A new chainsaw

[kickstand]

On the subject of chainsaws, does anyone use the premixed fuel? I bought a gallon because my local gas stations quit carrying ethanol free fuel. Damned expensive, and it may be my imagination, but it seems not to have the same power as gasoline. I will buy a gallon or two for emergency use and keep it on the shelf as it has a long shelf life if unopened, but certainly not for regular use after this is gone.

I can now answer this, and in my typical style, I'm going to over-explain it.

Up until yesterday, I had been buying the Stihl MotoMix premixed at 50:1. I really hated paying $30 a gallon, but wanted to avoid starting issues due to ethanol, and there were no stations anywhere near that had Ethanol Free fuel. I never did any other brand of premix.

I recently found out that there is now one station that carries Ethanol Free fuel. It's only available in the 91 Octane Premium fuel, currently at $3 (well, $2.999) per gallon. At first I grumbled a bit about it being only available in the most expensive rating, but then realized that it was still 1/10th the cost of the premix, so to fill my five gallon fuel can was $15. To get the same amount of premix would have been $150. This 5 gallon jug will also be used in my lawn tractor and generator, so I won't be adding 2-stroke oil to it. I did add Stabil to it.

I then added a bottle of 2-stroke oil (3.2 oz, making it 40:1) to my one gallon fuel jug and filled it from the five gallon jug. A good shake, and I filled my chainsaw. I will say that there was still some 50:1 premix in the tank.

The first thing that I noticed was starting effort. All of this is happening first thing in the morning, so the saw was cold. Normally with premix, it would take 6 to 8 pulls of the cord before it would burp, and then another 2 to 4 pulls to get it running. Today it burped on the 2nd pull, and started on the third pull. This may have been a coincidence.

With the premix, as I have stated before, this little 32cc saw was a bit underpowered. I had to be pretty careful when cutting branches, because it was fairly easy for a 2 to 3 inch diameter branch to pinch the chain, and it often wouldn't have the power to cut it's way out. If I allowed it to get pinched, I'd often have to use a pole or something to prop up the limb in order to remove the saw. Getting an extra bar is on my "to-do" list, so I can unbolt a pinched bar, install the new bar and chain, and be able to cut the pinched one out. With all of that said, I was out trimming a tree this morning, and I cut a bit deeper than I planned to into a 4-5 inch branch, which caused a pinch. The difference is, with me-mix, it now had the power to cut through the pinch without a problem, and kept on going.

It's actually powerful enough that would even say that it's not noticeably underpowered anymore.

TL/DR: Small saw has noticably more power when using 40:1 fuel mixture that I mixed, vs using 50:1 premix.

[0utlaw]

Old racing saying... "Rich kills power, lean kills parts"

[airdrop]

Crown white gas for camp stoves , no additives , then add boat rated 2 stroke oil , or buy airplane gas 100 octane 5 year shelf life then add oil .

[olfart]

Crown white gas for camp stoves , no additives , then add boat rated 2 stroke oil , or buy airplane gas 100 octane 5 year shelf life then add oil .

Uh, I wouldn't recommend boat rated 2 stroke oil for an air cooled engine. Different stuff that requires water to cool the engine properly. It may damage an air cooled engine.

[RD]

I only run no ethanol 91 octane fuel in my mower and all my mix machines.


RD

[redman2006]

my other 2 stroke oil shows all types of motors on it including chainsaw and outboard boat. Is it really different?

[olfart]

If it's made for an air cooled engine, it will be fine in a water cooled engine. Other way around may not work so well, or so I've read.

[airdrop]

outboard oil has preservative in it to keep gas from going stale so it will not gum up engines over the winter , TC-W3 package .