Outdoor Power Equipment and Small Engines - Mixing gas and oil, help..........

All my gas is gone for all my outdoor tools. I have a Craftsman Brushwacker for heavy weeds and small trees. A smaller Homelite ST-75 Weedtrimmer,and a Poulan 18" Chain Saw. I use to have different gas cans for all of these. Is there some way I can just mix one can of gas and oil for all three units? I can't remember how much oil to mix with each tool. Can I find a half way point where I can just mix oil and gas in one can, but would beable to use it with all 3 tools? Thanks........

Try to find the manuals for your equipment or look up each piece online to find the correct gas:oil ratio. The gas & oil are what make your tool run so their importance cannot be under-estimated. The tools are designed to run with a certain mix. Use the wrong mix and it may run (or not) but you could shorten it's life or cause other maintenance issues.

Too little oil and the engine may wear out more quickly. Too much oil and engine may have less power or run too cool and gum up with old oil. If you take you tool back for waranty work the first thing they will probably do is check the fuel to make sure you used the proper mix.

When I shop for gas powered tools I try to buy ones that use the same mix. Now, after several years all of my 2-stroke tools use the same mix and I only have one can of gas mix. The most common mix seems to be 50:1.

Manufactures instructions should be followed for initial break in and during warranty period (using other than may void warranty whether the cause or not)

With that said, personally a mix of between 40:1 and 50:1 is what I use in all of my 2 cycle equipment.

You will be safe using a pre-mix in all your equipment that is at least the minimum amount for the equipment that requires the most. If this makes any sense.

In the case of your equipment the Poulan chainsaw most likely requires a ratio of 32:1 (4oz two cycle oil per gallon of gas). This ratio while may have more oil then required for your other equipment, will not harm them. I run all my equipment at this ratio to avoid having multiple fuel containers.

Just check the requirement of each unit and choose the one that requires the richest oil mix (most) and remember that the first number in the ratio refers to the gas (i.e. 32:1 = 32 parts gas to 1 part oil) the higher the first number the less amount of oil that is used in that ratio. So if you had 3 different requirements like say 50:1, 40:1 and 24:1 you would be safe using a 24:1 in all the equipment (for lubrication requirements) the richer mix may over a period of time cause premature spark plug fouling and may require more frequent exhaust maintenance.

There are several oils out there that can be used on all mixes and I have been using them for years in all of my 2 cycle equipment. Tanaka 2 cycle oil and Opti-II are what I use in one can. My wife likes them as she does not smell after using them from any smoke, etc. I have an old two man chainsaw at 25 to 1 ratio that I use these oils in and it does not complain but actually runs the best it has in years. These oils are available in most equipment dealers and you just need to ask, especially the Opti-II. You can get them in one gallon, 2.5 gallon and bulk mixes.

The Opti-II first came in our shop with Pioneer chainsaws. The fist thing we saw was the idle speed increased and had to reset them. Many of the mowing services buy the Opti-II in bulk and use in all blower, trimmers and saws. The package says for all mixes.

I have had customers that swear by the opti oil mix, but early on I had some bad experiences with it, when switching from a fossil oil to the opti product.

It seems that at least for the original opti that it cleaned out the accumulated carbon so good from the engine that sometimes a larger piece would come loose and get trapped in the cylinder porting and would cause damage to the piston and or cylinder.

I have not used the newer opti-II oils so I am unsure if this is still a problem, we never had any issues with new equipment using the opti oils, only when switching and not on all engines. If your engines have very much carbon build up, and you want to use a multi ratio then I think the Tanaka mix might be a better choice.

Ok, I found all my mixture ratios. Weedeater 32.1, Brushwacker 40.1, Chainsaw 40.1 . Would I be safe to say that I could add 1 small bottle of oil (3.2oz) to 1 gallon of gas. Would this run all 3 safely?

As was touched on in previous posts, I'd recommend using a quality synthetic pre-mix-viscosity 2-cycle oil. Along with Opti, which was mentioned previously, I like and recommend, only this as well as AMSOIL. With synthetics, you will mix the fuel/oil at the oil manufacturers recommended ratio, which is typically 50:1, not the engine manufacturers recommendation. Don't let lean mix ratio scare you, these two synthetics are remarkably good oils! Just be sure to purchase the pre-mix viscosity, as opposed to the injected-mix viscosity. You should have no trouble finding these oils at either outdoor power shops or snowmobile/motorcycle shops.

I called the manufacturers to get the ratio, Craftsman and Homelite. They both told me seeing these units are older, stay away from using any kind of synthetic oil in them. Thats why I was asking about the ratio mixure.

Personally, I mix 3oz oil to a gallon of gas seasonally. If I need more, I make up a fresh batch, and if not, I dump the old mix in the car and blend a fresh batch for the next season. Run a weed wacker, chain saw, mini tiller in the summer and a snow blower in the winter.

Mix 4 oz per gallon (32:1) and you can run all your equipment this way.

Thanks for all the info, it was a big help............