Need advise on oil

[SkeeterSpeeder]

Went to my local marina to pick up yamalube for my 06 Yamaha Vmax 2 stroke direct inject but they didn't have any so the salesman talk me into get Mercury optimax instead. Question is, do I use it or bring it back and buy yamalube somewhere else? Attached picture of what I bought.

thanks guys

[fishnkamp]

There is nothing wrong with Mercs' oil in a Merc.  However at the cost of these engines today, I would rather go get the YamaLube that your engine calls for.  Hopefully you have another dealer that carries it.  Around here many of our boat dealers carry oil from the big three.  Also our West Marine carries the YamaLube TCW3 2 cycle oil. I know Mercs oil is good, but may not have additives Yamaha wants to see in its oil. Just my two cents.

[SkeeterSpeeder]

Thank you @fishnkamp, your input is very much appreciated! 

[Way2slow]

For all direct injected two strokes, I would only run the manufactures brand and their recommend oil for the model year or size, be it full synthetic or synthetic blend.  Because of EPA, modern engines have gotten very critical on tolerances and blends for optimum performance and lubrication.  Even small differences in viscosity can change how the engine is lubricated.  Which can be too much oil and cause excess carbon build up or less oil and cause excess wear.  Yes, the have a give or take tolerance to allow for some variance, but their optimal is with their oil.  

For what outboards cost today, to buy one and run a cheap or off brand oil just doesn't make since.  Especially when there is usually really little difference in cost of the manufactures brand and another similar quality in a different brand. 

Kinda like buying a high performance, gas hog for a vehicle, and then ***** because of the gas mileage and having to buy premium gas.

[SkeeterSpeeder]

Awesome thanks for the input. I bringing the oil back today

[stfreed]

I disagree.  TCW3 2 cycle oil is TCW3 oil.  I use Pennzoil XLF 2 cycle oil from Walmart.  It is cheap and you can pick it up anywhere in the country. Used it in my 2011 Mercury Proxs 175 HP for four years putting over 450 hours on that motor with no issue when I traded it in for my new Ranger in 2014 with Mercury 225 Pro xs.  Used up the two gallons of Merc oil they gave me with the boat then switched to Pennzoil XLF.  Two years 250 hours later and 22 gallons of Pennzoil have ran through my Mercury with no issues and at $18 per gallon I have saved well over $350 on oil in two years.

[sarcazmo]

1 hour ago, stfreed said:

I disagree.  TCW3 2 cycle oil is TCW3 oil.  I use Pennzoil XLF 2 cycle oil from Walmart.  It is cheap and you can pick it up anywhere in the country. Used it in my 2011 Mercury Proxs 175 HP for four years putting over 450 hours on that motor with no issue when I traded it in for my new Ranger in 2014 with Mercury 225 Pro xs.  Used up the two gallons of Merc oil they gave me with the boat then switched to Pennzoil XLF.  Two years 250 hours later and 22 gallons of Pennzoil have ran through my Mercury with no issues and at $18 per gallon I have saved well over $350 on oil in two years.

I'm pretty much of the same opinion.  As long as they all meet the same specifications you will be more than fine running a different oil.  Especially in modern engines how often are there true oil related engine failures?  Not saying they don't happen, but they aren't all that common.

If you want to go down the rabbit hole of oil I'd recommend searching around bob is the oil guy.

[Ray K]

Just to add to this topic, I just sold a boat with a 115 Merc carburetor  motor (1998) and my new boat has a 150 Merc Optimax Pro XS.  Of course, I'll use oil designed for directed injected motors going forward but, I have a gallon of Quicksilver oil left over that I used in the previous motor.  It is TCW3 spec'd but doesn't say it's for direct injected motors.  Is it OK to finish off this gallon before I start using the new stuff?

[fishnkamp]

How much is a brand new power head?  As for no oil related engine failures these days?  Optis did not get rid of its nickname as OPTI POPS!!!!!! and probably never will.  I am not sure the oil will cause a failure, but if I owned it I would not want to find out.  Not to just suggest that Merc is the only one many early SHOs failed too.  I have not heard too much about the Gen2 Rudes but Gen1 was not perfect either.  Go read how Merc now wants you to run its new engines. The break in period is crazy and after you are done with break in they tell you to start and idle their motors until it reaches 130 degrees. How many engines in the past did you have to run like that?  None, you started them backed off the trailer and hit it almost immediately.  Those old two strokes did not care because the tolerances were much looser.