fuel mix

[Gugi47]

I do 45-50 to 1 and never have any problems.
I use this mixture in everything I own not just saw's.
But I use met free gas and only Stihl synthetic oil.

 

[Sandhill Crane]

Two gallons of premium, 2 1/2 gal. mix bottle of Stihl Ultra it is then.
Thanks guys. Much appreciated...

 

[Rockjock]

We literally see a 1000 saws a year through my dealerships and all running at 50:1 0 issues. Granted these are all stock work saws and home owner saws running everything from Motomix, Aspen, 87 e fuel upto 94 e free and they all are fine. I look at the tree guys saws ( 10 hours a day 5 days a week ) and see no adverse effects. That pretty much sells it for me.

 

[Little Al]

It always amazes me that folk want to get into a pi***ng contest as to the amount of oil to mix in the fuel, they have a piece of kit worth any thing between $200 /2000 & tend to skimp on 10cents worth of oil in the mix & risk ruining the saw running the ratio's that the "gods" at Stihl & Husky quote is possibly OK, don't forget that in a good %age of cases the makers don't foot the bill for repairs, so to me spending a few extra cents on a little extra oil to give the saw a fighting chance makes sense; BUT that is just my thinking, & others will have their own idea's . So each to his own way

 

[Bwildered]

It always amazes me that folk want to get into a pi***ng contest as to the amount of oil to mix in the fuel, they have a piece of kit worth any thing between $200 /2000 & tend to skimp on 10cents worth of oil in the mix & risk ruining the saw running the ratio's that the "gods" at Stihl & Husky quote is possibly OK, don't forget that in a good %age of cases the makers don't foot the bill for repairs, so to me spending a few extra cents on a little extra oil to give the saw a fighting chance makes sense; BUT that is just my thinking, & others will have their own idea's . So each to his own way

Over the life of the saw someone using 32:1 vs 50:1 synthetic will have spent more than the cost of a new saw on the extra oil they have put through it, somebody did the sums a long while back to prove it. And your lungs will be worse off as well. And that is amazingly amusing!
Thansk

 

[ChoppyChoppy]

Had an Echo come in a while back. Muffler was so clogged with pretty much what looked like driveway sealer that it wouldn't run above high idle. The exhaust port wasn't much better.

I happened to notice on the saw case the owner had written 20:1 with a list of oil to gas amounts in marker.

I fixed it with 50:1 and let him know more oil isn't gooder! Was an older guy and he was used to the old saws.

Fixed an old Homelite with 1/2" chain and bow bar a few weeks ago. It's no wonder old loggers are deaf and have lung issues! I'm pretty sure an open header big block Chevy at 6000rpm isn't as loud as that saw!

 

[Little Al]

Over the life of the saw someone using 32:1 vs 50:1 synthetic will have spent more than the cost of a new saw on the extra oil they have put through it, somebody did the sums a long while back to prove it. And your lungs will be worse off as well. And that is amazingly amusing!
Thansk

Our saws that are used commercially & are traded every 2 years, so the oil cost doesn't come into it,& we have to make a living from them so down time is a NoNo,whilst I admit to not being as active as I used to be I've been sawing in some form or other for the last 50 years & have now reached the tender age of 79 & to date ( according to my doc )although some bits are falling off; my hearing & lungs are still in good shape,I suppose it rests on how much you pay for your oil ? we get a FD rated 100% syn oil which we buy in bulk which works out at 2.40Euro's a litre,
another factor is how big is the wood being cut ( in other words how long is the saw being used ) running flat out; there are a lot of factors that enter into the equation? I'm not trying to tell anyone what they should /shouldn't do just noting in my view that nowadays there seems a move to use the least amount of oil possible, & have noticed more failures,that could have possibly been avoided by the use of a tiny amount more oil. But as you seem happy with the set up you have Safe sawing.

 

[Bwildered]

Our saws that are used commercially & are traded every 2 years, so the oil cost doesn't come into it,& we have to make a living from them so down time is a NoNo,whilst I admit to not being as active as I used to be I've been sawing in some form or other for the last 50 years & have now reached the tender age of 79 & to date ( according to my doc )although some bits are falling off; my hearing & lungs are still in good shape,I suppose it rests on how much you pay for your oil ? we get a FD rated 100% syn oil which we buy in bulk which works out at 2.40Euro's a litre,
another factor is how big is the wood being cut ( in other words how long is the saw being used ) running flat out; there are a lot of factors that enter into the equation? I'm not trying to tell anyone what they should /shouldn't do just noting in my view that nowadays there seems a move to use the least amount of oil possible, & have noticed more failures,that could have possibly been avoided by the use of a tiny amount more oil. But as you seem happy with the set up you have Safe sawing.

Whether you trade your saws early or not, you're still almost using twice the oil, from the reports above who are quoting high numbers with no problems just shows old habit die hard.
Trankski

 

[Stihlman441]

I often use 20 ltrs of fuel oil mix per week
I mix at 40:1 fully synthetic oil that cost me $1 per 100 mil so 20 ltrs of fuel costs me $5 in oil.
If i was to mix at 50:1 i would save $1 per 20 ltr mix

I think i will stick with the 40:1 mix thanks.

