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2-Cycle Oil

D

Drex

Member
Anybody use Pennzoil synthetic 2 cycle oil in their Merc? I have always used the Mercury oil but the Pennzoil is about a third cheaper. Can you safely run it or should I stick with the Merc oil?
 
2 cycle oil

Drex, I switched to the Pennzoil synthetic last summer. Went through about 9 gallons with no problems. Only difference I found was maybe a little less smoke at idle speed. boatman
 
Are you buying the 100% synthetic, or the blend? I've used the 100% Penn and the mercury premium plus, nothing else. both have been great for me.
 
2 cycle oil

The oil that I use is the synthetic blend. Works great and way cheaper than Merc. oil. boatman
 
oil

Does anybody know who bottles merc's oil? For all I know it could be Pennzoil. I would say as long as it has the TC-W3 rating, (should be on the bottle) you're all right.
 
Drex said:
Anybody use Pennzoil synthetic 2 cycle oil in their Merc? I have always used the Mercury oil but the Pennzoil is about a third cheaper. Can you safely run it or should I stick with the Merc oil?
Click to expand...

depends if you want or need warranty work in the future. The boys at the factory can tell if you haven't been using their oil. i don't think it's worth it until your warranty is up
 
oil

actually, thats not true. If you read your owners manual, It says Mercury oil is "recommended" and if not advailable use use another brand that is NMMA certified TC-W3. How would they know if you use a different brand anyway?. I've gone thru this with a dealer. I ended up with a new motor and a new dealer.
Clay
 
Ante is correct Mercury does not require the use of thier oil for warranty they can only tell you what kind of oil it needs to be
 
sorry folks - should have read that before i posted it and perhaps been a little clearer. Of course merc would perfer the use of their oils. what i meant is that they can tell when an inferior oil has been used in an engine that has failed, especially when they plug into the ecu and check out the engine temperatures, water pressure and whatever else is in that overpriced part, as well as oil injection function. these factors will certainly indicate if an inferior quality product has been used.

i can't speak for merc USA but i can speak for Merc Canada and their warranty polices. EVERY single powerhead be it 2 or 4 storke is returned for warranty inspection and torn down to determine the reason for failure. then and only then will they issue credit for the powerhead. Most times the service rep will come to the marina for a peak at the power head and will want it partially disassembled. i know this because i worked at merc dealerships for 10 years. i have also seen very expensive claims be denied due to "customer abuse" - read into that whatever you like.

at the end of the day, not all TCW3 oils are the same and the cheaper ones are cheaper for a reason. so as usual it is buyer beware. in the grand scheme of things oil is cheap, powerheads are expensive, you are under no obligation to use one brand or another but, whatever you use, make sure it is the best quality oil you can find.

i hope that is a little clearer - having spent 10 years dealing with warranty issues tends to make one a little wary of using anything but the manufacturers parts and lubes, they look for any reason to reject a claim these days - talk about customer service!
 
True but as long a your oil meets all the requirments tcw3 and any other the manufacturer cannotvoid the claim for an oil issue whether it costs 1$ or 10$ a litre.
 
Blizz said:
True but as long a your oil meets all the requirments tcw3 and any other the manufacturer cannotvoid the claim for an oil issue whether it costs 1$ or 10$ a litre.
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Years and years and years ago, i was at an OMC service meetingand they were just introducing thier new TCW3 oil (10-12 years ago anyway). The head of OMC service said directly to all of us that under no circumstances were the customers to use the cheap off brand oil. if they couldn't get OMC oil they were to run mercury oil as the only acceptable alternative. Never thought i'd see the day that the competitions product would be recommended - i just about fell off my chair.
 
I ended up getting Mercury oil from a local marina that sells it in bulk at $16.00 a gallon (the opti oil is a little more). Expensive when compared to Pennzoil but a lot cheaper than buying it in the Mercury jugs!
 
Run what the manufacturer recommends because that is what the motor was developed/tested with. Other oils might work and other oils might work better and other oils might lubricate less... but the manufacturer oil will work period.

This is some advise I got once from a fellow who works at Mercury Marine...
 
oil

I'm not saying to not use what man recommends just saying you don't need to use theirs. My dads been a Certified Merc tech for over 30 years. Mercury doesn't make thier own oil anyways.
 
Drex said:
I ended up getting Mercury oil from a local marina that sells it in bulk at $16.00 a gallon (the opti oil is a little more). Expensive when compared to Pennzoil but a lot cheaper than buying it in the Mercury jugs!
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Totally forgot about that trick Drex, lots of dealers do that, they still make a bit of money on the bulk and its way cheaper than the buying by the jug. I don't no what you pay in the States for oil but the place i worked at last year was selling opti oil for 44.95 for 5 litres.
 
When I bought the boat last summer the guy I bought it from said he mixed it 32:1 but that it fouled plugs if you idle'd for too long. The first time I drove it, it seemed to load up after about 5min of idling so I started mixing 40:1 because jay smith said it was fine form motors that turn under 8K. It ran great after that and then I got it out this spring and the first time out it ran great too. Then I started mixing it at 32:1 because I was reading on here, and was afraid of damaging my motor, well I took it out 2 times and it was fine but a couple weeks ago I had it on a lake with a channel that connects and it takes about 10 min to make it through. It started running crappy when I went through the first time, then I came back and it got really bad, I could barely keep it running and I reved it up and tons of smoke came out, and it kept running bad, So i took off and tried running it full throttle to clean it out and would not hit top speed so i put it on the trailer and brought it home. Pulled the plugs and they are oily and so i put new ones in but haven't taken it out again yet. I hope it was jus the plugs -shane
 
I've been running 32/1 for a dozen years now with my 2.5 carbed 245hp.I try to use 2 sets of plugs a season.Its almost mandatory to keep them running right.

The smoke gets is pretty tiresome. Its hard for me to get the wife out anymore becuase she gets embarrased by.
 
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