What oil is best? and what ratio?

[Jusgunn3]

Partial to blue, myself.

What oil are you running?

 

[Sloughfoot]

What oil are you running?

Honda HP2 40ish to 1

 

[Wilhelm]

SAE90/GL5, pure.

Internet suggests to go up to SAE150 in hot ambient temperatures.

 

[bwalker]

SAE90/GL5, pure.

Internet suggests to go up to SAE150 in hot ambient temperatures.

View attachment 484568

I bet gear oil gives off a lovely exhaust aroma

 

[SawAddictedFarmer]

I bet gear oil gives off a lovely exhaust aroma

When you decide you don't like the people looking at buying the house next door....

 

[lilspenny]

Speaking of aroma... I just finished 5 gallons of 45:1 Motorex Crosspower 2t with 93 non-ethanol in various Stihl machines. The smell, to my nose, is spot on. Runability was excellent. Carbon more than I was expecting but I've seen a lot worse. But that smell! I'll put up with a little carbon to get great runability and great smell.

 

[bwalker]

Speaking of aroma... I just finished 5 gallons of 45:1 Motorex Crosspower 2t with 93 non-ethanol in various Stihl machines. The smell, to my nose, is spot on. Runability was excellent. Carbon more than I was expecting but I've seen a lot worse. But that smell! I'll put up with a little carbon to get great runability and great smell.

Post the pics from your tests.

 

[JRHAWK9]

I'm contemplating on whether I want to change from Dominator now. I stuck my borescope into the exhaust and also into the spark plug hole of my new 355T that has a handful of tanks run through it using Dominator 32:1. It's spotless. Even the top of the piston has zero carbon.

 

[bwalker]

I'm contemplating on whether I want to change from Dominator now. I stuck my borescope into the exhaust and also into the spark plug hole of my new 355T that has a handful of tanks run through it using Dominator 32:1. It's spotless. Even the top of the piston has zero carbon.

Let's see some pics.

 

[lilspenny]

Post the pics from your tests.

It's too much labor involved to clean the piston and expose the crank and cam on a br800, and every oil leaves a decent film on the rocker arms so the only things I will share will be basic oil info plus rpm, muffler temp, plus "runability" and spark plug appearance. Oh yeah... my experience with Super M Injector. Testing will continue into summer. All of my temp and rpm measurements were done at 60°F. I can post the info I have, but wish to have 85°F numbers as well. I do think that cooler weather has made K2 and HP2 stumble a bit. I have started running Dominator and have tested it at 40:1 and 32:1 with higher temp at 32:1. Both temps slightly higher than Saber 50:1. That's why I tried 32:1 just to see. Dominator runs clean and gives good response... just hotter than Saber. I will also test Saber at 64:1. I have run that and it seemed great but I want numbers. All measurements were done twice, on different days. This has been very time consuming. I have been careful to be fair and that has forced back to back to back .. oil after oil measurements. My original objective was to find 3 oils that I would use before Stihl Ultra. I have found 7 and I assume there are many more. Valve buildup?? I have no idea and don't care. If it happens I'll buy a 2 stroke. I'll say this, 3 oils that suct were Stihl Ultra, which I hated to buy but did--and lordy did it make a mess, Maxima Super M, and Super M Injector. Anyway.. I'll straighten my scribbled notes up a bit and post. Oh .. Red Armor did much better with good gas. Winner? I want hot weather to help with that, but it could be that a winter oil and a summer oil might be wise. Even then there are several good choices. Best smelling to me Motorex Crosspower 2t. No oil has been best at everything. Cleanest? Super M Injector which ran hottest, and VP which was midpack heat wise. Red Armor very close but with better lube. Forgotten oil? 710. It's good but just not tops at anything. Still haven't tested 2r but have a bottle. My neighbors probably wish I would move. Over half pay someone to cut their lawn probably at an avg. $90 per visit. I found out that Techron works great at carbon removal. 5 minutes on a piston crown and done. Not sure how safe that is but after running Super M and Ultra back to back I was so ticked I tried it and it does clean better than Quicksilver Power Tune for sure. I'll post numbers soon.