 

[Bwildered]

I often use 20 ltrs of fuel oil mix per week
I mix at 40:1 fully synthetic oil that cost me $1 per 100 mil so 20 ltrs of fuel costs me $5 in oil.
If i was to mix at 50:1 i would save $1 per 20 ltr mix

I think i will stick with the 40:1 mix thanks.

I wish I could get synthetic oil that cheap, that's $10 a litre, where can I get it at that price?
Thanskifky

 

[Stihlman441]

I wish I could get synthetic oil that cheap, that's $10 a litre, where can I get it at that price?
Thanskifky

Here ya go

 

[Bwildered]

Here ya go

View attachment 511634

Ta.
Thankinski

 

[Little Al]

I often use 20 ltrs of fuel oil mix per week
I mix at 40:1 fully synthetic oil that cost me $1 per 100 mil so 20 ltrs of fuel costs me $5 in oil.
If i was to mix at 50:1 i would save $1 per 20 ltr mix

I think i will stick with the 40:1 mix thanks.

I'm with you on this & the way we have been doing it for the last 20 or so years with no saw problems that relate to the amount of oil in the mix seems now to be called into question, towards the end of my motor cycle road racing career racing 2 Smokes it seemed to be more important to use the least amount of oil rather than machine performance it appears that to some we are using stone age technology so each to his own way of doing things.

 

[James Miller]

I dump the 50:1 oil mix in the gas can and stop the pump at .8 gallons. Don't know what the ratio is exactly but the saws seem to like it. I'd like to try some 100:1 amsoil in my freebie whip trimmer just to see what happens.

 

[mikey517]

I dump the 50:1 oil mix in the gas can and stop the pump at .8 gallons. Don't know what the ratio is exactly but the saws seem to like it. I'd like to try some 100:1 amsoil in my freebie whip trimmer just to see what happens.

I think it works out to just about 40:1, 'cause I do the same!
With the current price of 93 Premium at a local Speedway station (separate hose each grade), I put a 2.6 oz bottle of oil and ask for 2.00 worth of gas. Comes out to .8xxxx gals, and it works fine!

 

[Rockjock]

It always amazes me that folk want to get into a pi***ng contest as to the amount of oil to mix in the fuel, they have a piece of kit worth any thing between $200 /2000 & tend to skimp on 10cents worth of oil in the mix & risk ruining the saw running the ratio's that the "gods" at Stihl & Husky quote is possibly OK, don't forget that in a good %age of cases the makers don't foot the bill for repairs, so to me spending a few extra cents on a little extra oil to give the saw a fighting chance makes sense; BUT that is just my thinking, & others will have their own idea's . So each to his own way

You make some valid points but from the service aspect of it I see equipment coming in with clogged spark screens, carbon build up and fouled plugs. Then I see the people that run the e free fuel, 50:1 ratio of fuel and they are in far less often. It is a 2 sided coin. As I said for me it is what I see first hand. I sell a saw brand new and I see it after a year, looking like it has been through the wars, 2000+ hours later and the piston and cyl look clean, starts and runs just like it should and more and more I am being told 50:1 e free fuel. So that is all I need to know from this side of the bench.

 

[steve easy]

Try getting a consistent fuel blend from the fuel companies here in nz. I run everything i own on 25:1, 019top handle to the 090. My km90 gets used maybe a couple times a year, starts first pull and runs hard. I do however keep a supply of spark plugs on hand.

 

[CascadeHusky]

Oh yay, an oil thread! This is an important, yet mostly un-discussed topic. I very much look forward to hearing what ratios people have problems with, and what ratios guarantee every part of your saw will last forever, including the chain tensioner and operator presence lever.

 

[Little Al]

You make some valid points but from the service aspect of it I see equipment coming in with clogged spark screens, carbon build up and fouled plugs. Then I see the people that run the e free fuel, 50:1 ratio of fuel and they are in far less often. It is a 2 sided coin. As I said for me it is what I see first hand. I sell a saw brand new and I see it after a year, looking like it has been through the wars, 2000+ hours later and the piston and cyl look clean, starts and runs just like it should and more and more I am being told 50:1 e free fuel. So that is all I need to know from this side of the bench.

I have no argument whatsoever with your findings The point I was trying to make ( possibly not very well ) is that in some quarters more importance seems to be placed on using the least amount of oil in the mix rather than the saws well being, whatever floats your boat go with it, I'm a bit oil school so 30 ML oil to 1 litre of fuel for me we are lucky that on of our gas contains "E"

 

[cus_deluxe]

Im all for just doing whats swnsible for your application. At work we have several husky 580bt backpack blowers with easily a few hundred hours each, run on our crappy bulk fuel thats been in the storage tank for at least a few months, and amsoil 80:1. That doesnt mean that the pro logger/tree service will have the same results with their work saws. Johnny homeowner will likely be just fine at 50:1 for a long long time. That said i run 45:1 in everything of my own, cheap insurance the way i see it and not overkill.