Two-Stroke Oils: All the Same?

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

There's no guarantees in life but I can 100% guarantee I won't be stressing about smearing piston up and down the cylinder walls or shortening the life of a saw running the good stuffs with all the right minerals and vitamins
Puts a lot of top tier expensive "superior" synthetics to shame..





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Would happily use that and nothing else, but the smell would give me the worst headache. That said I was mixing 32:1 and using it in a strimmer that runs at 7k rpm’s. Maybe in a saw where there is more load and higher rpm’s it combusts the charge more efficiently?

 

[rogue60]

Would happily use that and nothing else, but the smell would give me the worst headache. That said I was mixing 32:1 and using it in a strimmer that runs at 7k rpm’s. Maybe in a saw where there is more load and higher rpm’s it combusts the charge more efficiently?

I use it in my whipper snippers and brush cutters at 25:1 I can't smell anything? is no smoke burns clean.I can't handle Stihl Ultra for the same reason as you the smell makes me sick.
What fuel you running? in summer I use Vortex 98 or BP Ultimate 98 as it doesn't boil and vaper lock as bad as the cheaper ethanol laced fuel.
I have no choice nowadays the cheaper pump fuel with ethanol in it is rubbish after 5 min running a whipper snipper it's boiling leaning out and vapor locking is impossible to restart if you shut it off until you let it sit to cool down for 20-30 minutes a real pita. In winter I can get away using the cheaper pump fuel with ethanol in it with the cooler weather.

 

[MacAttack]

There's no guarantees in life but I can 100% guarantee I won't be stressing about smearing piston up and down the cylinder walls or shortening the life of a saw running the good stuffs with all the right minerals and vitamins
Puts a lot of top tier expensive "superior" synthetics to shame..





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I used this stuff for a number of years in EVERY 2 cycle piece of equipment, never any problems. Maybe because I was a dumb kid but I still have my old saws with spotless pistons and tons of compression using that Snowmobile oil 32:1. I like Castrol. I'd be interested in whether there is an equivalent to the Garden 2T in the US?

 

[rogue60]

Can you still buy this exact product in your locale? Because either they reformulated this oil years ago and some (most?) places are selling the thinner red version. I know this for a fact for 2 reasons: 1) The shipment I got of 5 1 liter bottles is not blue like yours is, it is dyed red. Also, there are at least 2 different safety data sheets on this oil where one says it is blue, and the other sds says red. The stuff you have is a heavier viscosity of 10-12 cst @ 100 C, the red stuff is thinner at 8.8c @ 100 C.

Date of issue 11/19/2021
https://msdspds.castrol.com/ussds/a...5A3FA34092E8025879500580FF8/$File/2797397.pdfKinematic: 97.82 mm2/s (97.82 cSt) at 40°C
Kinematic: 10.3 to 11.3 mm2/s (10.3 to 11.3 cSt) at 100°C
Color: Blue

Date of issue 5 April 2018
http://www.cdgltd.co.uk/files/ww/coshh/Castrol Garden 2T.pdfKinematic: 53.8 mm2/s (53.8 cSt) at 40°C
Kinematic: 7.5 to 8.5 mm2/s (7.5 to 8.5 cSt) at 100°C
Color: Red

Here's something else very bizzare--another SDS for the blue version, that is extremely thick at colder temps, and even higher visc than the other blue formulation I posted above at 100 C:

Kinematic: 230 mm2/s (230 cSt) at 40°C
Kinematic: 12 mm2/s (12 cSt) at 100°C

Technical data sheet from a shop in New Zealand matches the product you have in your pictures:
https://store.pggwrightson.co.nz/media/product_files//9a27691443d953338cb56226721f2eaae768367f.pdf
Color: Dark Blue

Yes I can still buy the same original Castrol Garden and Ative I've always used down here I'm in Australia. Yes the red Ative is a thinner oil I've always run it at 25:1 90cc plus saws. Garden at 25:1 being a thicker oil you do notice the extra resistance on 1st start up pulling a 120cc saw over on a cold morning I'm talking below 10 celsius doesn't get that cold here in winter. But this is nothing 90cc to 137cc saws are not hard to start I don't even use the decomps.
I've run both oils at 25:1 in saws in 40 celsius summer heat for thousands and thousands of hrs year after year never had an oil related problem. New saws break in perfect running it never had blow by excellent ring seal throughout a saws life.
That's just my experience using the above mineral oils.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

I use it in my whipper snippers and brush cutters at 25:1 I can't smell anything? is no smoke burns clean.I can't handle Stihl Ultra for the same reason as you the smell makes me sick.
What fuel you running? in summer I use Vortex 98 or BP Ultimate 98 as it doesn't boil and vaper lock as bad as the cheaper ethanol laced fuel.
I have no choice nowadays the cheaper pump fuel with ethanol in it is rubbish after 5 min running a whipper snipper it's boiling leaning out and vapor locking is impossible to restart if you shut it off until you let it sit to cool down for 20-30 minutes a real pita. In winter I can get away using the cheaper pump fuel with ethanol in it with the cooler weather.

I’m running 91octane pump fuel typically from BP.
We don’t get ethanol fuel over here.

I’m going to give it another go today, I’m rebuilding a husky leaf blower so will try it out again.

I have both the standard garden 2t and the active. Which do you grab if you have both?

 

[rogue60]

I’m running 91octane pump fuel typically from BP.
We don’t get ethanol fuel over here.

I’m going to give it another go today, I’m rebuilding a husky leaf blower so will try it out again.

