What oil for engine? |
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vwrestler171
Newbie Joined: July-05-2021 Location: Tooele, UT Status: Offline Points: 5 |
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Posted: June-11-2022 at 6:23pm |
I just bought a 1996 Sport Nautique with the 351 in it. The previous owner told me to run any 10w-30 synthetic in it, but I started looking into it and seeing that I need a higher zinc content and the oils I can find with that are all higher viscosity than I'm used to. 20w-50. I'm seeing the occasional post saying straight 40w, but I'm not finding many options there as well. Is the 20w-50 to thick?
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RealDeez
Senior Member Joined: August-01-2019 Location: MI/IN Status: Offline Points: 137 |
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That old chestnut. If you Google oil weight and correctcraftfan or browse some you'll find a lot of threads. Yes on the zinc. Our 93 has been run on Mobil 1 15w50 and runs strong at almost 1500 hours.
Other folks will recommend diesel oil. Reading these threads has lead me to believe any synthetic with the right level of ZDDP will be fine. I'm kind of a noob still but that's what I've learned. |
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Lake James, IN
93 Sport Nautique |
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KENO
Grand Poobah Joined: June-06-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11155 |
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It's the internet, you can find almost any answer you're looking for
You'll find plenty of opinions on zinc amounts, weights needed, synthetic or conventional oil, Ginger or Mary Ann etc. If the PO has run 10W30 synthetic for the last who knows how many years without wiping out the cam lobes, that should either make you scared that it's gonna happen next time you turn the key or make you say "maybe it's OK" One pretty much universally accepted oil for these engines is 15W40 Shell Rotella conventional diesel oil. It's reasonably priced and it's everywhere You can also find it in synthetic or synthetic blend if you want that. You can also substitute your favorite brand of oil in the same 15W40 diesel rating and be just fine. They all have enough zinc to keep the "gotta have lotsa zinc crowd" happy. There's no real magic number for zinc concentration that is gonna cook the engine if your oil has less than that number. Your PO has done a good job of showing that already. Everybody has a favorite, the Mobil 1 15W50 mentioned earlier works for plenty of people as one of their favorites.
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vwrestler171
Newbie Joined: July-05-2021 Location: Tooele, UT Status: Offline Points: 5 |
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The PO said he only had the boat for 2 years, so I know it hasn't been done forever.
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KENO
Grand Poobah Joined: June-06-2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 11155 |
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So................ it's had a lot of years before that with some unknown oil What weight do you want to use that you're used to ? You can find plenty of different weights of Rotella with plenty of zinc these days.
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gun-driver
Grand Poobah Joined: July-18-2008 Location: Pittsburgh, Pa Status: Offline Points: 4127 |
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Mary Ann... No doubt about it.
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Lou-Pa
Newbie Joined: November-16-2019 Location: Wilmington, NC Status: Offline Points: 20 |
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Plus 1 on the 15W50 Mobil 1. I’ve used it continuously in my 96 Ski with no problems at all
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