High Quality Chainsaw Bars Husqvarna Toys Hockfire Saws

What oil is best? and what ratio?

bwalker

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
11:46 PM
User ID
523
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
1,976
Reaction score
4,593
Location
Montana
Country flag
Maybe it's naive, but I like to take a more optimistic view of the car makers in this case. They have a vested interest in that they don't want to have a reputation of cars that don't run very well.

I don't know how to find out if the car makers get any money back from what I presume the fuel producers need to pay to become part of the program. I have not looked into what it takes to be listed on their site.
Im certain a fee is involved...
 

Nutball

Here For The Long Haul!
Local time
10:46 PM
User ID
7732
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Messages
4,261
Reaction score
11,794
Location
Mt. Juliet, TN
Country flag
i have friends that live in california by all of the refiners and the trucks go to which ever plant is make whichever gas that they need for their delivery. maybe one plant is just making 87 and the next one is makeing 93. the plants are all different. shell, chevron and the like. all of the trucks from all of the name brands and generic go to which place is making the gas they need that day. they put the brand specific addatives in at the station when they fill the tanks or it put in a seperate tank that adds it when its pumped like at costco
That explains why costco gas smells weird. Not as bad as kroger gas, but it stinks in a different way.
 

jakethesnake

I Am The Snake
Local time
11:46 PM
User ID
786
Joined
Feb 5, 2016
Messages
7,788
Reaction score
20,717
Location
Here & Now
Country flag
Yes, I have been inspecting engines for years.
Have even inspected auto engines run long term on 50:1 marine oil.
How’d they look? I’ve ran a tank or few through my 22 re. That engine was burning motor oil though so when the heads came off they had a lot of ash buildup. Assuming from the motor oil passing rings. Motor ran fine until timing chain broke.
 

bwalker

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
11:46 PM
User ID
523
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
1,976
Reaction score
4,593
Location
Montana
Country flag
How’d they look? I’ve ran a tank or few through my 22 re. That engine was burning motor oil though so when the heads came off they had a lot of ash buildup. Assuming from the motor oil passing rings. Motor ran fine until timing chain broke.
To be honest I was expecting worse.
 

bwalker

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
11:46 PM
User ID
523
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
1,976
Reaction score
4,593
Location
Montana
Country flag
That explains why costco gas smells weird. Not as bad as kroger gas, but it stinks in a different way.
I have never noticed a differance in smell between brands. Its all made from the same components and to the same specs thanks to the EPA.
 

bwalker

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
11:46 PM
User ID
523
Joined
Jan 12, 2016
Messages
1,976
Reaction score
4,593
Location
Montana
Country flag
i have friends that live in california by all of the refiners and the trucks go to which ever plant is make whichever gas that they need for their delivery. maybe one plant is just making 87 and the next one is makeing 93. the plants are all different. shell, chevron and the like. all of the trucks from all of the name brands and generic go to which place is making the gas they need that day. they put the brand specific addatives in at the station when they fill the tanks or it put in a seperate tank that adds it when its pumped like at costco
So, refineries all produce various streams of different quality and octane levels. It has to be this way as you need a way to use every product we make. So what we do is we take high quality streams like Alkylate, Platformate, etc and blend them with lower quality streams like straight run, naptha and FCC gasoline. Again, every refinery does this. As far as premium vs regular gasoline goes. We just blend in a little more or a little less Alkykate to hit the desired octane number. Its a simple as that. Same quality, same stuff, just different proportions.
In relation to this topic ethanol mandates allowed refiners to blend in more crap and still hit 87 octane as ethanol is a high octane stream. The decrease in gasoline quality started with the oxygenated fuel mandates.
Out of curiosity I just looked at all the refineries. In the LA Basin and sure enough they are all configured very similarly. They are also all huge complexes.
 
Last edited:

lilspenny

Well-Known OPE Member
Local time
10:46 PM
User ID
31957
Joined
Feb 25, 2025
Messages
124
Reaction score
217
Location
35611
Country flag
Makes me wonder what else you haven't noticed.
Back in "the day" when we had leaded gasoline I had a friend who used to whiff gas until he got what he called "so high". I passed on that. Had another friend that passed me a cigar to toke like a joint. It was dark in his car so I asked him to turn on the interior light because I was starting to see wild colors. Turned out that the wrapper was still on the cigar! He said you get off better that way.
 

Nutball

Here For The Long Haul!
Local time
10:46 PM
User ID
7732
Joined
Oct 31, 2018
Messages
4,261
Reaction score
11,794
Location
Mt. Juliet, TN
Country flag
Makes me wonder if sniffing gasoline is normal in your area.
I was politely telling you that you are full of it BTW.
Would you agree that blends vary by region? I smell the difference around here. Gas cans stinking up the garage.
 

Chumango

Well-Known OPE Member
Local time
11:46 PM
User ID
32763
Joined
Apr 30, 2025
Messages
14
Reaction score
41
Location
TN
Country flag
The blend is different in CA, and I think only CA refiners provide it. The different spec, captive market, and high taxes all contribute to the high pump cost. This is exacerbated by refineries in CA closing down recently.

I don't know if other states or regions have specific requirements, but summer and winter fuels are different.
 
Top