Marine Oil v Motorcycle Oil

Fletcher14

Fletcher14

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What's the difference between boat 2 stroke oil and motorcycle 2 stroke oil apart from the huge price difference. Would it harm an outboard being used in the sea if it had 2 stroke motorcycle oil instead of the dearer marine engine oil?
 
marine chandler has told me that it's VITAL to use marine oil and not motorcycle oil if I don't want problems with my engine. Having said that, he DOES sell marine 2 stroke oil so does he have a point or is he just looking after his sales of boat oil?
 
And I didn't know THIS

"A one-hour ride on a boat with a 10-horsepower traditional two-stroke engine emits the same amount of hydrocarbon pollution as driving a modern automobile 40,000km (25,000 miles)."
 
TCW III oil (marine) is a higher grade.

Apparently the difference is the greater temperature differences in the cylinder.

Red hot then has ice cold seawater thrown on it.

Probably get away with motorcycle 2T oil in warmer summer waters.
Some out boards are air cooled, there should be no reason why they can not run on motorcycle oil.

In France you can but Total TCW III cheap as standard motorcycle oil , just the UK swindlers that charge more they have such a low turn over they need 300% mark up .
 
I think you need to show this to Chichester Harbour conservation

clearly all two strokes are 300% cleaner at max revs.

RIBs and tenders should be encouraged to navigate at 'best speed '
 
My local marine repair man says it is to do with the fact that marine engines run at much lower operating temperatures than motor cycles and need a different spec. oil.
ken
 
One of the things often conveniently forgotten when comparing 2 and 4 strokes is that you have to get rid of the 4 stroke's oil after it's been changed. This is, of course, carefully disposed of in the appropriate waste oil receptacle, from whence it is taken away and, ironically, burnt usually.

I'm sure that claim re: Hydrocarbons is true if comparing a Seagull to a new VW Polo, but I'm not sure it's so accurate if it's a recent non-ETEC 2 stroke and a modern Bentley Continental for example.

I wouldn't doubt a 4 stroke is cleaner to run but I'd have thought that, with a little bit of development, a 2 stroke could get very close, especially if you factor in the overall environmental impact, not just the exhaust while it's running.

As an aside, regarding their comments about inefficient running at low speed, Chris-craft are now selling a launch with a hybrid drive. Most of the time it's a conventional diesel outdrive but, when you come into the Marina area, you switch over to what seems to be an out-sized starter motor to run at low speeds. The idea is that you don't need to use the diesel when it's at it's most polluting (i.e. tickover and just above).

Hybrid boat waves hello to S.F. Bay
 
I recently bought a Ryobi strimmer - in says explicitly not to use marine 2 stroke oil, nothing about not using motorcycle oil, so I guess there must be a difference.

R.e used engine oil for 4 strokes - our motor mechanic loves the stuff, he has a workshop heater that burns it - good on-site recycling

MVP
 
Some good answers to this but I'm still unsure as to whether normal m/c 2 stroke oil would actually damage my engine or whether it's all a blag.

You may think I'm being cynical, but look at all the money spent on software to deal with the year 2000 bug!!!

There's definately a mark up on anything related to boats. I've seen some products double in price soley because they have a little picture of a boat on it, yet apart from the little boaty on it it's the identical item to the one in Halfords at half the price.

Remember the Leapord rechargable lamp 15 years ago? 3 variations.
A blue one with a pic of a yacht on it....RRP £95
A green one with pic of fish on it....RRP £49
A black one with a pic of a spanner on it RRP£14.99
Same lamp. Same spec. Same name. Same inners. Same manufacturer. Just different colours & pics.
Hmmm, doesn't that remind you of 2 stroke oil?????? Colour it blue, stick a pic of a boat on the label and charge 3 times the normal price.

But then again, maybe motorcycle oil 'does' damage boat engines and is it worth chancing it?

If the oil is the same (like the leapord lamp) it's blatant robbery (but legal marketing as we saw with the leapord lamp).

So what is actually IN the oil? Can someone say 'Oooh, but marine oil has such or such in it which is vital'

I'm keen to protect the environment but to be honest I think that the amount of petrol, grease and other stuff my boat puts in the water, 2 stroke is....well...a drop in the ocean! Especially when looking at what big ferries, sewer pipes, factories etc are putting in.

Please don't think I'm a moaner. I just don't like being taken for a ride but neither do I like being a fool and wrecking a good engine.

If we were talking cars not boats, trading standards would be looking into it and we'd know one way or another. But ripping off boaters is seemingly ok to the vast majority.
 
technically the marine oil represents better value, it is not subject to VAT .

But you will struggle to find someone who has a procedure in place to accommodate vat free 2T oil.

4T Castrol boat oil can be bought vat free

TCW III oil (marine 2T oil) is a higher grade.

Apparently the difference is the greater temperature differences in the cylinder.

Red hot then has ice cold seawater thrown on it.

Probably get away with motorcycle 2T oil in warmer summer waters
 
That's very imformative but an important word you use is 'apparently'! We were told 'apparently' that all our computers would break down if we didn't have YK2 software and being told 'apparently' marine oil copes with a greater range of temperatures rings similar, particularly as it's always someone who sells the stuff that says it. If it's true, why doesn't it say that on the bottle? It certainly wouldn't hold back any sales if they put it on the bottle so why wouldn't they? If it were untrue, they certainly wouldn't put it on the bottle as they could be sued.
I once scrutenised the COSH safety data sheets of a bottle of normal 2T and marine 2T. These legal sheets which any supplier HAS to provide on demand, detail all ingrediants and amounts. The 2 different oils had exactly the same in the same amounts. What I was searching for was an ingrediant in one that wasn't in the other. I found none!

I'm still waiting for someone to say something like marine oil contains poly-such-or-such which marine engines need.
Maybe I'll be waiting forever /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
I pout engine oil in my seagull outboard and its running fine and has been for years.

I rode a Lambretta for a long time and when short of 2T oil either engine oil or gearbox oil went in, never did it any harm.

I guess it depends on the value of the engine and on how hard you run it.
 
I must admit that I have used whatever 2 T oil was to hand, though that was on 50:1 engines, perhaps the more modern 100:1 engines are a trifle more sensitive.

Certainly I would not wory that much with the older engines which ran on 25:1 or 10:1.

My present wory is will it be OK to put a standard multigrade in my very old PRM gearbox rather than the SAE 30 specified.
 
I'll run somebody elses engine on any old oil.

My Mariner gets Quicksilver. No problems, No doubts, and no stupid threads on any forums.

Is it really worth saving a few pennys up front, while risking potential engine damage, or shortening your expensive outboards longevity, while harming marine life with non-marine oil?

Is it? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
Pennies? A few quid for every hour of motoring more like! At this moment in time though, I'll keep using marine oil, but I think it's worth looking into the subject purely on the principle of the matter. Oil developed for boats = worth every penny, oil merely priced up for boats = thievery.
Magellan and Garmin fit something in their GPS's so that you can't use aircraft charts in them unless you specifically buy an aircraft version GPS which accepts their aircraft charts & they charge 3 times more for those GPS's (apart from that no difference), so you see there's a lot of this going on.
I might even write to a marine oil manufacturer and directly ask what's in it that makes it better for boats than normal oil.

After all, I'm only asking what's in it that I'm paying extra for. It's not much to ask, is it?!
 
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