2-Stroke Engine Oil, 200ml

A two-stroke engine has no oil sump. The only lubrication it gets comes from oil mixed into the petrol, so the fuel you pour in is doing two jobs at once. Get this wrong and the engine seizes, usually within minutes, and that is the most common way a new brush cutter or chainsaw is destroyed.

Two hundred millilitres is the small bottle, sized to make up a modest quantity of mixed fuel at a time. That is useful because mixed fuel does not keep well. Petrol goes stale in a few months and the mixture separates if it stands, so making a small batch you will actually use is better practice than mixing five litres and leaving most of it in a can until next season. Always mix in a clean can, never in the machine's tank, and always at the ratio the engine manual gives. Shake the can before you fill, since the oil settles if it has stood.