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[Smithers]

Good morning, all.
As I read on here, it seems like the preferred (or at least one of them) is AMSoil. I have a dealer near me, but some of their own literature confuses me a little. My saw calls for 50:1, but AMSoil seems to be formulated for 100:1. I would normally just mix it double strength (50:1), but other things I've read here seem to indicate that some of you guys are running at thinner ratios. Where are you running your gas:oil mixtures? Can you fill me in a little on how you arrived there? Anything markedly better than AMSoil out there?
Thanks

[hoardac]

I have 3 Stihls and they call for 50:1 with their oil and 25:1 with other products. I have always had a tendency to put the lower ratio, might burn a little smoky but have never burned one up yet and have cut a decent amount of lumber with 2 of them. I would rather over lubricate than run it with not enough oil, those things are expensive, oil is much cheaper.

[WoodMOJoe]

I ran Stihl regular oil in my 2 Stihl saws (028AV Wood Boss & 029 Super) for about 15 years, switched to the Stihl synthetic HP Ultra about 5 years ago. 

Stihl says 50:1 but I mix at around 45:1, haven't changed a plug in years.  I would never run an air-cooled 2-stroke at 100:1, just my opinion.

[Scott7m]

Folks more oil is not good.....  100:1 is plenty in all 2 strokes as long as its a quality lubricant like amsoil

More oil in your gas lowers the octane rating in the fuel and makes the engine detonate much faster, it leads to crank bearing failures and most commonly galled pistons.

I have a friend who races 2 stroke air planes and amsoil is his sponsor, he has tested it and has ran it at a ration of over 500:1 before he saw an oil related failure

Never ever double up on oil, it's the worst thing you could possibly do to a 2 stroke

I'd advise anyone to use amsoil at 100:1, and use a minimum octane of 93 fuel.   I used to rebuild chainsaws all the time, all had the same problems, number 1 cause of death was to much oil breaking the gas down and making the engine detonate, when that happens, cylinder temps to crazy and it galds

[swede]

32/1  4 oz per gallon on all of my high performance two strokes...then tune accordingly.  Your engine will appreciate it

[WoodMOJoe]

Chainsaws can/need to be rebuilt?!?

 

My 028 is an early-mid 80s model, my Dad got it new and ran it for about 10 years before I got it, never even had the carb rebuilt. 

Air filters, bars and chains yes.  Wish I had a gallon of gas for every cord that jewel has cut.   

[Scott7m]

Those back in the early 80's were the best stihls

The rebuilt chainsaw market is huge, I made a living one spring and summer buying saws on Craigslist and cleaning them up and selling them on eBay, rebuilt a pile of them as well

[f150bft]

Folks more oil is not good.....  100:1 is plenty in all 2 strokes as long as its a quality lubricant like amsoil

More oil in your gas lowers the octane rating in the fuel and makes the engine detonate much faster, it leads to crank bearing failures and most commonly galled pistons.

I have a friend who races 2 stroke air planes and amsoil is his sponsor, he has tested it and has ran it at a ration of over 500:1 before he saw an oil related failure

Never ever double up on oil, it's the worst thing you could possibly do to a 2 stroke

I'd advise anyone to use amsoil at 100:1, and use a minimum octane of 93 fuel.   I used to rebuild chainsaws all the time, all had the same problems, number 1 cause of death was to much oil breaking the gas down and making the engine detonate, when that happens, cylinder temps to crazy and it galds

  Scott....I am using an old Homelite Super XL with a 20" bar and I have noticed that after about 15-20 min of continuous use, whats left of the fuel mix in the tank is actually boiling. I was thinking that I was mixing too lean. From what I am reading here is sounds like its too rich. Is that correct? I am using 2-cycle oil bought at a parts store and 87 octane gas.   

[kayakerski]

As far as saws go, I've used whatever 2 cycle oil that was handy at 50:1 for 25 years with no issues what so ever. No sense making things overly complicated.

That being said, there's no oil that smells quite like Klotz coming out of a 2 stroke.

Gregg

[MattyNH]

As far as saws go, I've used whatever 2 cycle oil that was handy at 50:1 for 25 years with no issues what so ever. No sense making things overly complicated.

