I have been researching this lately. All sorts of info out there. This is from Toro's website: "The recommended oil for all Toro 2-Cycle snowthrowers is Toro 2-Cycle oil. Acceptable substitutes are: NMMA TCW III or ISO E GD." There seems to be a LOT of great oils. I ran across Royal Purple 2 stroke oil, it's nice but pricey!! I still think the Toro brand is best at least for the initial break in. It may snow tonight! But too warm for it to stick.
Don't get too hung up on which oils to use. I'd be more concerned about the fuel having more detrimental effect on the engines.
True, the alky in the gas has got to go. I did see a pre mixed can of fuel, no alky, but its $5.99 a quart. Should I use a higher grade of gas? The manual states a minimum of 87 octane.
Just get fresh gas as you need them. Mix oil in small quantities, and let the car burn up the old gas instead. If you want to use synthetic 2 cycle oil, that may cut down on fumes and smoke.
I live in Canada and use nothing but Canadian Tire Motomaster brand two cycle oil. It's made by Imperial Oil (Exxon) and, in my opinion, is probably one of the best conventional two cycle oils. It is certainly a very good value. I usually buy it by the gallon which makes even more economical.
You really don't want to use a TCW-3 oil in air cooled engines. That's formulated for liquid cooled (primarily outboard) engines. TC3 is designed for hotter running air cooled two stroke engines. You don't need to spend big bucks on two cycle oil. Any decent quality two cycle oil will be more than sufficient to protect your engine providing you use the engine manufacturers mixing ratio. Despite what many claim, mixing the oil too thin will reduce power and engine life.
I live in Canada and use nothing but Canadian Tire Motomaster brand two cycle oil. It's made by Imperial Oil (Exxon) and, in my opinion, is probably one of the best conventional two cycle oils. It is certainly a very good value. I usually buy it by the gallon which makes even more economical.
You really don't want to use a TCW-3 oil in air cooled engines. That's formulated for liquid cooled (primarily outboard) engines. TC3 is designed for hotter running air cooled two stroke engines. You don't need to spend big bucks on two cycle oil. Any decent quality two cycle oil will be more than sufficient to protect your engine providing you use the engine manufacturers mixing ratio. Despite what many claim, mixing the oil too thin will reduce power and engine life.
Now that makes sense. I looked at Opti 2 but at 100:1 is a little scary. I looked at Echo's oil and it looks like a decent brand. I have half a can 2 cycle gas but can't remember how I mixed it. Pretty sure it was 50:1 but not 100%. So I am using it up fast so I can mix a fresh batch and test fire the thing.
Amsoil also has a competitive product. I'm sticking with the Opti-2 for now because I like the small pre-measured tubes and it also has a fuel stabilizer in the mix. If you are mixing the two stroke from a gan of gas that you already have (stablized) that may not make a difference. Either way, fuel stabilizer is good insurance for a snowblower. I know that last year we did not get much snow so the equipment sat idle most of the season.
This message was modified Nov 18, 2010 by Underdog
