I bought a used 97 SPX that appears to be running on mineral oil. The manual very specifically calls for XP-S synthetic. The guy I bought it from said he thought it was some sort of Shell Rotella oil but he's not sure, he's trying to check and get back to me. I'm afraid if I don't clean everything out well enough when converting that I'll gum something up by switching to synthetic. Am I hurting anything at this point by continuing to use mineral oil?
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Found mineral oil in my SPX, should I try to convert back to synthetic?
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XP-S oil is purchased as either mineral or synthetic. The S after the hyphen does not mean it's synthectic. These engines then, were meant to use a non-synthetic oil. The XP-S mineral has a base oil with additives that protect the engine through it's lifetime. The manual also states that if you don't have access to this oil, that you can use an oil of another brand with the same characteristics. Below is a paragraph, directly out of the operaters guide for the 1997 SPX pertaining to lubrication.
Never use 4-cycle petroleum or synthetic motor oil and never mix
these with outboard motor oil. Do not use NMMA TC-W, TC-W2
or TC-W3 outboard motor oils or other ashless type 2-cycle oil.
Avoid mixing different brands of API TC oil as resulting chemical
reaction may cause severe engine damage.
That said and with the oil that your motor has been using, I think I'd drain all that oil and go to Walmart, buy a gallon of the Quick Silver mineral or synthetic blend oil that fits the details of the paragraph above. Quick Silver has several oils so make sure you get the correct one. Read the back of the bottle, it will list that it fits Seadoo's requirements.
Myself, I use the "Full Synthetic" Quick Silver oil because thats what the previous owner used. According to my spark plugs, they like the oil.
To change out the oil, you'll need a vacuum pump to remove the oil from the tank and rotary chamber. You can disconnect the hose going to the top of the tank, which is the vent line from the rotary.
When the oil is out, you can take a rag, hold it at your injection pump and break that fitting there, drain the little bit in the line and put it back on. The top of the oil injection pump, you'll see a bleed screw. Remove it and bleed the oil till you have no air bubbles.
Never use 4-cycle petroleum or synthetic motor oil and never mix
these with outboard motor oil. Do not use NMMA TC-W, TC-W2
or TC-W3 outboard motor oils or other ashless type 2-cycle oil.
Avoid mixing different brands of API TC oil as resulting chemical
reaction may cause severe engine damage.
That said and with the oil that your motor has been using, I think I'd drain all that oil and go to Walmart, buy a gallon of the Quick Silver mineral or synthetic blend oil that fits the details of the paragraph above. Quick Silver has several oils so make sure you get the correct one. Read the back of the bottle, it will list that it fits Seadoo's requirements.
Myself, I use the "Full Synthetic" Quick Silver oil because thats what the previous owner used. According to my spark plugs, they like the oil.
To change out the oil, you'll need a vacuum pump to remove the oil from the tank and rotary chamber. You can disconnect the hose going to the top of the tank, which is the vent line from the rotary.
When the oil is out, you can take a rag, hold it at your injection pump and break that fitting there, drain the little bit in the line and put it back on. The top of the oil injection pump, you'll see a bleed screw. Remove it and bleed the oil till you have no air bubbles.
Well the previous owner finally responded and said it is Shell Rotella oil. He said he used it because that's what the previous owner used. I put it in the water for the first time and it seemed to run fine once it got warmed up. I'm trying to find online how many versions of Rotella there are and if any of them match the specs listed. If not I guess I'll go the quicksilver route and hope I do a good enough job cleaning the system out.
Snipe, I don't mean to argue because I'm definitely new at this but the book that came with my 97 SPX says on page 47:
(quote)
SPX/GSX/GTX/XP Models Only
Use only BOMBARDIER ROTAX FORMULA XP-S synthetic injection oil (or the equivalent synthetic oil).
This fully synthetic oil will provide outstanding cleanliness, less friction and wear for greater engine performance and durability.
Caution: The 787 engine requires the use of Bombardier Rotax Forumla XP-S SYNTHETIC injection oil (or the equivalent synthetic oil). The use of any other non-synthetic oil may cuase sever damage to the internal parts of the engine.
