Im due for an oil change for my boat and im wondering what the concensus
is on Synthetic oil vs. Mercruiser brand for a 7.4 liter (454ci) 1988
engine.
Is it worth the extra $$$?

RK
27' Sunrunner
Lake Simcoe
Ontario,Canada

hi
everyone i know who has used synthetic oil in car motors has blown them up
..


"Doobie" wrote in message
5.104...
Im due for an oil change for my boat and im wondering what the concensus
is on Synthetic oil vs. Mercruiser brand for a 7.4 liter (454ci) 1988
engine.
Is it worth the extra $$$?

RK
27' Sunrunner
Lake Simcoe
Ontario,Canada

Subject: Synthetic Oil?
From: "fraggy"

hi
everyone i know who has used synthetic oil in car motors has blown them up

The oil cannot be held responsible for operator error.

Capt. Bill

x-no-archive:yes Doobie wrote:

Im due for an oil change for my boat and im wondering what the concensus
is on Synthetic oil vs. Mercruiser brand for a 7.4 liter (454ci) 1988
engine.
Is it worth the extra $$$?

We use it in all our vehicles (car and boat) and have been very happy
with it. We've been using it for 15 years or more, and I was at one
point averaging 100 miles/ working day. We now have it in our Perkins
diesel that's in our boat (4-154), in two Mercedes diesels (1982 and
1985), and a Lynx diesel (1984). We've also put it in our daughter's
truck which was a Ford gasoline engine.

We use enough that it is worthwhile for Bob to be a dealer which gives
him a bit of a discount.

grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id2.html

Been using synthetic in our 4 stroke out boards for years. GREAT!

and I am talking tour boats with thousands of hours.

What kind of synthetic would you use in a diesel??

Sterling

On 01 Sep 2003 01:02:06 GMT, (Florida Keyz) wrote:

Been using synthetic in our 4 stroke out boards for years. GREAT!

and I am talking tour boats with thousands of hours.

What kind of synthetic would you use in a diesel??

I use Castrol Syntech in my diesel. It's a synthetic blend that has the
CF rating and isn't as expensive as a full blown synthetic. I think
synthetic is a waste of money if you're still going to change the oil at
the recommended intervals AND if your engine is not running at the very
high temperatures that bake dino oil.

There are only a very few straight dino oils that are rated for diesel.
In fact, off the top of my head I can only think of Shell Rotella-T.
All the normal stuff you see at Pep Boys shouldn't be used in a diesel
because it doesn't have the Cx rating.

Steve

On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:32:12 GMT, Rosalie B.
wrote:

x-no-archive:yes Doobie wrote:

Im due for an oil change for my boat and im wondering what the concensus
is on Synthetic oil vs. Mercruiser brand for a 7.4 liter (454ci) 1988
engine.
Is it worth the extra $$$?

We use it in all our vehicles (car and boat) and have been very happy
with it. We've been using it for 15 years or more, and I was at one
point averaging 100 miles/ working day. We now have it in our Perkins
diesel that's in our boat (4-154), in two Mercedes diesels (1982 and
1985), and a Lynx diesel (1984). We've also put it in our daughter's
truck which was a Ford gasoline engine.

We use enough that it is worthwhile for Bob to be a dealer which gives
him a bit of a discount.

grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156

Grandma Rosalie,

What brand do you use and recommend for diesel engines? Is it
specially formulated for diesels or is it the same synthetic oil that
is used for gasoline engines? Where can I purchase it? Since you are
on board and use your boat often, what do you think about Brian's
point that pure synthetic would not be as good for an engine that
remains idle for long periods of time? Unfortunately, that is the
situation with my boat at this time.

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove

Well there's your problem right there. Changing the oil every 10-15k Is
about 3 times the recommended interval. Ah but your going to say "I used
synthectic". Doesn't matter. The reason to use synthetics is for the
lubrication properties and the resistance to breakdown, it still picks up
impurities and dirt just as fast as the traditional oils. You still need to
change your oil every 5K.

