Two-Stroke Oil Mix Ratios Made Easy

Publisher's Note: Welcome to our fourteenth edition of Tech Tips Tuesday on "Two-Stroke Oil Mix Ratios Made Easy".  We'll be re-publishing an edition of AMSOIL Tech Tips for you every Tuesday.  Click on the Blog Category "Tuesday Tech Tips" to see everything published to-date.

John Gardner: Len, you know what that is?

Len Groom: That's a string trimmer.

John Gardner: Nope, it's the leading cause of heart attacks for guys my age, man, if they're not running right.

Welcome to this AMSOIL Tech Tip on mix ratios, and that's important because it's confusing. Len, I mean, maybe you can put some light on this. I see all these checks and all these numbers, and a lot of people don't understand what it means. Let's take a look at this. What's 50:1, 32:1, 40:1? What does that even mean?

Len Groom: Well, it's the amount of oil that you're putting in the gasoline. In the case of 50 to 1, it's 50 parts gas to one part oil.

John Gardner: That's pretty cool. And then, I got this chart off your website here. I'm looking at conventional 50 to 1, and then I look down here, down at the Saber 50 to 1, and it looks like I'm using half the oil. Is that true?

Len Groom: Well, that's correct. Saber Professional is built specifically to run at leaner mix ratios. You don't need to do it. It'll work just fine, but we formulated that product with a very, very high concentration of additives to do the job at half the amount of oil.

John Gardner: Now, if we're using half the amount of oil, can I do that in most of my lawn equipment stuff? I mean, there's a lot of benefits to that, I mean, smoke being number one in my neighborhood professionally, however.

Len Groom: That's correct. It reduces smoke, um, it reduces depositing, uh, it reduces all the bad stuff, and we formulated so that all the good stuff, or the protection and the lubrication, is all still there.

John Gardner: So, use your manufacturer specification for the mix ratio, but you can cut it down to the Saber here and do much better.

Now, I found these screens on your website, and these are the exhaust screens. I mean, an engine's a big air pump. You get it in, you have to get it out. I'm seeing they're clogged up here. That cannot be a good thing.

Len Groom: No, and what this was, was a 300-hour test. That screen is in the exhaust stream. Saber Professional ran for 300 hours. We got no deposit, no contamination, no buildup, and that allows that engine to breathe, retains power, keeps everybody happy.

John Gardner: And is it going to start, man? I just don't like pulling those things in the hot Florida sun.

Len Groom: Yes, when an engine can breathe, as you know, it will start. So, it will help your startability.

John Gardner: You got to love that.