Oil & Fuel old water pump

razafas · Sep 10, 2016

This is a bit off topic since is not about a tractor, but a water pump ; A 16 hp. 2 stroke gasoline engine from 1987 (never used, and dirt cheap). The thing is that i don't know how gasoline used to be 29 years ago, i know it used to be lower octane and more viscus; and in order to somewhat mimic this i added more 2T mixing oil (50mL per 1 liter), but the engine seams to be running hotter (burned thru the head gasket seal) and the spark plug gets dirty fast.
Anyone have solution for this ?

Rock knocker · Sep 10, 2016

Not an expert on gasoline from the Ceaușescu era, but I think you would have been better off just running regular old gasoline and not second guessing things.

Clint S · Sep 10, 2016

Rock knocker said:
Not an expert on gasoline from the Ceaușescu era, but I think you would have been better off just running regular old gasoline and not second guessing things.

You are WAY overthinking this. Just put some 87 in it. My tractors from the 50's does not care. My 2c leafblower form 91 does not care and my 2c snowmobile from 72 does not care. Adding oil beyond 50/1is just going to foul the plugs like you are seeing. Running hot may be a carb or cooling issue. (plugged fins)

holeycow · Sep 10, 2016

That's a 20:1 mixture. That should be fine in an '87 (or any 2 stroke for that matter, jetted accordingly). The owner's manual recommendations should help a bit.

Think about this: when you put more oil in the fuel you are increasing the oil/fuel ratio but decreasing the fuel/air ratio. This leans the mixture and generally leads to hotter running.

What do you mean by "burned thru the head gasket seal"? Sounds like a wreck to me...