(end quote)
The quote you referenced is under "All Models Except SPX/GSC/GTX/XP".
The being said this ski has obviously been run on Shell Rotella for a while now which is a little scary in itself. I think a compression test may be in order. So I really have three choices: 1. buy some more Rotella and run it until it dies. 2. Drain the system and switch to Quicksilver non-synthetic and hope for the best. 3. Drain the system and switch to XP-S or Quicksilver synthetic and hope for the best.
Thanks for the info on quicksilver though. I think I'm going to go to a shell station and read the specs on Rotella first.
(quote)
SPX/GSX/GTX/XP Models Only
Use only BOMBARDIER ROTAX FORMULA XP-S synthetic injection oil (or the equivalent synthetic oil).
This fully synthetic oil will provide outstanding cleanliness, less friction and wear for greater engine performance and durability.
Caution: The 787 engine requires the use of Bombardier Rotax Forumla XP-S SYNTHETIC injection oil (or the equivalent synthetic oil). The use of any other non-synthetic oil may cuase sever damage to the internal parts of the engine.
(end quote)
The quote you referenced is under "All Models Except SPX/GSC/GTX/XP".
The being said this ski has obviously been run on Shell Rotella for a while now which is a little scary in itself. I think a compression test may be in order. So I really have three choices: 1. buy some more Rotella and run it until it dies. 2. Drain the system and switch to Quicksilver non-synthetic and hope for the best. 3. Drain the system and switch to XP-S or Quicksilver synthetic and hope for the best.
Thanks for the info on quicksilver though. I think I'm going to go to a shell station and read the specs on Rotella first.
I took a quick look at the Rotella website http://www.shell.com/home/Framework?siteId=rotella-en&FC2=/rotella-en/html/iwgen/leftnavs/zzz_lhn1_0_0.html&FC3=/rotella-en/html/iwgen/welcome.html
I didn't find any reference to API TC or 2-stroke in a search of the site. I don't see how running Rotella ANYTHING would be close to spec.
I didn't find any reference to API TC or 2-stroke in a search of the site. I don't see how running Rotella ANYTHING would be close to spec.
i thought the back of the quicksilver synthetic says that it meets the requirements of tc-w3 and api-tc. how is that possible?
i have found that at academy you can get citgo sea and snow for $13 and it meets the api-tc requirements. havent run it because i have a full tank of xp-s synthetic in it right now.
i have found that at academy you can get citgo sea and snow for $13 and it meets the api-tc requirements. havent run it because i have a full tank of xp-s synthetic in it right now.
robin savell lloyd
Active Member
Is this for 1 gallon $13.00?
Update: The plot (and the oil) thickens.....
Okay, believe it or not I emailed the Shell web site and actually got a response from one of their "experts". he confirmed that Rotella is a diesel oil and has no business being in a jet ski. The wierd part is he said Rotella is brown in color like conventional motor oil and the oil in my tank is definitely blue. So now I'm thinking the previous owner didn't know what he was talking about and there is truly mineral-based 2-stroke injection oil in my tank. Either way I'm going to drain it and flush it the best I can but now I'm thinking I'll stick with mineral-based even though it calls for synthetic due to the decreased risk of screwing something up if I accidentally mix synthetic and non-synthetic if I'm unable to flush the system thoroughly enough.
Okay, believe it or not I emailed the Shell web site and actually got a response from one of their "experts". he confirmed that Rotella is a diesel oil and has no business being in a jet ski. The wierd part is he said Rotella is brown in color like conventional motor oil and the oil in my tank is definitely blue. So now I'm thinking the previous owner didn't know what he was talking about and there is truly mineral-based 2-stroke injection oil in my tank. Either way I'm going to drain it and flush it the best I can but now I'm thinking I'll stick with mineral-based even though it calls for synthetic due to the decreased risk of screwing something up if I accidentally mix synthetic and non-synthetic if I'm unable to flush the system thoroughly enough.
robin savell lloyd
Active Member
is this close to $13.00 per gallon? :rofl:
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