Have a new Sea-Doo (SeaDoo) with a supercharged engine?

[ogrady]

Have you seen a label on the engine of your new Sea-Doo that says this? Warning: DO NOT use synthetic oil in this engine

Have you searched around the web and come across statements such as these? "The 185 HP supercharged and 215 HP supercharged intercooled engines require 10W-40 mineral oil ONLY. DO NOT use synthetic oil in any supercharged or supercharged intercooled engines.'

Smelling an'odor' I investigated and found ...

Pretty strong words ... that are NOT FULLY TRUE... DECEPTIVE even ...

Why would Sea-Doo say this? Well, the Sea-Doo supercharger is driven by a clutch, and there is at least one synthetic oil, likely an automotive friction modified synthetic oil, on the market that is not formulated to operate with a wet clutch that Sea-Doo engineering has found to cause the clutch to slip.

The fact that there are synthetic oil's on the market that cause clutch slippage DOES NOT MEAN ALL SYNTHETICS have this problem. On balance Sea-Doo's clutch issue is more of a marketing ploy on their part to maximize profits in sales of their house branded oil than delivering customer satisfaction by providing / pointing their customers to the very best oil for the job.

How so? Well, any petroleum product will always deliver underwhelming performance compared to a real ( PAO / Diester ) synthetic formulated for the specific application.

Here is Amsoil Corporates technical services reply;
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Sean,

Thank you for contacting AMSOIL with your concerns.

In response to your inquiry, the Sea Doo supercharger is clutch driven. Our four-cycle marine oils have been tested to actually have better frictional characteristics than the Bombardier oil and will not cause clutch slippage. This warning may apply to some synthetic formulations but not ours.

Thank you again for the opportunity to respond to your concerns. As always, please feel free to contact us again if we can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,
Ed Kellerman

AMSOIL Technical Advisor
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There you have it... Want the most life out of your SeaDoo supercharger clutch? DON'T USE MINERAL OIL ... use a SYNTHETIC specifically formulated for Sea-Doo's supercharger clutch. Here's the link,

http://oil-tech.com/equipment/amsoil-bo ... rcraft.php