what oil?
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
Oct 1
2006
|
| IIRC marine engines of that vintage call for straight 30 weight.
Maybe someone more knowledgeable will confirm or correct. Eisboch |
Eisboch
Oct 1
|
| I would call or email Mercury Marine:
http://www.mercurymarine.com/contact_us |
Oct 1
|
| Hard to go wrong with MerCruiser's own 4-Cycle engine oil. It's formulated
to their specs for their engines. |
RG
Oct 1
|
| 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 |
r_d
Oct 1
|
| If I owned an inboard, I'd do the opposite - fog it, then change
everything in the Spring. Then again, I'm an outboard guy - what do I know. :>) |
Shortwave
Oct 1
|
| 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
Oct 1
|
| I doubt it really matters. I guess it depends on how fast you want to drop
it in at the beginning of the season.
mark |
r_d
Oct 1
|
| 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
Oct 1
|
| The original poster asked if it was OK to use it.
Jim |
Jim
Oct 2
|
| I completely missed that. Apologies. |
RG
Oct 2
|
| You definitely want to change the oil when you winterize, you don't want
the "acid oil" sitting around all winter. |
Reginald
Oct 2
|
| Like I said, I'm a outboard guy. :>) |
Shortwave
Oct 2
|
| Outboard is definitely easier to winterize. I do the engine maintenance
when i winterize, and then wash and wax the boat in the spring time.
It takes about an hour to flush out the fresh water system and attach
the hoses to the engine. By doing the engine / outdrive work in the
winter, you keep your recommissioning down to one day. I have always carried my batteries home because someone told me that the
freezing weather is bad for a battery. If this is not the case, it
would be nice to leave the batteries on the boat. |
Reginald
Oct 2
|
