Re: What Motor Oil Do You Use?
What brand & weight of oil do you folks use in your inboards, and what motor do you have?
We have a 1993 Sunbird Corsair with an OMC Cobra 4.3L V-6 (Chevy) engine.
Got it about 2 years ago, have had servicing done by marine center. No idea what they put in it, it has a generic-looking Group 7 (?) Oil Filter on it.
I have always used Valvoline oil in everything, for 35 years, with no problems ever. Sold my 1988 Chevy Truck with 293,000 miles on the original 5.7/350 V-8. It never tasted anything but Val 10/30 since new, when it had about 1500 miles on it.
So what do you recommend, do you use automotive oil & filters in your boats, or does marine service require something special?
Thanks! -Jim.
oh boy, the oil/filter debacle....
i've been through this a million times...
the absolute best disposible filters are the wix gold... the filter better than everything, are built incredibly strong, and flow well to boot, especially considering their filtering capacity. if you're near a napa, then you're in luck! the napa gold filters are just rebadged wix! for example, the wix equivalent of the frame ph8A is 51515, the napa gold is 1515.
the absolute WORST are the frams.. they're just cardboard and glue inside, the wix/napas are welded stainless. the fram paper element filters next to nothing. they flow the best b/c you can pass stones through them, they have to be b/c they're just glued together. i know this because I've seen them.
Amsoil is very good as is the mobil1, as is K&N, but you pay for them and they don't filter or flow any better than the wix, the wix/napa is probably still better. also, make sure you put the largest filter on. if you can, get one of those (assuming you're running and inboard or IO) dual filter mounts, they hold ph8a style filters, increase your oil capacity and also lower the pressure drop across the system.
as for oil, use the weight the manufacturer recommends, probably either straight 40 or 50 weight, or 10w-40, 20w-50. you'll find that newer engines are running with thinner oils b/c the build process and thus tolerances are tighter of the engines are more consistant and tighter.
as for synthetic vs. non-synthetic, well, there are definitely merits to synthetic, especially for a marine engine that either runs too cold or too hot. they possess much greater detergents and better film strength all around. considering you're running your engine harder than that of an automotive engine and only changing the oil once a season, I'd go with synthetic. you don't have to, but i prefer it. any full synthetic is better than non-synthetic (just stay away from the castrol, it's the furthest thing from a synthetic). if you have on available, Carquest synthetic is rebadged valvoline, which is very good, and costs half as much...
hope that helps
Dammed this thing this thread would pop up now. Just a week ago i did the winterization thing and went to Mobil 1 15-50 synth oil. The damdest thing happened, at idle the motor smoothed out big time.
