2 stroke oil....true or false

[katieclooney]

Ok, so I went out for the first time ever on my boat.....when I picked it up the mechanic at the marina reminded me to mix oil and gas at 50:1 ratio.
told him yep, got some yesterday at Menards. He asked if it was Johnson/Evinrude oil since my motor is a '84 Johnson/Evinrude. Said it was Penzoil synthetic blend 2 Cycle marine oil. He said do not put Penzoil oil in cause it sucks. http://www.menards.com/main/tools-hardw ... -10098.htm
He advised highly against anything but Johnson oil. I was talking a boating friend and he said that Johnson doesn't make oil, they put their name on it but its not theirs.


regardless, should I be putting strictly Johnson oil in there? Or was this a gimmick to get me to buy their oil?

[Bamaman]

Heck, I've been using WalMart's house brand outboard motor oil in the oil injection on my 1985 Yamaha 115 hp 2 stroke since the engine was new. I also used it in my Kawasaki stand up jetski and my 1990 SeaDoo. The SeaDoo is still running great.

Not the first second's problems have been experienced on any of my rides.

Many bass fishermen use Pennzoil outboard motor oil as a cheaper alternative to the OEM manufacturers' oils. They all praise it on bbcboards.net. And they run many more hours on the water than pontoon owners commonly do.

Don't always believe what you're told.

[katieclooney]

I thought so. My boat friend wouldn't steer me wrong and when I told him that he thought it was a crock of crap.
Just thought Id ask some tooners as well to add to peace of mind.

[schmeg]

This issue crops up on almost every forum I go to. If you use any 2 stroke oil with a TCW3 rating, you'll be fine.

[Heatman]

Once my Yamaha was out of warranty I switched to Penzoil full synthetic. That was 6 years ago and no problems.

[MH Hawker]

Yea + 1 any TCW 3 oil and your good to go I have been running the 12.50 a gallon wally oil for 15 years and never a problem at all, the newer synthetics smoke a bit less but thats all. I put 150 hours plus on mine a year.

[oldmn19]

The rating on the container is Fact, the mechanic's answer is his opinion,BS.

[jrolin1]

The Penn synthetic blend is an excellent high rated oil. I would use it without hesitation.

[Bryden24shp]

Agreed! I never had a problem running off brand 2 stroke oil in anything, from my weed whips to my outboards. I did use only Evinrude XD-100 in my Etec, only because I set it to run Full Synthetic 100-1 ratio and did'nt want to void the warranty.
Back in the old days, the marinas sold 'Pre Mix' at the pumps. You never what type of oil was in that. I also know of one harbor that used straight 30, non detergent Motor oil in there work boats, Chrysler 2 strokes.

[Bamaman]

Bryan: I think two stroke oils years ago were the equivalent to 20 weight oil and they're non-detergant.

You're right about using special oil in the ETEC's if you have them programmed for the 100:1. I assume it's worth the price of the oil since so little is used.

People don't realize that there are so few sources of oils in this world. I think a vast percentage of motor oils in the U.S. just comes from 3 refineries, but it's sold in many, many different names. And even the full synthetics are mineral oils in reality.

Mercury sure makes a big profit as a jobber/middleman shipping oil to their dealers, and the dealers also have to put another profit on the product.

I get a kick out of watching customers go into parts departments at Honda dealerships buying oil. They're buying Mobil's absolutely cheapest oil produced--not the good stuff. And they're paying out the nose for it.

Look at BobIsTheOilGuy.com for everything to do with lubrication. They also have a marine section on oils.

That's where I read about all the fishing fleets out of South Florida running mega hours using diesel or universal oil, as it's so cheap. And it does a great job in any engine without catalytic converters.

[belercous]

2 stroke engines are very forgiving beasts. They're not particular about the oil they get, so long as they get oil. I've been running the cheapo WalMart oil for years in my Merc, with zero problems. The injector system is set up somewhere around 55 to 1. I had the engine semi-aprt last year, no carbon build-up on the ports, in the cylinder or on the piston dome.

I'm fairly familar with 2 stroke engines. I've ran Wesson oil (premix) in dirt bikes when I didn't have 2 stroke oil. 10W-40 at times too. Once, I took congealed bacon grease & mixed it with gasoline in a weedwhip, ran fine but it smelled like bacon. 2 stroke engines don't care about the grade of oil they burn, just so long as they have some type of oil.

However, one caveat if running anything other than 2 strike oil. Make sure the oil is in solution with the gas. 2 strike oil does this instantly, thast's why it's 2 stroke oil. For any other type of oil you may need to get it in solution first. This often requires a lot of shaking. Once the oil is in solution, you're good. It took a lot of shaking for me to get the bacon grease dissolved, but once it was everything worked fine.

I've had a lot of 2 stroke engines apart & the only ones that seized up were due to a broken cable on the oil injector pump. None from a premix. Older EZ-GO golf carts ran a 128:1 mixture which freaked me out, yet these things have ran for years. Spend more for oil might make one feel better, but one gains no advantage, mechanically speaking.

[BobG]

[bogus]Hi, my name is Vernon C Johnson. That's right, that's MY name on your engine. In addition to being a multi-Brazillianaire, I also have three (count 'em three) degrees in Petroleum Engineering. If you use my Johnson 2 Stroke Oil, you will be getting one ingredient that is not present in ANY other motor oil: Johnson Patented Bullcrappium. It's the third order derivitive of Unobtanium. You really should use my Johnson 2 Stroke Oil in your Johnson Outboard Motor. Heck, my mom COOKS with it.[/bogus]

[margaritaman]

Yeah Bob! You use the oil to 2 stroke your Johnson.

[OK Toon]

2 stroke engines are very forgiving beasts. They're not particular about the oil they get, so long as they get oil. I've been running the cheapo WalMart oil for years in my Merc, with zero problems. The injector system is set up somewhere around 55 to 1. I had the engine semi-aprt last year, no carbon build-up on the ports, in the cylinder or on the piston dome.

I'm fairly familar with 2 stroke engines. I've ran Wesson oil (premix) in dirt bikes when I didn't have 2 stroke oil. 10W-40 at times too. Once, I took congealed bacon grease & mixed it with gasoline in a weedwhip, ran fine but it smelled like bacon. 2 stroke engines don't care about the grade of oil they burn, just so long as they have some type of oil.

However, one caveat if running anything other than 2 strike oil. Make sure the oil is in solution with the gas. 2 strike oil does this instantly, thast's why it's 2 stroke oil. For any other type of oil you may need to get it in solution first. This often requires a lot of shaking. Once the oil is in solution, you're good. It took a lot of shaking for me to get the bacon grease dissolved, but once it was everything worked fine.

I've had a lot of 2 stroke engines apart & the only ones that seized up were due to a broken cable on the oil injector pump. None from a premix. Older EZ-GO golf carts ran a 128:1 mixture which freaked me out, yet these things have ran for years. Spend more for oil might make one feel better, but one gains no advantage, mechanically speaking.

The rest of your statement is good, but that one line stood out to me --- mmm, bacon. I'm afraid I'd try to eat the weedwhacker after smelling bacon for a few hours.

[belercous]

OK Toon: I didn't mention that I burnt my lips on the weedwhip's exhaust. Bacon can be a very seductive mistress (even after being totally used & abused by a 2 stroke engine). I only got a stroke & a half in before I realized the exhaust was a Siren's call. 2nd degree lip burns pretty much killed the mood, & I really regretted not getting the last half stroke in. It was almost worth it; I was very close to achieving total sexio-culinary satisfaction. On the bright side, I no longer get aroused by BLT sandwhiches so eating in public is no longer (as) shameful for me.