I’ll just stick with running Amsoil Saber mixed at 40:1 in 90 octane ethanol free gas. The local Husqvarna dealer sells Saber for $18/qt. I don’t care about saving a few pennies by running a leaner mix, I just want all of my 2 strokes protected.
I just put a new piston in my “low hour” 12mm 044, I bought it from an older gentleman that only used Stihl oil. Saws in great shape but a chunk of carbon broke off the exhaust port and got sucked it, it didn’t do a ton of damage but after your videos and my experience I’ve switched to Sabre 50:1 this year, luckily I have an independent dealer that lives about 5 miles from me, ALL of my stihl equipment (with much use) has had carbon issues. Hopefully Sabre is the answer. Thanks for the great info Richard
You should have t-shirts made with a logger cutting a 28" tree with a 32" bar about 1/3rd into it with chips flying everywhere that just says, " Full Tilt Boogie". Ide buy a shirt like that
All my saws (Stihls) are running just fine on HP2. Where are you getting it? I order mine from Rocky Mountain ATVMC. 10.99 a pint. Still relatively inexpensive but I’m open for using other online store.
Wow good video Glad the cylinder cleaned up on the ms 400. I guess I will not be using 100-1 oil mix. That VP 40-1 oil I run excellent no carbon buildup and no piston wear after 5 tanks.
I’d never run ANY oil at 100:1! 40:1 at the least but I prefer 32:1. 32:1 is what I run in my 371XT AND 365XT and everything else that I run. I run them hard and I don’t even have a compressor to blow them out BUT I do knock as much off/out as I can.
Nice informative video Rich. Looks like everything went as planned with that magnesium piston. Lighter softer metal to save the cylinder as designed by Stihl. Sorry to see the damage, but thanks for taking one for the team. Looking forward to the 2nd part.
As much as I LOVE Saber I don't even trust it at 100:1. So I sure as heck wouldn't trust this Opti-2 stuff at 100:1 especially in a $1,200 saw. Sadly finding Saber in my area is like looking for hens teeth. The one dealer I bought my original bottle from a few years ago no longer sells it. But I did find a dealer who sells it in the next state over. Luckily it's no further a drive then when we go grocery shopping locally. Everything around here is so spread out so 30 minutes to an hour is standard travel time. For now I have a couple bottles of VP-Racing oil, two other bottles of AMSOIL and some ECHO Gold Blend to use up. :)
I just use Motul 800 offroad. You wouldn't believe that both my saws have 1500 and 1800 runtime hours (value taken from stihl MDG a few months back, I might be a bit off as I didn't note it down) if you pull down the cylinder on them. Not one score mark, just a bit of skirt wear by getting a bit shinny). What more could I ask? The one with 1800h is a stihl 881 sitting 95% of its time on the mill. Mix is 25:1 for the mill, 33:1 for everything else. Regular 10% ethanol pump gas, storage for more than 2 weeks always with Aspen gas and Motul oil in the tank.
@@em4703 Motul isn't sold around here. Actually, a lot of European oils aren't sold around here either. Unless you're buying it from a parts store specializing in European vehicles. So either way I'm in the same situation that I'm already in with AMSOIL Saber. But now it's just a different brand. Once my VP Racing and ECHO Gold Blend oils are used up my backup bottles are AMSOIL Dominator & Interceptor. Those can be gotten locally with ease since a lot of small shops in the area sell to people with dirt bikes and snowmobiles. In the end I'll probably end up sticking with Interceptor. As for mix and fuel I stick at 40:1, I don't do saw milling so 25:1 is way too rich for my needs. I also try to stick to ethanol-free fuel as best as I can. I also treat it with some Star-Tron Enzyme Cleaner & Treatment. It also gets a dose of Marvels Mystery Oil for added lubricity. For long term storage the base fuel with no 2-stroke oil mixed in is stored in a steel 5-gallon VP-Racing can that originally had 110 octane race fuel in it. It's 100% sealed with no venting. When needed I mix 1-gallon at a time. :)
@@Slane583 Totally get that. I'm in total Montana (haha there's only a handful of places that aren't). If I order something and get a delivery date, add an extra 3-5 days to that because for some reason things move slow. Pony express slow haha
Sabre is just on $50 a quart here in New Zealand, but worth every penny. Can't get HP2 here. The 661 loves it at 40:1, burns so clean. I've just ordered a monster MS162 today, for those annoying tiny branches on trees..be interesting as they seem to be a love it or hate it saw. $335 in NZ
I enjoy your videos. I've always ran motorcycles 2 stroke oils in my gear and seeing the results in your previous videos made me feel that bit more confident that it was the correct choice to have made. In saying that. The 100:1 you ran was wild to me haha, seems like so little oil in a environment like a chainsaw... turns out it was 😂 Looking forward to the next. Cheers mate.
