Any experience with Opti-2?

[Lootas1]

Just bought a gallon of Opti-2 lubricant for 2 cycle motors. It was pricy ($57) but claims you can run any 2 cycle motor on 6 oz. to 5 gallons of gas. That's around 100:1, I believe. It is supposed to contain a gas preservative (like Stabil?) and is supposed to be smoke free. Sounds good but now I've put it in two tanks of gas to run my 1965 Merc 650 and various old outboard that call for 24:1 or 32:1, I'm getting cold feet. Anyone had any experience (hopefully good) with this product?

[ChuckB]

Your 24:1 and 32:1 ratios are for 30wt oil that was used back in the day for mix. But that said, I din't think I would mix at less than 50:1 for any older motor. I ran my 75, 55 evinrudes, and force motors at 50:1 ussing Amsoil full synthetic that I bought on sale. It was less smokey, and at a 100:1 might even be considered smokeless. but not on an older motor. Just my thoughts.
ChuckB

[pathfinderz1]

If you have some motors olded then 1955 they don't have roller bearing and those need the oil so I would never mix anything less the 34to 1 and that is still taking a chance of blowing the motor. I think it was Evinrude a few years back said you could run thire motors at 100 to 1 and after a bunch of burned up motors they changed it back to 50 to 1. I would much rather go a little heavy on the oil than burn my motors up. So watch what someone says about thire oil. It's not worth it to lose a motor just to save some oil or a little less smoke.
Mike
PS
I have something like 20 old motors from 1947 to 1960 and they all run.

[Tim_Mattson]

New oils for newer engines

Hey guys,
I do run the new XD-30 oil in my VRO Johnson and other motors too.The various new oils out there are intended for today`s direct injected and non-carbed 4 strokes.Some are made for the carbed models with the fuel cleaner only.
The higher dollar oils will have your fuel additives and injection cleaners built -in as the fuel systems are meant to be closed loops with no exposure to air as with a carb.
Most use injectors and Iridium tipped spark plugs for economy and emmision reasons.
Don`t want to run these babies dry on fuel or you`ll be buying SETS of injectors after they clog the fine tips.Clog one and they make you change ALL.
For your Merc ,go 50:1 for sure.Spike the fuel with the cleaners every other fill-up,and use the Stabil towards the end of season or before any layoffs.
De-carb every 50-100hours(100 if frequent use and avg fouling,less if fouling at all) with Engine Tuner,Ring-Free or any other goodspray foam then swap for new plugs.
100:1 on the mid 80`s OMCs works only for those guys Sockeye fisherman trolling kickers down so low ,the engines starves out once in a while as the fuel pump just can`t work if not enough rpms are happening.
The E-Tecs allow you to choose your oil ratio and they can tweak it for the lesser mix if slower use calls for it.
TimM

[El Blanco]

E-Tec

You mentioned E-Tec..... I would like to put a new motor on my boat when I get her running again. Evenrude, Honda, etc. Is an E-Tec a good motor ... I want something reliable. I've heard they are good but are they really?

George

[Tim_Mattson]

E-Tec + new engines

George,
The Fuel use numbers are getting too good to be true but are from actual testting so it`s becoming harder to knock the new motors now offered.
E-Tecs show a fuel use of around 20% of a Gallon at Idle,FOR a 115 hp!
That is less than my 8 hp Tohatsu 2 stroke and about what a 10-15 hp 4 stroke kicker would burn.
Older Ficht motors got a bad rap ,deserved in most cases, and had weirdness at certain speeds as the engine would drop cyks to keep fuel use down,and also clattered like a car motor running with dry valves from no oil.
They also needed a huge battery and charge system to be able to force oil thru the very tight system.
The E-Tec also has a new Engine Baffle contol for the exhaust that can tell when a motor is submerged or up on step and not needing the baffle to open as much.
The computer system will also tell the life of the motor so no more slow telling of the truth.........well I DID run low on oil one time......
The power to weight of the 2 stroke block is tough to beat but prices do dictate what we can buy.
I`m waiting but "Lurking Hard".
TimM

[Scott McDade]

Just bought an E-Tec

We just bought a 2-year-old E-Tec 90, and we'll be mounting it on the Skagit 20 next week. We bought it on the strength of the specs, not really knowing anybody who had one. It was the fuel stats that sold us. The Merc 115 runs fine and is as fast as all get-out, but we hope to do some long-range cruises and need better fuel economy. We'll let you know how the E-Tec works out in future posts. Can't wait to try it!