Hydrocruiser

Since you are a "Mercury Man" and that's certainly fine! You may be interested in knowing that Mercury has a Synthetic Blend 25w40 for it's 4 Stroke Outboards. I was told the conventional 25w40 wasn't holding up as well in that application and they came out with this new product. The synblend goes for $ 4.95/qt.

cigarette1

Today, I just bought a few 5 quart bottles of Mobil1 for $18+change each at Wal-mart.

G

MitchStellin

The most important thing you can do is let the oil show temp before going on plane. Like Lmarth said, it will make a huge difference. I do a lot of idling and I have not seen any sign of fuel in the oil. Thats a good thing. Bought 4 5qt 15-40 M1 for 18. each also. Now lets talk about disposal. I found dumping it offshore left a horrible oil stain on the hull, if I idled it collected on the stern. Now I just dump it in the woods. NOT.

R Addiction

Mitch, pour it in the neighbors yard. Thats what I do!!!........NOT!!

Wellby

Mobil 1 15w-50 in a Dennis Wells built 454

Lmarth

Mitch--Thanks for the feedback. Forgot to mention that I never start the motors without cranking them on the starter until I have oil pressure. Perhaps simplistic, but starters are cheaper than an expensive and complex prelube setup. Boat (1998) had a prelube setup on it at one time. Don't know why it was removed, but my technique seems to have worked and the starters haven't failed so far. Lou

MitchStellin

What filters are you guys using? I was ripped off by west marine on some Frame filters....$14.00, I can get the same at wall mart for $4. Why do I always do things back wards? Now I have to take them back. I bought NAPA Gold. Are these OK, they are longer than stock which can't hurt? I am changing the oil for the first time tonight. How many quarts does a 502 hold? I have 15 quarts of Mobile 1, thats 7.5 each....with my luck I will need 8 How do you crank the engines for oil pressure without them starting? Pull the tether? Mine start right away, maybe 3 cranks and BOOM, Merc/Gills start barking loud.

Lmarth

Mitch-- I believe it was Hydrocruiser who had an interesting thread on oil filters a few days ago. I suggest you check that out. The AC Delco, Amsoil,etc were quite good. I've always run the long version of the AC Delco brand in my BBC's. Just personal preference. My 800SC's don't start unless I give them 1-2 strokes of the throttle so I can easily crank to get oil pressure. I'm sure you've heard about wiped cam lobes with BBC's with High lift cams. I hope I didn't mislead anyone with my prior comment. Pulling the tether is one way of doing it. -- Lou

MitchStellin

Oh I do know about taking cam lobes out. I did this on a 454, the biggest reason was water from the risers getting into the oil. I have to give it a goose also when cold so I will try this also. Thanks Lou. The first time is always a B, then you know what to expect and it is easy, just need to take my time.

Lmarth

Mitch- Hang in there, you'll be just fine. The biggest threat to a BBC cam is when a brand new cam is first run. What I usedto do was to mark the rotor and distributor housing before teardown. Then when I assembled the heads I'd use only the outer springs. Then I'd spin the oil pump with a drill to get oil pressure. Then I would fire it up and keep at 2000 to 2500 RPM's for twenty minutes. Then add the inner valve springs/dampers, fresh oil/filter and retorque heads. Now all you had to do was check the timing and run it. The worst thing you can do to a new,hot cam is to fire it up and let it idle @ 800RPM. At the marina I'm at I've seen 3-4 cam wipe-outs in the last year or two. Common thread-New cam, start it, idle off tto try it. Next day, missing and/or backfire through carb. It got to the point where you could tell whether it was an intake lobe (miss) or exhaust lobe (backfire). For what it's worth- Lou