Dons cocktail

[Tim W]

While my boat was down after being rear ended last year I had them change my spark plugs and some other stuff while my transom was being worked on. The glass shop does run of the mill maintaince stuff also.

Needless to say they must have cross threaded one spark plug in the cylinder. The cylinder was so messed up the plug wouldn't even come out and my tech (the one who normally does all my wk, not the same place that was fixing my transom and installed the screwed up plug) Was afraid of breaking the plug. While the head was off He showed it to me you can plainly see its crooked. The tech let me try and get it out and i was actually flexing the plug to the point it was going to break

Needless to say i did not want a sleeve or what ever you call em installed so i replaced the head.

Now to the point. I have been running the cocktail since day one. Mind you i have 765 hours on my motor. My cylinders were dang near spotless with no carbon. My tech asked if i was running quick clean in my fuel. He swears by it as well.

So if there are any disbelievers I saw first hand a clean well used motor

[lpugh]

Don once said something that I very much agree with. He would rather have a motor with 600 hours on it that has had the right fuel, oil, additives and proper maintenance than one with a 100 hours that has not.
Just his last weekend I checked out a motor for a friend of mine that had only 160 hours on it and I would have had zero interest in owning it. Lack of maintenance, scuffed cylinder and a lot of carbon. The guy used premium plus instead of DFI and no additives of any kind, both stats stuck open
Good job Tim, be careful you let work on your motors though. You did the right thing in replacing that head instead of trying to repair it

[Stanford72]

So could I use the DFI oil in my 04 250 XS? Ive been using the premium plus for years.

[Tim W]

That would be a question for Don

[Tim W]

Don once said something that I very much agree with. He would rather have a motor with 600 hours on it that has had the right fuel, oil, additives and proper maintenance than one with a 100 hours that has not.
Just his last weekend I checked out a motor for a friend of mine that had only 160 hours on it and I would have had zero interest in owning it. Lack of maintenance, scuffed cylinder and a lot of carbon. The guy used premium plus instead of DFI and no additives of any kind, both stats stuck open
Good job Tim, be careful you let work on your motors though. You did the right thing in replacing that head instead of trying to repair it

No kidding. I learned the hard way. They do great glass work so when The shop asked if I wanted a tune up while it was there and i figured why not.... its been a while since my plugs were done. They also Mis diagnosed my lower unit. They did a run out test and said my prop shaft was straight. Well... I take the boat out once the glass work is done and boom. It blew.

So now my regular guy gets my boat. Mind you I did not tell him where the boat was hit nor could you tell anymore since the glass work was done and I had a new prop. He asked if the boat was hit on the left side of the prop. Which it was. When i said yes he stated the prop shaft was bent to the left and was out of spec.

[gehol]

So could I use the DFI oil in my 04 250 XS? Ive been using the premium plus for years.

Mercury Racing does NOT recommend DFI oil for their motors. They recommend Mercury racing oil first with PP as suitable. The racing oil is very expensive and a little hard to find.

[SilverFox579]

Oil recommendations are in the FAQ - Oil, Battery, Spark Plugs, Fuel and Fuel Additive Recommendations

Oil:
-These are the "top recommendations". Refer to your owner's manual for other oil specifications!
-ALL EFI/CARB 2.4/2.5/3.0L (2-stroke) Engines: Mercury or Quicksilver Premium PLUS
-All STANDARD Optimax (75-250): Mercury or Quicksilver DFI/Optimax Oil
-ALL ProXS Models: Optimax/DFI Oil. Mercury or Quicksilver Premium PLUS is acceptable, but Optimax/DFI oil is RECOMMENDED due to a better additive package to help combat carbon deposits.
-ALL Racing/XS Models: Mercury Racing 2 Cycle Oil pn. 92-8M0078011, Mercury Racing Gear Lube pn. 92-8M0078015. Premium Plus oil may be used as alternative ENGINE oil.

- (Note..... there was some conflicting information on Merc's Website- follow this recommendation for the latest information as it's released!)

NOTE: Mercury/Quicksilver Optimax/DFI oil, and Mercury/Quicksilver Premium PLUS are totally compatible with each other. Although you should use the CORRECT oil, you can switch to the recommended Optimax/DFI oil, simply by adding the correct oil to the tank.

NEVER MIX MERCURY RACING OIL WITH OTHER OILS IN THE REMOTE TANK!!!!