SurfBeat
Active Member
I've been using Vavoline 2-Cycle Outboard Marine Oil - NMMA TC-W3 Oil for about 3-4 years in my 92 and 93 GTX's.
While cruising on the River on the last day of summer last year, the 93 stopped, i.e., like it ran out of fuel.
Since it was the last day of summer and almost 7:00 p.m., I simply towed it back to the dock.
After doing some preliminary checks when I returned home I noticed (Forum assistance) that the PTO was frozen, so, I yanked the jet pump to check the shaft and that was ok.
Next, I pulled the piston jugs to check the pistins and cylinders and they looked new.
The next thing this non-mechance had to do was pull the engine and check the crank.
As luck would have it, albeit I presumed that the bearings on the crank would be rusted because of water ingestion issue a couple years ago, (someone swiped my drain plug thus the engine compartment flooded and at the time I did not know that water could enter the engine via the carbs, so, for over a month water sat in the engine) rusted bearings was not evident.
According to Jeff at Competitive Crankshafts in Orange, CA, when he looked at my crank he pointed out that it was the first time he had encountered a crank itself that was defective and not the parts atached thereto. According to Jeff, the crank had stress cracks which is his opinion was a manufacturing defect and not caused by use.
Jeff related that he noticed that the bearings had clear signs of over-heating, i.e., the bearings were green in color, thus he asked me the kind of oil I used.
When I told him I used Vavoline TC-W3, he stated, that is what happens when API TC is not used.
I thought, since Vavoline oil is green in color, maybe that fact had caused the bearigns to have a green tinge them. Again, according to CC, it was not the color of the oil that turned the bearings green, but over-heating.
I've never believed the crapola on the various forums about only using API TC oils in Doos and not TC-W3 because my Doo's have the older 587 engine without Raves, so, since TCW-3 was not invented when my Doo's were manufactured, I thought, to hell with using Bombadiere expensive oil.
Based on this experience and advice from Jeff who is not connected to Sea Doo, from now on I'm going to spend the extra 3 bucks a quart and buy the API TC.
The crank cost me $250 plus several hours of my time to figure out how to pull the engine and tear it apart. When compared to the extra $3.00 per quart of API TC oil, I'll spend the extra dough and forego running into this
problem again.
FYI, here are some brands other than Sea Doo that sells API TC: Quicksilver PWC; Quicksilver Premimum (not Prem Plus); Pennzoil Outdoor; Castrol Super 2stroke; Citgo Marine Plus; Amsoil and Texaco Havoline 2-cycle.
Except for QS's Premimum which costs $28 a gallon, because I couldn't find the other brands I don't know their costs.
I hope this helps someone
While cruising on the River on the last day of summer last year, the 93 stopped, i.e., like it ran out of fuel.
Since it was the last day of summer and almost 7:00 p.m., I simply towed it back to the dock.
After doing some preliminary checks when I returned home I noticed (Forum assistance) that the PTO was frozen, so, I yanked the jet pump to check the shaft and that was ok.
Next, I pulled the piston jugs to check the pistins and cylinders and they looked new.
The next thing this non-mechance had to do was pull the engine and check the crank.
As luck would have it, albeit I presumed that the bearings on the crank would be rusted because of water ingestion issue a couple years ago, (someone swiped my drain plug thus the engine compartment flooded and at the time I did not know that water could enter the engine via the carbs, so, for over a month water sat in the engine) rusted bearings was not evident.
According to Jeff at Competitive Crankshafts in Orange, CA, when he looked at my crank he pointed out that it was the first time he had encountered a crank itself that was defective and not the parts atached thereto. According to Jeff, the crank had stress cracks which is his opinion was a manufacturing defect and not caused by use.
Jeff related that he noticed that the bearings had clear signs of over-heating, i.e., the bearings were green in color, thus he asked me the kind of oil I used.
When I told him I used Vavoline TC-W3, he stated, that is what happens when API TC is not used.
I thought, since Vavoline oil is green in color, maybe that fact had caused the bearigns to have a green tinge them. Again, according to CC, it was not the color of the oil that turned the bearings green, but over-heating.
I've never believed the crapola on the various forums about only using API TC oils in Doos and not TC-W3 because my Doo's have the older 587 engine without Raves, so, since TCW-3 was not invented when my Doo's were manufactured, I thought, to hell with using Bombadiere expensive oil.
Based on this experience and advice from Jeff who is not connected to Sea Doo, from now on I'm going to spend the extra 3 bucks a quart and buy the API TC.
The crank cost me $250 plus several hours of my time to figure out how to pull the engine and tear it apart. When compared to the extra $3.00 per quart of API TC oil, I'll spend the extra dough and forego running into this
problem again.
FYI, here are some brands other than Sea Doo that sells API TC: Quicksilver PWC; Quicksilver Premimum (not Prem Plus); Pennzoil Outdoor; Castrol Super 2stroke; Citgo Marine Plus; Amsoil and Texaco Havoline 2-cycle.
Except for QS's Premimum which costs $28 a gallon, because I couldn't find the other brands I don't know their costs.
I hope this helps someone
