Two stroke fuel

I like to use new 2 stroke fuel at the start of each season which means I have leftover fuel, which is normally E5 plus stabiliser, mixed with marine grade oil at 50:1. Can I use this in lawnmowers, strimmers, chainsaws etc ?

I note Aspen fuel do not recommend using Aspen 2, which is ready mixed, but rather Aspen 4 + marine grade oil for outboards.

I use Motorex fuel stabiliser.

The fuel stays useable.

You will be able to use it in other petrol fuelled engines. 50:1 is not a significant amount of oil.

My lawnmower used to smell of Castrol'R' from the left over 20:1 petroil from a 1934 vintage racing Scott.

I use last seasons untreated 2t mixed petrol .. never have to do much .. if its stale - rarely - I just mix in fresh gasoline .. and that's it.

There's only one place that its not advised to use it : In the gasoline car - the 2T is not kind to the 'cat' .. but TBH - you'd have to use a lot to hurt the 'cat'.

Think about it ...

How many have a can of 2T mix in the locker for their tender O/bd and it can sit there for months ... the O/bd surviving the odd trips on the tankfull you filled ... ??

coveman said:

I like to use new 2 stroke fuel at the start of each season which means I have leftover fuel, which is normally E5 plus stabiliser, mixed with marine grade oil at 50:1. Can I use this in lawnmowers, strimmers, chainsaws etc ?

I note Aspen fuel do not recommend using Aspen 2, which is ready mixed, but rather Aspen 4 + marine grade oil for outboards.

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I used Aspen 2 for my o/b for one season and over the winter it gave up the ghost. Then I read the warning about not using it in marine conditions. I must learn to read the instructions first! My current o/b runs on Aspen 4 plus marine grade 2 Stroke oil, and start first or second pull, even after a winter in storage.

Tomaret said:

I used Aspen 2 for my o/b for one season and over the winter it gave up the ghost. Then I read the warning about not using it in marine conditions. I must learn to read the instructions first! My current o/b runs on Aspen 4 plus marine grade 2 Stroke oil, and start first or second pull, even after a winter in storage.

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In what sense did it "give up the ghost?" 2-stroke oils for air cooled vs. outboards are different, but I'm guessing totally unrelated to the failure over the winter. The failure mode would have to do with seizing in the rings, not failure to start.

Air cooled engines run much hotter, so the formulation is different. Also, TCW-3 outboard oils meet a much more rigorous anti-corrosion test. But I doubt garden tools would no much difference in homeowner use. Using air-cool oil in an outboard might shorten its life.

thinwater said:

In what sense did it "give up the ghost?" 2-stroke oils for air cooled vs. outboards are different, but I'm guessing totally unrelated to the failure over the winter. The failure mode would have to do with seizing in the rings, not failure to start.

Air cooled engines run much hotter, so the formulation is different. Also, TCW-3 outboard oils meet a much more rigorous anti-corrosion test. But I doubt garden tools would no much difference in homeowner use. Using air-cool oil in an outboard might shorten its life.

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ASPEN is Alkylate substitute Gasoline ... marketed to be better than regular gasoline ...

There I shall end my post !!

Refueler said:

ASPEN is Alkylate substitute Gasoline ... marketed to be better than regular gasoline ...

There I shall end my post !!

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$8/quart.

It makes Starbuck's coffee sound smart.

thinwater said:

Air cooled engines run much hotter, so the formulation is different. Also, TCW-3 outboard oils meet a much more rigorous anti-corrosion test. But I doubt garden tools would no much difference in homeowner use. Using air-cool oil in an outboard might shorten its life.

Click to expand...

I once had a chainsaw totally seize up. Turned out it was because I was using normal (motorbike) 2 stroke oil, not the proper chainsaw stuff.
As you say, air cooled 2 strokes than hotter than water cooled, but apparently chainsaws run hotter than any other 2 strokes, or so I was told.

I use the correct stuff now, and not had a problem since.

thinwater said:

$8/quart.

It makes Starbuck's coffee sound smart.

