Engine Oils

Michael T

Just got my electronic version of Boating Magazine. There was a very interesting article (quite long) about the selection of the appropriate marine engine oil and how Mercruiser approaches this topic.

Also,  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all forum members and their families as well as all those who serve.

As well a special thank you to forum hosts, Rinker Boats and our Moderators for this (IMO) - the best boating forum there is!

randy56

Merry Christmas 

raybo3

Michael T said:

Also,  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all forum members and their families as well as all those who serve.

As well a special thank you to forum hosts, Rinker Boats and our Moderators for this (IMO) - the best boating forum there is!

Thank you MT and same to you and your family...

Dream_Inn

Merry Christmas MT and all of you! Enjoy that special time with family! I know I'm enjoying the first year home from college for my daughter.

pistole

just regular engine oil , changed at regular intervals .... 

jhofmann

Used Mobil-1 in my Searay for 20 years, changed every year with no issues. Using Mercruiser synthetic blend in my Rinker. Engines are too expensive to use cheap oil!!

Michael T

@jhoffman - agreed. I started using the new Mercruiser fully synthetic a few years back until Mercruiser discontinued it in favor of semi synthetic which they told me was better for engines having catalytic converters.

As we all know every major oil on the market has some synthetic properties in it or it would never pass EPA mileage/pollution requirements.

I still remember my uncle, a Phd. chemical engineer who was V.P. of oil engineering at a major oil company, who showed me the reports on oil testing. No mineral based "dino oil" could begin to approach the protective capabilities of synthetic oil.

Of particular interest to me was the fact that there are often super fast short duration high temperature spikes in engines that go completely undetected unless caught as part of a computer tracking program - during one of these spikes non-synthetic oil vaporizes leaving metal to metal contact, whereas synthetic oils do not. These events shorten the life of engines if the oil does not protect them.

There is no reliable substitute to synthetic oil - that has not been a debatable point for, I'll say, at least 10 years.

As you said @jhoffman " Engines are too expensive to use cheap oil" .....and life is too short to drink cheap wine - I believe @LaRea stated that once.

Wise comments both of you!

Dream_Inn

Michael T said:

As you said @jhoffman " Engines are too expensive to use cheap oil" .....and life is too short to drink cheap wine - I believe @LaRea stated that once.

Wise comments both of you!

Hmmm, you sure it was wine.  Knowing @LaRea, I'd think he'd say whiskey.

LaRea

Life's too short for bad engine oil, wine, Scotch or music.  So I'll need to read that article on engine oil.  

69fastback

Conventional oil of the appropriate viscosity is what I use. Routine maintenance is far more important than what kind of oil you use. I don't know of a single engine failure that can be traced back to conventional vs synthetic vs brand ect.....

Michael T

Never really worried about engine failure - but premature wear - which oil scheduled changes and type directly affect. Changing engine and drive oil IS part of my "routine maintenance".

jhofmann

I agree that regular maintaince is more important than what type of oil is used. However, if something happens such as overheating or sudden loss of oil pressure, you will do less damage to the engine if your running synthetic oil. To me, this is cheap insurance, with a slight performance gain, and peace of mind.

69fastback

jhofmann said:

I agree that regular maintaince is more important than what type of oil is used. However, if something happens such as overheating or sudden loss of oil pressure, you will do less damage to the engine if your running synthetic oil. To me, this is cheap insurance, with a slight performance gain, and peace of mind.

A generalization that's not necessarily true, but if that's what makes anyone feel better, that's what counts. I run conventional oils in very high demand motors that run in extreme conditions, and there are reasons for that, but oil threads always end the same so we can leave it at that. In the end, run what you have confidence in, and keep it changed. I've never seen any personal real world evidence that a synthetic oil protects against any premature wear better than conventional oil does. 

Michael T

It would be very hard to attribute any "real world" evidence of damage/wear to low percentage synthetic v.s. higher percentage synthetic but if anyone is really interested I have read lab reports from Shell Oil and Mobil Oil that clearly demonstrate the vastly superior benefits of synthetic oils regarding resistance to high temperature volatility, destabilization and sheer v.s. oils with low percentage synthetic. Particularly newer engines with their catalytic converters that run so much hotter at all times, yet alone when stressed due to unforeseen or abnormal operating parameters. Of course, it is personal choice.