Best 2-Stroke oil? Recommended additives?

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sr17

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I recently purchased a boat with a 1994, 90 hp, oil injected Mercury 2-stroke.

This is the first 2-stroke motor I have ever owned and I am looking for advice from the experts here on how to best take care of it and extend its lifespan.

The engine has 380 hours on it and seems to run very well. I previously had the exact same brand and model boat with a Honda 90 on it and the Mercury certainly pushes the boat along with a LOT more punch and authority, although it comes bundled with a lot more smoke and vibrations too.

What is the very best 2-stroke oil to use with this engine? The previous owner used Yamalube and a gallon of it came with the boat.

What are your favorite additives for 2-strokes, that you would recommend to keep the engine clean and running at its best?

Thanks!
 
Seafoam works good in the two stroke blowers / chainsaws that we've serviced.

Might work good in a two stroke boat motor too, although mixing seafoam in would dilute the mix a bit, so be sure to add some more two stroke oil too.
 
Id stick with the Yamalube. I have personally tore down Two stroke engines ran on Yamalube and was most impressed. Compared to higher dollar lubricants such as Belray and Sprectro, Yamalube was more impressive. Although these are dirt bike engines and not outboards, Ill swerar by Yamalube and know alot of boat owners that use it and wont use anything else, for any cost.Yamalube does a excellent job. I use Seafoam for long term storage and it works better than Stabil at preserving fuel. Ive had fuel last over a year with Sea foam.
 
Cabela's semi synthetic 2-stroke oil is the best I ever used. OMC 2+4 fuel conditioner/cleaner is the best additive I can recommend.
 
This engine will run a very long time with any major TCW-3 oil brand. Many serious boaters have run 2,000 hours using Walmarts Supertech!!

If you idle a lot and have fouling problems... the synthetics are better, as are the specialized Ficht and Etec oil from Evinrude, which are specially formulated for just this issue.

In 1994 I was Mercury sponsored, runing about 8 Mercury outboards, we ran only Mercury oil and never had any problems of any kind. Many of these motors came out of our promo plan and into private ownership each year, some got Supertech, some Pennzoil, etc and I have never heard of a reported problem.

I do remember for SURE that the Mercury owners manual in the mid nineties said to NEVER use Ethanol fuels, except in an emergency. They made it clear that they felt it was corrosive to the engine and devoted an entire page to this issue... so I would heed that if nothing else.

The Evinrude Ficht and Etec oils cost two arms and two legs - and I would only recommend them for their specialized motors or for a motor that has plug fouling problems. Mercury oil - from the dealer- is also quite expensive. If you use less than a gallon a summer, then who cares - I use about 30 gallons a summer in 9 motors.

Never tried the Cabela products, but everything they sell has a reputation for being top notch!
 
Originally Posted By: mechjames
Seafoam works good in the two stroke blowers / chainsaws that we've serviced.

Might work good in a two stroke boat motor too, although mixing seafoam in would dilute the mix a bit, so be sure to add some more two stroke oil too.


the motor is oil injected, so I am not sure if there is a good way to add more oil?

I am concerned about dilution too, when using additived - have some MMO on hand - tempted to give it a try.

Have read about Yamalube Ring Free on other sites - seems to get very good reviews.
 
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Originally Posted By: fsskier
This engine will run a very long time with any major TCW-3 oil brand. Many serious boaters have run 2,000 hours using Walmarts Supertech!!

If you idle a lot and have fouling problems... the synthetics are better, as are the specialized Ficht and Etec oil from Evinrude, which are specially formulated for just this issue.

In 1994 I was Mercury sponsored, runing about 8 Mercury outboards, we ran only Mercury oil and never had any problems of any kind. Many of these motors came out of our promo plan and into private ownership each year, some got Supertech, some Pennzoil, etc and I have never heard of a reported problem.

I do remember for SURE that the Mercury owners manual in the mid nineties said to NEVER use Ethanol fuels, except in an emergency. They made it clear that they felt it was corrosive to the engine and devoted an entire page to this issue... so I would heed that if nothing else.

The Evinrude Ficht and Etec oils cost two arms and two legs - and I would only recommend them for their specialized motors or for a motor that has plug fouling problems. Mercury oil - from the dealer- is also quite expensive. If you use less than a gallon a summer, then who cares - I use about 30 gallons a summer in 9 motors.

Never tried the Cabela products, but everything they sell has a reputation for being top notch!


The Cabela's stuff is awesome. Very easy on the plugs and little to no smoke. I hate the stink from 2-strokes. I had an old Evinrude that was a mother to keep running. I tried a ton of different oils and then finally the cabela's one worked like a charm. Have used it ever since in any 2-stroke application.
 
