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

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

Doobie wrote in message . 95.104...
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

Very Interesting question! I installed twin Mercruiser 350s (and Bravo
III outdrives) in May 2000. When oil change time came around, I bought
Mobil One oil. A yachting buddy recommended it and I was "going to do
it right." I just happened to read the Operation and Maintenance
Manual one last time before beginning. In the 2000 manual, page 77, it
says, in big bold type, "IMPORTANT: The use of non-detergent oils,
multi-viscosity oils (other than Quicksilver 25W-40 or a good quality
20W-40 or 20W-50), synthetic oils, low quiality oils or oils that
contain solid additives are specifically not recommended."

I called another buddy, who has an 1986 Mercruiser 350 (and manual).
His manual is identical except that the phrase "synethetic oils" is
not there. I interpret this to mean that Mercury has, somewhere
between 1986 and 2000, specifically added a recommendation against
synthetic oils.

I took all the Mobil One back, bought the Quicksilver Oil (its
available within walking distance of my slip and is not excessively
expensive) and change the oil and filter every 100 hours or less. Like
the book says.

FWIW

On 1 Sep 2003 20:49:29 -0700, (Bob) wrote:

Doobie wrote in message . 95.104...
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

Very Interesting question! I installed twin Mercruiser 350s (and Bravo
III outdrives) in May 2000. When oil change time came around, I bought
Mobil One oil. A yachting buddy recommended it and I was "going to do
it right." I just happened to read the Operation and Maintenance
Manual one last time before beginning. In the 2000 manual, page 77, it
says, in big bold type, "IMPORTANT: The use of non-detergent oils,
multi-viscosity oils (other than Quicksilver 25W-40 or a good quality
20W-40 or 20W-50), synthetic oils, low quiality oils or oils that
contain solid additives are specifically not recommended."

I called another buddy, who has an 1986 Mercruiser 350 (and manual).
His manual is identical except that the phrase "synethetic oils" is
not there. I interpret this to mean that Mercury has, somewhere
between 1986 and 2000, specifically added a recommendation against
synthetic oils.

Probably because, while synthetic oil like Mobile One was around in
1986, not many people were using it so there was no need to warn against
it. By 2000, synthetics became very popular and for some reason, they
don't want you to use them.

The reason is probably because they have no control over what synthetic
you use, and they are all different. With dino oil, they are all very
similar and the only main difference (other than things like sulfur
content) is the additives. So they can do testing with a high quality
dino oil and be reasonably assured that the results are reproducable
with other high quality dino oils. But with synthetics, the base
formulas and properties can be very different. Just look at the
evolution of Mobile One and you'll see that it's formula changed
drastically several times from when it was introduced in 1973; 1992,
1996, 1999, and 2002.

www.mobil1.com/why/synth/history.jsp

Steve