........ $12.88/gal 2-stroke oil!
 

Hurray for Walmart, and Walmart sells a lot more than just walls.

Instead of paying 20 to 25-dollars for a gallon of 2-stroke oil, Wal-Mart has gallons of Super Tech marine 2-stroke oil in a beautiful bright blue color for just 12.88 .....and it works the same as the high priced stuff like Mercury, Evinrude, or Valvoline.

They keep it in a different location than the Mercury-Evinrude items.....like, over in the car oil aisle.....for some unknown reason....in a brite blue gallon bottle.

TC-W3 marine 2-stroke oil @ $12.88/gallon at the Plymouth Wal-Mart

I use this stuff in all my two stroke stuff--2 sleds, boat, chainsaw, leaf blower and it works great. If they don't have any on the shelf you can also order it from site to store. I picked up a couple gallons last season. It's not the high-dollar synthetic stuff, but it does the job and is marine rated.

I suspect that it might come off the same production line as the OEM branded oil.

Could be. It's not uncommon. I think Quicksilver is just a re-labeled big brand. I can't remember what the guy at a marina told me about it a long time ago. I used Quicksilver in a 60hp Mercury with no issues.

Big difference here. Quicksilver is a "generic" version of Mercury's factory oil. It is slightly less expensive - however it is the only oil that is recognized by Mercury as a substitute for factory branded oil and will NOT void their factory warranty of used. Far as I have been able to research it is made to the same exact specifications.

Walmart branded oil is not recognized as a substitute to any factory oil by any manufacturer and for good reason (not because it's cheaper to buy)

It is manufactured by Warren Oil Co, who manufactures oil under their own brand name as well as making lubrication products under various "house brands". Just a random tidbit of information for those who were curious. They make the whole supertech line of lubricants.

Why is it so cheap? Well like anything, you get what you pay for. While it may meet whatever standards that are stamped on the bottle that is only half the story. Let's take the TC-W3 standard for marine engines. It validates lubrication qualities and general performance over a 100 hour bench test in a lab certified by the NMMA. It does not consider the formulation that is used in various oils which contributes the cost spread. So while Walmart oil may be adequate to pass a bench test and meet a standard in a controlled environment, is it formulated with the additives that other more expensive oils have which aid in a cleaner burn, breakdown, or gummy build up over time, or how about the all important corrosion protection in harsh conditions?

Does it make a difference? Well some manufacturers are specially formulating their oil for a specific application. I have a friend of mine that royally screwed up his Evinrude E-Tec trying to save a buck or two on oil. After a trip to the shop and couple hundred bucks later to clean the mess that oil made of his motor, he learned his lesson. I don't screw around with cheap oil, it costs me about 35 bucks for good quality 2 cycle oil and over the course of a season I'll blow through 2 gallons on average. Am I going to sweat the cost difference? Nope.

Other opinons may vary...

For my 1967 Johnson 3 1/2 hp sailboat outboard that I bought last year for $300, the seller who is a super expert on these old outboards told me the Walmart 2-stroke oil is what he uses and that it's just as good as the Evinrude-Johnson gallon.

How's about in a 1997 Mariner 75 hp 2-stroke .....does it makes any difference using the 12.88 Walmart oil .....or moving up to the Mercury brand regular or synthetic blend 2-stroke oil that costs about 20 and 25-dollars?

E-tec outboards are incredibly expensive, and probably very different from what I've got.

As an fyi regarding Etecs...You are allowed to use ANY TCW-3 rated oil in an Etec. HOWEVER, there is a different setting the motor is set to if your not using their full synthetic XD-100 oil. These other settings allow more oil to the motor, so while you may be saving money by the gallon its burning more in the engine so what are you really saving?? Using the XD-100 setting, you burn approximately 1 gallon of oil per 100 gallons of gas. I believe the TCW-3 setting doubles the amount of oil used.

Dan

Cheaper oil = more smoke
 

I ran Merc oil for many years. Last year I figured I give Cabela's oil a shot as it was half the price. I ran through 2 gallons and while I had no problems with the engine it was blowing off much more smoke. To Maxum's point... the additives make a difference.

The sounds like it has more to do with Synthetic vs. Non-Synthetic.... although BRP may have implemented the switch to indicate there oil vs. TCW-3..... There oil is TCW3 but it is a synthetic blend. According to the BRP websites, there are two setting on the new ETC... On for using the XD-100, and the other for everything else, including their XD-50.....

TCW-3 is a specification that oil MUST Meet.... From a lubrication aspect. The brands all differ by what additives they use to meet the lubrication specifications.... The manufactures can't specify "There oil" and nothing else... they can specify TCW3 and that it be fully synthetic.... which ha ha is what BRP has done with the E-TEC.... You use our fully synthetic, and you burn 1/2 as much oil... Chose or conventional XD-50 or any other TCW-3 rated oil and we are going to make you burn twice as much...... Personally with this piece of knowledge I would tell the dealer to set my motor to work with any oil.... because good forbid I get somewhere where I can't get that speciality oil....

If Mercury or BRP advertises that there engines work on TCW-3 oil they have to support any TCW-3 oil..... If they specified they work on only there special blend, then that is a different story.... but every time I have looked at specifications, I always see the term, "TCW-3 approved oil".......

That is exactly correct! I believe (not quite certain) that the feds stepped in when it was first required to run brand specific oil either for regular use or for warranty and said no way!

On both my Etec outboards, XD-50, or any oil meeting TC-W3 specs was required for break in on the TC-W3 setting, then xd-100 was recommended on the leaner XD-100 setting. There is zero smell from an Etec on this setting.

The way the Etecs burn such minimal oil, there is simply no reason not to burn XD-100 and it is readily available both on the lake and off as well as online and even Amazon has it for a good price with free shipping!

BTW...Besides my outboard, both my snowmobiles have Etecs and I swear by them for power, reliability, and their extreme clean burning characteristics. BRP has a winner here for sure!

Dan

So just for clarification, that motor I spoke of was changed to run 'regular" oil setting but think about it this way. Those ETEC's are rather complicated and part of what makes them run so clean is the minimal amount of oil they use and how it's delivered directly to lubrication points. Now this is a rather delicate balance which is why Evinrude recommends their oil as it is formulated for this application and gets the overall bragging rights of being so clean burning. Now think about it, if the engine is consuming 2 times the amount of oil over time what do you think is going to happen? Yep a big mess! At least that was my friend's experience. Will the engine run with any oil, sure but is it operating at it's peak efficiency? Not by a long shot.

I have a couple of sleds that I have run different 2 cycle oils in. Both are Polaris and I thought that they were asking way to much for their VES Gold oil. Me being careful just made sure I got oil that was rated for use with variable exhaust valves. Well after a few seasons of using cheaper oils I bit the bullet and ran a season with Polaris's oil. When I went to clean the exhaust valves after the season was over there was a remarkable lack of gummy buildup around the valves, the sleds ran noticeably better and smoked far less than prior seasons. I have since moved off Polaris oil and run Spectro Syn Sno which is slightly cheaper but I get similar results.

My only point here is that oil formulation makes a big difference in how the oil burns, the ash content, corrosion protection, longevity/resistance to breakdown, etc.. All these standards are simply a bench mark, the lowest bar that must be met to get the stamp of approval. You can bet that Walmart oil at 12.00 per gallon may meet the TC-W3 bar which speaks nothing to it's overall chemical makeup. Finally speaking of "expert" opinions I have talked to dozens of guys that wrench on outboards for a living and they all have had similar advice, buy good quality oil.