What oil is best? and what ratio?

[lehman live edge slab]

Tc I think is the American two cycle air cooled oil cert but the Japanese certified “jasco” and the global “iso” standards have surpassed the tc certified oils by a pretty large margin. Jasco fd and iso lg Ed are almost equivalent standards and the iso lg Ed+ is slightly higher. So any of the three standards is pretty much the best you can get. And stihl ultra used to have a jasco fb rating on the bottle. Thought Castrol still made the orange bottle stihl.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

Also think in my research that jasco fa and tc we’re almost identical tests for a two cycle oil.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

Stihl must think castrol is a pretty decent oil since the have been selling their mix oil for years. And I know that they are looking for a cheap supplier but if they had lots of failures because of the oil they’d switch no matter how cheap it was.

 

[andyshine77]

Tomorrow I'll take a look on the Stihl Castrol site and see what they got.

Sometimes the small bottles will not have the emblem if they come in six packs, it will be on the wrap or what have you. Generally the emblem will be there as it's a pretty big selling point.

 

[andyshine77]

Stihl must think castrol is a pretty decent oil since the have been selling their mix oil for years. And I know that they are looking for a cheap supplier but if they had lots of failures because of the oil they’d switch no matter how cheap it was.

I agree. However I always have to be the devil's advocate and say. Maybe the product allows the equipment to last long enough. No manufacturer wants their products to last forever.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

Well my dads 026 and my uncles 041 have lived on stihl orange bottle 29 years and 38 years respectively. Both have excellent compression and run extremely well despite cutting 10-20 chords of wood for most of the years.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

I agree. However I always have to be the devil's advocate and say. Maybe the product allows the equipment to last long enough. No manufacturer wants their products to last forever.

What is long enough? If you spend 1200$ on a saw getting out of the warranty period by how many years should be good enough? The tree service I fix saws for uses nothing but stihl oil and he is still using a bunch of 046’s. They look like crap from sitting in the truck for all these years but still get the job done. When I spend 8-1200$ on a chainsaw I think it should make 10-15 years at least as a firewood saw and if I had to buy one every five years I would change brands.

 

[andyshine77]

What is long enough? If you spend 1200$ on a saw getting out of the warranty period by how many years should be good enough? The tree service I fix saws for uses nothing but stihl oil and he is still using a bunch of 046’s. They look like crap from sitting in the truck for all these years but still get the job done.

What is long enough? I really don't know. A stihl rep once told me they shoot for a 1,000 hours for top end rebuilds, bottom ends longer. 20 cord a year is not very much for a pro saw that's like 20, hours a year max IMHO.[emoji111]

 

[lehman live edge slab]

1000 hours is a lot of firewood so if a top end makes that before a rering and the bottom end will last 2-3 top ends i would feel I got my money worth for sure. And this isn’t me trying to argue it’s just getting opinions and throwing thoughts and ideas around. I don’t know if there is a “best oil” just a lot of good ones to choose from. I know the stihl ultra isn’t well thought of on this site but my dad has ran it and the orange bottle stihl in his br 600 since It was new 10 years ago. Ive been neglecting it but haven’t adjusted the valves ever and it starts and runs flawlessly.

 

[Deets066]

With a proper tune... any oil will probly do just fine

 

[andyshine77]

1000 hours is a lot of firewood so if a top end makes that before a rering and the bottom end will last 2-3 top ends i would feel I got my money worth for sure. And this isn’t me trying to argue it’s just getting opinions and throwing thoughts and ideas around. I don’t know if there is a “best oil” just a lot of good ones to choose from. I know the stihl ultra isn’t well thought of on this site but my dad has ran it and the orange bottle stihl in his br 600 since It was new 10 years ago. Ive been neglecting it but haven’t adjusted the valves ever and it starts and runs flawlessly.

I didn't take you as arguing at all, just shooting the *s-word.

Ultra isn't as horrible as some make it out to be, but it's not that great either, I mostly just didn't like the smell.[emoji16] You definitely do not want to run the orange bottle in a 4 mix engine, that will cause you problems quick. The valves are super easy to adjust. One way to tell if they have too much slack is if the engine becomes harder to pull over. I checked the valve clearance about every 2 years, but I don't run my equipment professionally.

That same rep told me two top ends per one bottom end. I personally haven't seen them go that long, and the seals/bearings are normally shot by that point anyway.

 

[Wolverine]

With a proper tune... any oil will probly do just fine

I disagree.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

The orange bottle in his br600 was only the first year he had it. Only stihl ultra synthetic since then, never has gotten any harder to pull usually gets 20-30 hours a year on it. I should just buy the kit and adjust them.

 

[andyshine77]

I disagree.
View attachment 147895

Looks like a mess, but did anything actually fail?

 

[lehman live edge slab]

I disagree.
View attachment 147895

What oil did that?

 

[Wolverine]

Klotz R50. If I would have kept going, I'll bet carbon scoring was in that saws future...

EDIT: it was a good tune btw. I have vids somewhere..

 

[andyshine77]

The orange bottle in his br600 was only the first year he had it. Only stihl ultra synthetic since then, never has gotten any harder to pull usually gets 20-30 hours a year on it. I should just buy the kit and adjust them.

That's a good idea, the last kit my dealer gave me was free.[emoji4]

 

[lehman live edge slab]

1000 hours on a top end would be running the saw 4 hours a day for a year, I’d have to say some of the tree service saws I work on are way higher than that. Have to be he told me none have been rebuilt until i started to do it, a few of the saws are almost 20 years old.

 

[andyshine77]

Klotz R50. If I would have kept going, I'll bet carbon scoring was in that saws future...

EDIT: it was a good tune btw. I have vids somewhere..

Yeah I thought you posted that before. R50 is an excellent oil for extream use like milling IMHO, as the saw will get hot enough to burn it off. It was the oil no doubt, but the more I play around with fuels, it's become clear the fuel itself plays a pretty big part as well.[emoji111]

 

[andyshine77]

1000 hours on a top end would be running the saw 4 hours a day for a year, I’d have to say some of the tree service saws I work on are way higher than that. Have to be he told me none have been rebuilt until i started to do it, a few of the saws are almost 20 years old.

Amazing how long these little engines can last.