JLBJEFF,well that confirms that our oil is alike in smell anyways,crazy huh,it's so strong it nearly curled my toes up in my shoes ,lol. I kept saying to myself did my cat piss on my oil or what because that's what it literally smelled like. I was like holy cow this is so **** strong, I nearly fell over from getting like a dizzy spell from taking a whiff,lol. I never ever noticed that smell from any oil but again I never just took a whiff like I did yesterday. I guess that's what I get for sniffing my oil,lol. I do know my ROYAL PURPLE lubricates as good as it comes so that is why I bought it. I'm in love with the RP lower unit oil, imo it can't be beat as that stuff is so strong and leaves an intense film on all the lower unit gears and even protects with up to 10% water in it and I believe that 100%. The stuff is so darn slippery. I have washed my hands several times with dawn soap and even after like 5 washes you can still smell the oil on your hands. May be a bit pricey but for $15 that will do my 25hp lower unit oil refill near 3 times makes it well worth the best protection available,the only other lower unit oil i would trust is the merc HIGH PERFORMANCE GREY BOTTLE WITH THE YELLOW ON IT.again imo only. I'm sure other oils work great im just talking about what I've used or researched for my own personal use. Thanks for the info on the merc oil smelling the same,puts me,at ease a bit. The reason I'm partial towards the Royal purple lower unit oil is I have had a lower unit that was just a bit noisy,actually brand new,nothing bad,just that breaking in of the gears noise when turning the prop by hand,I drained the lower unit oil that came with the engine and refilled it with the RP and the prop turned like butter and no noise was heard ever again which amazed me to death. Some people even report up to a 200 rpm gain while using the Rp,who knows for sure but all I care about is the protection it offers. Thanks again.