3 in one oil

[Trap2016]

Is 3 in one oil good for reels or is it to thick right now that's all I have.

[hughesjasonk]

It's better than nothing

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[FloridaFishinFool]

I would not use it on bearings, but it could be useful used very sparingly on some moving internal reel parts like the clutch.

[bigjim5589]

It's 1000% better than WD 40, which some folks say they use. 

It will depend on how you're using the reel. If you need spool speed for casting, then probably not a good oil to use. If you do a lot of flipping, pitching, where you're not casting much, it would probably be fine.

I use it on some baitcaster reels, and most of my spinning reels, but I don't do much casting with those baitcasters and there's no bearings in the spinning reels where the oil makes a difference.

3 in 1 is a general purpose machine oil and does a good job as a lubricant. But, it will slow down bearings a lot more than a good reel oil. It may also thicken if you fish in extreme cold weather, where the better synthetic reel oils aren't going to as affected.

Several years ago I started using Quantum Hot Sauce, which is an excellent reel oil. I've since switched to Ardent's Reel Butter. The biggest reason I switched was that Hot Sauce was getting very expensive & it stained everything it touched red. Both are good reel oils IMO however, and did improve my reels over the original factory lube.

I did some upgrading too, but the most bang for my buck was a good cleaning, removing all of the factory lubes (oil & grease) and re-lubing with the better reel oils. 

[Oldfart9999]

I use Hot Sauce, both the oil and grease, it works but after reading some articles I'd like to try Cals grease and TSI301 oil. I use 3 in one for my 3 speed bike tranny and fan motors.
Rodney

[Trap2016]

Well how about the oil that comes with the reels? (REVO)

[Tavery5]

Nothing wrong with the Revo oil, just watch out it may be a little to much for most of the Shimano reels to handle though.   

[bigjim5589]

IMO, if reel oil comes with the reel, it's good to use. I actually have several bottles of brand name reel oil I've bought over the years, including Penn, ABU, and Zebco. No complaints about any of them.

One note about oil or grease in reels. More is less. Bearings or bushings get oil, and only a drop or two is usually needed. Too much & it will slow down bearings, and possibly get on things you don't want it on. Same with grease, which goes on gears. You want just enough to lube the gear, no excess.

On some reels, the drag may need a special drag grease. Use what's recommended for the reel or a good brand of drag grease, not the grease you use for the gears. Although there may be some that work for both. Just be sure or you may have issues with the drag.