Crackofdawn

I bought a pair of jet skis last week, a 97 SeaDoo SPX800 and a 95 Polaris SL650STD. The SeaDoo has a new motor in it as of last august - it's running premix. The seller told me to use TC-W3 2 stroke oil in both skis (the polaris still has a working oil pump though). Anyway, on the Seadoo when I removed the seat today it specifically says use a low ash pwc motor oil - NEVER use a NMMA TC-W, TC-W2, or TC-W3 motor oil. I noticed on the Polaris it specifically says TO use NMMA TC-W3 oil. Is the fact that he's been running TC-W3 premix in the gas for the last 10 months in the SeaDoo going to hurt the motor? Should I keep using TC-W3 or buy PWC-specific oil? I haven't had to fill the ski up yet because it had a full tank when he sold it to me and I've only had it on a lake for a few hours so far.

Thanks so much in advance for any advice on this!

p10sdad

I would buy what each ski recommends

YamaDoo

I agree^^ For the Doo run the Sea-Doo XPSII synthetic oil. That is what is factory recommended. It's an excellent oil.

For the Polaris, try googling "Polaris SL650 oil" and see what you get.

Crackofdawn

Where is the cheapest place to get that? The Polaris states right above the oil cap to use TC-W3 so I think I'm fine there. I know getting XPSII synth oil from a dealer is going to cost a fortune and the ski is a 97 running premix so it probably uses more oil than non-premix. The guy selling it told me to mix 50:1 but I've been googling and it seems 40:1 is the standard ratio - any advice there?

p10sdad

It varies on the ratio, my 2010 sx-r is 60:1. I thought they were joking when they told me that, but its in the manuel and has stickers all over that say the same thing. In my 550 I ran 40:1 same as my dirt bikes. If you can find what is recommended, I would run it.

YamaDoo

Look on Craigslist sometimes people sell their ski and have the left over oil that they want to sell for cheap. That's the only place I can think of for a deal. What oil did the previous owner run in these machines?

You're right 40:1 is the most common but is he has been running 50:1 with no issues you should be good.

Crackofdawn

He told me he has been running TC-W3 50:1 since the new motor was put in (he got the machine with a bad motor). Based on the sticker on the machine that says "Never use NMMA TC-W3 oil, only use Seadoo approved PWC 2 Stroke Oil", I'm a little worried about what to do. Should I just run through this tank of gas/oil premix and then add 5 gallons of a new premix with a different kind of oil after the lake this saturday? The only 2 types of 2 stroke oil under 'watercraft' that I saw at Walmart were standard TC-W3 "Outbound motor oil" and something that was just labeled "PWC 2 Stroke Oil" and specifically said it was not TC-W3 on it - it was made by quicksilver. It didn't really state what it was.

It sounds like I can really run any sort of low-ash 2 stroke oil in the motor but I have never owned a 2 stroke-anything before so I'm pretty unfamiliar.

YamaDoo

I would run the tank down as much as possible and then switch to the proper oil. There is a guy on greenhulk who swears by the Quicksilver PWC oil sold at Wal-Mart.. So you should be OK with that if you don't want to run the XPSII.

Crackofdawn

Thanks again for the advice! The fuel gauge doesn't work on the Seadoo so I'm trying to figure out how exactly to tell how much gas I have Looking in the engine bay, I see what looks like 2 tanks on top of each other, the top tank is empty and the bottom tank looks full - I am assuming the top tank is the oil tank which is no longer used since this is running Premix, and the bottom tank is the gas tank(though I'm not sure where the reserve tank would be).

I suppose I can just run the ski until it dies, and then flip to reserve use a bit more gas and then fill it up with new premix!

YamaDoo

Yes that will work. You are correct the top tank is the unused oil tank. The "reserve" is not a separate tank but rather another longer pick up tube that extends closer to the bottom of the gas tank and sucks out the last of the fuel.