Oil Injection question

[Texas Transplant]

Got a question about oil injection and general running of the engine. Here's the situation.



While picking up my new Stratos on Friday, the owner was going over several regular details. Showing me the oil injection resivor, etc. He runs merc oil in it, an 89 octane fuel. This is an 150hp Evinrude with a separate oil tank in the bilge.



The thing I found different was this. He says that he always adds 4oz of oil per 6 gallons of fuel to the main fuel tank. In short, somewhat of a belt and suspenders approach. The engine (per Trep) runs great, and certainly is very clean.



Is this overkill? Is it NOT recommended practice? Also, if he has been doing this, should I continue the practice?



Thanks.



Tex

 

[Bryan McDonough]

For break in process i have always been told in the past to run rich, meaning put some oil in the tank. But sounds like after a few tanks that might be an overly cautious method of ensuring you engine is getting oil. Plus i would imagine you might foul some plugs doing this. I dunno.

If your buyig a new evinrude it should have a 7 year warranty on it, so i'd go by the owners manual. Just my opinion.

 

[Bill McElroy]

adding the little extra oil to the gas is not going to hurt the motor......it'll just smoke a little more than normal and it may lessen the life of the plugs,...but if you were to stop that practice and run straight gas...it'll probably increase your overall performance a little bit. Sounds like he's "double oiling" for some reason...who knows why!!!...but it's probably just his personal "insurance" to ensure that the motor's getting oil incase the oil injection system ever fails. Try running a tank full of straight 89octane gas and see if you notice a difference in performance, idling, smoke, power, etc..etc. Prior to doing that though...top off the oil reservoir first and then keep an eye on it to make sure it's using oil while you're running the straight gas......more oil than necessary is better than not enough!! I suspect you'll be fine running straight gas though,,...i'd do 1 tank full anyway just for curiosity purposes!! IMHO!!

Mac

 

[Jim B]

on my old evinrude the manual said to run a 50:1 mixture in the gas as well as the oil injection if you were operating the motor at high rpm for extended periods of time. that being said i used to run mine at wot almost all the time and never had a problem and i never added any extra oil in the gas with the exception of breakin. i ran full synthetic pennzoil in it and that motor ran like a champ. its up to you if want to keep doing it, i presonally think you will be fine without it but if your going to drive it wide open all the time i cant see how it could hurt anything.

 

[Texas Transplant]

Thanks Mac. Already checked the main tank, it's just about full (looks to hold several gallons of oil). I'll probably top off the gas tank before running the engine (with straight 89 octane), and pay attention to the performance and smoke issue. Good thought about checking the oil consumption closely.



Tex

 

[Dan J.]

You'll foul plugs quicker and have more internal residue build up. The philosophy is probably to "overlube" the piston to retard friction failures. With the VRO's popping frequently this became widespread through the later OMC's and I've even seen old timer's doing it with Merc's. I'd either disconnect/bypass the injector and run straight mix in the tank or run it as intended by the mfg. The latter my preference. I double oil during break-in only, then run to spec.'s. Just my .02.