"Mark" wrote in
:

I think I will be switching to straight 30W oil! Thanks to everyone
for their input / feedback.



In the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Protection Act 15USC50 section 2300, one
of the things it tells the manufacturers and dealers is if you REQUIRE
the consumer to use a specific BRAND of oil, say Mercruiser Magic Mix,
the US law says they have to give it to you for FREE for the life of the
engine. Of course, I assume you are in the USA. So, one of the tactics
that has been created to circumvent the law is they all (read that NMMA)
get together in their cartel meeting and create a "special oil
designation", TC-W3 or TC-whatever only cartel members have control of
which limits your choices away from the discounts at WalMart. The TC-W3
game ran for many years before the oil companies knuckled under and paid
them off for the rights to sell it. This let NMMA specify "their oil" to
the consumers, without actually BRANDING it, which would force them to
give it to consumers, and has made a tidy profit in the
relabled/rebottled oil business at exhorbitant profits for them all.

Before these new warranty laws, the old 2-stroke motors ran for 50 years
on Quaker State SAE 30 motor oil from the cheapest place you could find
it. There was no special oil at all. None was needed to circumvent the
law.

Motors all greasy with Quaker State never even corroded, lasting WAY too
long to make dealers happy. Lots of them are STILL fishing lakes across
the country. So, another tactic to help recycle blown powerheads was the
50:1 or 100:1 oil mix that came in with this monsterously expensive new
oil scam. Look on the lake or river and notice how there are really OLD
motors buzzing along, still on Quaker State many of them, then there's a
blank bunch of years just after TC-W3 was specified up until the new
motors that haven't succumbed to the lack of lubrication, which go back,
conveniently, about 5 to 8 years, their engineered low-lube life span....

In I/O boats, we just put converted car engines in them never designed to
be run wide open with a constant heavy load. They self destruct because
they are too light for this service. There aren't many antique OMC,
Volvo and Mercruisers with original engines.

I/O was a fantastic marketing scheme that worked very well. We got them
out of their "inboard" boats, with only one or two bearings, no
transmission or gears or seals underwater to corrode, contaminate with
water....no pot metal and plastic parts that self-destruct.......and
talked them into using an outboard motor foot the water could eat away
at, making a regular dealer profit center with its constant maintenance
and parts replacements, including the lifting gadgets that always freeze
up and fail. The ol' inboards needed a new packing and rubber bearing
replacement every few years you could do yourself....

This same mentality is the reason you can't buy an electric car like GM's
EV-1, which GM totally crushed into scrap. Dealers were raising hell
because the EV-1 didn't need anything but a new battery pack every few
years. No, we need piston gas engines that require constant repairs to
make up for the selling price we didn't get out front.....