HELP: 4-stroke engine oil mixed with gas in 2 stroke engine

engineoil

I accidentally poured Briggs and Stratton SAE 30, 4 stroke engine oil into my 2-stroke snow-blower (note: in the right gas-oil proportion of 40-1). It starts and runs well; however, it seems to be giving out white smoke.

Questions:

  1. Will it cause any permanent damage? If so, where is the damage (engine, spark-plug, gas-tank, carburetor)?
  2. Should I siphon the gas-oil mix right away, OR should I run the engine dry by running it continuously OR should I use my snow-blower as usual until the gas tank empties? I.e. what is the best corrective action?

Best Answer

Unfortunately the most likely failure point for bad oil is the piston rings. This is a "get a new snowblower" tier problem.

Here's what I would do. Figure out how much fuel you mis-mixed (say 1 gallon). Get a jerry can at least triple that size.

Now, go make some new, additional premix fuel of twice that amount (e.g. 2 gallons) and mix the gas and oil correctly. So you could just use that directly and be good 2 go.

Now, drain the fuel out of the snow blower, and add it to this jerry can. Mix thoroughly.

Now, you have a can of 2-cycle gas that is 2/3 the correct oil and 1/3 not the right oil. The "wrong" oil still has a fair amount of lubricity, and the 2/3 will cover other needs. Go ahead and burn that, white smoke and all.

This won't damage your engine, and is also the simplest way to dispose of this mis-mixed fuel. You certainly shouldn't dump it on the ground, and mustn't dump it down a drain!

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