MZ Oil - Riders' Comments
There is always a lot of debate, frequently unproductive, when the subject of two-stroke oil for MZs is
discussed. Naturally, everyone thinks their own choice of oil is the best. I have therefore
decided to list peoples' comments on their tyres so that anyone contemplating changing their
tyres can easily find out what other people think of various tyres.
Submissions are welcome; please send them to me
here in the following format:
Bike: (model of MZ, any engine mods)
Oil: (make and designation of oil used)
Ratio: (premix ratio, or injection pump setting for ETZs - will assume standard unless stated otherwise)
Cost: (guess :-) )
Comments: (what you reckon to this oil; relevant peculiarities of your riding style)
Contributions will be posted anonymously unless you specifically request otherwise.
Please note that I myself am no oil expert and haven't necessarily tried any of these
concoctions - they're just the personal experiences of various MZ riders.
I might pretty up the format a little when I've had a few more suggestions :-)
Bike: a tired TS150S '76 vintage. Bog standard.
Oil: Castrol TTS
Ratio: 40:1
Cost: Lots
Comments: Smokes like a good 'un when cold, but in part no doubt
due to 40:1 ratio, completely smokefree once warmed through. No
sign of oiling up around town, or overheating when flat out.
Bike: 1988 ETZ 125, standard
Oil: Texaco Motex 2T
Ratio: Standard
Cost: £5.39 for (unstated amount; litre?)
Comments: A good quality mineral oil meeting the API:CEC(TSC) 2 grade
standard available through Texaco garages, smokes quite heavily in
town use/from cold, little once out on the open road. Can build up
slightly heavily in town use within engine occasionally causing
slight misses but not lasting, little sign of lasting carbon build-up.
Recent price increase (£5:39 from £4:69) an annoyance but
otherwise good.
Bike: 1988 ETZ 125, standard
Oil: Rock Oil 'road' 2T
Ratio: Standard
Cost: cheap
Comments: Burns more cleanly than Motex 2T, less evidence of build-up
around town, little smoke. Meets JASO FB standard. Bike feels nicely
flexible and smooth running on this oil. Try Afrayspeed (i/net) for
cheap 4-litres.
Bike: '92 ETZ301 - completely standard, running NGK B8HVX plug
Oil: Morris Sport fully synthetic (injector).
Ratio: Oil pump set .5mm 'richer' than standard - 80% of bike's use is
above 60mph/flat out on dual carriageway
Cost: £5.00/litre - I bought a whole load of bottles (10 in fact) at Ally Pally bike show last
year and I've still a couple left.
Comments: Reason for buying this oil: It never fouls a plug, even in town, and the motor just
seems a lot smoother than when it was using semi-synth.
Other reason for buying this oil: It
smells just fantastic. :0)
Comments from an R&D chemist at Silkolene:
Two-stroke engines are mainly boundary lubricated; ie they depend on thin oil films. So they
respond to an oil with a high film strength. On the other hand, seeing that they burn their oil,
the oil must burn off to leave few deposits. These can foul spark plugs, promote pre-ignition and
even partially block exhaust ports. So 4-stroke oils, with high levels of calcium and zinc-based
additives which burn off to leave zinc and calcium oxide deposits are no good.
For very high revving engines, esters and castor oil provide excellent film strength, and the
ester types also run clean. Pro-2 is an ester race/motocross oil.
For good film strength with low smoke, a low ash oil based on esters and the smoke-reducing
polymer PIB (poly isobutene) is a good choice, (JASO FC and ISO-L-EGD are low-smoke specs), such
as Comp-2Plus. This would be ideal for a hard-working MZ TS 250. It is suitable for tank mix or
injection. A lower-cost alternative is Comp-2 Injector.
All injector oils are OK for tank mix, but all tank mix oils are not necessarily OK for injection,
because some are too thick to go through the pump and the feed pipes in cold weather. This is the
only reason.
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