Question:
Can engines develop a ?taste or preference? for certain ?brands? of fluids, although the fluids ?specs? may be identical?
The reason I ask is;
Last year I sold a Guy my pristine 50hp Evinrude outboard, (2-stroke) that I have owned from new, and lovingly pampered all the time I had it (12 years). I have only ever used ?quicksilver? oils in it, starting with TWC1 when I first bought the engine and as oils developed, ending up on TWC111.
Today, the guy who bought it from me, came round complaining that he had only used it four times, and wasn?t happy with it because it sounded like a ?bag of nuts and bolts? and he didn?t fancy going out to sea with it.
Naturally I was dumfounded! But agreed to go with him and listen to it whilst he started it, yep! It sounded awful, coarse, uneven, Smokey, and struggled to idle at all.
All ?seemed? to be ok mechanically though, and in desperation I emptied the tank into a container, went to the garage and bought some fresh petrol, (and a litre of Quicksilver). He didn?t want to pay me for the oil, as he said he?d plenty of ?Valvoline?, but the difference was absolutely amazing! After a couple of minutes rough running, the ?Qicksilvered? petrol started coming through, and she just settled down and purred!
Needless to say I know where there?s a barrel of oil going cheap!
So, do engines develop preferences or are certain ones just downright fussy?
Billy
|
Maybe he just got the mix wrong and didn't want to admit it after you did it right? Most 2-strokes today like 50-1 don't they? But it used to be 30, 20 or even 16 to 1.
|
Yep, the Evinrude was 50:1, my old Sea-gull 12:1, boy could you upset the neiboughs on wash day when I fired her up! he-he!
Alot of the later 2-strokes now run on 100:1, mainly Yamaha's i believe, although nowadays the good old "mix in he tank" 2-strokes are no longer being manufactered, got to be "Direct injection" for Eco reasons. Bah!
Billy
|
|
No, but cars with severe bore wear can get addicted to Easy-Start or ether. The solvent dissolves oil in the upper cylinder, accentuating bore wear in those first firing strokes, until the bores are so worn that the thing won't start without its fix.
|
We have a David Brown Tractor with this addiction, :-) just sulks and doggedly refuses to start with-out it, no matter how many times you push the "cold start" button in. Trouble is, it seems that the can is emptying faster than ever lately, so we assume that this same addiction has been passed on to a few of the members as well!
|
|
my 40hp 2stroke sounds great on quicksilver at 50-1 but last time i bought some other brand and it smoked and sounded dreadful. i gave away 40 ltrs of mixed petrol and went back to quicksilver and all was well agian
|
Until today it's not been a problem i've been aware of, having personally never used anything other than Quicksilver, and apart from a coil go, have never had any problems at all (which is unusual for out-boards, for they are highly-strung beasts at the best of times!) but your experience is identical, and now when i "think" about all the Rough - sounding engines there are in our club, I wonder if a "cure" could just be as simple as changing the brand of oil being used.
i may try and set up a club experiment!
No I've no connections with Quicksilver either! (sold my shares last week! ;-) )
Billy
|
|
|
|
went to the garage and bought some fresh petrol (and a litre of Quicksilver).
The fresh petrol could have had more effect than the make of oil. Unleaded doesn't last more than about six weeks.
|
I will confess that i did think of this in retrospect, then remembered that he had said he'd used it four times and it had always been the same, - I sold it with an empty tank, so unless he used "old" petrol, the first time he used it, the petrol should have been fresh. Plus.......i've used petrol in it before that was nine weeks old, and she didn't miss a beat. (i know it was nine weeks cos i stole a day out in March, then due to the weather never got out again till May!) so much for being prepared! (also that day got photo of a special visitor - Mr Minkie Whale! )
Billy
|
|
i have an old seagull thats hates all tcw3 oil and will only run on wilkinson brand aoircooled outboard oil at 2.25 a litre. suits me fine but hate the noise.
|
|
|
|
