Two stroke oil vs engine oil

ElephantBoy57

I have tried to use a mixture of engine oil and petrol(40/1) in a Qualcast strimmer. It started up for a few seconds then went off. This is not uncommon.

I will give it another pull shortly. Having said that, I am thinking that I will need to mix some more solution, using two stroke oil.

Your thoughts please.

Norman_Castle

Use 2 stroke oil, unlike engine oil its designed to burn without fouling the plug.

[Deleted User]

Very difficult mixtures, if it's a 2 stroke engined strimmer use the correct oil!!!

ElephantBoy57

Norman_Castle said:

Use 2 stroke oil, unlike engine oil its designed to burn without fouling the plug.

It did end up starting ok when I turned the choke off. It ran ok for a few minutes and then it struggled to rev up. So I switched off, just in case it would do some damage.

Alter_ego

Baby oil is good

xxxxxxxx

I would only ever use the correct 2 stroke oil.  Sorry but that is my advice. I have never heard of using engine oil whether old or new.  I wouldn't want to risk damage to my engine.  Your question has got me intrigued though, and I will ask a youtuber who repairs small engines what he thinks, but I think he will say don't do it.

 You can get 2 stroke oils for motorcycles or lawnmowers it's all the same stuff. But I have seen some differences in ratios, some engines say to use 25:1 others like Stihl say 50:1  I don't know why, maybe it is more to do with the engine than the oil.   

ElephantBoy57

xxxxxxxx said:

I would only ever use the correct 2 stroke oil.  Sorry but that is my advice.  you can get it for motorcycles or lawnmowers it's all the same stuff. But I have seen some differences in ratios, some oils say to use 25:1 others like Stihl say 50:1  I don't know why. 

I would assume a better quality engine would need less oil. I had to Google to find this strimmer is 40/1

Not always easy to see the petrol/oil level to get it right.

xxxxxxxx

I premix mine in a jam jar.  I do a tankfull at a time, my Stihl tanks are all 250ml.  I use a clean jar and pour 250ml of water in. Then I use this method to find the best jar, some jars for example will have a pattern in the glass that ends just where the 250ml mark is,  It just makes it easier to measure out if you know that you fill to that line on the jar.    Then I use a  5ml or 10ml syringe for the oil, (obtain them from a chemist for pennies one will last years) . 

ElephantBoy57

Mickey666 said:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/2-stroke-mixer-bottle/

Fill To the 1 litre mark with petrol then top up to the required ratio marker with 2-stroke oil. 

I bought some two-stroke oil from B+Q today, they sell mixing bottles for around £5, but they are made from almost opaque plastic and then you pour in almost clear petrol. At least they make the two-stroke oil dark.

Davesnave

Just buy a 4 stroke, like my Honda, and never need to muck about with petrol/oil mixing again!

Or if you are only strimming, not brush-cutting, consider going battery powered.

Ganga

Worked with 2 stroke engines since i was in my 20s ,i am 70 now and the oil that we used for mixing was engine oil ,mix it correctly and no problems. the biggest problem people have apart from running on neat petrol and seizing the engine is putting too much oil in the mix and oiling up the spark plug.
Bear in mind 40 to 1 mix means 40 parts petrol to 1 part oil and people think they better put a bit more oil in to lubricate the engine then it goes wrong. as Davesnave said buy an electric one and save the hassle