Yamalube or Synthetic Oil?

[kgower]

It would be interesting to hear how many payments have been made by that warranty. Not a very advertised metric.

Warranty=you have already paid=generally worthless, and when not, at least they consider your time as worthless. Yamaha does not manufacture oil. I would look to independent tests for options and ideas on what might be best.

Agree. Do you use synthetic?

 

[Beachbummer]

I use what the prior owner used. Castrol High Mileage Synthetic Blend

So far so good.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IPS3H1I

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

A manufacturer cannot specify that their product use only their product(s) whereas aftermarket products meet the same specifications as the manufacturers product(s). If a manufacturer does require the use of their product(s) in the case of motor oil, then said manufacturer must supply these products to the consumer. This is the spirit and law of the Magnuson Moss Act of 1975.

The Magnuson Moss act was specifically designed to prevent manufacturers from denying warranties based on the use of say, a motor oil that meets the same requirements as the manufacturer branded oil. This holds true for all sorts of parts, E.G. a manufacturer cannot deny an air conditioning warranty because you used a different brand of refrigerant. Same holds true for oil.

So lets look at the Yama lube oil ( I think Yama Lube is fine oil by the way).



You will see that the oil is rated FC-W or Four Cycle -Watercraft. And while not evident on this label it is also NMMA certified low ash for use in engines with a catalytic converter.



While I think Yamalube makes excellent products, especially their two stroke oil, I think that Amsoil is a superior product and I run it in all of my engines, water craft, diesel engines, dirt bikes, generators etc.. The Amsoil marine oil is FC-W and NMMA certified oil.



Point being, as long as the oil is FC-W and NMMA certified Yamaha or any other marine engine for that matter cannot deny a warranty claim of inferior oil being used that caused a failure.

If in fact one is using an oil that does not have a FC-W / NMMA certification then Yamaha can deny a warranty claim.

So as long you use an oil that is FC-W / NMMA certified choose what flavor you like.

 

[212s]

Let me say that I don't really care about FC-W spec as it seems to obfuscate the requirements of marine oil - there's no specs available to qualify for FC-W, just a paid license fee and a claim that it's better.

Having said that, something I noted is that Yamaha blends their branded oil with additives that brings up the moly levels a lot. Seems they want lots of low friction modifiers in the oil. Most oils including Rotella T6 have 0 moly. I'm sure T6 is a great oil and it has lots of zinc to help compensate for no moly (zinc is bad for catalytics but not an issue in diesels), but just wondering if Yamaha went with moly because some of their engines have cats. Which means if no cats, you can run high zinc instead of moly.

Anywho, if I were to replace my oil source, I'd want something that closely matches the Yamalube because that's what they specifically sourced for their engines (remember Yamaha doesn't make oil, they get it from someone else). Problem is I can't find any oils locally or online that meet the criteria with high moly numbers for less than the Yamalube. Even T6 is more than Yamalube here and if I'm going to run synthetic, I want the extra "mileage" or it's not worth it as I need to change every year regardless of hours. The Yamalube I change out looks pretty good with just 50 hours on it.

Long story short, I use Yamalube because it works well and it's competitively over-priced like the others.

 

[Jores]

I use yamalube because that's what Yamaha recommends- I order it from Jet Boat Pilot because of there fair price, great customer service, and I have an electronic receipt that I keep in an email folder- easy way to keep track of when I did things.

 

[212s]

So lets look at the Yama lube oil ( I think Yama Lube is fine oil by the way).

Note that only Yamalube 4M is FC-W certified for outboards.
But 4W for skis and boats is not so no requirement to use FC-W oils in our boats.

Was talking about the Yamalube Advantage Program recently and realized skis and boats are not covered here in Canada, so the warranty factor is out. Might be looking at switching brands and filters - can get better oil and filters for $28 per engine compared to $80 for the over-priced Yamalube kit here.

 

[David Martin]

Note that only Yamalube 4M is FC-W certified for outboards.
But 4W for skis and boats is not so no requirement to use FC-W oils in our boats.

Was talking about the Yamalube Advantage Program recently and realized skis and boats are not covered here in Canada, so the warranty factor is out. Might be looking at switching brands and filters - can get better oil and filters for $28 per engine compared to $80 for the over-priced Yamalube kit here.

Hear is the blackstone Lab report on 4W note the oils PHOSPHORUS leval is low enough to use in a catalytic coveter usually car oil when this is low they add MOLYBDENUM as a friction fighter. The Silcon is an anti foaming agent and most auto oils carry more of this agent. The auto oil I was using simi synthic Amazon basic has 44 moly and 13 silicon. Its nice to have a base line run at the start so you can spot trouble down the road........ my oil I now has 6 silscon if it goes up after 50 hours it tells you your air filters are dirty.................not good...........oil analyst gives you a great base line to help see a problem before it gets out of control. My analyst saw a high raw fuel in the oil so I checked the fuel injectors and found I had 3 injectors squirting raw fuel instead of a mist.........a quick cleaning had them back to normal. If one would let it go a few years it leads to cyl and ring wear.......Although I caught the injectors on a plug read.....3 black plugs told me of a rich running cyl.

My advice choose an oil get a base line read if it has silicon Moly, Zink and Magnesium anti corrosion agent.............. poor it in a go boating as long it matches you manuals SAE rating 10w40 10/30 20/50 or its SN SM rating ect.

 

[212s]

Hear is the blackstone Lab report on 4W

Awesome thanks for posting!
I've been scouring the net looking for a VOA on this oil. Turns out it has no moly and looks like regular oil.