Quicksilver or regular gear lube?

[wheatie]

For my alpha one Mercruiser stern drive, is it best to use the $12.00 per Qt. Quicksilver or is any other gear lube o.k.? Thanks.,

[MattPark]

Anything that fulfills the manufacturer recommendations/requirements will work fine. For me that's Walmart gear oil. It's $3 or $4 a quart, and my big Merc outboard only takes 20 ounces or so.

[Herring Problem]

Something for thougtht!

I also have the Alpha drive, I called Mercruser tech and discussed this very same issue.

Although other lube oils will work, the reason the merc oil is hihger in price is the extra chemicals for foaming,rust prevention and water repellant , and temperature limits in the merc oil. The merc oil has a higher heat vescocity to it over regular lube oil. When the outdrive upper gear case is out of the water, the gears heat up to high temps and cause other oils to break down faster, thus you have a expensive upper gear reapair.
When you see scaling deposits on an upper gear case, the upper gears are overheating and when the unit is lowered back into the cold water it scalds the side of the housing. Thus you have white spots over the upper gear case.

Now for more protection you can dd a shower to the outdrive as I have done to my alpha and oil stays 25 to 35 degrees cooler on long hauls.The oil stays a nice green and doesn't break down from the heat. Here you could use the other brands of lube oil.

$12.00 once a year is cheap insurance for the Alpha outdrive.

Just my 2cents.