 

[bwalker]

It's too much labor involved to clean the piston and expose the crank and cam on a br800, and every oil leaves a decent film on the rocker arms so the only things I will share will be basic oil info plus rpm, muffler temp, plus "runability" and spark plug appearance. Oh yeah... my experience with Super M Injector. Testing will continue into summer. All of my temp and rpm measurements were done at 60°F. I can post the info I have, but wish to have 85°F numbers as well. I do think that cooler weather has made K2 and HP2 stumble a bit. I have started running Dominator and have tested it at 40:1 and 32:1 with higher temp at 32:1. Both temps slightly higher than Saber 50:1. That's why I tried 32:1 just to see. Dominator runs clean and gives good response... just hotter than Saber. I will also test Saber at 64:1. I have run that and it seemed great but I want numbers. All measurements were done twice, on different days. This has been very time consuming. I have been careful to be fair and that has forced back to back to back .. oil after oil measurements. My original objective was to find 3 oils that I would use before Stihl Ultra. I have found 7 and I assume there are many more. Valve buildup?? I have no idea and don't care. If it happens I'll buy a 2 stroke. I'll say this, 3 oils that suct were Stihl Ultra, which I hated to buy but did--and lordy did it make a mess, Maxima Super M, and Super M Injector. Anyway.. I'll straighten my scribbled notes up a bit and post. Oh .. Red Armor did much better with good gas. Winner? I want hot weather to help with that, but it could be that a winter oil and a summer oil might be wise. Even then there are several good choices. Best smelling to me Motorex Crosspower 2t. No oil has been best at everything. Cleanest? Super M Injector which ran hottest, and VP which was midpack heat wise. Red Armor very close but with better lube. Forgotten oil? 710. It's good but just not tops at anything. Still haven't tested 2r but have a bottle. My neighbors probably wish I would move. Over half pay someone to cut their lawn probably at an avg. $90 per visit. I found out that Techron works great at carbon removal. 5 minutes on a piston crown and done. Not sure how safe that is but after running Super M and Ultra back to back I was so ticked I tried it and it does clean better than Quicksilver Power Tune for sure. I'll post numbers soon.

Differences in runability are due to tuning or lack there of. With out having absolutely tight tuning your test is a waste of time. As it will influence all of the things you are looking at.
I have never seen techron clean anything in a two stroke and I have tried it at ridiculous treat rates.
The other thing is valve buildup is what screws a 4mix up and you are not even looking at that.

 

[lilspenny]

Differences in runability are do to tuning or lack there of. With out having absolutely tight tuning your test is a waste of time. As it will influence all of the things you are looking at.
I have never seen techron clean anything in a two stroke and I have tried it at ridiculous treat rates.
The other thing is valve buildup is what screws a 4mix up and you are not even looking at that.

There is no way to tune past certain barriers that are presented from certain oils running in certain conditions. I know how to tune a 4-mix engine. Been doing it since 2005 and have done it so many times it is easy. Straight Techron poured through the spark plug hole into the piston worked. Made a huge carbon mess on my garage floor that I unknowingly tracked into my house. Used Goof Off to clean the mess. Piston crown went from messy to nice in 5 minutes. There are many things that mess up 4-mix engines. I have an fs100rx bought new in 2005 that has over 5,000 hours on it and it has over 90% of those hours using various gas station oils and it has had one valve adjustment and that was in 2025. The biggest problem with Stihl 4-mix is the way they are operated by people who don't pay attention to what's happening. The valve situation is not as horrific as most people have been told. If it were, Stihl wouldn't be selling so many 4-mix machines. 20 years with no valve adjustment running all kinds of oils. 10 of those years were heavy commercial.

 

[bwalker]

There is no way to tune past certain barriers that are presented from certain oils running in certain conditions. I know how to tune a 4-mix engine. Been doing it since 2005 and have done it so many times it is easy. Straight Techron poured through the spark plug hole into the piston worked. Made a huge carbon mess on my garage floor that I unknowingly tracked into my house. Used Goof Off to clean the mess. Piston crown went from messy to nice in 5 minutes. There are many things that mess up 4-mix engines. I have an fs100rx bought new in 2005 that has over 5,000 hours on it and it has over 90% of those hours using various gas station oils and it has had one valve adjustment and that was in 2025. The biggest problem with Stihl 4-mix is the way they are operated by people who don't pay attention to what's happening. The valve situation is not as horrific as most people have been told. If it were, Stihl wouldn't be selling so many 4-mix machines. 20 years with no valve adjustment running all kinds of oils. 10 of those years were heavy commercial.

