# 50:1 vs 40:1



## kevin j (Aug 18, 2009)

Amsoil saber pro at 50:1 for everything…blower, saws, mower, trimmer and snowblower



me too. Add motorcycles, 60:1 and 80:1 though. One syn oil for all mixes.

FWIW, TCW is for water cooled stuff, cooler running and different additive packages. more for sludge issues than high temp high wear.


----------



## Skier76 (Oct 7, 2009)

I could have sworn I read here that Stihl over in Europe recomends in the owner's manual to run a 40:1 ratio.  Anyone here run 40:1? I'm thinking of going that route in my Echo blower. It's 2.6oz to on gallon for a 50:1 vs 3.2oz per gallon for a 40:1. With a two stroke, I'd rather run a richer mix vs. lean.


----------



## smokinj (Oct 8, 2009)

i dont think its going to do anything either way


----------



## Danno77 (Oct 8, 2009)

I use 40:1 on my stihl. Although, now that I read the actual manual it says that if it's not Stihl brand oil then it says it should be 25:1 mix. I don't use stihl oil, have I been doing it wrong all along?


----------



## Gooserider (Oct 8, 2009)

This is a "religious debate" topic...  You will get a lot of loud and voiciferous opinionating, with not a lot of hard evidence to back it up, though you will get a lot of antecdotes on either side...  Essentially it is a question of whether the person is a member of the "Church of Mosquito Foggers" or the "Church of Follow Manufacturer Instructions"  %-P There are other churches as well, but most are offshoot sects of these two.

My personal religious doctrine statement...

Article of Faith #1. Modern oils are good enough that 50:1 is quite sufficient to provide adequate lubrication, even on older engines that call for higher ratios, IF one uses the proper alphabet soup grade of oil - (I forget the exact spec offhand)  

Article of Faith #2. Oils that are sold under the various reputable saw maker labels (i.e. Stihl, Husky, Dolmar, Echo, but not Pull-on or Homelite) meet the above specs and are acceptable - possibly ditto for some of the dino-drippings refiners, but check the label.  Synthetics are preferable, but Dino is OK.  Of the brands I've got available to me at the local hardware store, I like Echo oil, but I'm not fanatical about it, however I won't purchase the Store brand oil.

Article of Faith #3.  Some saw makers (Dolmar told me, and we had a previous post saying Stihl also does so) will tell you to use their house brand oil at 50:1 and all other oils at 25:1 - There are two reasons for this - #1 is to try and get you to buy their oil...  #2 is that if you aren't burning their stuff, they don't know what you are using, and want to make sure that if you are using some sort of cheap crap that you will still have enough lube not to burn up the saw...  If one sticks with the oils suggested by Article of Faith #2, then you are using good quality of oil, and can ignore the 25:1 suggestion, and run 50:1 per the dictates of Article of Faith #1...

Being as how I believe in freedom of religion, you are perfectly free to practice whatever beliefs you wish, but these are mine for whatever that is worth...

Gooserider


----------



## Bigg_Redd (Oct 8, 2009)

Skier76 said:
			
		

> I could have sworn I read here that Stihl over in Europe recomends in the owner's manual to run a 40:1 ratio.  *Anyone here run 40:1?* I'm thinking of going that route in my Echo blower. It's 2.6oz to on gallon for a 50:1 vs 3.2oz per gallon for a 40:1. With a two stroke, I'd rather run a richer mix vs. lean.




I do.  In everything - lawn mower, pressure washer, weed eater, etc.  Makes life simple.  

FWIW - 50:1 is fine too.


----------



## Bigg_Redd (Oct 8, 2009)

Engineering pre-mix oil for chain saws doesn't present much of a problem.  They are usually run at idle or WFO.  They are jetted as lean as they will run from the factory.  And the rate at which they are cooled via the cooling fins doesn't vary.  And they self richen as the air filter starts clogging and cutting off air.  Any JASO rated oil is more than sufficient as well as any TCW-3 rated oil.


----------



## LLigetfa (Oct 8, 2009)

Bigg_Redd said:
			
		

> Skier76 said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


+1


----------



## clutch25 (Oct 8, 2009)

I run Amsoil saber pro at 50:1 for everything...blower, saws, mower, trimmer and snowblower...


----------



## jdinspector (Oct 8, 2009)

It's a metric thing. You know 40:1 in liters is really 50:1 in gallons or quarts. ;-P


----------



## fossil (Oct 8, 2009)

I used to have a guide on a clipboard in my shop that showed the mix for everything I ran.  Some things called for 40:1, some for 50:1, some for somethingelse:1.  I had little red plastic gas cans all labeled with what mix was in them and what they were for...chain saw, Echo blower, Ryobi multi-tool, WeedEater hedge trimmer.  What a pain.  No more.  I mix "about" 40-50:1 and use it in every 2-cycle I have.  I mean, how precise was my mixing before?  Not very.  I've had no troubles since I let go of all that.  Rick


----------



## Skier76 (Oct 8, 2009)

Thanks guys. My bottle of Echo synthetic oil has markings for 2.6 and 3.2 oz. I'm running 40:1 this time around. We'll see how it goes. The blower will get some use in the next few weeks with all the leaves coming down.


----------



## NoPaint (Oct 9, 2009)

I too run 50:1 in everything regardless of what it calls for.  I have 2cycles I use regularly that have been running on the original carb, cylinder, and rings (everything original but some plugs) sine 1995.  

I am about to switch to the Amsoil you can run at 100:1


----------

