Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Hey guys.
I need some help in learning what dye they use in the different brands of 2-cycle oils.
I ask because I have been running into a light yellow mix...and customers never seem too know what brand it is when I ask them about it.
I am familiar with most...Stihl-green, Toro-blue, etc. Opti-?.
I know the look of plain old 30w. Straight gas old and new is pretty easy too spot.
Most of the customers tell me that they bought it at the box, or some discount auto stores, or even drug stores, but they never what brand it was. Thanks.

  EMMO,

              Look's like an Ariens to me!! 

                                                      Fred 

With the skinny skid shoes and spring on the chute, it not an Ariens.  More like a Murray, nothing wrong with them. 

Hey lint.....Laura does the same thing at our house!
I find that it makes 'em all slickery!

Good too hear from you Mr. President! I understand that you named them Barney and Spot! ....Alright....You have a good day now Mr. President!

You guys may be on too something....It looks like peace.....it smells like peace........I wonder if I should taste it too see if it really is peace!

Does anyone use Opti? We sell the stuff but I never used it for the shop. It looks kinda green in the little bag....but I dont know what it looks like when its diluted.

Some folks tell me they put in what came in the box when they bought thier Toro from the Big Orange Box. I know that all the units we get have a bottle of Toro oil included. (Blue.)
You dont think that these good people could be yankin old 'lint....now do ya?
They swear up and down that they been mixing according too the instructions.
I want too give them the benefit of the doubt....(Sometimes it does feel kinda slippery....like it could have oil in it.....but kerosene feels like that too)

Seriously......If there is a mix on the market that doesnt contain a strong die......I want too know about it. I am just seeing too much of it this year to discount the possiblilty. I cant seem too get it thru my thick head why anyone would produce it.....but...stranger things have been known too happen.    Thanks.

They're putting anti-freeze in it. 

Seroiusly, Lint I have never seen gas that color after mixing, ever. Doesn't mean it can't be, but man, I've never seen it.

I have seen 5 common mix colors. Black, Green,, Blue Orange, Yellow, Red

Oh and I forgot to say, it does not matter what color it is, it matters about the quality of the oil!

Terminator20 wrote:
Termy, that was you paint by numbers game.  

LINT. My Big Orange box 3650 came with one bottle of the 2.6 oz blue. HD also carries the 5.2 oz's and they too are blue. TERMY, If you commonly see yellow mix-please tell Lint what kind it is! That's what he is trying to figure out!!! Walt

I found a post on another board which claims that synthetic Mobil MX2T does not contain a dye at all. I've never used it so I can't say of my own knowledge. If true, and a yellow-colored fuel was mixed with it, a yellow-colored premix would be the result.

AZ

Thanks Walt....Thats what I had imagined would come in a Toro box. I cant imagine Toro shipping special crates too the box...just so they could put a different bottle of oil in them. But people still insist that the "yellow" stuff came with thier units.

As life goes.....I happened too have a HD customer with a new Murray come in too ask if his unit "sounded funny". (It was fine....his neighbor just got him worked up about it...some nonsense about Tecumseh engines blowing up prematurely.)
We have a turkey baster under the front counter, and I have the write-up people draw a sample of the fuel out of the tank in front of the customer. (It helps save the 30 dollar check out fee if fuel mixture questions come up in a disputed warrenty claim.)
My young assistant...(being the bright young lad that he is)....recognized the yellow mix immediately and came back and got me. I explained too the customer what  I had been seeing and he told me that he had the same question pop into his head when he put the oil in the mix. He also was used too seeing colored mixes in his other equiptment. I asked him if he still had the bottle of mix at home...which he did....found it in the garbage can...and he called me back and said that bottle was labeled "Murray...5.2 oz.....Made in China."

Perhaps the Chinese oil doesnt contain a dye? That helps explain part of the question...but it doesnt explain why this oil would show up in a toro crate...and like you said, Walt....yours was the normal blue color. (Big Box wouldnt switch the stuff and put the more expensive Toro oil on the shelf for retail....Would they? (Just a paranoid thought)
Thanks for all your help guys....I appreciate your help in clearing up this little mystery.

Lint, Perhaps their unit was "on the floor" when they bought it and "Brand new", but already assembled...I know that the manuals that get hung on the floor units have starter cables laying around, OIL BOTTLES kicked under the blower next to it, etc., missing manuals from disrespectful customers. Hence, Homer may have replaced the oil with stabilizer in it with one from their general inventory because it had fallen out of the bag. My box for my 3650 was still "stapled" so I know it was most likely what was shipped from Toro. Best regards, Walt