Recommended fuel ratio for Homelite EZ

[thunderbug]

I have a Homelite EZ which was purchased in 1972. It is blue and white in color which I have not seen much of.
This saw was passed on to me from my brother in law, who has since passed on, so I can't ask him anything about it.
Someone has scratched 16:1 into the case, but before finding that, the guy who worked on it and got it running for me told me that it needed 32:1 mixture.
Who is right?
I'm not sure how these ratios work. Is it possible to use different ratios with the same saw, or is this strictly dependant on the model you have?
In other words, if my saw calls for 16:1 and I used 32:1 would I be damaging the saw?
Thanks
Thunderbug

 

[buzz sawyer]

Have had my super EZ for 26 years. I had always used any two cycle oil I could find (lawn boy) and ran 16:1. I recently started using real chainsaw oil and am running 32:1. Runs fine. It does seem to have more power and run smoother at 32:1, but you would be safe staying with 16:1. There are a number of posts on this subject that would probably answer your question better.

 

[eyolf]

In 1972, oil research had not progressed as far as today, but better quality oils did exist...Sun oil co already had a synthetic 2 -stroke at that time. A couple of snomobile makers were having it relabelled for them. It might be well to note that Homelite's oil was a smoky, plug fouling goo in the late 1960's when my dad used it in his snomobiles. Then he traded his Ski-doos in for Yammerhammers and used Yamalube. I liked Castrol in my stuff in those days...

meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Homelite reccomended the 16:1 back in the early days of that model, mostly because they had no way to control what was being used in them. The Super EZ was available way up until about 1988, and it was labelled for 32:1. The S-EZ and EZ were pretty much the same inside, except a little more bore for more displacemt in the S-EZ. Look on the label of the oils you'd like to use, and see if you can find any or all of the following:

API TC
JASO FC
ISO L-EGD

That means the oils are tested and approved for air-cooled two-stroke engines under moderate to severe conditions.


32:1 in the case of fuel mix means 32 parts of (clean, fresh) gasoline to each part of oil. Any shop that sells chain saws, string trimmers, etc will have the good stuff, and probably will have some prepackaged and measured to suit a convenient sized container...gallon cans are very common. If they do not have a prepacked size for 32:1, and you don't want to fool around with measuring, buy two packages for 50:1 and mix with your gallon of gas for 25:1.

Don't keep mixed gas around for weeks and weeks...it will go bad after a fairly short time (a month or less in summer weather).

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Oh I can hear it coming...

Hi thunderbug.

The Blue/white saws are fairly desirable, shame someone carved #'s into it seeing as the mix ratios required years ago no longer apply.


As the oils got better there was no need to run the ritcher ratios witch would cause "coking" (carbon build up) and require the saw to be cleaned out frequently.


32:1 or 40:1 should work fine in that saw. If your using it hard I'd go with 32:1.

 

[thunderbug]

Thanks!

Thanks very much to all your answers. I was beginning to think that this might be the case but didn't quite understand why it would change if that were the case.
These are apparantly really tough saws. My dad and brother in law bought it together in 72, and after my dad used it to clear an acre of land where my parents built their last house, he died, leaving it to my brother in law. He then used this saw heavily, but with great care to it, for the next 24 years, then gave it to me before he passed on.
It was still running, but had a cracked oil tank, which a friend of mine replaced with a used one he had, and got it running really good again.
This saw is great! I didn't realize just how much so, until over the last week and a half, I have went through 2 new polans, (Junk), and then 1 new homelite ranger, and on my second homelite ranger right now. The homelite ranger is a lot better than the polan by a long shot, but on the first one that I took back for replacement, and on the one I have now, you'd better not shut it down for longer than 3 or 4 minutes or it will vapor lock and you'll have a heck of a time getting it running again, at least unless you let it completely cool down, and then it will start perfectly! All I can say is I'm disappointed in the new stuff out there. All plastic, and not much good for anything except trimming a few branches occasionally it appears.
All these problems prompted me to drag out this old ez model, to try to finish clearing my fence row. Funny thing..... The reason I bought a new saw, was that I didn't want to waste time fooling around with an old saw trying to keep it running, and thought if I bought a new one, it should get me through this job alright. Boy was I wrong! My biggest problem has been the oiler quit working on the ez model, and just today, I finally got it working, although I don't know for how long.
I'm posting another question about that one too.
Thanks for all the help!

 

[oldsaw]

Old saws rock , just ask me how I know and why I think that way.. (see signature, my "new" saw is 10 years old). Old Homies, well, I've got a soft spot for them, as you can see. The 150A is the actual saw I learned on. Runs like a top, and keeps going, and going, and ,just like this guy.

Your Super EZ is a "real" saw, the others are "pretenders".

Mark

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Youve got a saw thats only 10yo?



Poser.

 

[oldsaw]

Youve got a saw thats only 10yo?



Poser.

No way, dude, I just got it this week. When I came up with the name, my newest saw was 30 some years old. The 066 is pre-comp, and the Homies certainly qualify. No poser here...:yoyo:

 

[mbopp]

FYI -If you buy the little 2.6 oz bottles of oil marked 50:1, adding 1 bottle to .667 gallons of gas gives you 32:1.

 

[romeo]

24:1

My homelite XL-12 runs good on 32:1 but It runs the same on 24:1. I like to keep it oil rich cause sparkplugs are easy to find, cylinders aren't.