That's called bug spray. Mosquitos hate 2 stroke smoke. Of course people don't either, but I think I would rather deal with smoke than the bugs.

Or people! Lol

I always add my oil after the gas.... Fill nearly full... Mix correct amount of oil with about a quart of gas and dump it in.... So far in 30 years or so I've not had a problem doing it that way.

Husband and wife that live next (and downwind) to us used to go out enduro riding all the time. She grew up riding 2 strokes. First time I started my engine on the muffs in my backyard she came over and thanked me. Said she loves the smell of 2 stroke oil and since they started having kids hasn't had time for a lot of riding, so the smell was like the smell of fresh baked bread to her... simply wonderful.

Sometimes you just luck out with your neighbors.......

Done that too...fill with gas, go to put in oil...tank too full to get in all the oil.

Here's my stupid question of the day...can't you replace the plastic gear with a metal one? You could probably find a match in a McMaster-Carr or Grainger catalog and find a local guy to cut a hole and keyway. No worries of breaking then.

Spoggy, I've wondered that same thing many times. Hell, I even know an old time machine shop that can cut gears (in case Graingers or McMaster doesn't have it). Truthfully, since I've never had my engine apart that far I don't know how they (the gears) are made, assembled or attached. I know they are actually made of filled nylon, and they (usually) fail because engine heat softens the plastic and they lose teeth. But I agree that it seems possible and plausible to replace them with metal gears. :head:

OK, after doing some research here's what I found. The one gear is made of metal and is held in place by nylon bushings. Over time, the bushings swell and put pressure on the other gear which is made of plastic. The pressure and the engine heat cause the plastic gear to soften and strip teeth which results in no oil and ruins the engine. By the time the zero rotation sensor goes off and sounds the alarm it's too late.
In 2000 they switched to brass bushings to fix the problem, but they didn't change the plastic gear. That gear, after sitting for long periods of non-use, (like over the winter) tended to get brittle and then it would strip teeth once put back into service. So the problem persisted.
One of Mercury's engineers left the company and started his own company making electronic oil pumps to correct the problem. The pumps have proven to be reliable and have a MTBF rate of 600-800 hours.

My oil alarm went off years ago (in the harbor) & saved the engine.