2 Stroke Oils-Are they really different?

[tunaticer]

When i bought my outboard I was told by the retailer (and well respected marine motor mechanic) that instead of 50:1 mixture run 75:1. He said that the motor will last a lot longer, run smoother and will not carbon up. He said that Evinrude placed the 50:1 mixture on its motors as a precaution in case anyone ever had a drama with oil problems.
I recently took the plugs out of my motor for a change and put a camera scope into the bores to see how things were looking. After 12 yrs of running on 75:1 mixtures and countless hours the old 25 looks remarkably clean and there is no signs of scoring on the cylinder walls and no hot spots to be seen. The plugs are always clean looking and only need a quick wash in metho and replacing. I use surface gap plugs as the mech recommended and have had faultless service for possibly a thousand hours with them.

Oil I use is Shell Nautilus TCW3 usually. I did on an extended trip need to buy a 4L bottle of Mobil TCW3 and ran that through.

This old outboard is 12 yrs old now and showing signs of age with thew odd bit of corrosion around the yoke but it still is as good as the day i bought it as far as running goes. I hope my next motor will be as good.

Jack.

[rossi]

I am pretty sure that if you have a HPDI engine like an Optimax or an ETEC you cant use normal marine 2 stroke oil as it wont lubricate properly and will destroy your donk. Either that or its a ploy to get you to spend eighty bucks for a container of the stuff.

[cormorant]

I am pretty sure that if you have a HPDI engine like an Optimax or an ETEC you cant use normal marine 2 stroke oil as it wont lubricate properly and will destroy your donk. Either that or its a ploy to get you to spend eighty bucks for a container of the stuff.

I don't know manufacturer recomendations for Optimax but someone here will.

The ETECS will run on TWC3 oil but only if they are set for that oil as it is the default. TWC3 is a older standard and you are much better off with a semisynthetic or full synthetic as they are better oils and will give less smell and less carbon. XD50 is the BRP semisynthetic and XD100 is the full synthetic. XD100 is the oil you can have you dealer adjust your ETEC to run on and it will use less oil. XD100 is now being sold for $62 and below so shop around but still isn't exactly cheap. XD50 is a very good quality oil and I use it in my non etec motors as it burns cleaner and has less plug deposits and is not uch more expensive than standard crap twc3.

C

[tuskie]

Thanks for the interesting and infprmative thread.
For my 2 cents worth, I had to rebuild my 1999 90 hp 2-stroke Yamaha just over a year ago (long story). When the head mechanic at Stone's Corner Marine saw the carbon buildup on the rings and exhaust ports he asked why I would run "shit quality oil" in my motor when I was so fastidious with other mechanical maintenance. I was dumbfounded when he correctly guessed that I was either running Castrol (yes)or Valvoline (even worse).
On his and Ausfish forum advise I now run Yamalube. I"m sure Quicksilver, Caltex or XD50 is as good or better, but I,ve actually seen what shit oil can do to an "old tech" simple 2-smoker, imagine the grief if I was running the same oil in a new fangled HPDI machine.

[Kleyny]

IMO
Use what the manufacture recommends. Why they built the thing I'm sure they would know what oils it would run better and last longer on.
Mate had a motor that kept fouling plugs when he went back to the recommendation of the motor company his problems were fixed. (went back to yamilube)

Try and get warranty off the manufactures if you buy a lesser type of oil or a none recommended oil and see what reply you get.

[Poodroo]

Thanks for the interesting and infprmative thread.

You're welcome mate. I have learned a lot about 2-stroke oils via this thread and will make some changes to what I use also. For me I think the Caltex or Quicksilver will be the choice for me in the near future. I hope this thread has helped more than just me.

Poodroo

[mromanis]

I have been told to use Johnson branded oil in Johnson engines. Only a couple of places around Melbourne seem to stock it, one being Gales (though they were the most expensive of all, although I have been told they closed down recently.)
I makes sense not to choose the cheapest oil, false economies have a way of really hurting you in the hip pocket at the end of the day.

[Ron173]

Yes thanks for the post poodroo, straddie's post set me thinking so I did some digging around the net, seems the Aussi Yamalube IS Caltex's tcw3 repackaged (diff colour??) and none of the Bomadier rec products XD oils are tcw3 compliant actually that should be tcw3 certified.

Now to find out how much 4L of Caltex tcw3 is and drop the Yamalube as too expensive or to distrust the Yamalube/Caltex altogether because it has a seperate certification than the US Yamalube (the one with the good reputation) so it is a different blend, better?, same? worse??

Or just use the XD50 which was once the torco oil (as was xd100) I notice now torco no longer sells this once very good oil but does still sell a basic tcw3 that I couldn't find as certified either ....xd30??
feeling like a mushroom.

XD50 = $70 = 3.78L = makes 190L premix = Too expensive!!

Bugger me

cheers fnq

FNQ,

that price you are quoting there is an XD100 price, and even that is reducing now, I just bought XD50 for $48 (XD100 from same dealer $59) and am using it in my merc, I reckon $48 is little to pay for marginally better performance and heaps cleaner running, and 190ltrs in my 15 merc will prob take me 2yrs plus to use.

Ron

[cormorant]

Hi Have just heard that BRP has imported 200 liter drums of xd100. Put some pressure on your local Evinrude dealer to get one and get them to refil your existing 1 gallon drums. They should be able to sell it to you for about $50- $55 a us gallon and still make money. Very good oil with loads of anti carbon and a full synthetic designed for marine use now at an OK price.

C