What oil is best? and what ratio?

[greystone mountain man]

It's actually nice when people talk sensibly and aren't crying in their oil jug

 

[sawmikaze]

This post by @fearofpavement back in 2022 is the best comment about mix oil I have seen.

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It was the maxayaminator blend.

 

[pwheel]

Thanks to Randy for his advice on the subject. Mix oil's now the least of my concerns. No engine failures in 5 saws over a decade even with Stihl Ultra, but I wasn't wild about the carbon buildup. Nowadays, I'm focused more on sharp chains, saw maintenance and not getting whacked by widow makers.

BTW, any suggestions for solvents to clean the crap off of flywheel fins & other parts? Air compressor only goes so far. Thanks.

 

[bwalker]

Actually the latest testing on viscosity in the real world is pointing towards it's very important. Apart from a thicker oil has a better ring seal and producing measurable hp gains, thicker oil also offers superior engine wear protection over thin oils.
There are companies with all the expensive equipment and knowledge testing all this.
Testing also shows once an engine is up to operating temperature any parasitic loss of a thicker oil goes away.

I believe top fuelers run a straight 70-80 weight oil. Whoever said viscosity means nothing is guessing at best lol

That's been a well known concept in lubrication for over a hundred years.
In addition the additive package of 2 cycle oil, if you can call it that, is only a few things and at very light treat rates. It's not like 4 cycle motor oil at all in that regard.

 

[Duce]

Thanks to Randy for his advice on the subject. Mix oil's now the least of my concerns. No engine failures in 5 saws over a decade even with Stihl Ultra, but I wasn't wild about the carbon buildup. Nowadays, I'm focused more on sharp chains, saw maintenance and not getting whacked by widow makers.

BTW, any suggestions for solvents to clean the crap off of flywheel fins & other parts? Air compressor only goes so far. Thanks.

50-50 gas and diesel cleans just about anything. I can’t stand people bringing me a dirty as hell saw to repair for them. We ran 30w oil mix in a 1954 25hp Evinrude for years and 12-16 year old boys ran the piss out of it. Never torn it down, because we never had a reason to.

 

[bwalker]

It still depends on the ad pack. I believe it was mentioned that dominator has a lower viscosity than most oils tested, but it was the one that came out on top because of how clean it runs even with added heat. But generally speaking, if the ad packs were the same, I agree completely with you

Compared to motor oils two cycle have almost no additive package. If you did juice one up with anti wear additives you would have deposits and pre ignition galore.
Also keep in mind that two cycle oils are always a blend of two or more oils in most cases. One lighter, that burns clean and one heavier like PIB, ester, etc that provides protection in extremes. Then in most cases a dilluent is added that thins them out for ease of mixing and other reasons. Therefore the viscosity of the fluid when it's in the motor and the dilluent has flashed is vastly different. Going further the fluid is also vastly different in viscosity after the light oil has flashed and only the heavy remains.
So yea, modern oils aren't real high viscosity, but viscosity very much does matter.

 

[Powerstroke Cowboy]

50-50 gas and diesel cleans just about anything. I can’t stand people bringing me a dirty as hell saw to repair for them. We ran 30w oil mix in a 1954 25hp Evinrude for years and 12-16 year old boys ran the piss out of it. Never torn it down, because we never had a reason to.

That's what I started using. There's always plenty of it on the farm.

 

[bwalker]

Oh no worries, you must have missed Julian’s testing and outcomes then. They were all performance related as in actual cut times, I guess they were not valid either…

What Julian's test proved was that heavy base oil two cycle oils hurt performance of a chainsaw...maybe.

 

[bwalker]

A ton of stuff could be rehashed, Joe has a saw dyno, but testing costs money, oil, fuel, time, ect, ect. Why do all of it, then publish it here to be ridiculed in the court of public opinion? As far as 2 stroke technology goes, nothing much has changed since the 70’s really except oil. It would be interesting to see if modern oils hit the same 18:1 brick wall as far as performance was concerned. 2/3’s here probably still wouldn’t believe/accept the results. Some would jump up and down and scream “now just wait a cotton picking minute”. Sadly, they are the majority and are the ones who are embraced here, not the ones who actually wanted to document/share their findings to help other members.

In the scientific world that's how it's done. It's called peer review.
You can't just perform some home brewed test and it's gospel all of a sudden. There has to be discussion.

 

[bwalker]

There are so many variables that there are very few "facts". We could have a discussion about how these variables skew results. Or we could all just be diks.

This sums it up perfectly...

 

[bwalker]

Belray H1R is the oil I was talking about.

I told Julian about that when everyone was on the H1R bandwagon on AS...

 

[pbillyi69]

Thanks to Randy for his advice on the subject. Mix oil's now the least of my concerns. No engine failures in 5 saws over a decade even with Stihl Ultra, but I wasn't wild about the carbon buildup. Nowadays, I'm focused more on sharp chains, saw maintenance and not getting whacked by widow makers.

BTW, any suggestions for solvents to clean the crap off of flywheel fins & other parts? Air compressor only goes so far. Thanks.

i just use gas but 50/50 gas and diesel is probably better

 

[pbillyi69]

This post by @fearofpavement back in 2022 is the best comment about mix oil I have seen.

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exactly.....when my jug of random oils runs out i will get some dominator. im pretty sure there is some of that in my jug currently too

 

[Wilhelm]

 

[whitesnake]

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Just imagine if it was full synthetic!

 

[whitesnake]

I’m still a little confused about “As far as 2 stroke technology goes, nothing much has changed since the 70’s really except oil.” Snowmobiles, for one, completely disagree.

 

[Loony661]

I’m still a little confused about “As far as 2 stroke technology goes, nothing much has changed since the 70’s really except oil.” Snowmobiles, for one, completely disagree.

Chainsaws too - stratified was a major step forward. Now look at the Stihl MS 462 - most if the builders would agree, that although gains can be made with these, from the factory they are already pretty “hot” and much different than the saws of 10 years ago.

 

[Partner]

We have one oil with different labels - jet ski, winter scooter, two-wheeled vehicle, chainsaw, boat. etc. to make every owner of the machine feel good

 

[Loony661]

We have one oil with different labels - jet ski, winter scooter, two-wheeled vehicle, chainsaw, boat. etc. to make every owner of the machine feel good

Brilliant!

 

[Partner]

Chainsaws too - stratified was a major step forward. Now look at the Stihl MS 462 - most if the builders would agree, that although gains can be made with these, from the factory they are already pretty “hot” and much different than the saws of 10 years ago.

As the power increases, the heat increases