half mile away.

The "tank" called for 24:1 and blew enough smoke that if mosquitos could live below 32 degrees....this thing would fog them out. The first year I owned it, I attended the ice fishing show in Mpls....(BTW, if any of you are around the area, enjoy ice fishing, and have never attended....it's awesome!....largest in the Midwest and I believe the world....where can you get a chunk of jerky the size of a door mat, a cold beer, see $80K fifth wheel fishhouse and meet the bikini ice fishing girls) I swung by the Jiffy booth to get some more oil, and they gave me a single of jiffy 2 stroke oil for my auger that said 40:1......I asked about that and the rep said this was the new standard even for this auger as the properties of 2 stroke oil has become a lot better than the old ashless dinosaur stuff they use to sell back in the day for this auger. This 2 stroke oil was not synthetic either.....much like the ol' 3K oil change on vehicles is no longer the norm.

The old days of changing oil more often and fuel lasted forever has flipped.....oil now lasts forever and the fuel needs changing all the time! :grin:

Now....I am not to proud that if I blow something up with my 100:1 mixture, I won't admit to it......stayed tuned, I may someday have to eat my words!!

Steve


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## adegrno (Jul 6, 2017)

I buy the cheapest 2t oil rec for my machines and works just fine. Have done so for years.


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## Prime (Jan 11, 2014)

I have used Stihl oil 50:1 in all my 2 stroke lawn gear for more than 10 years no problems. Blowers,trimmers,hedge trimmers, etc. I see no reason I would want to change.


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## Snowbelt_subie (Dec 20, 2016)

jtclays said:


> Research water cooled 2-stroke engines versus air cooled and see how fuzzy you feel:wink2:




man i didn't realize how much people go crazy on oils. personally im starting to think it really doesnt matter much .....if mixed correctly. has anyone blown up something or had problems because of the oil and it was mixed correctly ? 

i have run echo oil in my 2 stroke lawn stuff for years with no problem. my mechanic friend has 20+ year old stihl chainsaws that he has been running on TC-w3 marine oil since new with no problems ive seen them in action and they still run great.

wouldn't some sort of damage happen since its formulated for water cooled engines?

as far as for snowblowers Toro for example in there snow blowers an air cooled engine recommended tc-w3 a marine designation after doing a little reading and research...I found out that for a snowblower (lower temp....lower rpm than typical air cooled 2 stroke) ashless oil is superior because it prevents the build up of deposits in the combustion chamber and spark plug...


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

Snowbelt_subie said:


> man i didn't realize how much people go crazy on oils. personally im starting to think it really doesnt matter much .....if mixed correctly. has anyone blown up something or had problems because of the oil and it was mixed correctly ?
> 
> i have run echo oil in my 2 stroke stuff for years with no problem. my mechanic friend has 20+ year old stihl chainsaws that he has been running on TC-w3 marine oil since new with no problems ive seen them in action and they still run great.
> 
> wouldn't some sort of damage happen since its formulated for water cooled engines?


OHH how correct,people go crazy over whats really bull,, real world there is only a very few refineries making oil under all the names out there, 
take the name castrol, look it up who owns it don't be too shocked. https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/about-bp/our-brands/castrol.html


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## Snowbelt_subie (Dec 20, 2016)

87 powershift said:


> OHH how correct,people go crazy over whats really bull,, real world there is only a very few refineries making oil under all the names out there,
> take the name castrol, look it up who owns it don't be too shocked. https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/about-bp/our-brands/castrol.html


they will say the additives are different im sure the oil is the same.


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## 10953 (Sep 4, 2017)

Snowbelt_subie said:


> they will say the additives are different im sure the oil is the same.[/QUOTE/
> 
> CORRECT!!


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## drmerdp (Feb 9, 2014)

As far as I’ve seen, amsoil is the only company with the balls to say their product at 100:1 meets or exceeds all standards.

In reality it might not differ very much from other synthetic 2stroke oils, but.... it also might. Just saying.


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## wfd44 (Nov 10, 2014)

My sled mechanic told me the only bad 2-stroke oil is none. His son races Snocross. Runs the cheapest 2-stroke oil from Walmart.


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## Snowbelt_subie (Dec 20, 2016)

i think im going to run TC-W3 in all my 2 stroke snowblowers. .... but im going to keep the Echo mix for my blowers, weedeaters, and chainsaws.


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## 43128 (Feb 14, 2014)

i personally think tcw3 is fine for low revving 2 stroke engines like snowblowers but anything like trimmers and chainsaws run extremely hot because they rev so high


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