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Using the right oil can make a big difference in the long-term performance of your outdoor power equipment. In this FAQ, Toley McGettigan, Horizon's National Sales Manager for Power Equipment, shares 3 tips to help you get the best oil for your 2 cycle landscape equipment.
The Best 2 Cycle Oil For Outdoor Power Equipment - Video Transcript
In this video, we're going to talk about oil and which is the best oil for your outdoor power equipment.
Tip #1 - Use D Rated 2 Cycle Oil.
It's important that you use what's called a D rated 2 cycle oil. There are two different organizations. The Japanese Standards Organization (JASO) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) that rate oil.
On the bottle itself, you'll find a rating that tells you exactly what kind of oil it is. D is currently the best oil you can get. So make sure you're using a D rated oil when you're doing your mixture.
Tip #2 - Mix Your Fuel and Oil at a Ratio of 50:1.
Also on the label, you're going to find a ratio of 50:1 for commercial handheld landscape equipment. You want to make sure that you follow that ratio. You're going to take the bottle for the right size. This happens to be a 12.8 ounce bottle, which mixes to 5 gallons. So I would take 5 gallons of fuel in the proper no spill container and I would take the 12.8 ounce bottle and put it in with the five gallons of fuel and mix it up.
Very important that you get the ratio of 50:1 correct. If you undermix it and you don't have enough oil in there, you could potentially have a lean seizure with your engine, which would cost you a lot of money. Or if you overmix it, you get a lot of gummy deposits left in your engine that can affect the performance of your handheld product.
Tip #3 - Use an Oil with Cleaning Properties Every 5-7 Tanks.
Now we can take a look at our TurfGro oil and there's a Shindaiwa or Echo Red Armor Oil. They're both D rated oil. The difference is this Shindaiwa oil actually has some cleaners that are in the oil as well. So it's actually cleaning your engine while you use it.
Now you don't need to use this all the time. This is something that you would want to would want to run through a tank maybe every 5-7 tanks. You would want to have this in there. It's quite a bit more expensive than the standard oil. So you can use it all the time, but you're going to end up paying more money in the long run to do so.
So be sure you're always using a D rated oil and every now and then, mix in an oil that has a little more of the cleaning properties like the Shindaiwa Red Armor or Echo Red Armor Oil and you'll get a better result.