You hate the smell of Two stroke? Whats up with that? I actually pour the max ratio in my lawn boy and then some so I may engulf myself in a hume of ecstacy while I mow the lawn. Some'tin wrong with you.
 
Well, seems that I've got a winner with Yamalube - at least as far as engine protection goes, but smoke free it is not!

May try the Cabela's stuff when I finish going through the Yamalube I have on hand.

Can't help but wonder though - how can a hunting and fishing store chain make a better oil than Yamaha, Mercury or the big oil companies? Strange!
 
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I doubt that Cabela's makes any oil... but that does not prevent them from relabeling and selling the best oil they can find.
I also have found a couple of motors with "plug fouling" tendency's that had a preferred oil that was not the factory label. At one time I received new 140 hp promo outboards each year, each year they fouled the plugs every 30 hours, almost exactly. I could switch them to Amoco Outboard Oil from Kmart for 1/3 the factory oil price and run 120 hours without fouling.
Each year, new promo motors, new attempt to run factory oil, always same results. Perhaps the factory oil gave better protection someplace that I could not see, but failed plugs are annoying.

OK, I was also receiving 8-10 promo motors from the same factory each year, the other size motors never fouled plugs ever using factory oil.

Since I was factory sponsored you will not learn the brand of motors that I was using at that time!!! Eat this post after reading!!

In no case would I add MMO to an outboard oil, their oils have very special requirements and a "fix all" additive is likely to just dilute their protection level.
 
In the end the best oil is the one that protects the engine best, and I wish that is also the one that produces the least smoke, but that is probably not necessarily the case.

The only complaint I have is that engine could be a little easier to start - it requires a bit of cranking and sometimes a second attempt. Not sure if this is due to spark plug fouling, have not checked them yet.

I assume that carbon build up could also be a cause and would like to try some kind of cleaner - Seafoam is one and the other one is Yamaha Ring Free which receives a lot of praise on other forums. Does anyone here have experiences with Yamaha Ring Free? I did read somewhere that it is actually Techron formulated for 2-stroke use.
 
The only complaint I have is that engine could be a little easier to start - it requires a bit of cranking and sometimes a second attempt. Not sure if this is due to spark plug fouling, have not checked them yet.

I assume that carbon build up could also be a cause and would like to try some kind of cleaner - Seafoam is one and the other one is Yamaha Ring Free which receives a lot of praise on other forums. Does anyone here have experiences with Yamaha Ring Free? I did read somewhere that it is actually Techron formulated for 2-stroke use. [/quote]

I find it unlikely that carbon build up would make it slow to start... assuming you have new plugs of course...

Let me ask a silly question.... I see this a lot on the boat ramps since I launch 4 or 5 days a week by a commercial schedule.

Do you know how to put the choke on??? No, no the fast idle lever, the choke, usually operated by pushing in on the key.

I often see outboards cranked for many minutes with the fast idle lever up. I ask " are you choking it", the answer is always yes, even though it soon becomes apparent they never read the manual or asked anybody and assume the lever also chokes the motor somehow!!

Our newer motors are all injected and take care of this by themselves.

The older motors need the choke set, immediately released as they start, then "fanned" a few times for the next 30 seconds. By fanning, I mean push in for about 1 second every 3 seconds or so, that will keep the mixture nearly perfect and eliminate stalling.
 
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fsskier, your question is not silly at all. I have not been doing it the way you suggest, which is probably the source of my troubles.

This motor is still new to me, so I have only had the boat in the water and started it twice - the first time I did push in the key while cranking it and let go as soon as it started - and the engine died again. It did not stay running until the third attempt.

Afterwards I read the book and realized it say to push and hold the key for 3-5 seconds before cranking it - so I did that and it started very quickly, but again it stalled after a few seconds of running.

I have a feeling that if it is "fanned" a time in the first 30 seconds, like you said, it will run fine. I am taking the boat out again on Sunday and we shall see how it goes.

I really don't think there is anything wrong with this engine - I just need to get used to the slightly dated technology. It runs great when warmed up, pulls a lot stronger than my previous Honda with the same hp, and looks almost like brand new under the cowling.

That said, I am still really tempted to try Yamaha Ring Free, don't think it can hurt anything.

Thanks for great feedback!
 
fsskier, took my boat out for a few hours today - followed your directions on how to start in and it worked to perfection - thanks again for the advice!
 
Great, wish I had been there with my slalom ski.....
The rivers and lakes here have been frozen since Dec 1 and will likely not open up till early March.

Happy Olympics!
 
I have a Merc 90 and Johnson 150, and they both run great with Pennzoil XLF in the summer for general use, and Pennzoil Full Synthetic or Amsoil HP during cold weather use for duck hunting.
 
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