Lubing my unit....

[99yam40]

Well At least he said he saw a failure, and there was a bulletin or something put out about it.

so it maybe a good idea to look into it
I do not plan on using the GL5 if the manufacturer calls for GL4.

but then I would need to find out some how to verify what the manufacturer calls for.
so I will just keep on using the cheap Walmart outboard lower unit lube so I do not have to look

[oldmako69]

Man, this created more questions than it answered. I think I am just going to keep my engines out of the water from now on.

[pstephens46]

Here's another way to look at it. You've got Rodbolt (a well trained, experienced technician for like, 140 years) telling you it's no good... and you've got the entire Merc engineering department telling you it's no good. Do you really want to makes a decision based on your "feeling" or "disbelief"?

What evidence do you have that it DOESN'T cause issues? And, by chance, if you've run GL5 in a GL4 gearcase, and it didn't cause issues... that's not evidence. A few years of doing it does not evidence make. Specific gear oil for certain systems is nothing new.

Now, that being said... I have no idea how long it would take to cause issues. I just know that there are sources much smarter than me telling not to do it. I'm certainly not willing to be a guinea pig.

Ain’t got no stinking Mercury. And Rodbolt is on vacation.....and I am bored. let me go back to a previous question....how would one know if a particular lower unit has brass components? Do they all have brass parts? IDK.... I do know it is kind of a pain to find GL-4. I use this stuff at my own peril....

And Rodbolt has been working on these things for at least 250 years....

[pstephens46]

Wonder if we could goad Danger Marine to join this forum?

[DennisG01]

The reason I brought up Merc is just to show that this is not something specific to Yamaha. It's across the board. And also that there is real/valid reasoning behind the recommendations. But, you can put Merc oil in a Yamaha, and vice versa.

Where are you located that it's hard to find GL4? Where I boat (PA, MD and ME), GL4 is very easy to find as you can get it just about anywhere - not just a marine store. For example, the Quicksilver brand can usually be found at Walmart and other general stores. Both the regular QS stuff (dino oil) and the Hi-Perf stuff (synthetic) are both GL4. I'm not sure of other brands since I have such easy access to the Merc, stuff, though.

Danger has some nice videos!

[pstephens46]

The reason I brought up Merc is just to show that this is not something specific to Yamaha. It's across the board. And also that there is real/valid reasoning behind the recommendations. But, you can put Merc oil in a Yamaha, and vice versa.

Where are you located that it's hard to find GL4? Where I boat (PA, MD and ME), GL4 is very easy to find as you can get it just about anywhere - not just a marine store. For example, the Quicksilver brand can usually be found at Walmart and other general stores. Both the regular QS stuff (dino oil) and the Hi-Perf stuff (synthetic) are both GL4. I'm not sure of other brands since I have such easy access to the Merc, stuff, though.

Danger has some nice videos!

I was kidding about the Mercs. I like Merc oil better than Yamalube. I would like to know about brass/bronze parts in lowers. Years/models etc. Hard to get that info.

[DennisG01]

Ah, gotcha

For giggles, I went to Yamaha's website and pulled up an owner's manual for a 2014 3.3L V6 F200/225/250: https://outboards.yamaha-owners-manu...8626-10-34.pdf See page 14 - recommends a GL4 gear oil. I also looked at a 2014 4.2L V6... same thing. Then a 2017 F225... GL5. Lastly, I looked at a 2016 5.3L V8 F350... recommends GL5. All of these Owner's Manuals had a copyright date of 2019, so they should be the newest info out there.

