Red Armor is available online everywhere, or Home Depot carries it in store and online.
Echo Brand 2-Smoke Oil / Power Blend Gold
- Thread starter Stihl Sharp
- Start date
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Should have been more specific... Red Armor pre mix fuel in 50-1, not the oil.
Home Depot has Red Armor premix. All the canned fuels I looked at, except Stihl, are JASO FD oils. TruFuel costs a lot less.
Your car, truck, generator, and power washer are all 2-cycle? This chainsaw thread asks about the shelf life a fuel, period. For 2-cycle engines, consider mixed fuel to be garbage after 30 days. In a 4-cycle engine, it doesn't sit stagnant in the carb and knaw away at the rubber parts, or cause corrosion to aluminum with its moisture content. In a 2-cycle carb, its the sole reason for so many small engines not running after a short period of sitting.
Can you use the code given in that list to determine the rating of the oil if it doesn’t say in the bottles container the official JASO rating?
I ask because there are a bunch of oils with the same name but different rating!
Sure, if you find the code and not the rating. In theory, the official JASO rating emblem on the bottle will include both the rating and the oil code.
Hmm here is the front and back of one, it’s on the JASO list as FD but doesn’t have anything on the bottle? It’s down as tts and power 1?
In this case it says both are FD but many are the same name with different ratings.
No clue there. If it's on the JASO list, I'd go with whatever the bottle claims, even without the emblem?
So it’s the oil that causes two-stroke gas to go bad?
Stihl Sharp
ArboristSite Member
Ok thanks. Seems my question got a couple positive answers anyway.
Interestingly, I bought a quart of Red Armor and a gallon of Tru-Fuel and they not only look the same, they smell the same too.
Stihl Sharp
ArboristSite Member
Not here and that is 1000 miles from me. Shipping would be a killer.
They're likely bottled by the same company and using the same fuel. Only difference is likely to be Echo using their own Red Armor oil, and TruFuel using TruSouth's own oil. TruFuel claims synthetic oil, so FD rated, even if it's their synthetic blend.
Good to go, either way. I've burned gallons of the Trufuel.
Just run Trufuel.
Or check other stores. No clue where you're at, but it does seem to be in south Michigan.
I stand corrected, the local HD has 20 large cans in stock. Headed there tomorrow. Same price in quantity as well. I'll pick up 4.
I read pro's and cons on Tru-Fuel but I will say my ancient Stihl 028 AV runs well on it. I was having an idle issue on pre mix e-gas and Stihl oil and that vanished on Tru-Fuel. Problem is, non e-gas is hard to get here and e-gas has a bad habit of phase separation when it sits for a period. I have to run Marine Stabil in the mowers and tiller or clean the carbs if they sit. I guess being over 40 years old makes the 028 touchy. Gonna switch to Red Armor anyway. My local Echo dealer cannot get it for some reason, least not in the almost, but not quite gallon tins.
Bought a Timber Wolf and have not even fired it up. Waiting for the Red Beard foam air cleaner and I'll do the muffler mod as well. I may change the carb out as well. Already pulled the limiter caps.
Stihl Sharp
ArboristSite Member
Look for a date code on the cans. No telling how long these cans have been sitting around. Every time i see these in stores, alot of dust sitting on top of the cans sure might tell a story.
