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This has probably been discussed here a million times, but hey, what's one more time gonna hurt?
I just bought a used pontoon with a 2003 Mercury 40 horse 2 stroke motor with oil injection. Can any 2 stroke marine oil rated TCW3 work? Are synthetics or synthetic blends better than non-synthetic oil? What's the advantages to synthetics?
I don't know what type of oil is in it now, so can I add synthetic to "regular" (non-synthetic) oil?
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Any TCW3 will work. Some will talk about additives and all this other stuff but Wallmart branded oil is as good as any in that motor. No need for synthetic unless your running a really high Reving race type motor.
I'm with Cray on this :ThumbsUp
My 1999 Merc 90hp gets Pennzoil Marine ... but my 1984 Yamaha 70hp ran like a scalded dog on Wal-Mart's Super Tech marine oil. They're both TC-W3.
You might ask the previous owner what was used, but if you can't do that ... I'd just stick with regular 2cycle oil that has the TC-W3 rating. Siphon out the old oil if you don't trust it or don't trust mixing.
I am gonna say that their are things you can do to shorten the life of your engine or hamper its performance....but running a cheap TCW-3 oil is not one of them. And I do not believe blending them on an occasion or two will hurt either.
Years ago I had a new 1976 (told you longtime ago) Mercury 5HP on a little pond boat. It ran really well but was hard to start. I was buying 2 stroke oil at the gas station, probably Quakerstate or similar. I took a marine engine light repair course at the time and the instructor told me to put Quicksilver oil in it. From that point on it started on the first half pull. So I have run Quicksilver 2 stroke oil ever since. Things have probably changed since then, but I don't use enough oil to make a financial difference, so I've stuck with it, even with my Yamahas. I use probably 3 gallons a year, and I get it at Wal-Mart (or my repair shop for $1 more.)
quicksilver in my merc, I have seen the deposits left behind from cheaper oils. I prefer to spend a little on oil, instead of a lot on a motor
I agree quicksilver is a great oil. That what I run in my Yamaha VMAX. I talked to my local boat dealer and they told me that it was a good oil to use. I would steer clear of the cheaper oils. I would use a good brand of oil Quicksilver, Mercury, or Yamaha. Quicksilver is usually alittle cheaper on price.
quicksilver is Mercury, The OMC oils are good also.
If you read the ingredient listings on here : MSDS Search Results
... you will see that some oils contain solvents, mineral oil, detergents, esters, and/or paraffin. Some brands are basically the same as others, with the only difference being different percentages of the contents.
And if you read here : http://msds.walmartstores.com/client...&subformat=NAM ... you will see that Wal-Mart Super Tech is comprised of many of the same ingredients as other brand name oils.
IMHO .... if you have a brand new motor, and the warranty would be voided by using anything other than the suggested brand of oil ... then I'd use that oil. Once the warranty period is over, most any TC-W3 rated oil should be fine. :twocents
Thanks to all who replied! Since it's an older motor, I'll just go with a "regular" 2 stroke TC-W3 oil. I use Quick Silver in a 1970 9.5 horse Johnson that I have and it runs great, so I'll use that in the Mercury 40 horse too. Thank again!
I use Quicksilver in my my 150 Yamaha and 40 Johnson. I did however use another brand, Pennzoil, a few times because it was cheaper but I'll never do that again. I'm not saying that Pennzoil is not a good oil because there are probably a lot of people use it or they would not exist today. I just won't mix different oils together. It clumped up and I had to remove and clean the oil tank and blow out the lines. So this being said, try to find out the oil they were using and go with that.