Lumpy Optimax Oil

[bk652]

Has anyone ever heard of Optimax oil going bad? I went to fill the oil tank in my boat today and the oil didn’t pour out of the jug smooth like it normally would. When I looked at it, there are what look like little lumps in the oil. When I went to feel the lumps, they just disappeared and I couldn’t really feel them, almost like they were some sort of gel.

I tried another jug and it was similar although not as bad as the first.

This was from a new gal of Mercury Optimax Oil that I just pulled the seal off of today and had been purchased directly from Mercury.

Could this be caused by storing in cold temps? It probably got to around 10 degrees in my garage this winter.

Thanks for the help! I will try to post a picture also!

[JOE54]

possible yes , shake well before using

[Jigman78]

I had the issue a few times with Premium plus. Now you need to check the pick up screen in the tank for blockage. That also happened 3 times and ended the day of fishing. Never had it happen again after switching to DFI.

[bk652]

Thanks for the replies. I will check the screen for blockage. This is the type of issue I was worried this might cause. I also plan to discard all of the oil in the tank and any opened jugs that I have poured oil out of. I assume some part of the oil separated out when it got cold (and want to make sure the ratio of ingredients in the oil hasn’t changed when I poured out oil/chunks).

I used a space heater to heat up the really bad jug and all of the lumps dissolved. I guess I will have to do this for all of the oil I have but at least it looks like it will still be usable. I have attached a pic of some small “lumps” from the oil.

[Batman1977]

So at $60/gallon this oil can’t get cold?? That doesn’t seem right.

[EuropeanAM]

Not at all that it can't get cold. Just that there's a reasonable expectation that the container the oil is in (remote oil tank) will move from time to time.

Quite common in blended oils.

[striper72]

I had similar issue. I have a pair of 225 Optimax motors. The pick up tube in my reserve tank in the bilge is constantly getting clogged and fails to fill the oil tank on the side of the motor. I’ve been having this problem for a while and it’s totally aggravating. I decided to buy a 25 micron filter screen to clean the oil. What I found was a gel like substance, and some globules in the oil. If you smash the globules with your finger, it would break down into nothing, but the substance was enough to clog the pick up tube. Screen. Aater many attempts of trying to figure out what’s going on. The reason why it’s so frustrating. Is you typically have to run the motor for 20 minutes or longer to have the reserve tank on the side of the motor bleed down long enough to trigger the low oil alarm. After trying multiple ways to filter the oil, this was the best filtering device from Amazon.

I also cleaned the remote tanks which had gel debris as well. Works so much better now


Duda Energy fs5:25u 5 gal EZ Strainer Insert, 25 Micron for Bucket Pail Filtering

4.5 out of 5 starReviews

[Kb444fishing]

i had it once and threw it away. Mercury oil is made by phillips 66 which is where i live had a buddy who worked there and he told me if i had it he had a petrolem engineer who wanted to see it, i had already thrown it away, he said in a sealed container didnt see it happening. Mine came from a bulk from my dealor. Kind of glad someone else has it i thought i was crazy and waisted a bunch of oil.

[DewRonInc]

I personally filter my oil when I pour it in and seldom have a issue. Always shake jug prior to pouring in filter funnel.

[EuropeanAM]

I have seen two boats that had similar problems- BOTH had moisture in the remote (boat) tank.

[outsidesmoke]

I had 1 year old sealed jugs of oil that came out lumpy. If you are going to use Merc DFI oil, filter it through a screen like DewRonInc mentioned.

[EuropeanAM]

Paint filters are quite inexpensive, and if in doubt, you would know for certain if there was a problem in your oil.