Mixing 2 stroke oil brands

[revs57]

G'day Guys,

Cleaning up the garage yesterday I found a couple of 5 litre bottles of Valvoline TC-W3 2 stroke oil. I have been running Shell Nautilus TC-W3 exclusively in the Merc.

I was wondering if anyone has any info or experience on blending different brands of the same spec oil? Trying to minimise costs if possible but not at the expense of risk.

Look forward to feedback.

cheers

Rhys

[joey_1987]

Hey, I have heard it can cause the oils to form a thick gel and block lubrication to the motor-not the sort of thing I would want to risk, but probably very unlikely to happen too. Whenever I change oil brands on my 30hp 2 stroke I make sure I have run all of the fuel out of the motor and then put freshly mixed new fuel in and make sure I can smell the oil burning. Joey.

[revs57]

Thanks Joey...it is oil injected, not premix so have a remote 20litre bottle

[banshee]

The gelling ocures when you mix synthetic with mineral oil,I switched from Quicksilver to Shell Nautilus both TC-W3 a while back with no ill effects at all,before I made the switch I mixed a small amount of each in a glass jar and watched it for a week or so first.

[fishingrod]

Myself and a number of people on other forums have found Valvoline to be very smokey. But it depends on your motor i guess.

TWC3 is not meant to "go off" so it should be OK as long as the bottles are still sealed.

Try to run as much of the Shell out of the oil reservoiur as you can. The Merc might have a 2nd small tank under the cowl too ? Drain that if possible.

I wouldnt worry too much though.

If your stressed just sell to the Valvoline at half price to someone on here who is happy using it :) and get some more Shell

[PADDLES]

i just changed from valvoline tcw3 to castrol tcw3 for my 135 black max merc with no hassles at all so far. to be honest they both looked and smelled identical (the valvoline & castrol) making me a bit suss on them coming out of the same factory. :-?

[thedeckie]

When I bought my boat the guy only ran Yamaha oil in it (Yamaha motor),Yamaha oil can be expensive so I thought I may change to something cheaper,spoke to a few different boat people and most agreed that by all means run something that is cheaper but the same equivalence but dont mix say Yamaha with Valvoline keep it all the same brand.
Apparently there can be issues mixing two different brands together,maybe its true maybe not but Im not taking the chance on mixing for the sake of $5 or $10 bucks.

Cheers
Paul

[bushbeachboy]

G'day Rhys,
Considering the cost of the engine, it's probably not too bad an idea to stick to the good stuff. I've used BP, Castrol, Valvoline and Yamalube but found them a lot smokier than Quicksilver Premium. It's definitely dearer, but worth it in my opinion.
Cheers mate

[wayne_cook]

Hi Rhys, the mechanic I use said most brands of oil are fine he highly recommended QS but dissaproved of one brand. Yep the one you found in the shed.
His issues were more to do with racing motors WOT for long periods.

[revs57]

Thanks for the feedback guys...will carefully process it I think...perhaps look at Quick silver for the future

Cheers

Rhys