Engine OIL 280 Break IN

[BoatGoFaster]

The owners manual says to use MERCURY HI-PERFORMANCE SYNTHETIC BLEND 2 CYCLE OIL.

Is this mercury part number 92-813743A Performance Blend.
The list according to parts express is $157 per 2 1/2 gallon. Seems a bit expensive??

After Break in i'll use penzoil or amsoil but what do i use for Break in.

thanks

[Balzy]

It should be $157.50 for (2) 2 1/2 gallon jugs in a case. 5 gallons total. $31.50 a gallon. Still steep.

[BoatGoFaster]

Thanks,

This is what i use for Break in , right???

Now my local dealer dont have, so who does??

thanks

[WillyT]

Your owner's manual should be very specific about WHAT to use during the break-in, as well as HOW to break it in (specific rpm ranges for specific time periods, etc.). I don't know if the blend is o.k. for break-ins or not, but it probably is if the manual does not say to use something special. I know that you should not use a pure synthetic during break-in because it is literally TOO slick. It will not allow the rings to properly mate/seat with the cylinder walls. Once completely broken-in, however, a pure synthetic (so called, anyway) is a great way to go. Hopefully, Jay Smith will chime in here.

[BoatGoFaster]

Well actually the owners manual is not to clear.

Under ENGINE BREAK IN (page 32) it only thing it says related to oil is.

"During and after Break-in, use a 40:1 gasoline/oil mixture in your fuel tank."

Under FUEL & OIL (page 22) the recomended oil is "mercury hi-performance synthetic blend 2-cycle oil"

So here's the confusion.

1. In mercury parts express they have "92-813743A Performance Blend." which i am assuming is what they mean to be "mercury hi-performance synthetic blend 2-cycle oil".

2. I thought that durning break in you do not use synthetic, but i guess a blend is OK??

3. Also, in the past all of the previous motors always had double oil for break in. But on this one. 280 the manual says 40:1 now and forever?


comments?

[Balzy]

I just broke my 260 back in nice and easy on 32 to 1 Merc performance blend that you are talking about. At 6.7 hours now and the compression came out exactly the same on 5 cyl and 1 is one Lb higher. Don't get much better than that. And I am staying at 32 to 1 all year this year. Ran Amsoil full synthetic last year at 40 to 1 and completely wore her out in one season.

MERCURY HI-PERFORMANCE SYNTHETIC BLEND 2 CYCLE OIL and Performance Blend are the same thing.

[WillyT]

Boy, not a very precise manual, is it? I can't imagine that extra oil (typically about 25 to 1) is not needed for break-in. I THINK that Mercury now sells 3 oils (and only 3 oils):

Premium
Premium Plus (recommended for the ProMaxes)
The synthetic blend.

Lord only knows why they refer to this last one in more than just one way (assuming that I am correct and there is just one of these blends).

Jay Smith (or others), please help!

Even though my ProMax manual had better break-in and oil info than yours, the dealer still had to give me a photocopy of a fax that detailed the "best" break-in procedure to use. What sticks out in my mind was that the last step while still on extra oil was a continuous two minute run at wide open throttle. Was not easy to do on my small lake (plus it was scary since the boat was 15 mph faster than with the old engine and same prop)! Good luck.

[half fast]

Don't forget that special Opti Max oil!!!!!Oh and the biodegradable for the people that get thirsty,this stuff is very high. hf...

[Markus]

Has anyone here tried breaking in using synthetic oil and encountered problems?

[PLdrive]

I broke my in on Klotz at 40:1(as per manual). Dealer said Klotz would be fine. The 280 runs rich (10% ECM Controlled) until break-in. Motor will require 2 hours of LOAD(big prop, loaded boat) before it will release Rev limiter. You will most likely foul a couple sets of plugs before break-in is complete. You should not have this problem after break-in.

[Jay Smith]

If it were my motor with the double gold rings I would run it about 1 Hr on the hose with a 32:1 mix of Quicksilver Then I would run about 50 gals of gas tru it with the quicksilver at the 32:1 ratio. Then after the 50 gals I would go to the Pennzoil Syn at Walmart @ 19.95 a gal at 32:1 Its as good as oil as you can buy anywhere and it sold at Walmart.The reason I would use the Quicksilver is to promote the mating up of the bores and the rings with a slight abraision. That's why I only suggest 50 Gals of gas at this mix. I NEVER double oil ANY motor and I know some people dissagree and thats fine I can only site what I do and what works for me.When you double oil anything it builds heat and also the metering system either it be a jet or an injector is forced to pass a thick viscosity mixture thru it You think your getting twice the oil but your really reducing the fuel - oil mixture completley I know you all get tired of hearing me get on my soap box about these things but I feel strongly about it.

Good luck with your new motor !!

Jay @ JSRE www.jaysmithracing.com

[sosmerc]

At the God-awful price of our toys these days I would call Merc High Performance and get a clarification of break-in straight from the horses mouth. I once had a customer with a ProMax 300 and it "went down" at less than 6 hours and Merc said it failed probably because it was not run hard enough soon enough! They came to this conclusion based on the run history stored in the ECU. They did cover everything under warranty, but the point is, Merc doesn't do a very good job discussing break-in in their owner's manual. Break-in is very important (and since they can view run history) better to do it exactly as they say.
One other thought...the more oil in the gas the less gas actually gets in the cylinders to be run....or in otherwords: lean, leaner, leaner! I wouldn't think it would be that good to be running really hard with say 25:1!

[Euroski]

I ran the Merc Plus oil(32:1) during the first 30 hours I had my 280 and from there switched to Quakerstate/Pennzoil synthetic. Had one hell of a time keeping the plugs from fouling for the first 10 hours. Thats how long it took to get of the 6000rpm clock. My dealer wanted me to stay with the Merc oil scince where I boat the water is real short, only about 2 minutes WOT room! Haven't done a cylinder leakage test this year yet but last year it was only 3% or less before switching oil. Compression was 130, at 1300 feet above sea level.

[Edited by Euroski on 05-19-2001 at 03:43 PM]

[stan merck]

THATS TRUE IF YOU LOOK AT A 2.5 CARB MOTOR THEY RUN .072 JETS FOR BREAKIN AND THEN .068 FOR RUNNING AFTER BREAKIN. YOU WOULD THINK AND I THINK THEY DO THAT THE EFI'S WITH THE NEW COMPUTERS RICHEN UP FOR A SET AMOUNT OF TIME DURING BREAKIN. SEEMS TO MAKE SENSE TO ME ANYWAY.

[WillyT]

Like I said above, my dealer gave me a photocopy of a fax for the recommended break in procedure. It had several steps, including different wide open runs for various time periods, the last of which was for 2 minutes. I was told that I could run the engine for 10 years at 1/3-1/2 throttle and that it still would not be correctly broken in without the wide open runs described in the procedure. I was also told to not use synthetic oil during this period (for the same reasons expressed by Jay Smith above). Why this information was not in the official paperwork that came with the engine, including the owners manual, is beyond me. The procedure apparently worked great since the engine performs great. Just seemed liked a weird way for such important info to be provided to the customer.