Fuel Additives

Ben Andreas · Post by **Ben Andreas** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:44 pm

I have a Mercury Optimax 225. I have heard people saying that your supposed to put additives to the gas to clean out the system. I have black residue all on the inside of my prop. I have never added anything to the fuel after 5 years of use. I have the feeling that I might need to start adding something. Can anyone tell me what I should be adding and where to get it?

blkdog812 · Post by **blkdog812** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:08 pm

several goood products out there. merc quik clean, ring free and seafoam. all are great product to stop carbon build up on your motor.

pats185vs · Post by **pats185vs** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:23 pm

I add quick clean every other tank but the residue still shows up at the prop,I contacted my boat guy and he says that this is normal as this is a gasoline engine. I had asked him to explain the problem and he told me that it is due to the gas oil mix and this is fine,He also told me that if I wanted to reduce the issue(Not eliminate it) I could take off the prop and pressure wash it every 20 Hours. The residue is supposed to there.

Hope this helps

Smile_n_Jax · Post by **Smile_n_Jax** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:49 pm

Your mechanic is absolutely right. Any time you burn oil and gas together you're going to get a residue build up. If it gets excessive you should take it in to have your mixture settings checked.

You should periodically run one of the afore mentioned additives through your motor to keep things cleaned out. And don't forget to run something like Sta-Bil's Ethanol Treatment to combat the effects of that nasty stuff.

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:46 pm

Smile_n_Jax wrote: You should periodically run one of the afore mentioned additives through your motor to keep things cleaned out. And don't forget to run something like Sta-Bil's Ethanol Treatment to combat the effects of that nasty stuff.

I have about 80 hours on my 115 Optimax. It's a year old.
I have never used any additives.
What bad things can happen?

bigdog · Post by **bigdog** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:50 pm

I have always used about 2-3 oz of SEAFOAM in like every tankful. I have a 2 stroke 200 hp and I swear by the stuff. Cant say for sure if Im not just wasting money, but the guys at the boat shop say its a great idea to use it.

Ken C. · Post by **Ken C.** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:54 pm

The black carbon residue build-up you guys are seeing on the inside of your prop is not the problem. The problem is that same residue builds up behind your piston rings. When that happens the rings cannot compress the way they need to when the motor warms up to operating temp and metals expand. This in turn leads to the rings pushing too hard against the cylinder wall causing scoring and ultimately leading to the ring seizing to the cylinder and costing mega $$$$$$.

Your safest bet if the engine is still under warranty is to use the manufacturers additive every tank. After warranty it's anyone's guess as to who's is better. I think the general consesus is that the Quick-Clean (Merc) is virtually the same thing as Ring-Free (Yammie) which is the same as Techron (Chevron). Quite a few folks eliminate the problem by just running Chevron gas because it has the Techron additive in it.

I can't say anything one way or the other about Sea-Foam other than I hear alot of people run it and it is cheap.

Byron · Post by **Byron** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:55 pm

mark poulson wrote

I have about 80 hours on my 115 Optimax. It's a year old.
I have never used any additives.
What bad things can happen?

Lots of bad carbon related things.

I have a tweaked 05' 75 Opti, (same 1.5L as yours), with 391 hours on the Smartcraft. Have allways ran Chevron and Quick clean since new. Run it at 5800+ most weekends. The motor has zero carbon build up and runs beter than new. I pull plugs often to inspect the piston and chamber with my bore scope while I'm testing mods. I'd hate to burn a piston. I will never skip the quick clean after seeing how clean the internals are. You can even still see the hone crosshatch patern on the cylinders.

macinckirk · Post by **macinckirk** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 3:39 am

Seafoam is # 1 in my book, its not cheap but well worth the money. the inside of my props look like new, and if there that clean I know what the inside of my motor looks like

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:16 am

Does the additive eliminate the black residue on the inside of the prop?

macinckirk · Post by **macinckirk** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 5:07 am

mark poulson wrote:Does the additive eliminate the black residue on the inside of the prop?

Mark that is a loaded ?? because there is a few things that can change the out come, like brand of oil used, how much additive is used, and how oftion and etc

But for me yes it does and here is what I do

I use 100% sync Pennzoil and I use 1oz of sea foam per gal of gas on every gal of gas, the cost of sea foam went from $ 6.00 a can to $ 8.00 a can just the other month and the price is the same at wal-mart and auto zone

now before I post these pics the last 8 gals of oil I ran I won at the fed state trny and is not what I use (and will never use again now that its all gone but I did mix it 50%-50% with the 100% sync) and it made my motor smoke bad but still will show you how good the sea foam works if used right

this 1st pic is of a clean paper

here is 2 pics of my silverwood prop I have had this prop on my boat for 2 months and have about 25 hrs on it

I just took it off to put my other prop on for the delta thats why its in the box

here is what the paper looks like after i wipe the inside out

here is what that prop looks like after I wiped it out

Here is my other prop that has 52 hours on it that I just put back on the boat

and here is what the paper looks like when I wiped it out

So all I can say is you make up your mind but I'll keep doing what I have been doing for years

mark poulson · Post by **mark poulson** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 6:55 am

Kirk,
First, thanks for the great photo spread. It is really clear now why you do what you do.
Since my motor is still under warranty, I use Merc. oil only.
Does Merc. make an additive, or will other additives void my warranty?
How may hour do you have on your engine now?

macinckirk · Post by **macinckirk** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:17 am

mark poulson wrote:Kirk,
First, thanks for the great photo spread. It is really clear now why you do what you do.
Since my motor is still under warranty, I use Merc. oil only.
Does Merc. make an additive, or will other additives void my warranty?
How may hour do you have on your engine now?

the oil your using is a good 1 so stay with it, Merc does make the quik clean

I have never used it so I cann't say anything about it

You can use other additives and they WILL NOT VOID YOUR WARRANTY

I know what Seafoam does and thats why I use it, not only will it clean it also stabil the fuel for up to a year. also its easy for me to get anywere I maybe

My yammie is still under warranty till 2011 or 2012 also and it is the only thing I'll use (yammie makes ring free)

I have 115hrs on my motor now and when I got the boat it had 48 hours on it and its a 07

hope this helps

JWittmayer · Post by **JWittmayer** » Tue Apr 07, 2009 6:26 pm

I would suggest anyone that has a Optimax 200 or 225 and is five or six years old to do everything possible to baby the hell out of it! I know two people that have had these motors seize for no appearant reason. Out of warranty-now they are junk. They have a history of problems. I have an '02 225 that has been in the shop longer than it has hours. After 4 years of hell, a warranty and help from Frank at Inland Marine (God bless him) we have finally worked things out. Running great for the last year. But ONLY if I use Quickleen. The stuff does make a difference. I didn't have any and I had to fill up and it at the end of the day it ran like crap. Next time with Quickleen it's all good.

My formula:
Quickleen--1 oz to 6 gal. 89 octane
Optimax oil
ALWAYS warm up before you put the hammer down
PRAY!