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BasscatRJ.
I am a new BassCat owner and have an 08 Optimax 200hp. My issue is this: Mercury Marine recommends Optimax oil or Mercury premium plus as acceptable for use in the new Optimax engines. My local Mercury Marine dealer and Service provider ONLY sell the Mercury Premium Plus Synthetic blend oil and upon asking the question why I was told by the owner and senior mechanic “The factory training suggests the use of the Permium Plus Synthetic Blend. Also Mercury racing says to use the premuim plus synthetic blend” Another board has a Mercury certified mechanic that say that Mercurys official stance is to use the Optimax oil and only use the premium plus under rare circumstances. Several other “Seasoned” Mercury optimax owners have given me various responses. My best guess is that for mercury to get a “Low Emissions” ranking that the optimax oils is used as use of the premium plus has been indicated to provide a “small” amount of carbon buildup. Having said this I will use quick-kleen in every tank of fuel. Price is NO concern whatsoever as I will not use hundreds of gallons of oil. The BEST possible lubrication and longevity is what I am after for my outboard. Having said this, I am NO EXPERT by any stretch, wouldnt the requirement of using the premium plus sythetic blend requirement for the racing (high – RPM, stress induced use) motors require the BEST lubrication ? Are the oiling ratios setup different ? Looking for honest, factual if possible, opinions which bar preference just because or price.
Here is what the 2008 Manual says for the 200 Opti “Mercury Optimax/DFI or Quicksilver DFI 2-Cycle oil is recommended for your engine. If Mercury Optimax/DFI or Quicksilver DFI 2-Cycle oil is not available, we recommend using Mercury or Quicksilver TC-W3 Premium Plus Outboard Oil.” So with Optimax/DFI oil not being available in my area, my manual states that it is ok to use Premium Plus oil and there is no harm in using it. What I would do is just stick with the Premium Plus oil and just run QuickKleen with it and you will be fine.Last edited by sdfd504 on February 3rd, 2009, 5:44 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Thanks for the input. But WHAT IS BEST for the engine ? What provides the BEST lubrication ? Assume the use of quick-kleen in all fuel. I always make sure that oil tank is full and I have several gallons in factory sealed containers. I DONT care what is best for emissions as I dont believe in global warming. I DONT care what is most economical as a few pennies saved now could result in several DOLLARS of repairs. I DONT care what is most readily available as I can order from the internet if need be. I DONT care if I have to change plugs more frequently as I am anal about maintanence and ALWAYS perform preventative maintanence at shorter than required intervals. Bottom line is that I want the BEST which is why I purchased a BassCat instead of some other brand.Last edited by cglenn on February 3rd, 2009, 6:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
If Mercury didnt think the Premium Plus oil would be OK for the motor then they would not tell you that it is fine to use the oil. The DFI is the first recommended oil for your motor per the manual but since a lot of dealers are not stocking it anymore then Premium Plus will work. If the DFI oil is the “BEST” oil out there then wouldnt you think the Mercury 175-250 Pro XS motors would have it at the recommended oil? They all recommend Premium Plus oil as does the Mercury Racing 250 and 300xs motors. It is up to you as to the oil you use but you cant have a warranty denied if you use Premium Plus oil. As long as the oil is TC-W3 rated then it is fine for you motor.
thats kind of the conclusion I had. Is the oiling system calibrated differently for a standard optimax over a proxs ?
Ive read about this so many times and have it come up I wish they would word the manual differently….If you go to screamandfly.com, they have the guys that literally know how to word the differences so us guys understand and get why it is done….The Pro XS is different than the Opti, I know the Air pump is different and the Fuel rate is different for the PSI,but thats from the compressor…..besides that Im not sure on the oiling system….Every engine builder and high performance guy I know run Premium plus, and it makes since that it must be the better Dino Fuel for the High performance and Race divisions motors…Too bad they dont have a 100% synthetic to work with, they sure run clean and no carbon, but every brand of DFI has different systems and thats probably why……Check out scream and fly its a killer site for the Merc crowd especially…..Your Signature …
The standard Optis do recommend Opti/DFI oil.The proXS series of motors recommend Premium Plus.. The reason the proXS series recommend Premium Plus is because Mercury Racing developed the proXS motors and they design and test all of their motors using Premium Plus. Id use Opti oil if you can get it but if its a big issue Premium Plus will be fine. Basic reasoning for difference is Opti oil was always a synthetic blend designed for DFI motors. Prem. Plus wasnt. It was originally a full conventional oil designed for conventional 2 strokes and in cold weather Premium Plus could get too heavy to flow properly in DFIs system. Today both oils are synthetic blends……Sherm
Thanks Sherm for the explaination. And a question for you or anyone else that has some insight. I also have a 200 Opti. And to be honest I think Mercury is VERY proud of their products. Is the TC-W3 rating oils get reliable enough to trust non-Merc/Quick Silver oils? My guess is theyre all pretty much the same but I dont want to risk my motor on it until I get some real smart wrenches to chime-in. I read a lot of studies on motor oils and gasoline that found there wasnt a lot of differiance between brands. Does the same hold true for marine lubricants?
This topic has been a ball of confusion for some time. My understanding is that one reason for the difference in the recomendation by Merc is that Pro-XS Opti engines are expected to be run mostly at WOT, whereas “regular” Optis are designed for less enthusiastics drivers and “old guys” who may want to putt around some. Accordingly, I seem to recall BCB indicating that the Optimax DFI oil has a greater detergent content, which is expected to reduce carbon buildup during idling. My guess, using “deductive reasoning” but maybe lacking all the facts… is that the premium-plus is the better lubricant for WOT & extreme operating conditions, but as was said, it can produce a little more carbon during extended idling periods. The higher detergent content of the Opti oil helps reduce carbon, but the detergent component itself is not a particularly good lubricant. So running premium plus in a regular Opti should be fine so long as Quikleen is used regularly.
Probably pretty obvious but you dont want to mix the two. I run a 225 Pro XS and I submitted a similiar question to the Mercury website once I found I could no longer find the Premium Plus oil in anything but a synthetic. I wasnt sure if the synthetic was ok or not. Mercury told not to mix them in abundance. In other words I should burn the older style down as far as possible and then add the new synthetic. Havent had any problems.
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