SOS!! Heeeelp!!
 

ok.. i'm stranded next to road, cos i accidentally put 2 stroke oil in my bike. (dont ask. the bottle had a picture of a very trick bike onit. how am i supposed to know!!??)Anyway rode it for about 30 miles. then lots of smoke. then running ratty. so i've stopped.Now wont start. Can i just drain off remaining oil, put new oil in & ride it to destination???or is it more serious than that??plus. i'm stranded & i have no chocolate. advice please!!!ps; no dizzy blonde jokes pls. save for later.

Not entirely sure but thought Id bump the thread as ur in a bit of a pickle! I cant see any problems with draining and re-filling.

Found this
WikiAnswers - If 4 stroke oil is put into a 2 stroke engine will it damage the engine

its the other way around but it seems to back me up.

Where are you stranded? If your near Leeds Id be happy to lend a hand.

James.

4stroke in a 2stoke is a completely different kettle of fish. I'd definitely start by draining the oil thoroughly and doing a very short cycle with a load of cheap, suitable oil and then replace. I don't know for sure but 2 stroke seems thinner but also is designed to produce less ash when burnt (suggesting shorter-chained hydrocarbons?). Hopefully you caught it in time.

Do you mean you just topped your bike up with 2 stroke (ie used a litre or so), or did a complete oil change and used 2 stroke?
If you just topped it up, i wouldnt worry.
If you ran it totally on 2 stroke, i would think it wouldnt do much damage after 30 miles. I would guess you would have lots of oil & carbon in your exhaust, which once you changed the oil to the correct stuff, a good run would burn the oil & carbon out.
The 2 stroke would still lubricate the top end ok, but i imagine the gearbox would froth it up a bit!

OOPS

Although 2 stroke oil should keep the bores lubes, it isn't designed for heavy shear lubrication. the rattling is worrying, but coupled with a lot of smoke, and an inability to start, you may be in for a top end rebuild.
2 stroke motors run seperate gearbox oil, all the stuff has to do is keep the piston rings from sticking, and keep the bottom end roller bearings from running dry.
4 stroke oil has to cope with huge amounts of wear and tear in comparison.:frown:

Thanks guys!!

I only topped up with about 3/4 of a liter of 2 stroke. The total capacity is 2.5 liters...

Being always the optimist, I'm going to go with the plan that I can just drain off the (2 stroke contaminated) oil that remains in the sump and the oil tank right now, put fresh oil in and run it to safety...

My fear was just that I would do more damage if I run it right away without some sort of PROPER FLUSH CLEAN OUT or something... I'm not sure what 2 stroke oil has in it... or doesn't have, that may damage or clog oil ways or stuff??


I'm pretty sure nothing seized up yet -- it starts and runs for a few seconds but it just starts choking then.


PS -- Thanks, but I'm about 300 miles from Leeds.


PPS -- Will keep you posted on what happens... if only as a scientific test to see what happens if you put 2 stroke in your engine.

I have nothing at all useful to say, Tues, but you goose. Oh and a slightly belated Happy Birfday, and I rang you, but got voice-mail, it was about chocolate.

The MZ rider in me wonders if there is now a part bottle of two stroke oil going free ? :nono:

The two stroke oil will have thinned the four stroke and once hot started to burn off. The engine is short of lube so it runs hotter, so the stroke oil burns, so the engine is short of lubrication and so on.

The two stroke oil is so thin it'd actually tend to clear any crud out.

Like people have said, flush it, refill then see how things sound.

Andy

Saved!!!
 

:D:D:D:D:D


OK guys - for the records!!

Drained off all the oil last night. Every droplet and let it stand.

Cleaned the plug which actually didn't seem that bad.

Filled it up with fresh (proper) oil this morning.


Prayed to the XT GIRL GODESS OF MOTORCYCLES.. and eh presto... it started!!

It smoked a little bit (guess its the remainder of the two stroke burning off the exhaust) -- but is running PUCKER again!!!


Haven't done many miles. But lets have faith!


Phew.

Thanks for your help (or moral support, in Ax's case!)

:scooter:

So the moral of the story is "in most cases things are never as f#cked up as they appear".

Oh and chocolates in the post.

So the xt really is bulletproof.

And woman proof!
Glad to hear its still kicking.

Lets just hope there isn't some sort of chocolate with a nice bike pic on it!? :tongue_smilie:

Cruel.

Should smell good, though.

The “ratty” bit is worrying, you mean rattle, right? Or do you mean bad running, as in misfiring? If there was some rattle from the engine… well that does not sound good. Are you sure it was mechanical rattle from within the engine?

I would expect the engine oil to lubricate sufficiently, even if thinned out by 1/3 with 2-stroke oil. I know of many instances when water has got into a dirtbikes engine, turning the oil white like milk, but without damage to the engine.

Hope your bike is ok. Please let us know how things turn out.

If it was Castor based two stroke oil, its a bad thing it doesn't mix well and will screw things up badly. BUT...
If it was something like Lucas Semi-Synthetic two stroke oil I wouldn;t worry about it. Its a 30 wt oil. I've had friends borrow mine to top off their KTM's and other bikes when we was riding in the woods with no other options.
Never had an issue.
Sounds like you got it under control and no true harm was done. :clap: