Synthetic motor oil in your lawnmower??

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: rclint
Shell Rotella, and Dello HDEO 30 wt are hard oils to beat in these small air cooled engines, the oil holds up well ( I change once per season if I remember.. I try to change in the spring).


Concur on the stout 30W oil. I have two small Hondas (a GCV160 and a GXV140) and both call for 30W with temperatures above 50*F, and a 10W-30 below that. My Tecumseh OHV175 in the rider also calls for a 30W.

I currently have 0W-30 Syntec in both Hondas, with some unknown oil (I think it was conventional 5W-30) in the Tecumseh. The Hondas run great on the 0W-30; the Tec runs great also, but gives me a puff of smoke on start-up. I bought a gallon of Shell Rotella 30W the other day and plan to put them all on that. It stays rather warm in NC, so no need for cold start protection.

If you do only change the oil once a year, I'd probably do it now, in the fall, after the last use for the season. You'd rather have clean oil sitting in the crank case over the winter than acidic oil from the whole year's use. Yeah, you could probably get away with not changing the oil but every three years or so, but if you're going to do it once a year, you might as well get the most bang for your buck.

I do mine twice a year: once in the fall (around now) and then once again in the middle of the summer season, to try to catch about half of the hours for the year.

 

[1 SX]

i have the SAME mower as the OP, and use 5W30 Pennzoil Plat in it.

I use Syn in the 2004 DYT400 Craftsman tractor, in a 2007 Craftsman push mower, 2007 Craftsman snow blower. All use Pennzoil Plat 5W30, with NO ill affects..

 

[lobo11]

I use syn. in my snowblower, the mowers see straight 30wt, but they rarely run past Nov.1st. I only use Lawnboy 2 cycle push mowers so no worries there, but my rider is old without filter and I just run HD 30 wt with a couple of changes. new oil in fall for winter storage, then a mid-summer change. To me my oil is too dirty and has too much gas in the oil for me to run synthetic and go longer between changes. If I had a brand new machine with filter I might consider syn. probably the Amsoil 30wt that behaves pretty much like a 10w-30.

 

[WishIhadatruck]

Originally Posted By: wavinwayne
Running GC and a Wix filter on my JD lawn tractor.


Same here, as well as my generator.

 

[af0h]

Originally Posted By: Mark_S
Rotella 5W40 CJ4.


I Second that!

 

[kkreit01]

I dumped some old Pennzoil Synthetic (the cool bottle with handle) 10w30 in before putting it away for winter. I'll see how she runs next season. I've only used dino up until now.

 

[boraticus]

For some reason, to me, giving a lawn mower synthetic oil is equivalent to feeding a wino Louis Thirteenth Cognac. Why?

Any decent dino oil will keep most lawn mowers running almost for ever.

 

[kkreit01]

^ True, but I bought it on clearance, and wanted the bottle. Nothing else I have could accept the weight.

 

[Craig in Canada]

Originally Posted By: boraticus
For some reason, to me, giving a lawn mower synthetic oil is equivalent to feeding a wino Louis Thirteenth Cognac. Why?


...because you still bought a brand new piece of equipment which may have cost upwards of $1000 and it only uses a half quart of oil. Why not?

 

[Oldwolf]

B&S recommends synthetic.

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: boraticus
Giving a lawn mower synthetic oil is equivalent to feeding a wino Louis Thirteenth Cognac. Why?


Because that's how I roll.

 

[OilNerd]

Originally Posted By: boraticus
For some reason, to me, giving a lawn mower synthetic oil is equivalent to feeding a wino Louis Thirteenth Cognac. Why?


If you've got a bit left from the 5-qt. jug you've just filled your car with, why not?

 

[boraticus]

Yeah, I'd put left over oil in a lawn mower. However, I'd rather use synthetic in a winter machine (snow thrower) and put regular dino in the lawn mower. I've got a 30 year old Craftsman with a Tecumseh 3.5 h.p. engine that sees an oil change every five years and gets topped off as required, which is very seldom. Used nothing in it but left overs from straight 30 up to 20W50. Mower doesn't care. It just keeps running. I buy one bottle of Mobil 1 synthetic a year for the snow thrower. That's it. Everything else is dino, mostly Rotella T.

 

[Superbuick96]

Probably one of thos (Maybe its just in my head things)but after years of running Craftsman brand sae30 dino in my briggs, I switched to 10w30 Syn blend Motorcraft, the engine seems to have more power...

 

[crinkles]

i have run M1 0w-40 in my mower, she was purring like a kitten

 

[Craig in Canada]

Originally Posted By: crinkles
i have run M1 0w-40 in my mower, she was purring like a kitten


That's because it sheared to a nice light 20 weight after the first cut

Kidding, kidding. (mostly)

 

[Samilcar]

Originally Posted By: rclint
I really believe that if the owners manual calls for normal operating temps using 30 wt oils they know what they are talking about. You can research this, and many benefits to using 30 wt oils in air cooled engines, however I'm also sure that some air cooled engines now call for a 5-30 etc,


The owners manual of my Toro push mower specifies either straight 30 wt or 5W-30 synthetic, with 5W-30 synthetic highlighted as the preferred choice. The first two years I owned it, it got straight dino 30 wt, and this last year it got 5w-30 M1 EP.

Strangely enough, fuel consumption has gone way down when using the synthetic. When using the straight wt oil, the mower would always run out of gas halfway through mowing my lawn. As soon as the synthetic went in, it would mow my entire lawn and still have a quarter tank of gas left.

 

[lexus114]

Wow!! that`s quite a difference in engine performance then! Meaning using that much less fuel,it would seem that the motor is definitely more free.

 

[boraticus]

Originally Posted By: lexus114
Wow!! that`s quite a difference in engine performance then! Meaning using that much less fuel,it would seem that the motor is definitely more free.


Must be "fuel conserving" oil. I find that an amazing difference. A little too amazing.

When myself and my buddy bought our two brand new Echo two stroke mowers, I noticed that his burned half as much fuel as mine. I thought that it might have something to do with break-in. After a couple of years, the fuel consumption had not improved. Accordingly, I dismantled the carb only to find small bits of red plastic in the float bowl. That told me the carb needed cleaning. When I had finished and put the thing back together, I noticed the fuel consumption had improved immensely. Likely twice a good as it had been. I can't say for sure that it was the carb cleaning that did the job. It may have also had something to do with the adjustments I set after installing it.

I have also noticed that when I was experimenting with governor to increase engine speed, fuel consumption increased considerably. Even now, when I cut at 3500 or more rpm, it guzzles fuel. Before I bought the riding mower, the Echo was all that I had and having to re-fuel mid-job was annoying. Now, I only use it for trimming and fuel every so many cuts as required.

 

[Samilcar]

Originally Posted By: boraticus
Originally Posted By: lexus114
Wow!! that`s quite a difference in engine performance then! Meaning using that much less fuel,it would seem that the motor is definitely more free.


Must be "fuel conserving" oil. I find that an amazing difference. A little too amazing.



I find it a little hard to believe as well. Everything I know tells me that the oil shouldn't make that much difference.

I kind of liked it before when the mower would run out of gas halfway through the mow, as it gave me an excuse to take a little bit of a break to cool the engine (and myself) before refueling.