# Husquvarna 2 cycle oil vs. Jonsered



## FireNewbie (Mar 12, 2015)

Ok so I had bought some Husquvarna synthetic blend oil the other day at my local Family Farm And Home for $6.33 for the 6.4 oz. bottle.  Today I was at TSC and they had Jonsered same size and synthetic blend for $3.99.  Does anyone know if the quality of the formula is the same or comparable?


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## chance04 (Mar 12, 2015)

Jonsered is owned by Husqvarna. I can't imagine the oils being that much different


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## FireNewbie (Mar 12, 2015)

yeah may be owned by them now but there still could be differences in quality vs. just the name.  I bought a couple of bottles to run.


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## BrotherBart (Mar 12, 2015)

Look on the labels. If they are both spec'ed JASO FD they are the same oil. JASO stands for Japanese Engine Oil Standards Implementation Panel. ISO EGD is the same spec.


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## chance04 (Mar 12, 2015)

BrotherBart said:


> Look on the labels. If they are both spec'ed JASO FD they are the same oil. JASO stands for Japanese Engine Oil Standards Implementation Panel.


Beat me to it. I was googling the standard to look for. [emoji106]


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## FireNewbie (Mar 12, 2015)

not on the labels, anyone look it up yet?


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## FireNewbie (Mar 12, 2015)

I couldn't find the specs for the Jonsered oil anywhere.  I just emailed them for the info...


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## BrotherBart (Mar 12, 2015)

It is on the Jonsered site.

http://www.jonsered.com/int/accessories-parts/lubricants/two-stroke-oils/


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## BrotherBart (Mar 12, 2015)

I just looked at the TSC site and they don't say anything about theirs being a synthetic blend. Just plain old two stroke oil. What I have run in my saws for 40 years. Including the 1991 65cc that has never seen a shop or missed a beat.


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## FireNewbie (Mar 12, 2015)

BB, it's a synthetic blend oil right on the red bottle I'm looking at.  The oil your referencing on the Jonsered site is different.  I'm really surprised the JASO FD rating is not on either bottle of oil.


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## Ashful (Mar 12, 2015)

People find odd things to worry about.

Quoting Bigg Redd, "using the wrong name-brand 2-stroke oil screwed up my chainsaw," said no one... ever.


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## BrotherBart (Mar 12, 2015)

Chem E's in our lube plants used to get a chuckle from some of this stuff. I asked a couple one day if there was any difference between Mobil Super and the stuff we sold branded for K-Mart. "Yeah, their label isn't as pretty as ours.".


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## FireNewbie (Mar 12, 2015)

Joful said:


> People find odd things to worry about.
> 
> Quoting Bigg Redd, "using the wrong name-brand 2-stroke oil screwed up my chainsaw," said no one... ever.


Joful what kind of oil do you like to use?


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## Ashful (Mar 12, 2015)

I buy whatever name-brand oil the store has on their shelf, be it Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, or Jonsered.  My last 6-pack was Stihl, and I have 3 Jonsered's in the shed right now.  I do avoid no-name and store-brand stuff, not that I have any justification for doing so, but I do figure the maker of any upper-end equipment is going to put a decent grade of oil behind their label.  Most of them base their warranty on use of their oil.


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## dougand3 (Mar 12, 2015)

Lucas Syn Blend specs JASO FD. Costs $9 for a quart at most auto parts stores.


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## Bigg_Redd (Mar 13, 2015)

FireNewbie said:


> Does anyone know if the quality of the formula is the same or comparable?



Yes, it is.


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## Bigg_Redd (Mar 13, 2015)

Joful said:


> *I buy whatever name-brand oil the store has on their shelf*, be it Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, or Jonsered.  My last 6-pack was Stihl, and I have 3 Jonsered's in the shed right now.  I do avoid no-name and store-brand stuff, not that I have any justification for doing so, but I do figure the maker of any upper-end equipment is going to put a decent grade of oil behind their label.  Most of them base their warranty on use of their oil.



Agreed, however, I will take this a step further: *I will run anything that says "2 stroke oil" in any language in any air cooled 2 stroke engine.*  In fact, I'd run 30w motor oil in a pinch, or any other motor oil for that matter.  I'm only slightly pickier when it comes to liquid cooled 2 stroke engines.  To date I've had approximately zero oil related engine failures in my life.


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## FireNewbie (Mar 13, 2015)

Jonsered oil at TSC is JASO FD in case anyone is wondering.


