2-Stroke oil for ALL 2-strokes? (Trimmer)

[Art]

Make sure you use 2-stroke oil specifically for air cooled engines.

[Husky]

dan wrote:

It depends greatly on the oil. There are several "smokeless" oils on the market now for outdoor power equipment, that are "one mix" for all engines. Some are better than others. I have been using Interlube's Optimol 2 cycle mix in all my engines, two AND four stroke for several years, and recommending it to my two cycle customers for even longer. I started using Optimol in my two strokes when it was first introduced in the US. Back then, they would extend the original warranty by 50% if you ran only their oil from day one in an engine. Due to the vagaries of mixtures and carburetor mis-adjustments, they no longer extend the 2 stroke warranty, but I still use and recommend the oil as it is virtually smokeless from the first pull of the engine. At home I use it in all my engines because I don't use more than a gallon or two of gas all summer long, and depending on the snow fall amounts, maybe another gallon all winter. By using it in everything, I only need one gas can in the garage, and can never end up putting straight gas in a two stroke engine by accident. The oil doesn't hurt my four stroke engines at all, in fact, it helped free up a sticky intake valve in my chipper / shredder that I was too lazy to take apart. And since many newer two cycles now have catalytic converters, it has to be formulated to not harm them anyway. I do mix it a little more oil than recommended though. I mix it at 64:1, or one "pouch" (1.8 oz.) to 0.9 gal (US) 89 octane unleaded gas. The manufacturer recommends up to 100:1, but I keep my two strokes running a little lean for performance, and the extra oil keeps me from having heat seizure issues. I also always recommend my customers do the same 0.9 gal mix, as I cannot know what their carburetor settings may be.

Optimol is also sold as Sten's Mix, and Snapper / Simplicity and comes in "pillow packs", sealed plastic pouches that look like a miniature body pillow.

For Poulan, Echo, Stihl, or other saw manufacturer oil, I would run that at the mix labeled on the bottle (except Homelite or the new McCulloch, these I would only use in their products).

[ds549]

we mix stihl or echo oil according to bottle and use it in everything. our customers have to for many years. we work on 20-30 2 strokes a day.lucas