I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with 450 hours built in 1988. I'm about to lay it
up for the season (northeast). Does anyone have a suggestion for engine
oil? I'm inclined to use 10W30 Dino oil which is what I use in my car. The
boat is new to me so I don't have a "what did you use last year" to go by.
Any ideas would be appreciated? Thanks, David

"D&LBusch" wrote in message
...
I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with 450 hours built in 1988. I'm about to lay it
up for the season (northeast). Does anyone have a suggestion for engine
oil? I'm inclined to use 10W30 Dino oil which is what I use in my car.
The boat is new to me so I don't have a "what did you use last year" to go
by. Any ideas would be appreciated? Thanks, David


IIRC marine engines of that vintage call for straight 30 weight.
Maybe someone more knowledgeable will confirm or correct.

Eisboch

"D&LBusch" wrote in message
...
I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with 450 hours built in 1988. I'm about to lay it
up for the season (northeast). Does anyone have a suggestion for engine
oil? I'm inclined to use 10W30 Dino oil which is what I use in my car.
The boat is new to me so I don't have a "what did you use last year" to go
by. Any ideas would be appreciated? Thanks, David


I would call or email Mercury Marine:
http://www.mercurymarine.com/contact_us

"D&LBusch" wrote in message
...
I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with 450 hours built in 1988. I'm about to lay it
up for the season (northeast). Does anyone have a suggestion for engine
oil? I'm inclined to use 10W30 Dino oil which is what I use in my car.
The boat is new to me so I don't have a "what did you use last year" to go
by. Any ideas would be appreciated? Thanks, David


Hard to go wrong with MerCruiser's own 4-Cycle engine oil. It's formulated
to their specs for their engines.

"RG" wrote in message
m...

"D&LBusch" wrote in message
...
I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with 450 hours built in 1988. I'm about to lay it
up for the season (northeast). Does anyone have a suggestion for engine
oil? I'm inclined to use 10W30 Dino oil which is what I use in my car.
The boat is new to me so I don't have a "what did you use last year" to go
by. Any ideas would be appreciated? Thanks, David


Hard to go wrong with MerCruiser's own 4-Cycle engine oil. It's
formulated to their specs for their engines.

Multi weight is not recommended. Mercruiser blends 25W with 40W and adds STP
or something similar. But straight 30W or 40W will do the job just as well.
These engines typically die from over heating bad winterizing, or water
injestion before they have bearing, piston, valve, or cam problems.
Jim

"Jim" wrote in message
ink.net...

"RG" wrote in message
m...

"D&LBusch" wrote in message
...
I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with 450 hours built in 1988. I'm about to lay
it up for the season (northeast). Does anyone have a suggestion for
engine oil? I'm inclined to use 10W30 Dino oil which is what I use in my
car. The boat is new to me so I don't have a "what did you use last year"
to go by. Any ideas would be appreciated? Thanks, David


Hard to go wrong with MerCruiser's own 4-Cycle engine oil. It's
formulated to their specs for their engines.

Multi weight is not recommended. Mercruiser blends 25W with 40W and adds
STP or something similar. But straight 30W or 40W will do the job just as
well. These engines typically die from over heating bad winterizing, or
water injestion before they have bearing, piston, valve, or cam problems.
Jim

So who's recommending a multi-weight? By multi-weight, I assume you mean
multi-viscosity, which the MerCruiser is not, and it appears you know that.

"RG" wrote in message
.. .

"Jim" wrote in message
ink.net...

"RG" wrote in message
m...

"D&LBusch" wrote in message
...
I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with 450 hours built in 1988. I'm about to lay
it up for the season (northeast). Does anyone have a suggestion for
engine oil? I'm inclined to use 10W30 Dino oil which is what I use in
my car. The boat is new to me so I don't have a "what did you use last
year" to go by. Any ideas would be appreciated? Thanks, David


Hard to go wrong with MerCruiser's own 4-Cycle engine oil. It's
formulated to their specs for their engines.

Multi weight is not recommended. Mercruiser blends 25W with 40W and adds
STP or something similar. But straight 30W or 40W will do the job just as
well. These engines typically die from over heating bad winterizing, or
water injestion before they have bearing, piston, valve, or cam problems.
Jim

So who's recommending a multi-weight? By multi-weight, I assume you mean
multi-viscosity, which the MerCruiser is not, and it appears you know
that.

The original poster asked if it was OK to use it.
Jim

So who's recommending a multi-weight? By multi-weight, I assume you mean
multi-viscosity, which the MerCruiser is not, and it appears you know
that.

The original poster asked if it was OK to use it.

I completely missed that. Apologies.

"D&LBusch" wrote in message
...
I have a Mercruiser 5.7 with 450 hours built in 1988. I'm about to lay it
up for the season (northeast). Does anyone have a suggestion for engine
oil? I'm inclined to use 10W30 Dino oil which is what I use in my car.
The boat is new to me so I don't have a "what did you use last year" to go
by. Any ideas would be appreciated? Thanks, David

You may want to consider allowing your local marina winterize your boat.
They will fog the engine, put stabilizer in the fuel tank, put oil in they
cylinders, pull the outdrive and grease everything and then drain and fill
all coolant passages with non-toxic antifreeze. It is a fairly major job
and since the boat is new to you it is a good time for the mechanic to check
out the lift system (top up the hydro oil), check out and grease the
universals and so on. You may also want to get the drive gear oil changed.
You can do this yourself at the same time you change the engine oil or let
the marina do it. It is a simple job.

To answer your question you should use 30wt oil. I would also tune it
(plugs, rotor, distributor and new fuel filter) before winterizing it. The
fuel filter looks like an oil filter usually mounted somewhere close to the
engine.

good luck,
mark