Petrol lawn mower - two or four stroke?

[B3Svert]

Having moved into my house late last year, I only had to cut the lawn once before winter and the time has come (ok it's quite overdue now) to do it again. I used the lawn mower that I found in the garage left by the previous owner which had just enough petrol in it to do the job but now I need some more. Mower is quite an old looking Honda, is there a way of telling if it's two or four stroke? I don't want to damage it by putting oil in the mix if there's no need.

It's a Honda Easy Start HR194, done a google search and the Honda site states their current models are all 4-stroke but mine looks around 10 years older than them.

Is there a way to tell other than trial and error?

[mrmaggit]

If it's two-stroke, there'll either be a separate oil tank, or some form of suggested petrol/oil mix marked on the petrol tank cap, or just by the filler.

Some have a cup moulded into the underside of the filler cap for the two-stroke oil.

[B3Svert]

Thanks for that, there is a seperate oil tank so does that mean I do not have to do the mix myself? Assume it's mixed at the proper ratio by the mower itself in that case.
I guess I need some two-stroke oil, can I use normal 95 unleaded with it?
Sorry for all the dumb questions, first garden I've ever owned and want to make it as nice as possible

[SwanJack]

If you have a separate oil tank, then you have a 4 stroke. Put lawnmower motor oil in there, B&Q sell it, NOT 2 stroke oil. Put only petrol in the petrol tank. I have a Honda and the filler to the oil tank has a dipstick on it. 2 stroke engines require oil and petrol to be mixed before you fill the petrol tank. I worked as a groundsman for a while and did not come across a 2 stroke with a separate oil tank that did the mixing itself.

Edited by SwanJack on Tuesday 7th April 11:36

[tr7v8]

I used to sell mowers a few years ago & I'm 99.9% sure that Honda have never made 2 stroke mowers.
Got a model number of the mower or motor.

[Johnnytheboy]

I've only ever encountered 2-stroke HOVER mowers (eg Flymos), never rotaries.

2-stroke is useful for cutting steep banks, as are hover mowers, otherwise 4-stroke is ideal.

[Lanby]

SwanJack said:

If you have a separate oil tank, then you have a 4 stroke. Put lawnmower motor oil in there, B&Q sell it, NOT 2 stroke oil. Put only petrol in the petrol tank. I have a Honda and the filler to the oil tank has a dipstick on it. 2 stroke engines require oil and petrol to be mixed before you fill the petrol tank. I worked as a groundsman for a while and did not come across a 2 stroke with a separate oil tank that did the mixing itself.

Good advice, I know I supply B&Q their oil!

[joewilliams]

Johnnytheboy said:

I've only ever encountered 2-stroke HOVER mowers (eg Flymos), never rotaries.

2-stroke is useful for cutting steep banks, as are hover mowers, otherwise 4-stroke is ideal.

We have a two-stroke Mountfield rotary. Suzuki engine I believe.

As above, if it has a seperate oil tank (probably with a dipstick), it's a 4 stroke. 2 strokes normally have a marking near the fuel tank indicating the correct mix, but a sticker could have come off.

As a sanity check, you could disconnect the spark plug and turn it over, feeling for the compression strokes.