High Cost of 2 stroke oil!

Well I never really considered how expensive the 2 stroke oil is when you buy a quart and prepare some mix....until this morning.

Gasoline is bouncing around between $ 1.85 and $ 2.05 this week....so to keep the math simple we will say it is $ 2.00 a gallon.

The last full synthetic oils I bought recently were some Mobil 2T in quarts and a quart of Amsoil and both were about $ 9.00 a quart. The price would probaby be a bit higher if you bought the individual 2.6 oz bottles. A quart of oil when divided up into a 50:1 ratio results in 12.5 gallons of mix.....but to account for that little bit of measuring excess we all use just to be sure we have enough oil lets say it results in 12 gallons. (Here is where I got surprised). When you divide $ 9.00 into 12 parts.......the individual cost of the 2.6 oz of oil is $ 0.75!

The result is that you have $ 2.00 in gasoline and $ 0.75 in oil for a gallon of 50:1 fuel mix......$ 2.75 total cost!

I realize that the cost of the oil is well worth the performance and longevity of the saw.....and the saw is not worth anything without the oil and I will continue to buy a full synthetic name brand oil for use in my saw.....but it had never dawned on me before that the small portion of oil I was dumping in the fuel jug was such a big portion of the cost.

$9.00 wood be nice, i pay $22.00 cdn for the stuff i burn.

Then buy cheaper oil. I use so little mix in the course of a year that it couldn't currently buy a couple of packs of smokes. I don't smoke, so, there you go. No complaints here.

Mark

Here's what gets me. When oil shoots up to $140, ok I can see the justification for increase in price of oil products. Now that oil has dropped and holding ~ $50.... why no comparative drop in the price of motor oil, 2-stroke, etc? I don't clain to be an economist, but something is really screwed up here.

Dan

lesorubcheek said:

Here's what gets me. When oil shoots up to $140, ok I can see the justification for increase in price of oil products. Now that oil has dropped and holding ~ $50.... why no comparative drop in the price of motor oil, 2-stroke, etc? I don't clain to be an economist, but something is really screwed up here.

Dan

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Greed.

The synthetic oil is not made from petroleum, right? I buy it by the 6-pack of little 2 gal mix bottles, for precision mix ratios. $3.00 for the oil to make 2 gal. of mix. I think it is cheap for what I get. If I were a logger, I would buy Stihl Ultra in larger containers, and not ßi†ch about it, it is an indispensable component of the wood sawing system. A small price to pay for the peace of mind of knowing my equipment is safe from fuel-related problems.

oneoldbanjo said:

The result is that you have $ 2.00 in gasoline and $ 0.75 in oil for a gallon of 50:1 fuel mix......$ 2.75 total cost!

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In the UK we are paying 93.9 pence per litre. Using today exchange rate of 1.47 USD per Pound that would equal $5.25 per USG.

1L of synthetic oil would be £11.99 or $17.62, so you'd need $1.34 at 50:1. That means 1 USG of mix costs us $6.59 :censored:

teacherman said:

The synthetic oil is not made from petroleum, right?

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The vast majority of all commercial organic chemicals (organic in the 'composed of carbon' sense, not the 'hippies that irritate Republicans' sense) have their origin in petroleum. A range of food and pharmaceuticals are derived from other natural products.

All synthetic oils I know of are esters synthesised from a fairly long chain alcohol and a moderate chain carboxylic acid. I'm sure there are others, but I've been out of that business for a LONG time.

LAndrews said:

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All synthetic oils I know of are esters synthesised from a fairly long chain alcohol and a moderate chain carboxylic acid. I'm sure there are others, but I've been out of that business for a LONG time.

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That'd be two stroke synthetics, (and I can't remember which type of esters are generally used) which actually have some hydrocarbons present too, looking at some MSDS's.

The majority of 4 stroke synthetic oils are either PAO based (derived from ethylene gas, a by-product of the petroleum industry. It's generally blended with smaller amounts of esters or alkylated napthalene in the case of a lot of Mobil 1 to get the desired properties) or Group III hydrocracked hydrocarbon.

Only the very exxy boutique oils like Redline (POE) Neo (di-ester) and Motul (POE) use a majority of esters in their base oils these days.

Factor in the cost of 110 octane...$7 gallon.

So a gallon of saw gas costs me $1 for 1/2 gal of 91 octane and $3.50 for 1/2 gal of the 110. $5.25 a gallon after the mix...

To bad for me that I don't go through much gas as I REALLY like running my saws!

Oil prices are coming down dramatically. One problem is companies still have inventory that was bought while the price was high. The company that I work for has been blending the price of the new inventory with the high cost of the old and selling it at a lower price rather than selling high until the old inventory is gone. It must me working, we are selling like mad.

