Typically regular unleaded fuel is what people use in their small engines.
I know i use it as well as fuel stabilizer.

My friend was debating this weekend the need of using Fuel Stabilizer altogether, claiming that he never uses it and that he always chose a fuel which shows no less than 89 octane and even 91 with in his snowblower.

Does that really make a difference? After all, these engines aren't exactly H.O. where performance is noticed on the quarter mile!

What's even more mind :confused: boggling is that he got that advise from a small engine repair shop owner. :( i think this guy is simply looking for work!!!!

ttyl :dude:

Alot people recommend using 89 or higher octane fuel. I have always used 86 octane with fuel stabilizer(Seafoam) and never had a problem. I just cann't see paying the higher price for fuel if everything is working fine. Just my 2 cents on the subject.

Ive always been told to run 89 octane in 2 stroke engine of course with the oil mixture, but ive been told spending more money on anything above 86 octane for a 4 stroke engine was just a waste of money. I do the same as Tommyj3 I just run 86 octane with a bit of seafoam in my 4 stroke engines. 89 Octane wit Echo blend in my 2 stroke engines.

On the lower compression ratio engines the lower octane is fine and you should not see any difference when using a higher octane (other then price). On 2 strokes you should use an 89 or higher octane since the compression ratio on many quality 2 strokes is fairly high, and since carbon is generally found in the combustion chamber you can have pre-ignition on a 2 stroke from the super heated carbon in the engine. You can't hear a 2 stroke knock but pre-ignition will destroy the crank and wrist pin bearings in the engine.

Lower compression (reed valve) 2 strokes will work fine on lower octane fuel.

:thumbsup:

thing is though, they rarely use reed valves anymore

or do they still and you just don't see them?

Many of the cheaper 2-cycle weed trimmers are till reed valve engines, if the carburetor mounts to the crankcase, it will have a reed valve.