synthetic in snowblower

Bror Jace · Oct 24, 2003

" ... but I am doing it to extend my drain intervals. Is this the right oil to use. I now change it every month or two."

Every month or two? Mine gets a change every season ... and I still think I'm overdoing it a bit.

--- Bror Jace

JonS · Oct 24, 2003

I was thinking of using Mobil 1 5w-30 in my 5hp Techumsi (sp) snow blower. It is stored in a heated garage, but i am doing it to extend my drain intervals. Is this the right oil to use. I now change it every month or two.

eljefino · Oct 24, 2003

Sounds great. Seems odd that small engine instructions have dire warnings about using dino 10w30 in lawnmowers (summer use) preferring straight 30 weight or synth multigrade, but then say throw dino 5w30 in snowblowers.

Around here, it only usually snows when it's 20-32'F though it can get to -20'F. Snow and warm moist air seem to go together. So ultimate cold cranking is not necessary in my neck of the woods.

A snowblower is a nice appliance to overdo on maintenance though.

countryboy9799_99 · Oct 24, 2003

Jon how many hours do you put on your blower per month? You should be able to go 25 hours between oil changes and I dont know if the sny. oil would get you extended oil changes. I would run syn. in for the cold weather starting more than anything.

JonS · Oct 26, 2003

I probably put 5 hours a month on my snowblower.

JohnnyO · Oct 27, 2003

I wasn't sure how mine would take to full synthetic so I put Valvoline Durablend 5w-30 in it. I figure it couldn't hurt. Normally I change it once a year but last year it got a REAL good workout so I changed it twice. Cool and wet summer so I bet we get pounded with snow again this year.

countryboy9799_99 · Oct 29, 2003

Jon, I think with the hours you run you should be able to make it a year with the oil changes, maybe twice on a bad winter. Johnny, I have heard people say that syn. blend is a waste because they wont tell you how much syn. oil is in there, there shouldnt be a problem with syn. like mobile 1 in your blower, it will be better for cold starts.

Ironthinker · Oct 31, 2003

I'm going to try Quaker State's new "Winter Blend" it''s has the same flow as Mobil 1 at half the price.

Both make great sense in subzero starts.

harper · Nov 13, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by JonS:
I was thinking of using Mobil 1 5w-30 in my 5hp Techumsi (sp) snow blower. It is stored in a heated garage, but i am doing it to extend my drain intervals. Is this the right oil to use. I now change it every month or two.

I just changed my mother's snowblower Honda for her. I happened to randomly have a quart of SuperTech 5W30 Full Synthetic (requires 5W30). I imagine this is fine to use synthetic??? The snow blower only gets its oil changed once a year. It only runs <25 hours per season.

JonS · Nov 16, 2003

Well my first experience with synthetic. The stuff did not leak out or anything (just kidding). It was darker and thicker than i imagined. I used 10w-30. It seemed to idle faster with synthetic. Now all we need is snow!

Pick · Nov 16, 2003

Maybe I had better change the oil in our snow blower at work, as it has not been changed since 1997

I don't know why "they" never changed it.

JonS · Nov 17, 2003

Most guys don't change the oil in their blowers. I guess they figure they are cheap enought to just buy a new one every few years. I paid $4.99/qrt for my Mobil 1, so i feel like i have to go 5 times longer with this oil to make it the same as using $.99/qrt oil. I will see if i can just add oil and not change it. It shouild be good for 5 years - right?

countryboy9799_99 · Nov 17, 2003

Jon, I would suggest it be changed yearly or 25 hours, whichever comes first. I think the corosion prohibiters in the oil wear out in 1 year and also I have heard the oil gets acidic, maybe someone can verify that for me. Doesnt your tecumseh hold 20 oz.? If so it is more in the 3 dollar range which to me is affordable.

MolaKule · Nov 18, 2003

If you look at the B&S website, they almost state that synthetic 10W30's are preferable.

JonS · Nov 24, 2003

I got to put about 1 hour on my blower with M1 10w-30. Boy that gives me a good feeling to have that in there. We finnaly got snow.

Hankrr · Jan 2, 2004

I've been using Mobil-1 0w-30 in my John Deere snow blower since I bought it new four years ago. Seems okay so far. I change mine once per season regardless of how much use it gets.......

oilyriser · Jan 16, 2004

0w30, Tecumseh 10 HP motor

helps save my starting arm, and reduces the time
I have to nurse the primer to keep the thing
running while it tries to warm up.

Cujet · Jan 18, 2004

Of course I live in Florida so my results do not make a perfect comparison. But I use Mobil 1 10-30 with excellent results in my various small engines. One in particular, a 6HP Briggs pressure washer that runs incredibly hard, sometimes for a week straight. The engine should have given up years ago, yet it is still smoke free!!!

Chris

Drew · Jan 18, 2004

My John Deere snowblower is 25 years old and was run mainly on 30 wt oil. However, this season it was consuming a lot of oil and suffered from a lot of blowboy. I drained the oil and added GC 0w-30. Oil consumption has virtually disappeared. I'm very happy with this oil in my application.

jthorner · Jan 23, 2004

Since most small engines do not have any oil filtration I would think that extended drain intervals might be a really bad idea. The only way to get any wear particles out of the oil is to change the stuff!

I often use Mobil-1 in my small engines. Sure it costs $5/quart ... but I use less than one quart per engine per change.

Yesterday I changed the oil in the chipper/shredder which had less than 10 hours of run time on it. Plenty of shiny stuff came out with the oil ... never a good sign. I wish I had changed it sooner!

JOhn

synthetic in snowblower

Similar threads