That being said, there's no oil that smells quite like Klotz coming out of a 2 stroke.

Gregg

I agree 100%

[MattyNH]

Folks more oil is not good.....  100:1 is plenty in all 2 strokes as long as its a quality lubricant like amsoil

More oil in your gas lowers the octane rating in the fuel and makes the engine detonate much faster, it leads to crank bearing failures and most commonly galled pistons.

I have a friend who races 2 stroke air planes and amsoil is his sponsor, he has tested it and has ran it at a ration of over 500:1 before he saw an oil related failure

Never ever double up on oil, it's the worst thing you could possibly do to a 2 stroke

I'd advise anyone to use amsoil at 100:1, and use a minimum octane of 93 fuel.   I used to rebuild chainsaws all the time, all had the same problems, number 1 cause of death was to much oil breaking the gas down and making the engine detonate, when that happens, cylinder temps to crazy and it galds

I would never use 100:1 in my thousand dollar 2188 Jonsered chain saw..Look like your big on the synthetic oils or promote Amsoil ..Yeah I do use synthetic and conventional 2 stoke oils ..But your first statement is just plain wrong..How can you possibly compare a chain saw to a 2 stroke air plane which is totally different..I agree with a higher octane.

[hondaracer2oo4]

I know that 100:1 sounds scary to most. Especially those that came from the 25:1 two stoke era. Manufacturers use to run 25:1 because the oil was so poor. Modern oils are much better. Most important thing to do is use an oil recommended and designed for what you are using it for. IE don't use outboard two stroke in your chainsaw, it is formulated to a different standard for a motor that doesn't rev to 12k rpm +. No reason for amsoil to recommend 100:1 unless it was designed to lubricate at that ratio. I believe the reason most two strokes are burning down now a days is due to the poor fuel quality. 87 octane loses its octane rating and causes high revving two stokes to detonate or preignite causing them to build heat quickly and melt the exhaust side of the piston off. 93 octane is much better formulation and takes much much longer to lose its octane rating to a point that it causes detonation.

[woodedacres]

was a factory mechanic for 2 stroke motocross professionally in the 80's. although not as applicable here but this comment you wouldn't think you would ever hear. " i ran it too rich with oil mix and burned up the motor". this is actually a factual comment. the actual concern is fuel air ratio's for proper combustion. when you have ideal jetting for your motor fuel/air with a specific ratio of oil to gas usually recommended by the manufacturer of the oil and richen that ratio what happens is you actually lean the fuel/air ratio to the motor with too much oil. not as much an issue with saws with external adjustment for jetting. but remember we are tuning the air/fuel ratio when we tune not the oil. we used numerous lubricants throughout the years because of various sponsors for different seasons with great success as long as you didn't deviate too far from recommended dilutions from the manufacturer of the oil.

[willieG]

had a lemon yellow ford galaxy back in the sixties that used a Gallon of Canadian tire Nugold 10W30 per tank of fuel (one weekend to the gal)...lol

[Jack72]

I've always used the stihl pre-mix bottles 1 gallon at a time with a date on the gas can after a month it goes in something else to get rid of splitter,lawnmower,etc haven't had any issues
this is off the subject a little bit    I bring my saws to a guy by me he does the professional chainsaw cutting competitions so he knows the saws inside and out very fortunate to have him but anyway he says get rid of that gas after a month with all the ethanol in gas these days it turns very corrosive it starts eating your gas lines and diaphragms then they start sucking air and won't start right away or run right
He also says running them out of fuel is the worst thing you can because that last few seconds it's running out it's running at higher RPM's and running lean with no oil lubrication best thing to do if your not going to run a while is to dump gas out of tank as best as you can and leave until fresh gas is put in next time you use.  Their is a lot EPA things installed on the saws these days that could be removed and make the saw run a lot better and cooler they really have them choked down
and also if  your going to buy a new one he says get a pro saw  (stihl brand).  The MS is light duty mostly for homeowners light use the pro uses a much heavier crank he has replaced many cranks on the MS saws because they are so much lighter a cheaply made.