# 2 cycle oil recommendation



## G-Mann (Dec 29, 2007)

Seen some 2 cycle oil in quart bottles at Menards the other day for a good price. It was Valvoline Multi pupose 2 cycle oil. Read the label, and it said it was made for small air cooled 2 cycle motors. It also says that it was certified to be used in outboard boat motors, TC-W3 approved. Now I thought that anything approved for outboard motors should absolutely not be used in air cooled small motors. Could someone shed some ideas on this before I use it in my lawnboy and other 2 cycle applications!


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## rotti1968 (Apr 26, 2009)

I also was always taught not to use oil for outboards in small 2 bangers. You want to be using either a full synthetic or part synthetic 2 stroke oil. With today's fuels the petroleum based mix oils do not break down enough and will cause a molasses type of film to build on the internal parts of the engine. This film can and will cause the unit to be hard starting,hard to pull over,poor running,cause the rings to stick and the unit will not run at all. The synthetic oils seem to break down/burn better with the fuels we have today. Also I know with Stihl products we tell or customers to run the highest octane fuel as possible to lessen some of the fuel related issues.


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## 30yearTech (Sep 14, 2006)

You can use outboard 2 cycle oil as long as it's certified for use in "Air Cooled Engines", keep in mind that not all outboards are water cooled. There is no problem with using fossil or non synthetic oil as long as they are rated for the engine you are running them in. 

In some instances you can have real issues if you switch from a fossil to a synthetic or blend mix oil, these oils can clean carbon deposits out of an engine that has been running fossil oil mix and the carbon can and often does cause cylinder and piston damage.


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## Deathrite (May 21, 2009)

since we sell Redmax i feel i should input this:
Redmax has released a notice that not using the recommended oil will void warrenty. the recommended oil is Redmax "max life" synthetic blend premium air-cooled two-stroke engine oil or oil certified to ISO-L-EGD(ISO\CD1378) standard AND one that is JASO-FD registered. 
they go on to say not to use NMMA, BIA, and/or TCW oils. do not use API, TC labeled oils. the API-TC test standard has been discontinued by API in 1995 and no longer exist.

now having said that older engines should be ok with older oils. newer engines would need newer oil. 90% of the problems i see in cheap 2-cycle units is that people have used cheap oil and either burned the unit up or just scored the cylinder.


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