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## DougA (Mar 13, 2015)

Yup, I run anything but will still buy a name brand when it comes on sale and it's the same price as generic. If it makes you feel good and you want to spend the extra money, buy whatever tickles your fancy.  
It's far more important how you run your saw and and not use old gas that's been sitting around for a year.


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## gerry100 (Mar 13, 2015)

wouldn't be surprised if all the oil is made in the same place and private labeled


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## English BoB (Mar 13, 2015)

The only oil failure Ive had was when I forgot to shake the gas can at the start of the season. Now it gets shaken every time before filling.
Walmart oil work fine as does their bar oil.

bob


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## BrotherBart (Mar 13, 2015)

Lube snobbery is as funny as it was with gasoline prior to the oil embargo in 1973. Prior to that you folks would not believe the brand loyalty. Virtually everybody had a gas brand that was the only one they would buy and a motor oil that was the only one that wouldn't destroy their engine. Dad had me convinced that anything but Texaco gas and Havoline oil would destroy my 1950 Chevy.

A few weeks of sitting in line to buy five gallons of anything they could get and their engine didn't crater changed that forever. Now everybody looks at that price sign and that is it.

The stuff is lab spec'ed at the refinery or lube plant and is exactly the same thing if it has the same spec. At Mobil we started the detergent thing as an advertising winner. One of our refinery managers said one day "Yep. We have so much detergent in our gas that bubbles are flooding the tank farm.".


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## chance04 (Mar 13, 2015)

Quaker state oil turns into a gelatin type substance, chocking the intake valleys full in late 70s v8s. Cuz my pappy told me so


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## chance04 (Mar 13, 2015)

Kinda glad you Mobil guys have all that detergent to keep the new stuff cleaner


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## CountryBoy19 (Mar 16, 2015)

Bigg_Redd said:


> Agreed, however, I will take this a step further: *I will run anything that says "2 stroke oil" in any language in any air cooled 2 stroke engine.*  In fact, I'd run 30w motor oil in a pinch, or any other motor oil for that matter.  I'm only slightly pickier when it comes to liquid cooled 2 stroke engines.  To date I've had approximately zero oil related engine failures in my life.


 I will caution you with an anecdotal story to point out how bad of an idea this may be.

In college I worked a fuel & oils research project funded by a private label, small oil company here in the Midwest. Some of our findings in the research were presented at the ASME Fuels & Oils conference in Beijing (just to put in perspective that this research wasn't a joke, it was legit research). One of the first products we tested was the funding company's private label 2-stroke oil. It passed all of the standardized testing and it looked like an excellent oil. Problem was, it killed every test engine we used within about 50 operating hours. Scored pistons, stuck rings, heavy deposits of "gunk", fouled up fuel & exhaust systems. It was a total mess. How could an oil that passed all of the lubricity, viscosity, etc testing do so poorly in an engine? When you try to make a product that just isn't cut out for a task into something it's not, just to get a slice of the profits in that market sector anything can happen. So what was the vendor to do? Scrap all the money they had invested in developing this oil before it even hit the market? Nah, they're not giving up that easy. Their solution to the problem was: wait for it, "we're going to buy some cheap synthetic 2-stroke oil in bulk and blend it at about 1:3 (1 part synthetic, 3 parts their oil) and hope that is enough to keep the deposits from forming". They never had us re-test their blended oil; I think they were afraid of the results. They went ahead and marketed the oil anyways. I am not sure what brand/label they marketed it under so I can't even say what to watch out for. Because it passed all the tests they can legally label the bottle as such, yet the oil within is an engine killer.

The point of all this: after working that project and knowing that oil (and likely numerous others) was out there under some private label that I had no way of knowing was good or not, I resolved that as cheap as 2-stroke oil is, I will NEVER risk my engines on oil that isn't from a reputable manufacturer.

To each his own, but I spend less than $10/year on enough Stihl 2-stroke oil to keep me full on firewood and run my leaf-blower & string trimmer all year long. $1000+ of 2-stroke equipment vs. $2-3/yr in savings on oil? Not even worth the risk IMHO.


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## Corey (Mar 16, 2015)

If you think lube oil snobbery is funny, you should see what happens when it comes to fuel!

The only oil trouble I've had over the years was when I decided to get rid of some Pennzoil synthetic marine 2-stroke mix in my old craftsman chainsaw.  About 15 minutes into the first use, the saw started loosing power and eventually came to a halt....piston and cylinder were terribly scored.  I guess the marine oil which is designed for liquid / lake water cooled engines just couldn't handle the hot  / air cooled saw.

I usually just grab a few bottles of Husky 2-stroke oil and most everything in the air cooled / land locked fleet, Pennzoil marine for the floating fleet, and Klotz Super Techniplate for the E85 powered motorized bike ... mainly because the alcohol/castor oil smell takes me back to the RC cars/planes of my youth!