@@richardflagg3084yep, what can you expect though. Probably fine at a different ratio, dont understand why manufacturers have to make outrageous claims on stuff.
Tho I dont forsee running anything lighter on oil than 50:1, just the fact there's oils out there that can keep an engine alive at 100:1 is impressive to me!
Yup, blows my mind when you see OPTI-2 at the parts counter in the big dealership that sells the 3 orange saw brands and the parts guy is raving about how cheap it is and how convenient it is…I guess it keeps them busy with rebuilds or selling new saws. Good work on the new bearing, probably some of the chrome coating got scuffed up from the aluminum filings from the scuff on the piston. Speaking of clearance issues from factory test run, I had a new 390XP to port a couple years ago for a Heli-logger on the west coast. When I pulled the jug, it was well scuffed and so was the piston on the intake side…wasn’t very impressed…that was a 2020 model. Take care!
Great video! Do the newer saws in general seem less durable than their predecessors? I was poking around on German RU-vid channels earlier this spring and saw mention of a newer version saw in the MS400 class. Any word on your end of this? Could it be a fuel injected version? 👍
I stick to 40:1 no matter what oil brand it's just plain fact that these little two strokes need a certain amount of oil for the bearings along with P&C's to survive. Tried different ratios with some of these newer oils a few years back but I could always smell what seemed to me to be a "hot metal" smell, so that told me it was only a matter of time before big trouble so back to 40:1 and will be staying there no matter the brand of oil or their marketing claims.
hello richard very interesting video as always I bought a ms 400 she has 1 month I ride a pure alkilate gasoline mixed with oil 2 t bardahl special motoculture at 43/1 Is it good? I gave up too expensive husqvarna oil xp here in France bardhal 100% synthesis jaso FD I noticed alkilate gasoline no carbon problem even with stihl oil ultra FB or other low-end oil the only problem is very expensive or it is necessary to drive from time to time with the bad gasoline of the pump stihl does not want me to put 2 t motorcycle oil otherwise no guarantee
Thank you for this and all the previous oil/fuel videos. On this one, Saber at 40:1 rather than 50:1? I'm about to mix some up and thought I remembered you being comfortable with 50:1. I have a brand-new MS400 in the shop and want to get it off to the best start, especially given the price of new saws.
Saber is one of the few oils that I'd be comfortable running at 50:1. It burns just as clean at 40:1, so don't worry about carbon build up. There's only a whisper more oil at 40:1, you're good either way.
This is not strictly a comment on this vid but, hey, it's all oil, so here's another question. Do you know of any problems that might result from mixing different oils in good E0 gasoline? I can't, and thinking abut it I realized I've been doing that to one extent or another since I first started using power equipment a VERY long time ago. Just to narrow this a bit, let's stipulate that we're talking about oils from reputable sources, even if we might not be crazy about the specific product. So to make the question a little more concrete, do you think there are specific reasons not to mix, say, Husky pre-mix with Stihl pre-mix with Red Armor pre-mix? And without intending to make a comment either way on TruFuel products, let's stipulate that for purposes of this question we're not including either of the TF pre-mix produccts. I wouldn't make mixing different fuel mixes a practice, but I can't think of any reason not to do it occasionally, either. A pre-mix that has cr@p oil that leaves a lot of carbon would be a reason...but I don't think any of the three I mentioned as examples fall into that category, even if one or the other isn't "the best." Even winding up with a mix that had some full synthetic oil and some dino oil doesn't seem like it would automatically be a problem. Anyway...thoughts, pronouncements, opinions, whatever...?
I have recently rebuilt an MS400 as well, is it normal to have a little dead-zone in the throttle before it starts advancing the throttle? Husqvarna saws seem to have a lot nicer throttle control imo.
Do you think the failed bearing was just from grit and debris or do you think the 100:1 wasn't enough to keep the bearing lubed? And why just that one bearing? I thought you said the crank side had a nylon cage and then we have the needle bearing on the rod, but the metal caged bearing is the only one that failed. This is the stuff that gets my gears turning.