Oil went up in price 3 times last year. It has dropped twice recently.

Much of the price of 2 stroke oil is in the packaging. the smaller the quantity, the more it costs per gallon of mix. I bought gallon jugs of Echo Powerblend and Husqvarna XP for $23 and $24 respectively(both synthetic blend). I'll refill my small 2 gallon mix bottles from the gallon jugs.

I use the Echo Powerblend 40-1 in by 066BB for milling, and it WORKS. I've checked the piston several times through the muffler port, and it looks great. Milling is probably the most severe duty that you can subject your saw to.

Buy in larger containers to decrease your cost. I like big jugs.:hmm3grin2orange:

I cut a lot of wood, not at the pro level, but a lot for a homeowner. I have a 0290 and take good care of it. Ever since the saw was new I used stihl oil in it.I noticed that I could buy a whole quart of Pennziol, Quaker State or Valveoline for slightly more than the price of one small bottle of stihl oil.....The QS and Valvoline, and Pennz seem to have the same specs. Any body else use them? Not trying to be cheap, just curious.

Qsky said:

I cut a lot of wood, not at the pro level, but a lot for a homeowner. I have a 0290 and take good care of it. Ever since the saw was new I used stihl oil in it.I noticed that I could buy a whole quart of Pennziol, Quaker State or Valveoline for slightly more than the price of one small bottle of stihl oil.....The QS and Valvoline, and Pennz seem to have the same specs. Any body else use them? Not trying to be cheap, just curious.

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I've never been willing to use QS or Pennzoil in any vehicle I owned. I wouldn't even think about using it in any 2-stroke equipment I own, unless I was trying to kill it.

Just today I picked up a gallon of Citgo semi-synth snomobile oil; almost the same as the summer air-cooled oil, just a little more solvent to keep it flowing in injector systems.

10.77 on sale, plus MN tax, about 70 cents: 11.50, rounding up. I mix at 40:1 for modern stuff, 24:1 for the moldy oldies with cast-iron cylinders, split rods, or no needle bearings in the small end of the rod.

At 40:1 (3 oz/gal) that's 42 gallons of gas, plus .
27 cents extra per gallon. At the current rate I use the stuff, I'm probably good for 3 years. But I agree that it isn't necessarily the cost of being good to your equipment, but its the cost of convenience. That 27 cents is really the same as the $2 you'd pay for the little bottle, and I've seen it higher.

Ace Hardware had some six-packs of Ace-brand 100% synth on sale around Christmas time for just under $6; I got several as stocking stuffers for My wife's brothers, father-in-law, and the neighbor. Store also sells Husky and Efco: as I remember, synth blend for Husky and Efco was around $12, and 100% synth was over $14. The convenience isn't worth %800 to me.

Ouch!!

Ironbark said:

In the UK we are paying 93.9 pence per litre. Using today exchange rate of 1.47 USD per Pound that would equal $5.25 per USG.

1L of synthetic oil would be £11.99 or $17.62, so you'd need $1.34 at 50:1. That means 1 USG of mix costs us $6.59 :censored:

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I don't think I can complain about the cost of gas in the US any more after getting this perspective. At least until I forget about this post any ways....

OUCH!!:jawdrop:


It's kinda complaining about the food on our plate instead of being grateful for food on our plate!

I just thought I'd add here... If you're paying $2.00 for gas, you're probably not running 89 octane or higher like most saw manufacturers recommend...

For as little oil as I burn, I don't really look at the price all that often. I mix up a few gallon a year, so a quart of amsoil saber lasts me quite a while. Of course, since becoming an AS member, I'll probably start using Stihl Ultra HP because of the stabilizer that's in it... for now I just use a little sta-bil, and all is well. (And no, I don't run my Amsoil at 100:1 (anymore).. it's 50:1 for me now)

Otay, I'm done.

they charge whatever they want because they know you need it and will pay it. Around here price can fluctate daily, but they only get one load of gas per week. Its the same stuff in the stations tank, its just about how much can they get out of you.

I mixed 10 gallons of 92 and Ultra today... guess what it cost me??? oh wait... I didn't bother to even check.

Do you really burn enuff fuel and oil mix for it to make a diff? If you're cuttin' for a livin', I see a probable b1tch... but for a weekender or "firewood heats my house" type of guy?

Gary

I tend to use that Walmart stuff???????
Poulan makes a synthetic a 40 /1 ,Never a problem with my Husky's or Sthil's.
Poulan,Husky,Jred last i knew are owned by the same company.(Electrolux).
About $(8.00 per quart),in the (squeeze top) your mix per gallon (green)container.
I average 3 gallons of fuel per month.About 2 years on my saws and not any problems so far.Time will tell.
Mark