[zenoahphobic]

Everywhere you find this argument about what oil to use. One of those fetishes people seemed to have, like predicting the weather, Stockmarket, horse races , which team is going to win etc etc.
No one can really vouch for a particular oil as better than another. This is simply due to the fact that oils are very good, and most people cannot witness when an oil is at fault for any failure because simply not enough running hours can be accumulated in a con*****ed environment. There are always many factors that have a far greater affect on performance. Oil can only be successfully formulated to each individual situation and type of engine usage. This doesn't happen for the average consumer,so formulations are "general", almost fashion . Most standards are upgraded for whatever or unknown reasons, we therefore simply are expected to go with the upgrade or stick with the manufactures slow response to recommend the highest standards available.
This is backed by the fact almost all manufactures are vague and inconsistent about what they specify!

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Ah, gotcha

For giggles, I went to Yamaha's website and pulled up an owner's manual for a 2014 3.3L V6 F200/225/250: https://outboards.yamaha-owners-manu...8626-10-34.pdf See page 14 - recommends a GL4 gear oil. I also looked at a 2014 4.2L V6... same thing. Then a 2017 F225... GL5. Lastly, I looked at a 2016 5.3L V8 F350... recommends GL5. All of these Owner's Manuals had a copyright date of 2019, so they should be the newest info out there.

Seems the larger the engine, ^^^, the more Yamaha wants the GL5 used (heavier duty?)..

[DennisG01]

Seems the larger the engine, ^^^, the more Yamaha wants the GL5 used (heavier duty?)..

I would add "The larger... and newer". Since the 200/225/250HP in 2014 was GL4, yet the 225HP in 2017 is now GL5.

I think Yamaha calls their GL5 "Yamalube HD"?

I wish I knew more about this to talk more intelligently about it or to know exactly which engines use what. As mentioned above, though, it can be hard sometimes to decipher what is appropriate or inappropriate for a particular engine if the manufacturer isn't very forthcoming. Now, in those manuals I looked at, Yamaha is specific enough so it's all good. But if a manual doesn't tell us... then that creates the confusion. Add "misinformation" floating around on the 'net, and it gets worse!

[panasonic]

May as well join the mayhem. Lots of information on gear oil from the manufacturers themselves online. The outboard companies don't make thier own lubes...they just spec them out.

https://www.rymax-lubricants.com/blo...gl-4-and-gl-5/

People keep saying "brass" in the Lower units...I doubt there is any brass, it would be bronze. Brass is really soft compared to bronze. They are both in the yellow metal family.

[99yam40]

yes, we should be calling yellow metal or bronze.

I never would have know that was a problem if Rodbolt had not mentioned it.

I think he said the lower he had a problem with was a F50

taking this a different direction, I had a cousin say using on road diesel in old tractors is bad for the motors.

I guess with them removing most of the sulfur causes some kind of problems.

valve guides maybe

[panasonic]

Here's what Rodnut said:

"lemmie tell ya a story bout a man named Bill.
I bought old man bill a slightly used 2003 F50 that we sold a customer and took it back on trade a year later.
( we told the guy it was not enough motor)

so it sat from 04 till 07.
I bought it and gave it to Bill.
knowing how Bill(commercial crabber that was in his late 60's) did maint I used Volvo GL5 synthetic in his case thinking I was doing good.

the case started knocking about 18 months into it.

I disassembled the case and the bushing that rides on the shaft for fwd gear had peeled out and the gear simply wobbled on the shaft.

well it was the season so I simply ordered a case paid for it and installed it and Bill was good.

that winter at a class in Kennesaw I asked why do we have to stock Yamaha HD full synthetic
AND Yamaha premium gear lube.

couple days later parks came back with an answer from engineering.

if the case has NO bronze parts you can use GL5.
otherwise GL5 will not properly lube bronze and some of the additives may actually cause the bronze to fail.

soon as I got home I changed Biil's oil back to premium.

trying to do good I caused it to fail.
now I know.
at least it did not cost Bill anything.

and that is how I know using an oil not specified can screw things up."




So the moral of the story is "USE WHAT THE MANUFACTURER RECOMMENDS" and change it regularly.

[99yam40]

well my memory is too not bad after all

[pstephens46]

He had several “Old Bill - the Crabber” stories.