Synthetic oil in a four stroke outboard motor

You know the drill..

Moderators: Redneck_Randy, badmoonrising, lakerunner

Post Reply
Message
Author
RcgTexas
Posts: 2656
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:37 am
Location: Texas

Synthetic oil in a four stroke outboard motor

#1 Post by RcgTexas » Wed May 25, 2016 7:39 pm

Anyone using synthetic such as "Mobil 1" in their 4 stroke outboards?

Thinking of doing it just wondering.
1995 beachcomber conversion to tritoon with Honda 135 ,

Link to rebuild [url=http://www.pontoonforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19016][Knot Normal][/url]

God Bless America

ralph
Posts: 315
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2015 7:02 pm
Location: Elyria, Ohio

Re: Synthetic oil in a four stroke outboard motor

#2 Post by ralph » Thu May 26, 2016 4:09 am

I'm using the Yamaha brand of synthetic oil while under warranty. Perhaps after the warranty is out I will switch.
2015 Sweetwater 2086 Coastal Edition - All Toon'd Up
2015 90 HP Yamaha
Mid American Dual Wheel Bunk Trailer
2017 4WD GMC Canyon

Bamaman
Posts: 3679
Joined: Fri May 06, 2011 1:44 pm
Location: NW Alabama--Tennessee River

Re: Synthetic oil in a four stroke outboard motor

#3 Post by Bamaman » Thu May 26, 2016 7:30 am

Mobil 1 has never been "certified" for marine use. That tells me that Mobil/Exxon has chosen to never spend the money to have the oil tested and certified because the marine oil market is tiny in comparison with the auto/truck retail market. It's as good or higher quality oil than anything Mercury or Yamaha sells. We all know marine manufacturers are oil retailers, not manufacturers.

That said, I changed my oil 2 years ago with Mobil 1 Extended Performance--a superior oil to plain ole Mobil 1. When I changed oil (to Mobil 1 EP) yesterday, the old oil looked like brand new. Five quart jug at Walmart was $25--about the same as 2 1/2 quarts of YamahaLube. I also changed the oil filter on my Yamaha F150 to a Motorcraft 900--same filter as the much more expensive Yamaha filter.

At 20 hours, I changed oil, and I wanted to run dino oil one time in case the engine had not been completely broken in. After reading on BobIsTheOilGuy.com, I used Rotella diesel/universal oil. While you don't want to use it in any engine that has a catalytic converter, it does a great job in 4 stroke outboard motors and it's very cheap @ $3 per quart.
'12 Bennington 24' SSLX Yamaha 150

RcgTexas
Posts: 2656
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2014 6:37 am
Location: Texas

Re: Synthetic oil in a four stroke outboard motor

#4 Post by RcgTexas » Thu May 26, 2016 11:53 am

The service classification meets the guidelines per the service manual so I think I will try it. Thanks for the replies guys.
1995 beachcomber conversion to tritoon with Honda 135 ,

Link to rebuild [url=http://www.pontoonforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=19016][Knot Normal][/url]

God Bless America

User avatar
rancherlee
Posts: 580
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:59 am
Location: Eveleth MN

Re: Synthetic oil in a four stroke outboard motor

#5 Post by rancherlee » Sat May 28, 2016 3:41 am

I'm running Mobile 1 Highmileage 10w40 since its one of the few 40W oils they offer and that's the important number when considering oils, suzuki wants 10w40. The first number is not important on engines that don't see below freezing use so I try to get one that has the LEAST amount of "stretch" between the numbers. I say stretch because that's what it is, the further the numbers apart, the more non-lubracative additives needed to "stretch" between those numbers.
1988' Kennedy 20' "Haley's Comet"
Rebuilt 2016 with 25" single strake outer tubes and a 25x23" straked U-tube
2003 Suzuki DF140 - Yamaha 9.9HT kicker - 39.1@6300rpm

Post Reply