Part Throttle bad for 2-strokes?

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Only 2 stroke I saw issues with this was 2-stroke outboards, in days of old-seems putting around in no wake zones would tend to foul plugs, they seemed happier when run hard. Never heard of engine damage from it, though.
 
Its all about the air fuel mixture. There is nothing about a 2 stroke that makes it harmful to use at part throttle.

Also if coasting, 2 strokes do not need to be treated any different than a 4 stroke. I coast 2 strokes often, especially after a hard WOT pull. Coasting the engine is not producing heat, and the tolerances expand.
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Only 2 stroke I saw issues with this was 2-stroke outboards, in days of old-seems putting around in no wake zones would tend to foul plugs, they seemed happier when run hard. Never heard of engine damage from it, though.


I second this. The only area I have ever heard that 2 stokes needed to be run at full throttle more often that not was in older marine 2 strokes, which your neighbor, depending on his age, may be referring to.

I was told the reason for this was that you wanted to mix the oil/fuel ratio rich enough to protect the engine at full throttle under load, so when trolling or puttering along you were running a much richer oil/fuel ratio than needed for that use. This would sometimes cause plugs to foul. As mentioned, this was never anything that could cause engine damage, but certainly could cause it to be a bad day on the water if you fouled a few plugs.

This issue has been pretty much eliminated with the introduction of oil injection in the 2 stroke marine engines, so the oil/fuel ratio is adjusted automatically for load/rpm keeping it leaner at low rpm/load and richer as needed for the high rpm high load conditions.
 
Coasting a 2t car using premix down long moutain pass will definitely seize a primative tribant. This is way different than a motorcycle. However the OP was a more modern weed Wacker.

Rod
 
Originally Posted by 92saturnsl2
Today I was blowing grass off the porch & concrete after mowing and my neighbor stopped me and asked if my leaf blower was a 2-stroke...

Perhaps continuous WOT when evacuating debris in the general direction of his property would be appropriate?

Or upgrade to a 4-stroke DOHC GDFI TT ULEV-LB w/ low saps in due course.
 
Originally Posted by Fawteen
Originally Posted by 92saturnsl2
my neighbor stopped me and asked if my leaf blower was a 2-stroke.


Your first clue that your neighbor is an idiot is that he can't tell that it's a 2 stroke just by listening to it. Smile, thank him, and go on about your business.

I wouldn't advise this. He'd probably sense your disinterest in his recommendation and view you negatively after that.

Pretty sure I saw a similar incident on an episode of "Fear Thy Neighbor".
Ultimately this led to a terrible feud b/t two families and one neighbor ended up dead.

true story.
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Originally Posted by atikovi
Was at the Import Festival this May in Carlisle Pa and overheard the owner of a Trabant (2 stroke) saying how he avoids long downhill roads without stepping on the gas frequently to help lube the engine.

Well that is a completely different issue....
 
Idle speeds require little oil whereas WOT would require more? I doubt it's linear as heat would most likely come into account as well, but you get the idea.

Plenty of 2 stoke applications see idle to low speed time.
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Only 2 stroke I saw issues with this was 2-stroke outboards, in days of old-seems putting around in no wake zones would tend to foul plugs, they seemed happier when run hard. Never heard of engine damage from it, though.



Decades ago I spent time at Lake X here in Florida watching Mercury test outboard motors. They ran dozens at a time on a long dock, several were running straight gas. Most were run until they failed. But the engines could run a long time on straight fuel.


As a side note, my 17 foot Cobia with a 115 merc blew up one day going to watch an Apollo launch on the Banana river. A rod went through the case, yet we idled the whole way in to Patrick AFB. The entire powerhead was replaced for free over a year past the warranty even though the cause was insufficient oil in the pre-mixed fuel from my marina. Mercury stated that they wanted the engine for "inspection".


Never have bought pre-mix again since!
 
A friend of mine has an old boat motor that is always wide open, it seems to speed up and down by advancing / retarding the ignition advance. I thought that was kind of neat. Until the carb leaked out all the gas and we had to paddle back in the dark.

I usually won't run my weed wacker wide open just because I don't want to irritate me neighbors. Unless I'm going through some really heavy weeds, that is.
 
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