Fowler 2 Cycle Extreme Oil

There has to be over 100 different injection oils offered for snowmobiles, some very good and some not so good. How do you know which is which?

One injection oil that we’ve been using for the past two years comes with little fanfare and a not-so-fancy label. “Fowler 2 Cycle Extreme” doesn’t boast huge advertising budgets, nor do they throw tons of cash at promotions. So when we got a couple of cases sent to us for evaluation, we seriously doubted if it was worth pouring into one of our very expensive snowmobiles. We’ve tried oils in the past that gummed up the power valves so bad and made the spark plugs look terrible with gummy deposits that we didn’t want to see what the rest of the engine looked like. We tend to prefer full synthetic oils, but there are some really good semi-synthetics that can be bought for much less cash than full synthetics. Maybe we should give this one a shot.

Our dedicated test sled for this project was a 2004 Polaris Pro X2 700. We chose a Polaris simply because of all the gummed up power valves we hear about. We even sucked out all of the original oil from the tank when the sled was brand new so we could get a good read on this stuff, and then ran this oil (exclusively) for over 1500 miles.

In all honesty, we really expected this to be just another oil that stunk and gummed things up. Much to our surprise, the 2 Cycle Extreme didn’t really smell much at all. There wasn’t any sort of perfume to it, not much aroma or smoke, it was almost as “smokeless” as any other oil for that matter. Maybe not as clean as some of the more expensive fully synthetics, but quite impressive.

Down below –30, we found it to pour quite well. Day after day, the plugs looked good, and the valves stayed pretty clean. This oil actually seemed to be burning pretty good. At only $16.95 per gallon, we started to pay attention. We had found an oil that delivered a nice balance between performance and cost.

One measure we’ve always used to establish a baseline of protection capability is if an oil meets the Japanese and European specifications; JASO-FC (Japan) and ISO-EGD (Global/Euro). 2 Cycle Extreme meets or exceeds both of these standards. This also got our attention, as we knew it had to be fairly good to get both of these ratings. These certifications require high temperature, thermally stable additives and special base oils specifically designed to reduce piston scuffing while minimizing exhaust port carboning and smoking.

Fowler 2 Cycle Extreme is distributed by Fowler Distributors of Bloomington, Minnesota. According to Fowler, 2 Cycle Extreme is a synthetic blend, low smoke high performance oil that reduces piston scuffing by over 90% compared to ashless TCW-3 formulas. It has a pour point of –60, and offers an SAE Grade 3 miscibility/fluidity with gas.

They only add a dilutent to the highly refined petroleum base oil and synthetic additive package to get the super-low (-60) pour point. Many injection oils boast about a –40 pour point, but we had –44 in central Minnesota this past season and you can do the math. This oil will continue to protect at temperatures that many other “good” oils fall by the wayside.

Their pitch is simple. The oil is “simply pure oil”. No chemical mysteries. No magic additives. No bull. Rather, they offer a highly refined petroleum base oil and the highest quality synthetic additive package that burns off completely and with a minimum of smoke; exhaust smoke is reduced by a claimed 25-55%, and from what we’ve experienced, this seems to pretty much be accurate.

Since the oil burns off so completely, there is very minimal carbon build-up anywhere in the engine from the power valves to the heads, rings and exhaust pipes. Since there are no unrefined ingredients that don’t burn off there’s no gum or varnish to stick to anything.

The theme continues with no perfumes, no un-needed chemicals, and no offensive stink. Only completely burned off oil. Our eyes, nose and throat tell us this is also pretty accurate. One of the best tests is when you fire up a sled loaded in an enclosed trailer (doors open, of course). We do this all the time, and wait for a few moments to let the water jackets warm up slightly before throwing a load at the engine. This is when cheap oil smoke can choke you, and is when you can tell the difference between oils that burn completely and those that don’t. Firing up the Pro X2 with 2 Cycle Extreme in the enclosed trailer wasn’t much of an issue. In actually smokes and smells less than most OEM oils.

OK, we’re not saying this is the highest quality oil you can buy for your sled. We are saying we’ve used it for two years and have experienced good results that, when compared to the retail price of $16.95 per gallon ($101.70 for a case of six gallons) makes it one of the better oils you can get for that kind of money. We call that “value”. Just good protection at a good price.

Order a case of six gallons and Fowler will ship it FREE. We were pleasantly surprised, and suspect you will be too. Call them at 800-843-1424. Some dealers carry it, and maybe more will if you ask for it.