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Yep .... luvly stuff !

I can get thousands of tons of Alkylates .. Reformates ... light and heavy Naphthas .... true A76 ... C5's .. C9's ..... etc.

I Blended Gasoline for years ....

I don't have a use for Aspen. I go to the Gasoline Station down the road and fill up from the usual pump. That station also sells a universal 2T that is fine for both Air and Water cooled engines..... yes you read correct. It is spec'd for both.

Our Flymo from the early 70s runs on E5 and marine 2-stroke oil quite happily. Mind you, it has a pretty small tank and gets refilled regularly.

Juan Twothree said:

I once had a chainsaw totally seize up. Turned out it was because I was using normal (motorbike) 2 stroke oil, not the proper chainsaw stuff.
As you say, air cooled 2 strokes than hotter than water cooled, but apparently chainsaws run hotter than any other 2 strokes, or so I was told.

I use the correct stuff now, and not had a problem since.

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I screwed up a strimmer using outboard 2 stroke oil, but I didn't know that motorbike oil was a problem for chainsaws. My chainsaw retailer and repair man advises to use a bit more than 50 to 1 so I put up with a bit of smoke.

If the marine oil is marked TC-W3 it is specifically certified for water-cooled engines.

Juan Twothree said:

I once had a chainsaw totally seize up. Turned out it was because I was using normal (motorbike) 2 stroke oil, not the proper chainsaw stuff.
As you say, air cooled 2 strokes than hotter than water cooled, but apparently chainsaws run hotter than any other 2 strokes, or so I was told.

I use the correct stuff now, and not had a problem since.

Click to expand...

In my not inconsiderable small engine experience, almost 60 years, I expect your chainsaw failed/siezed for some other reason.

Once, as an impecunious newly married man commuting on a 1955 Vespa from Sutton to Epsom I needed fuel. The only possible garage had no two stroke oil.

I raided the dustbin and recovered the dregs from discarded oil tins-I got a decent splodge, put it in the tank followed by a gallon of regular. Heaven alone knows what the mix ratio was.

That fuel and 'splodge' of normal oil for car engines worked just fine. Another time, twenty shots of 'Redex' sufficed to keep me going. The lid had come off of the two stroke oil container I kept in my haversack. Redex was my only option. Again, the tough little Vespa 150 kept on going. I thrashed it too. You had to if you needed to get anywhere................

What do you think two strokes used before Oil Companies started packaging special two stroke oils?

Jawa recomended SAE 40 AT 20:1. Some old Villiers manuals ditto, but 16:1. Levis and Scott too. Normal engine oil, because there were no special two stroke oils.

Obviously two stroke oils, full of special additives for low ash and low smoke as well as good lube protection for the highly stressed moving parts, are an improvement. They also contain a dye so you can see a colour change of the fuel when mixed.

As a motorcycle mechanic and then a motorbike shop owner, I cant recall how many times we dealt with engine siezures due to no oil in the fuel.......................

thinwater said:

In what sense did it "give up the ghost?" 2-stroke oils for air cooled vs. outboards are different, but I'm guessing totally unrelated to the failure over the winter. The failure mode would have to do with seizing in the rings, not failure to start.

Air cooled engines run much hotter, so the formulation is different. Also, TCW-3 outboard oils meet a much more rigorous anti-corrosion test. But I doubt garden tools would no much difference in homeowner use. Using air-cool oil in an outboard might shorten its life.

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You may be right. All I know is that at the end of the season it was firing first pull, never to fire again. The mechanic said that it had lost all compression. It was an air cooled Honda. I use Aspen because from personal experience given my patterns of use, I find the engines start better with it than petrol. I don’t use enough of it for the high cos5 to be an issue.

If it had lost all compression it was a mechanical failure.

I have known Methanol fuel left in carburetors turn to a corrosive jelly, turning aluminium parts to white powder. I have seen rings jammed into their grooves by this.

Aspen fuel, in the famous 'Startrek' words :-

"It's fuel Jim-but not as we know it!"