I have both the standard garden 2t and the active. Which do you grab if you have both?



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I just use either no preference really although the Garden being a thicker oil it might give better protection in heat and extreme conditions but that could just be in my head lol

That's odd no ethanol in WA? I think you said you are in WA? a google search shows you guys have e10 and e85 I bet ya 91 has ethanol in it. Try some premium BP Ultimate see and what you think. I personally think all my 2T gear runs better on it, dare I say more power or more so run back up to factory rated outputs over the rubbish ethanol laced pump fuel ethanol contains like 30% less energy than gasoline.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

I haven’t come across any pumps that have ethanol mate, just checked petrol spi and if you search e10 only unleaded 91 comes up no E10. There isn’t any ethanol in it. I’ve never seen any pumps in WA have e10 or e85 written anywhere.

 

[rogue60]

I haven’t come across any pumps that have ethanol mate, just checked petrol spi and if you search e10 only unleaded 91 comes up no E10. There isn’t any ethanol in it. I’ve never seen any pumps in WA have e10 or e85 written anywhere.

Oh ok you guys are lucky our 91 has up to 10% ethanol in it.

https://www.bp.com/en_au/australia/home/products-services/fuels/regular-fuels/unleaded-with-e10.html

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

Oh ok you guys are lucky our 91 has up to 10% ethanol in it.

https://www.bp.com/en_au/australia/home/products-services/fuels/regular-fuels/unleaded-with-e10.html

Yeah when I travelled around Australia we found lots of city’s sell e10!

 

[OM617YOTA]

I used this stuff for a number of years in EVERY 2 cycle piece of equipment, never any problems. Maybe because I was a dumb kid but I still have my old saws with spotless pistons and tons of compression using that Snowmobile oil 32:1. I like Castrol. I'd be interested in whether there is an equivalent to the Garden 2T in the US?

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I used to run something like this:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/...da5038/castrol-2t-motorcycle-oil/cas9/2stroke
I remember it being called something different, but wouldn't surprise me if it was the same stuff. What I ran had a picture of a chainsaw on it, which at the time was all I needed to be willing to run it. My 034S ran probably half it's life in my possession on that stuff. I prefer a synthetic JASO FD oil now, but if that stuff was all that's available, I'd run it and not give it a second thought.

Edit: I know in Canada, Stihl oil is actually decent stuff. Buckin' Billy Ray was talking about old timers running nothing but Stihl oil, showing pistons through exhaust ports on old saws that looked beautiful. The bottle of Stihl oil he showed said bottled by Castrol on the back. Wouldn't surprise me if that was also the same stuff.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

I just use either no preference really although the Garden being a thicker oil it might give better protection in heat and extreme conditions but that could just be in my head lol

That's odd no ethanol in WA? I think you said you are in WA? a google search shows you guys have e10 and e85 I bet ya 91 has ethanol in it. Try some premium BP Ultimate see and what you think. I personally think all my 2T gear runs better on it, dare I say more power or more so run back up to factory rated outputs over the rubbish ethanol laced pump fuel ethanol contains like 30% less energy than gasoline.

Wow I didn’t know how much thicker the garden is, garden left activ right.

Apparently active has a additional formula added to keep it clinging to engine parts when it’s not in use. Looks like the standard garden would do a better job though LOL

 

[huskihl]

I think that Garden is the same as the GO! we can get here. Same color and viscosity looks similar. Smaller motors might need a hair less oil than 25:1 to get them to tune. Depends on the carb and temp probably. Sure looks like it does a great job.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

A decent mineral oil will do everything a 2 stroke OPE engine needs and more. We’ve just got too much time and money on our hands to be able to actually make a topic from it.

 

[MacAttack]

Castrol Go looks like good stuff, FB rated (not FD) but I wouldn't see that as a deal-breaker.

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

I’d be more interested in @rogue60 tuning process. Will you do a short video mate?

 

[North by Northwest]

Castrol Go looks like good stuff, FB rated (not FD) but I wouldn't see that as a deal-breaker.

Lots of FB & FD oils of the day , did more than an adequate job . Actual new oils of that blend are not easy to acquire today , at least up North here . Castrol & Shell produce a few such blends that are readily available here .

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

I think that Garden is the same as the GO! we can get here. Same color and viscosity looks similar. Smaller motors might need a hair less oil than 25:1 to get them to tune. Depends on the carb and temp probably. Sure looks like it does a great job.

Go can be ran at 50:1 where garden can only be run up to 40:1

 

[North by Northwest]

I just use either no preference really although the Garden being a thicker oil it might give better protection in heat and extreme conditions but that could just be in my head lol

That's odd no ethanol in WA? I think you said you are in WA? a google search shows you guys have e10 and e85 I bet ya 91 has ethanol in it. Try some premium BP Ultimate see and what you think. I personally think all my 2T gear runs better on it, dare I say more power or more so run back up to factory rated outputs over the rubbish ethanol laced pump fuel ethanol contains like 30% less energy than gasoline.

Run Shell 91 octane here no Ethanol , anything ethanol in a auto produces very poor fuel economy in any vehicle I have used it in , however that most likely would be the company line !

 

[Vintage Engine Repairs]

can’t remember where I read it today, but the active is thinner for use with fuel injection systems in motorcycles.

As Rogue said, I think I’d prefer to use the cheaper and thicker garden 2t.

 

[huskihl]

Go can be ran at 50:1 where garden can only be run up to 40:1

Guessing that’s a territorial thing