Mercury fuel cocktail additives

[Larson15]

I thought that I should share this with anyone who has a Mercury outboard. This is a very commonly used formula amongst a lot of bass boat owners and is commonly recommended by Mercury technicians.

-1oz Marine Stabil or Mercury QuickCare per 6 gallons of fuel

-1oz Mercury Quickleen per 6 gallons of fuel

-1-2oz SeaFoam per 6 gallons of fuel

[spearchucker]

I would guess the Seafoam alone would do the job. If not, I would find a better place to buy fuel.

[harvey lee]

Every fall I add the sea-foam before my last trip to the lake. Never an issue in the spring and it runs fine on the stored fuel in the boat.

[Larson15]

I know its a little late in there year but this is not a winterization recommendation. This is whats recommended to run during the season. You can definitely get by just running one or the other but from the guys who use this and the mechanics who preach this there is a big difference in carbon buildup, clean injectors, and clean spark plugs opposed to guys who don't use this formula.

[harvey lee]

That makes sense.

[boatfixer]

why use the SeaFoam when the other 2 will do the job? One advantage Quick Care has over Seafoam is the prevention of phase separation in ethanol blended fuel. Quick Clean will clean stuff just as good or better than Seafoam anyway. To me its like putting in a can of Heet or other gas line anti-freeze into a tank of gas that is already 10% alcohol. Nothing against Seafoam at all but the other 2 will do the same thing. Better

[Northlander]

Sounds like overkill and if Mercury's need that kind of "cocktail" they have some other issues.

[Larson15]

It may sound like overkill but it has proven results and a number of certified mercury techs praise this combo. Im just offering what a lot of pros are running in there motors. If you dont run your motor hard than it probably wont make a difference. Seafoam just acts as another cleaning agent and will work in different ways opposed to quickleen. Multiple sources have told me that seafoam is much better cleaning up carbon. With todays terrible quality fuels preventing carbon is very important. I have always used stabil and quickleen and noticed I was still getting a good bit of carbon. I talked to multiple sources and found this mixture and it immediately improved.

This combo is regularly used in all other brands as well, not just mercury.

[Carpenter]

i burn the carbon out of my v-rod almost every time i go out.

[hydro]

I have always used stabil and quickleen and noticed I was still getting a good bit of carbon.

Larson, How did you notice the carbon build up? Did you pull the heads?

[Larson15]

Never pulled the heads but can tell a difference in my prop and plugs.

[boatfixer]

Thing is, the harder you run an engine the less chance you will have for carbon build up in the first place. Most bass boaters I know run their motors hard no matter what they are doing. Trolling is gonna be more apt to build up carbon that hard running.

[Down Deep]

For the last 3 years I've been running a Merc 115 4s and I never use an additive except at the end of season. Then I add Stabil which I have used for well over 25 years. I have never had any restart or fuel issues in the spring.

[Larson15]

If you go snoop you will see certified merc techs who have seen the results with and without and its staggering.

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[BoxMN]

FWIW, For those who have two strokes, if you use the Quicksilver Premium PLUS it has the quickclean right in it, that's why we use the PLUS. Our '97 150efi always got that, and a touch of seafoam now and then, and still running hard without missing a beat.