OptiMax Enginer Oil - What to use?

[Jbyrd]

Thanks for all the great feedback. I pulled my manual and it says "Mercury OptiMax/DFI or Quicksilver DFI 2-Cycle Engine Oil is recommended for your egnine. If Mercury OptiMax/DFI or Quicksilver DFI 2-Cycle engine oil is not available, we recommend using Mercury or Quicksilver TC-W3 Premium Plus 2-Cycle Oil". I went out and got a gallon of the oil I am using. It is a grey bottle that says Quicksilver Premium Plus 2-Cycle Outboard Oil. Under that it says Advanced Formula for extreme marine operating conditions. It also says TC-W3 Certified down in the lower left hand corner of the bottle. It doesn't say anything about DFI on the front of the bottle. However, on the back of the bottle it says it is formulated specificlly to meet the demands of high horsepower and direct fuel injected (DFI) outboards. So I think I have the right stuff but just want to make sure. To many options make it pretty confusing. I plan on calling a few dealerships on Monday but it is eating me up wondering if I may have been using the wrong stuff.

The Optimax oil is in a black jug and says Opti max dfi on it. I ask the Mercury rep what was the difference and he said the chemical compoud was different. The lubricating molucules in the opti oil are smaller. I ask why the xs models can run the premium plus and he said the pro xs models have larger openings in the reed valves than the plain optimax engines. Maybe that is why the xs modules are faster. Better use the opti max oil if that is what it calls for...............

[BrentCar]

Spoke w/ Mercury reps today. They said the Optimax motor could use the DFI or the Quicksilver Premium Plus. They said using the Quicksilver Premium Plus would not void the warranty. However, they did say that if you use the Premium Plus you should run 89 octane gas. If you run the higher end DFI oil you can run 87 octane. I asked if I could switch back and forth and they said that wouldn't cause any problems.