best two cycle engine oil for Johnson 60 horse

I noticed the other day that it’s time to add a fresh jug of oil to my oil reservoir and I want to see if you folks have any suggestions. Over the years I’ve struggled with understanding/appreciating the differences between the various brands of two cycle oil available and the prices charged for them. I can’t seem to find any data that justifies the prices charge for some brands but they sure are pricey. Is there truly a difference between the Wal-mart SuperTech TCW-3 brand that sells for less than $6/gallon and the Mercury Quicksilver TCW-3 or Johnson/OMC TCW-3 brands that go for upwards of $16/gallon. I mean we’re not talking about a buck or two difference. These are extremely disparate prices that really get me wondering if there is some true benefit to buying and burning the name brands. Do they smoke less, do they provide better lubrication and less fouling of plugs? Is it just marketing hype from the big boys with no real performance advantage backing up that exhorbitant price? I’m a cheap son-of-a-gun by nature and like to save my money for important stuff. If there’s a true difference then I’ll gladly spend the extra coin if it will result in better performance or longer life of my motor. If there’s no difference then I’ll buy the cheap stuff and put away the savings until I can afford another day with James or Dustin to learn more about Pool 4. I’d be real interested to hear what everyone thinks about this topic. Thanks.

Let me be the first to wade in on this sea of controversy. I have a 1994 40hp Merc oil injected, that I bought new. Sence then I have used nothing but Lubrimatic 2 cycle. I have never had an ounce of trouble. At least trouble related to oil. As a mater of fact. to be honest with you, I have only even changed the plugs once, and that was cause my conscience started bothering me about not having changed them. I also spend hour after hour on Pipen trolling. I felt the same way you do about the big difference in the oils. Merc is up around 16-18 bucks a gallon and lubrimatic is around 6-7 bucks a pop. Well there’s my 2 cents worth. Lets see what others feel.

Trigger

Everyone seems to have a different opinion about 2 stroke oil, so here is mine. If you buy a $6 /gallon oil, you’re going to get $6 /gallon performance.
I have a 1998 75 hp Merc 2 stroke and had always run the Quicksilver. Although I had no real problems with it, I switched to Amsoil 2 stroke oil because I had been running it in my snowmobiles. They are both Polaris models and have the exhaust valves that open and close with the RPMs of the engine. I had always been really happy with the way the Amsoil burned so clean. Since I had an extra jug I tried it in the boat. Man what a difference! I troll a lot, and the first thing I noticed was how much less smoke and smell there was. The other difference was I could troll for hours and then crack the throttle to switch spots with absolutely no hesitation or stuttering.
The cost is identical to the quicksilver at about $15-16 per gallon.
My 2 cents.

Good Luck!
Crossin’

I have a 2000 50HP merc, and the rule of thumb I have come up with over the last 3 seasons is: the cheaper the oil, the better. I am sure there are many who will disagree, but it has just been my experience. I discovered this up at Winnie one time when the oil alarm started going off (we won’t go into why the operator wasn’t paying more attention to the oil level in the motor ), and I had no choice but to buy the stuff they had at the resort. I think it was Lubrimatic, or some such thing. TC-WIII, though, so I figured I’d be good until I could have the pleasure of going to the boat shop and being able to spend $23.99 for a gallon of the Quicksilver.
I may have mentioned in previous posts how displeased I initially was with this motor, as far as starting, idling, etc. The cheap oil cleared up at least 80% of my complaints, the other 20% was a simple throttle linkage adjustment. It doesn’t smoke any more or less than it did with the expensive stuff, and contrary to what the boat salespeople will tell you, running non-Merc. (or whatever other model) oil WILL NOT void the warranty.
Like I said, I’m sure others have had different experiences, this is just my $.02.
Greg

This one looks like a fun one to get into!! But I feel, in the end, this is sorta like opinions/discussions, (I won’t say arguments!!), on politics, religon, women, $20 rods vs $150 rods, and ultimately, which is better, Walleye or Bass fishing. No winners OR losers!
I feel that all of the above posts are correct! At least they are for the fella’s writing them. Personally, I use the expensive stuff. I feel it is cheap insurance and piece of mind. I have been running 2 strokes since “81”, and have only run oil that the manufacturer recommends. I have never had a “motor” problem, even though all of them have been run real hard. I now run an “01” 150 Optimax, and that oil is even more expensive than Quicksilver! But I use a lot less than my old “86” 75hp Merc. The same discussion can be made on fuel. Regular or Premium? I always run Premium.
These motors, now a days, are very high performance and technically advanced engines. Manufacturers are getting many more horses and RPMs out of their motors for the same displacement, of just a couple of years ago.
If you have good luck running cheaper oil/fuel, that’s great! But, I know that if you were to watch any boat racing, those boys would not be running cheap oil and or fuel! They want the most performance out of their package as they can get. I guess that is what every person is going to have to weigh, when deciding on what to use.
Not much help now, was I!?@#

Though,not in the same league as the motors you guys are running,I have a 1983 25 hp Mariner.It’s a Yamaha under the skin.I have always ran Amzoil in it and it has never given me any trouble in 20 years.I run it in all my 2 cycle engines.Good stuff .Mike

I would agree with Troutman. I run Amzoil injector oil in my Evinrude since it was new. I have been very happy with it. It is almost scary how little oil it uses though.

Hey Warrior, you say you’re running premium fuel so I have question for you. In Ia., most premium fuel contains ethanol, is this what you’re using?

Herb, No, the premium that I use does not contain ethanol. The pump has a sticker on it that says that it is only for boats, motorcycles, classic cars, off-road stuff, etc. Here in Minn., and I live in the so-called “5 county metro area”, all gas in this area has ethanol in it except the special premium grade.

That’s getting mighty hard to find here in iowa. I assume then that the special premium grade you run is an octane of around 92. I’m wondering if I need to run fuel with an octane above 87 in my 60hrs 4stroke. I won’t touch the 89 octane because it normally all contains ethanol.
Although the manufacturers say you can run it, they do not recommend it. And like I said, it’s pretty hard to find a station with more than 2 grades of fuel anymore. 87 regular and 89 ethanol. So, I guess I’m stuck with the 87 regular.

I want to apologize to weekend warrior for using his thread to get these questions answered, but since I found a poster who could answer my questions I figuired I better take a shot at it. thanks

It is 92 octane. And only 3 or 4 stations out of about 25 in town carry it. Over this past week, it took a sharp jump in price, like all gas did. Filled up yesterday and it was close to $2.00 a gal. The 89 octane premium in the 5 county area does have about 10% ethanol, same as the regular 86-87 octane. Now in MN., outside of the 5 county metro area, (I think. At least it used to be.) all fuel is ethanol free, or at least it isn’t mandatory by law. If you live close to the border, you could get gas there, but you still may have to ask the station manager if his gas contains ethanol.

Thanks
Just a side note, if you live in Ia. according to my dealer, there can be ethanol in the station tanks and they don’t have to post it at the pump if it is under 10%. I was told this quite a few years ago so don’t know if it’s still happening.