2 Stroke Oil

[Lightning]

My dealer ran out of Mercury Premium Plus oil and I began looking at different oils to run. Knowing that Mercury doesn't own a refinery I was wondering what company makes the oil for them? Looking at the Pennzoil web site, http://www.pennzoil.com/products/marine/index.html, it looks like there oil brands are very close to Mercurys, http://northamerica.mercurymarine.com/otherproducts/maintenance/index.php, and they are avalible at Wal Mart. Anybody using Pennzoil Full Synthetic?

 

[GotMyAlly]

I ran two tanks of merc prem plus thru mine during breakin and then Pennzoil full synthetic is all i've ran in it since.

4 years later, still running strong.

 

[catfish123]

I have done exactly the same thing Neal did with no problems.

 

[Lightning]

Did you have to empty the oil tank before you changed over? Had a mechanic tell me that Yamaha oil and Merc oil will get little clumps in it if it's mixed. Haven't heard about mixing Pennzoil and Merc.

 

[whipper]

Red runs penzoil also. I was told it didnt matter when you switch. I was running Aylsan full Synthetic untill last week for a year and switched back to Merc pluss after Jay smith and others told me to run the merc on a steel bore motor. I just ran down the tank and filled her up 40/1 with the pluss and tank is empty again no problems. When my injection was on and switched I just added it to the oil tank. I went from pluss to full synthetic the first change over into the oil tank. If the penzoil is synthetic blend same as pluss it would be even less drastic. I cant see it makeing a differance. if your worried just take the tank out and dump back into the jug and save it for a day when you run pluss again. That way you have piece of mind also.

 

[Redding XB21]

Any comments about the West Marine Premium oil?

On sale for $10.99/gl (reg17.99) vs $25+ for merc prem+.

I know that West Marine also has "3" levels of TC-W3.

 

[john4utvols]

I swapped over to Penz and I love it so far. The price was a little higher, but my marina quit carrying Mercs Hi Po, So I was going to have to change anyway. One thing I love about the Penz is it doesn't smoke near as much as the Merc did. It also smells like playdough if anyone has noticed.

 

[David Lanham]

I noticed Penzoil makes a Premium Plus (not 100 systthetic) oil. I wonder how close it is to Merc Prem +? Prob the same oil.

Like Whipper said, Jay Smith doesn't recommend full synthetics on steel motors. +, the merc guy on this board, JimmyB, long ago told me to run Prem +. So the word stops there..

I'm sticking with the Merc Premium +. I'm close to 300 hours on my 225X and I still have less than 2% leak-down.

Darn stuff is expensive though. But, Bass Pro had Prem + on sale last year for $14 and some change/Gal. I bought 15 gallons.

 

[JR]

I have only run Penzoil synthetic blend and synthethic + Wal Mart TC 3 blended together. Curtis says he has never seen a 1000 hour+ exhaust [like mine] that is still spotless.

 

[GotMyAlly]

I noticed Penzoil makes a Premium Plus (not 100 systthetic) oil. I wonder how close it is to Merc Prem +? Prob the same oil.

I ran that stuff in my old motor (150 fastrike) and it had a gazillion hours on it (back when gas was .79 cents a gallong and I lived close enough to the water to fish 4 days a week). Never had a problem, but then again that motor ran 5600 RPMs @ WOT with a lite load so it may have lived a long life on just about any oil.

 

[Lightning]

I called Mercury Racing and they said they could only recommend the Mercury Premium Plus for the 2.5XS because it is the only oil that they ever used in qualifing that engine. He also said you could use there DFI oil if nothing else was avalible but to go back to the premium plus and, of course, suggested not using any other brand. I think he was reading everything he told me.

 

[Lightning]

Like Whipper said, Jay Smith doesn't recommend full synthetics on steel motors. +, the merc guy on this board, JimmyB, long ago told me to run Prem +. So the word stops there..

Did they give a reason??

 

[RedAllison]

I ran my 225SS on purty much a solid diet of BP 93 and 100% Pennz. She was clean and purrin when I sold her after 7 years.

My 225XS uses so little oil I simply DON'T care anymore, goin back to Merc Prem Plus although it's had a gallon of Pennz Semi run through it earlier this year. (Mixes perfectly with Merc PremPlus btw) Everyone says it has additives to help lesson carbon build up so that's all the more reason I bought another gallon last week.

Jeff Calbaugh said he doesn't like 100% syn oils in Nic motors from visuals he's seen many times. Merc doesn't recommend it either. Majority of 2.5 owners I know swear by Merc HiPo. But Merc also says, "No syn in steel motors". But there sure are alot of us out there that have run GALLONS of syn thru ProMaxs and never missed a beat.

Hell I'm considerin a pint or so of Benol to add too my Merc Prem Plus in my 225Sporty just to get "that smell"... :cool
RA

 

[JR]

There is nothing as sweet as the smell of either Castor [bean oil] or raw Avgas. I will probably have lung cancer someday from all of the Methanol/nitrobenzene/castor I inhaled while GoKart racing.

 

[citabriatom]

There is nothing as sweet as the smell of either Castor [bean oil] or raw Avgas.
Isn't that the truth!

 

[whipper]

Did they give a reason??

Yes they did but i cant remember the explanation?:banghead I know this from this week though. i switched back to pluss last week and the plugs look way cleaner than the aylsan I was running and the soot on the prop is way down. The smoke at start up is almost nill and motor has never ran better. If i remeber correctly but this may not be one of the resons was the difference in tollorences between the nick and the steel bores to the pistons. The steel bore have more room and the thicker oil, pluss over full synthetic lubricates the more porise steel better than the thin coat? something like that and more?

 

[Lightning]

Academy Sporting Goods carries Premium Plus for $18 a gal vs $28 at the local dealer. Guess I'll just keep using that.
You right about the smell of racing fuels. Can't beat it.

 

[John Richied]

I too have a 1996 225 ProMax (steel sleeves) that after break-in when to straight fully synthetic Klotz KL-333, and it has a ton of hours on it. It

 

[catfish123]

I agree with you John 100%. Jay had really recommended fully synthetic oil for steel sleeve motors but always with the caution of making sure the motor was broken in first. Twenty hours or so was believed to be enough before the changeover. I think he is now hesitant to recommend it at all and seems to lean more towards the synthetic blends for steel sleeved motors. I have now seen that if you do switch to it, it should be after 100 hours. Things do change I guess so opinions may too. My motor was switched to Pennzoil 100% synthetic at about 15 hours when he was recommending it. No problems so far.

 

[GotMyAlly]

What is the new breakthru that suddenly makes full syn a no-no for steel sleeve motors? Something had to change, or some new revelation, to change the general concensus on this subject.