2T oil price.

[jamie N]

I went into an Inverness Esso station today, and bought 2 green jerry cans of petrol; 1 for my 4T outboard, the 2nd for my 2T Tohatsu 3.5hp. Quick thought was that I'd not brought the 2T oil with me, it was still in the garage. No worries, I'll buy a 1litre bottle here.
At the checkout I was told that the 1litre bottle was £39.46.
"Shurely some mishtake"
Girl at counter, chewing gum, "I don't make the prices mister".
Bottle returned to rack and the prices checked. The cheapest was £26.50.
Think about this for a moment, Esso sell Mobil 2T oil for more than a bottle of any very good malt.
This is getting close to £180 a gallon FFS.
Just saying.

 

[PetiteFleur]

Just checked in ebay - varied from £6.99 to about £15 a 1 litre bottle. Surely for a small outboard these cheapy ones are OK? Even Quicksilver 2T oil was £15.75/litre including free P&P.

 

[Momac]

And just guessing it would not be the correct oil for an outboard?

 

[jamie N]

Good point, but on a low performance late 70's design of engine, I'm not going to lose sleep on the minutiae of the 'best' oil.
Tohatsu made very reliable 2T outboards which are very resilient to variable quality oils. As a helicopter engineer mate told me, "bad oil is better than no oil", but of course your point is no less valid for that.

 

[SlowlyButSurely]

I just use ordinary engine oil. Always have done. Whatever I have in the garage. It works fine.

 

[ChromeDome]

As long as it is marked TWC-3 you're good (presuming your outboard is water cooled).

 

[jamie N]

TWC-3?
I'd never heard of it before. You learn something every day; cheers!

 

[Koeketiene]

FWIW: for the last 15-odd years, I've been using Aspen pre-mixed 2T petrol for my outboard.
It's got a long shelf life - never had crud in the fuel.

Last year, I paid 96 euro for a 25ltr can.

 

[ChromeDome]

TWC-3?
I'd never heard of it before. You learn something every day; cheers!

Huh. My fat thumbs fumbled on the keyboard - sorry!

The correct term is TC-W3

 

[jamie N]

I'd not heard of either 'version', so cheers for the heads up CD.

 

[penfold]

With 2 cycle oil the main thing is don't use oil for air-cooled engines in water-cooled engines and vice-versa.

 

[ProDave]

I buy 2T oil from Goodtread in Alness. Just the cheapest they have on the shelf, not special "marine" stuff. £8.71 for 1L I use if for the chainsaw, strimmer and Mariner OB without issue. So the Inverness petrol station was taking the pee.

 

[Topcat47]

Comma do a perfectly good mineral 2T, available for most auto factors. my bottle has a price of £8.49 on a barely visible label. I've no idea how long I've had it and it's main use is my strimmer and hedge cutter. My Tohatsu outboard only has fuel in it when I need to use it and part of my routine with it is to empty the tank and run the carb dry every use.

 

[ChromeDome]

Completely agree with using perfectly good oil, in fact for anything that needs lubrication. Perfectly good is "meeting the specified standard".

I don't get the desire not to use oil that meets the manufacturer's specifications.

£7.50
Super Premium+ 2-Cycle Synthetic Blend Engine Oil TC-W3®

 

[andsarkit]

Completely agree with using perfectly good oil, in fact for anything that needs lubrication. Perfectly good is "meeting the specified standard".

I don't get the desire not to use oil that meets the manufacturer's specifications.

£7.50
Super Premium+ 2-Cycle Synthetic Blend Engine Oil TC-W3®

Agree about using the correct oil but that is only 475ml. Actual price incl. VAT is £17.21/litre

 

[Momac]

2 stroke oil for use in an outboard is different to 2 stroke oil for an air cooled garden tool etc . Garden tools and motorbikes run hotter than an outboard. But I guess those who think you can use any old oil know best.

 

[ChromeDome]

Even if it is £14 for TC-W3, £8 for (£6 less) std. two-stroke oil and you burn 1500 liter petrol (and I doubt you do) at 50:1 which will take 30 liters of oil, the difference (30*6=£180) won't buy a lot of motor repairs.

 

[PhillM]

Borght 1L at Bucklers Hard last weekend for less than £18 (cannot remember the exact pennies).

 

[ChromeDome]

Wonder why the UK pricing is so much different? €4.69 per liter:

 

[jamie N]

I used an old 2T oil from my own garage shelf, covered in cobwebs and wood shavings, but eventually found. It was the original bottle from 5 or so years ago, and the engine runs perfectly, starts 2nd pull every time and ticks over like a 'goodun'.
The only mod I've done to the engine is to reroute the 'peepipe' cooling hose, which is shockingly fitted, causing a far too tight turn, which frequently blocks by restricting water flow.