2-cycle oil

In his 2-cycle push lawn mower my neighbor has been using regular 30wt detergent oil instead of the standard 2-cycle engine oil. He has been doing this for years with seemingly no problems. So I did a web search just to see what is up with chainsaws, weedwackers, etc. It seems to be about 50/50. Some sites say use whatever oil you want but mix it double with non standard oil, 25:1 instead of the normal 50:1 mix. Other sites say use any oil and mix it the same as 2-cycle oil. Some sites say use synthetic oil and mix it by half, 100:1 instead of normal 50:1.
Just wondering what the thoughts are with here.
Don't just jump on it and say you are supposed to use whats made for it. Everyone is already aware of that thought and you may be correct but that's not the spirit of the question.
Has anyone here been using regular oil in 2-cycle engines for years with no problems?
Dell

Early chainsaws called for a mix of 16 to 1 with non detergent straight 30 - and I have used it with no problems - in my newer stuff I use stihl brand oil..Its seems like the stihl stuff burns much cleaner..
I use Klotz brand castor based oil in my dirt bike.. Suposed to be better for extreme use..

I use what ever I have handy at the time. No problems,mix it a little richer. i like to see um smoke,they are getting lubed then.

You know the rectal retentive types will jump all over this with their CORRECT answers and the science to prove it...but for what it"s worth, I have used standard 2 cycle oil...pick any brand..Pennzoil, Q-State, Valvoline, as nauseum, for the last 30 years in my Lawnboy mowers..yep, have had a total of two and the first one was running fine when I gave it away 15 years ago. My 5 horse outboard is a 1952 model....runs great and so has the army of weedeaters I have owned. The engines never go bad....the rest of them fall apart. I have two Stihl chainsaws...the 028 was bought in 1982 and the 017 is 3 years old.

I run one mix for everything 32:1. Stihl calls for 40:1...well the others call for 32:1 and so, that is what I mix and feed to whatever I need to use.

You"ll get this spiel about low ash, no ash and so forth. That"s probably good advice.....but every brand of 2 cycle oil I have ever bought says low ash on the bottle.

My dad had a Power Products 18" lawnmower when I was a kid....45 years or so ago. He mixed 30 wt. motor oil in his gas and mowed away. It probably did foul the plug quicker than a regular 2 cycle oil would.

The old time 2 cycle racers will tell you to use pure Castor oil. The modern techno nerds will claim it has to be Purple oil. The plain nerds will say you have to buy oil with the machines brand name on it, to never waver from the WHAT THE BOOKS SAYS, because after all, they (the maker) knows best and then you have people like me...that figures none of the manufacturers own an oil refinery and one of the industry giants is making it for them.

I"ve never had any catastrophic engine failures.....of any kind, whether 2 cycle or 4 cycle. I"ve used every brand of oil commonly sold......evidently it all works!

You know.......99% of all this oil malarky just requires a little common sense. I doubt there is any such thing as a bad oil on the market. All of it meets certain specs to cover a spectrum of engine applications. The rest is advertising BS that marketers know people will buy into. It makes them lots of money in the process.

The 2 cycle oil mixes better with gas and burns cleaner. With regular oil you might have carbon buildup and fouled plugs over time.
To answer the question the last 2-cycle engine I used regular oil in had a lot of carbon build up when I took the head off.

Some of any oil is probably better than no oil. Oil is oil. Ever read the back of a 5 dollar bottle of oil and a 1 dollar bottle of oil? Just to find out they meet the sh or sm or what ever other standard "THEY" deem necessary. Food for thought!

Most any oil will lube a 2 stroke engine. Problem with detergent and multi-vis oils is the metal salts and other stuff in the detergents/VI improvers causes conductive deposits to accumulate on the spark plug insulator. This can cause poor performance (hard starting/misfiring) and even shut the engine down from plug fouling.

Also 4 stroke oils seem to want to settle at the bottom of the tank when stored very long. So remixing the fuel may be required before startup.

Bottom line is you can get away using detergent oils (it’s certainly preferable to using NO oil!). But 2 stroke oil is preferred.

----

Incidentally over-oiling a 2 stroke (running gas/oil mix beyond recommended) accomplishes nothing except deplete your wallet a bit faster.

It does however result unnecessary exhaust smoke (annoying with chainsaw on a still day!). Also it can cause carbon build-up on the head/exhaust port and plugging of the exhaust spark arrestor. This will reduce performance – especially on lightly loaded engines.

All of thatlus I understand that if you over oil the mix it will run slightly weak/lean because for what ever amount you put through the carb the % of combustible fuel will be less MTF

I was told and read that over oiling will cause build-up in the ring grooves so the rings will stick. Could be wrong I guess but I've always kept that in the back of my mind when pre-mixing per the manufactures ratio.

Good oiling,
Bill

I'll add a note to the "mix" (talking about notes, not oil and gas). I froze up a Stihl chainsaw engine in about a minute after I followed a neighbor's advice and bought some "hardware store" 2-cycle oil. I mixed it 50:1, as the Stihl manual said. If I had mixed it at 25:1, I expect it would have been all right. I don"t know why the Stihl oil works at 50:1, but it does. Maybe it has some synthetic in it? Anyway, I use a gallon of gas all summer in a trimmer, so I figure the little bottle of Stihl oil is a H of a lot cheaper than the $100 it cost me to have my chain saw fixed (if I divide that $100 by the number of years I have used the chain saw since getting it fixed, I figure I can have about 40 summers worth of Stihl 2-cycle oil). As a matter of fact, I always mix just a little heavier on the oil, about 45:1. At the gas station, I pump 0.9 gallons, then pour in the little bottle of oil made for 1 gallon of gas. Did a little arithmetic on that one and came up with the 0.9 gallons to make 45:1. Starts good, doesn't seem to foul plugs, etc. Have used this mix in 2 Stihl chain saws, a Stihl tiller and a Stihl
trimmer, all without problems. My 2-cents worth, for what it's worth. Guess I'm saying that the peace-of-mind of worth the extra price for the oil.

My 1966 Homelite XL 'Blue Saw' likes 32:1, my Stihl blower and brush wacker want 50:1. I have been feeding the Stihl's the XL mix (32:1 with Homelite Oil, I had a case of the stuff) for about ten years. The Stihls are perfectly happy--I have never had to troubleshoot either one. Just change plugs in even years and keep air filters clean, period.

The XL is a little cantankerous, but I think it's the modern Homelite ignition and carb parts that have lost quality like everything else they make. I had a Homelite weedwacker that was a POS from Day 1 and I just ended up dumpstering it. That's why I switched to Stihl. I still love my '66 XL saw--no stinkin'muffler! ROARRRRR!! No stinkin' safety interlocks, either.