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## Bigg_Redd (Mar 16, 2015)

Corey said:


> I guess the marine oil which is designed for liquid / lake water cooled engines just couldn't handle the hot / air cooled saw.



This is simply not the case.  You are 180 degrees out of your reckoning.  Marine 2 stokes run at much closer tolerances than air cooled 2 strokes and make much higher demands on oil.


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## Oldman47 (Mar 16, 2015)

Bigg_Redd said:


> This is simply not the case.  You are 180 degrees out of your reckoning.  Marine 2 stokes run at much closer tolerances than air cooled 2 strokes and make much higher demands on oil.


Yep. That is why all of the chainsaw manuals tell you not to use marine type oil. To use specific air cooled rated oil only.


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## Jags (Mar 16, 2015)

Bigg_Redd said:


> This is simply not the case.  You are 180 degrees out of your reckoning.  Marine 2 stokes run at much closer tolerances than air cooled 2 strokes and make much higher demands on oil.


So if marine oil is superior in its lubricity why would it damage an air cooled engine? I could understand going the other way (air cooled being used in a water cooled), but it doesn't make sense for the superior oil to be a problem....unless there was another issue.

I have always been told by my local outboard mech, that the oil designed for water cooled engine can't handle the heat of an air cooled engine.  It simply burns up without yielding the lube needed.

Google says there is a difference in heavy oil and additives between air cooled and water cooled.  Something about the ash of air cooled being wanted/needed, but not acceptable for boat motors.  I read it on the internet, so......


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## Ashful (Mar 16, 2015)

The way I look at it, I can pick up Stihl, Husqvarna, Echo, or Jonsered 2-stroke oil, designed specifically for my chainsaws, at a dozen places between my house and my work.  It's so cheap, I don't think I've ever even checked the price tag.  Why bother debating other options?


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## Jags (Mar 16, 2015)

Joful said:


> Why bother debating other options?


Completely understand and agree. 

I think the debate is that there is no difference between the two type when there clearly is and that they are not necessarily interchangeable (although there are oils rated for both but they are a bit pricey).


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## Bigg_Redd (Mar 17, 2015)

I'm not saying there's no difference, I'm saying air cooled 2 strokes are not that picky about premix oil.


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## JRHAWK9 (Mar 17, 2015)

I use Bel-Ray H1R @32:1 in all my 2 cycle engines.  I've seen first hand how clean it burns as well as the nice film of oil it leaves the metals surfaces......at least compared to Husky XP oil @ 50:1.  Husky oil had less of a film and left more deposits at 50:1 than H1R at 32:1.


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## Bigg_Redd (Mar 17, 2015)

JRHAWK9 said:


> I use Bel-Ray H1R @32:1 in all my 2 cycle engines.



But Bel-Ray H1R doesn't have a picture of a chainsaw on the bottle!

(I'm currently using Amsoil somethingoranother @40:1)


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## dougand3 (Mar 17, 2015)

I was in HD tonite and looked at 2 cycle oils - Homelite, Power Care, Echo brands - they all said "synthetic blend with fuel stabilizer - meets or exceeds JASO FD".


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## 2PistolPacker (Mar 17, 2015)

dougand3 said:


> I was in HD tonite and looked at 2 cycle oils - Homelite, Power Care, Echo brands - they all said "synthetic blend with fuel stabilizer - meets or exceeds JASO FD".


I bought the Homelite 2 cycle oil last weekend at HD, synthetic and JASO FD is all I needed to see.


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## Grateful11 (Mar 17, 2015)

The largest outdoor equipment dealer around here sells Echo, Husqvarna, Shindaiwa and Dolmar in their 2 cycle line. They service any brand. We had some trouble with our Dolmar MS-22C trimmer last Spring, took it in and one of his less knowledgable mechanics wanted to replace the carb. The owner of the business got ahold of and it and cleaned out carb and replaced all the fuel lines, saved me some serious cash. He asked me what mix I was using and said Stihl full synthetic that a friend gave me several bottles. He claims they've seen more problems with Stihl's Synthetic mix than any other lately. He recommends Shindaiwa Red Armor mix and 93 octane ethanol free gas. He said he's had zero complaints with this combination. We have several stations that sell 93 ethanol free gas so that's no a problem around here.

http://www.redarmoroil.com/Shindaiwa.aspx

BTW: He also said don't get rid of that Dolmar trimmer, it's one the lightest ever made and is commercial rated but can't be sold here anymore because it won't meet the emissions standards.