Pierre
"Famous Amos Moses®" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 31 Aug 2003 20:55:55 +0000 (UTC), "fraggy"
wrote:

hi
everyone i know who has used synthetic oil in car motors has blown them
up

I used synthetic oil in my cars....and they have all quit....after
200,000+; 245,000; and 260,000 miles. I never had one make it to
300,000.....

They might have lasted longer if I would have done more than change
the oil....but door handle would come off...the plastic
cracks...sensors fail....the damn pieces of junk. The current car
only has 150,000 miles and the paint is peeling, dashboard cracked
from hot sun...and the radio doesn't work.

...of course I change the oil every 10-15K. But that doesn't help
with the dings, dents and abuse.

On the boat, however, I run a Perkins 4-107, and I just think the oil
should be changed far more frequently.

I'll change the oil in the boat at 50+ hours....I tend to not go over
too much.

x-no-archive:yes
(Lee Huddleston) wrote:

On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 00:32:12 GMT, Rosalie B.
wrote:

Doobie wrote:

Im due for an oil change for my boat and im wondering what the concensus
is on Synthetic oil vs. Mercruiser brand for a 7.4 liter (454ci) 1988
engine.
Is it worth the extra $$$?

We use it in all our vehicles (car and boat) and have been very happy
with it. We've been using it for 15 years or more, and I was at one
point averaging 100 miles/ working day. We now have it in our Perkins
diesel that's in our boat (4-154), in two Mercedes diesels (1982 and
1985), and a Lynx diesel (1984). We've also put it in our daughter's
truck which was a Ford gasoline engine.

We use enough that it is worthwhile for Bob to be a dealer which gives
him a bit of a discount.


Grandma Rosalie,

What brand do you use and recommend for diesel engines? Is it
specially formulated for diesels or is it the same synthetic oil that
is used for gasoline engines? Where can I purchase it? Since you are
on board and use your boat often, what do you think about Brian's
point that pure synthetic would not be as good for an engine that
remains idle for long periods of time? Unfortunately, that is the
situation with my boat at this time.

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove

Bob uses Amsoil of the correct type in everything - in the boat
diesel, in the car diesels, in the outboards (2 stroke) and in the
weed wacker and chain saw - everything. He also uses it in the
transmissions and in the gear boxes. He gets it from Amsoil. Look in
the telephone book in the yellow pages - Bob says there's bound to be
someone that advertises that he's a dealer. Our marina is an Amsoil
dealer.

Although we have at times been 'out there' we haven't used the boat as
much since we got back in the spring of 2002. And we've used the
Amsoil in the cars which have been here without being used all winter.
I think synthetic is *better* and not worse for engines that sit for
long periods.

Bob changes the boat engine oil every 200 hours (I can't imagine doing
it every 20 hours unless that is a season's worth), and in the cars
about every 5000 miles.

grandma Rosalie

x-no-archive:yes "Keith" wrote:

I kinda doubt it for an engine that old. For one thing, it's viscosity is
lower than what you're probably using right now, so you might use more. It
also might break a lot of gunk loose. For an engine that age, I'd just stick
with regular mineral oil and a good change interval. Oh yea, and Wix filters
if you can get them. None of that Fram crap.

We used to think this too, but we don't have anything BUT old engines
and we've not had that problem. The last new car we bought was a 1974
pickup. Our current cars that we are driving are all older than 1985,
and the boat is a 1979 - bought used and synthetic put in them ASAP.
One of the outboards is from the 50s and the other is probably very
early 1980s.

Do agree about using good filters though. We use the Amsoil filters
too or Hastings which are the same.

Now for a relatively new engine, I'd swear by synthetic. Have used it in
several cars and it's fantastic. Matter of fact, Corvettes come with pure
synthetic (Mobil 1) from the factory.

For a diesel, there are some synthetics specifically for diesels (CI) like
Amsoil. I think Shell makes one as well, just make sure it's for diesels. If
you really want to go whole hog with your system, install a bypass
filtration system, like the one from Amsoil or the Gulf Coast Jr. and as
long as you test your oil, you'll probably never have to change it again,
just top off occasionally.

grandma Rosalie
http://www12.virtualtourist.com/m/4a9c6/