pre-mix or not

I have a very low hour 1989 200HP merc. I have heard the one week point is the plastic gear on the oiler. I have not had any problems with the oiler but I keep worrying about losing the engine due to oiler failure. So what do you think is better, use as is or go to premix? Any advice would be welcome.
Thanks, David

 

Replace the oiler gear.

 

A 26 year old plastic gear may one day fail and kill your engine.
The mistake of filling gasoline thinking it was premix has the same effect.

 

Do as par said if the whole injection system is in good condition including alarms. Personally i prefer to premix my fuel on old motors so i don't have to worry about failures.

 

Thanks for the reply guys. how big of a deal is it to replace the gear? I wonder if there is a better gear IE metal now?
David

 

I would keep the oiling system as pre oil makes the gasoline die even faster.

 

I didn't know the oil helped the deterioration. I use my outboard fuel in the lawn mower and brushcutter so i never have the same fuel more than a few weeks. But if i had a boat with large inbuilt fuel tanks it might be a problem.

 

After doing some research it looks like it is around $1200 to replace the oiler gear. I am now thinking the best move will be to just unhook the system and quit worrying about it. will this cause any other problems other than maybe smoking a little more and maybe needing plugs a little more often? We are lucky here and do not have ethanol in our gas. I have never had any problems with mixed gas even if it was old.
David

 

It may smoke slightly more at idle, the rest of time it will be the same. Plugs should last just as long, running premix won't make a difference.

 

In your climate zone that is no surprise!

A minor issue with premix is the fact that engines are hard to start when they have not been used for some time. The gasoline in the fuel system slowly evaporates but the oil remains.
To prevent this, shut off the fuel supply and let the engine idle until fuel starvation kills it.