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## JustWood (Mar 18, 2015)

Bigg_Redd said:


> I'm not saying there's no difference, I'm saying air cooled 2 strokes are not that picky about premix oil.


Bought a couple cases of vintage 2 cycle oil at an auction for a song years ago. It was a mix match of 16 oz bottles.There were a half dozen marine oil bottles and it was one of the first bottles I grabbed to use for mix. I ran 5 gallons of mix through 2 saws with no adverse ill effects or performance issues. Read up by coincidence at the time about running it and decided against running the other bottles. Since I got it for next to nothing it gets mixed in the 4 stroke gas and diesel.
Used to get Shindaiwa oil. Cant get it anymore. When I run out of auction oil I'll run Supertech.


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## Ashful (Mar 18, 2015)

New pro chainsaw = $700 - $1500
Quality 2-stroke oil = less than $2 per gallon of mix

I just don't understand the logic in running anything but fresh new bottles of manufacturer-recommended oil.  Why on earth would you buy a bunch of old marine oil at an auction, to run in very expensive saws, when 2-stroke oil is so inexpensive?


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## JustWood (Mar 18, 2015)

Joful said:


> New pro chainsaw = $700 - $1500
> Quality 2-stroke oil = less than $2 per gallon of mix
> 
> I just don't understand the logic in running anything but fresh new bottles of manufacturer-recommended oil.  Why on earth would you buy a bunch of old marine oil at an auction, to run in very expensive saws, when 2-stroke oil is so inexpensive?


All the bottles were sealed. Valvoline.
Oil doesn't go bad.
I quit using the marine and it goes in the mower, trash pump ,welder,generator, and everything else 4-stroke. The reg 2 cycle out of those cases works fine. Been through a handful of quarts.
I'd be more concerned about ethanol gas. I have run a couple tanks and it runs like chit.


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## Ashful (Mar 18, 2015)

OT... but what's a trash pump??


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## BrotherBart (Mar 18, 2015)

Joful said:


> OT... but what's a trash pump??



A pump that can pump solids as well as liquid. Formal name, trash pump. 

http://www.harborfreight.com/65-hp-212cc-3-in-gas-engine-full-trash-pump-264-gpm-69746.html


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## Ashful (Mar 18, 2015)

Glad I have no need for one of those!


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## NCFord (Mar 23, 2015)

Ok, to change the debate a little, has anyone seen the new amsoil 2 cycle oil for small engines?  They claim to have a 2 cycle oil that you mix 100:1 that you use in place of
50:1.  I have no dought it will work but I am scared to try it.  Again what is the point if the regular stuff works and is cheap.  I do use amsoil oil and by-fliter in my diesel truck and think they do have a good product but not sure about the 100:1 2 cycle mix.


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## Oldman47 (Mar 24, 2015)

Amsoil seems to live everywhere and make lots of claims but do they stand behind it? I also live on motorcycle forums where they often claim double the oil change intervals on a bike. What do they offer in terms of warranties? Will they buy you a new chainsaw if the 100:1 doesn't work out for you or will they just give you another quart of oil to replace the one that failed?


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## Bigg_Redd (Mar 24, 2015)

The 100:1 (that's what it's called) is just one of Amsoil's premix oils and it's not new, it's been around for decades.  I've never used it but I've used their Dominator oil off and on for 10+ years and it's never caused a problem for me. 

Again: oil-related engine failures are exceptionally rare regardless of type or brand or ratio used.


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## Ashful (Mar 24, 2015)

Bigg_Redd said:


> Again: oil-related engine failures are exceptionally rare regardless of type or brand or ratio used.


Actually, I see quite a few oil-related engine failures on this forum and elsewhere.  Specifically, failure to include oil... otherwise known as 'straight gassing'.


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## DougA (Mar 24, 2015)

I use premium gas in all our 2 strokes. I do know that ethanol blends are not the best for them but there is no other choice in our area, they are all blends now.


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## Ashful (Mar 24, 2015)

DougA said:


> I use premium gas in all our 2 strokes. I do know that ethanol blends are not the best for them but there is no other choice in our area, they are all blends now.


Ditto.  Worst trouble I've had is having to dump some fresh gas in on top of the old stuff, when starting a machine at the beginning of its season.


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## Wildo (Mar 29, 2015)

AMSOIL in EVERYTHING!!   I used to run AMSOIL interceptor in all my stuff until the lack of dye helped me straight gas a Jonsered (wrong can).  Now I run AMSOIL Saber since it has dye.

Check out their website and their youtube testing videos.


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