Best 2 cycle oil, and why

[mmoffitt]

I ran big bore dirt bikes for years and I’ve tried quite a few oils, my favorite was Amsoil 100:1. When I’d tear down my top end, consistently I had no wear on the bore. If it weren’t for the fact that the piston skirts would crack if you leave a piston in too long, there was no reason to rebuild! No plug fouling, not much smoke, no splattering the guy behind me with oil, and no wear.... can’t beat it! I’d always break in with a natural oil on the first tank after rebuild, then Amsoil then on. I ran it in all of my 2 stroke motors, weed walkers, chain saws, Lawnboy mowers, everyth

 

[Bellcrank]

After 10 years in a high volume small engine shop I learned " any " two cycle oil is better than poorly mixed or no oil . A little rich is better than a little lean. Marketing folks put food on the table make'n us think their products are superior to the competition. I have a 45 year old Poulan that's seen all the different 2 cycle oil on market and the cylinder / piston / ring are original .

 

[Beamster]

I used to use Golden Spectro in Bultacos for less smoke.
In my chainsaws I use Maxima K2, which is a synthetic and barely smokes.

I think a study of flash points for various oils would be applicable because lawn mowers are not high rpm engines and I think certain oils may not completely burn off if not used for the intended application.

Attached is some information that I partially sumerized a while ago from an article on a chainsaw forum that might be of interest.

 

[a1lawn]

Get out of the shop and into real life and find out different! Switching to Amsoil changed my life. I stopped weed eating lawns with a wire brush and a sparkplug wrench in my back pocket 30 years ago

 

[OrtisEvans]

I have a couple string trimmers and a couple other 2-cycles. They are of different ages so one calls for 16:1 and I think my new chainsaw calls for 50:1. I was curious whether the engine design makes the difference or the oils. I contacted Echo and they told me that the oils are so much better now that I can forget about 16:1. No, I don't know what has changed. I am now running 32:1 in everything and using oil with fuel stabilizer.

Finally, so far I have had no problems from ethanol fuel even in my 1954 Ford tractor.

 

[wengerequip]

2-cycle oil probably is the least demanding application an oil will ever see. It's in the engine for ONE crankshaft revolution before it's replaced with new oil.

I see the logic behind your statement but that is only one side of the story. The other side is that in modern 2-stroke equipment it is mixed at 50:1 for emissions requirements and to avoid excess smoke and carbon build up. They also run very lean, hot, and at very high RPMs. The leaner they run the less fuel is going through the engine and that also translates into less oil going through the engine as well. With that tiny amount of oil there isn't much margin for error. If you compare that to a 4 stroke engine where the parts are literally covered with oil I think 2-stroke applications are far more demanding. I have seen soo many scored pistons and cylinders in 2-stroke equipment come through our shop. I wouldn't run an oil that is not JASO FD certified.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

Another thing is how people run their equipment. The guy that never pulls the trigger past half way on his string trimmer vs the guy who runs his wide open all the time. Or the guy with the ms250 who trims trees in his yard vs the guy who thinks he is Paul Bunyan felling timber with his ms250. I know a landscape guy who fouls plugs all the time on his string trimmers because he barely revs them up and bitches how they are crap. I left the original plug in my stihl FS80 for 15 years and changed it even though it was still running fine. I run it hard too. Different motors, different users. Use what makes you happy. I may not use the "best" oil but my spark plugs are better than your spark plugs. LoL?

 

[mrmartin]

I agree with slomo. I use opti-2. I tried it years ago when I was using a weed wacker. I ran out of regular oil whatever i was using and my buddy gave me a packet of the opti-2. He owns a rental shop and thats what he uses in all his two stroke motors. I'm no gear head but all I can say is the muffler on the weedwacker did NOT get anywhere as near the reddish color as it did when I ran the old oil. Less heat is always better. I bought a gallon of it after that. I dont use anything else . I have a 1952 outboard. I had a 1970 snowmobile. I have a 2 stroke two man auger. I have a mercury 100hp outboard. All these take different mixes with reg oil, I use the same opti-2 mix on all of them....awesome.

 

[tds19]

Stihl Ultra full synthetic. We have looked at numerous cylinders using various oils. This is by far the best oil, leaving less residue and keeping the motor running best.

 

[upupandaway]

If you are a home owner, then I'd buy any good synthetic 2-stroke oil from any named shop (Tractor Supply, Lowes, HD, Ace Hdwr, etc. ).

If you are a pro and you need the ultimate, then I would buy Valvoline. Valvoline is a name you can trust. They don't do anything but make great oil. They are owned by the Ashland Chemical Co. They don't make oil filters, wiper blades, or V-belts, they just make oil. There's no hype, just solid performance.

From personal experience, my 3000gt is 23 yo now. back when it had 160K miles i had to take a cyl head off due to a coolant leak.
When I did so, I was amazed to see that the cyl hatch marks on the cylinder wall were still there and consistent all throughout the cyl. of course usually these are worn through on the top and bottom sides of the cyl perpendicular to the crankshaft.
This is with Valvoline's dino oil.
I have had this good experience with car oil but i use echo 2cycle cuz i got a bunch of bottles for dirt cheap. My late 70's Still trimmers run so it must work fine...