I will try techron poured into the plug hole this week and document with borescope pics this weekend. Im not hopefully.
I have never had. Problem tuning any oil mix to run perfectly...ever. in fact when tuned right all of them run about the same. Some of the high temp oils will make a bit less HP snd have poor transient throttle response in bikes, but this isnt a factor in OPE.
If you were truly running heavy commercial it wouldn't last ten years.
The valve issue is the main problem associated with the 4mix engines and the guys that run them truly commercial all have problems with them. Its just a really poor design.

 

[Khntr85]

I'm contemplating on whether I want to change from Dominator now. I stuck my borescope into the exhaust and also into the spark plug hole of my new 355T that has a handful of tanks run through it using Dominator 32:1. It's spotless. Even the top of the piston has zero carbon.

I got a gallon mixed up of dominator been using in blower will try in saws too…

I run redarmor 40-1 and honestly may never switch I’ve seen what it does I’ve take my saws apart that have ran on it since new and look perfect…. The dominator doesn’t have fuel stabilizer in it either I don’t belive like red armor

 

[bwalker]

I got a gallon mixed up of dominator been using in blower will try in saws too…

I run redarmor 40-1 and honestly may never switch I’ve seen what it does I’ve take my saws apart that have ran on it since new and look perfect…. The dominator doesn’t have fuel stabilizer in it either I don’t belive like red armor

If it works well.for you why switch?

 

[Squareground3691]

I'm contemplating on whether I want to change from Dominator now. I stuck my borescope into the exhaust and also into the spark plug hole of my new 355T that has a handful of tanks run through it using Dominator 32:1. It's spotless. Even the top of the piston has zero carbon.

Why change it's a fine performer , and highly regarded amongst the saw builders,

 

[JRHAWK9]

Why change it's a fine performer , and highly regarded amongst the saw builders,

The same can be said about what I would be switching to try out.

 

[lilspenny]

The same can be said about what I would be switching to try out.

Sometimes I buy an oil and it leads to disappointment... Maybe even disgust. But .... There is one way to find out. I think it's funny when I bought my first 4-mix in 2005 the dealer strongly advised me to not buy Stihl Ultra. So I didn't then, but later did on occasion. I've run boat oil a few times, Itasca a few too many times, Pennzoil all-purpose which ran great, and whatever the gas station had. I recommend you never try Super M Injector. That is a hot running oil at 50:1. Can't blame a br800 engine failure on it, but I'll never run it again. Especially unattended. Especially anytime. Funny how I really loved the way Super M ran, but it's dirty compared to most oils I have run lately. The oil market is like a box of chocolates. Taste with caution. When I look at what so many experienced guys have said were good oils over and over then I think they may be right. I don't say "your opinion doesn't matter, show me pictures". So this is the Internet. Someone can fake just about anything if they wish, even pictures. Good luck with all.

 

[bwalker]

Sometimes I buy an oil and it leads to disappointment... Maybe even disgust. But .... There is one way to find out. I think it's funny when I bought my first 4-mix in 2005 the dealer strongly advised me to not buy Stihl Ultra. So I didn't then, but later did on occasion. I've run boat oil a few times, Itasca a few too many times, Pennzoil all-purpose which ran great, and whatever the gas station had. I recommend you never try Super M Injector. That is a hot running oil at 50:1. Can't blame a br800 engine failure on it, but I'll never run it again. Especially unattended. Especially anytime. Funny how I really loved the way Super M ran, but it's dirty compared to most oils I have run lately. The oil market is like a box of chocolates. Taste with caution. When I look at what so many experienced guys have said were good oils over and over then I think they may be right. I don't say "your opinion doesn't matter, show me pictures". So this is the Internet. Someone can fake just about anything if they wish, even pictures. Good luck with all.

Hot running oil...for Frick sake. That's not a thing.
And some people's opinions here matter. Others not so much. Im not convinced what your seeing is true hence the pics. I also dont think you can tune a carb and blame oils on running issues caused by poor tuning.

 

[RalphK]

Don't know about how large the affect is on 2 cycle engines, but in vehicle engines, viscosity can and does affect running temps.