Using 5W-30 in a Mower?

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I left about .75 of a qt. of Valvoline MaxLife 5W-30 at my parents house for top-off and my father used it in his Toro mower yesterday. I think he also mixed in maybe half a qt. of 10W-30 "Valuecraft" SL-rated oil...

Does anyone think this is a problem? The ML is "thicker" at temp and a syn blend...
 
nothing really. LOTS of people uise 5w30 in their mowers actually. It is not preferred, but it isnt the end of the world, especially if it is only part of a blend.
 
I used M1 5W30 in my mower with the Honda 160GCV consumer grade engine from purchase in 2000 until last year, when I ran out of my old formula M1 SL. One year, I had some 0W30, and I used that. I have an hour meter on my mower, and it shows that I use it 60 to 65 hours a year. The oil level has never budged on the dipstick from year to year, and it always looks pretty good at the end of a year.

Last year, I ran out of M1 5W30 SL, so I got some M1 10W30 High Mileage oil, which is still the SL formulation. Still no oil burning at 60 hours. Mower now has about 480 hours on it, and the Honda engine still runs like new, even tho the manual recommends a 25 hour OCI.

By the way, according to the Briggs & Stratton website, 5W30 synthetic is their number one recommendation for all temperatures from -20 to +120. They say that using regular dino multigrades might cause excessive consumption above 80 degrees.
 
Thanks for the responses. My mind is at ease, though I kinda thought that a HM syn blend wouldn't have much problem in a lawn mower...
 
Quote:
By the way, according to the Briggs & Stratton website, 5W30 synthetic is their number one recommendation for all temperatures from -20 to +120. They say that using regular dino multigrades might cause excessive consumption above 80 degrees.


I have a 2008 John Deere with what I was 99.9% sure was a B&S engine, however, the JD manual recommends 10W-40. Having read the above on the B&S web site, I called them. They said the engine in my JD as a "proprietary engine built to JD specks and I should use the 10W-40." I do use the 10W-40 but I use a full synthetic.

If the engine is clearly marked as B&S in whatever equipment you have, I think the 5W-30, full synthetic, Valvoline MaxLife would be a great oil because of the high HTHS and high 100C cSt.
 
On my Father's old Lawnboy that he replaced last year he ran cheap High Mileage 10w30 oil, whatever he could find the cheapest.
It went from burning quite a bit, to zero consumption in one summer.

He has since replaced it with a Toro and runs 5w30 Valvoline Maxlife. No complaints out of him regarding either, starts on the first pull every time.
 
It will never work, cause global warming, and contribute to the international monetary crisis........but I tend to over react.

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A friend asks me to tuneup his old Craftsman this weekend. Under a mound of oil and grass there sits an old tecumseh eager 1. It starts first pull, to warm the oil. The oil came out in chunks, the spark plug was too far gone to speak of, the air cleaner....I don't want to talk about it. Thus, Maxlife should be fine.
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I run synthetic HDEO, platinum plugs, adjust valves, check breathers and scrape the heads on my air cooled engines. I bet I have no longer a service life than my buddy. (But at least I get to drink beer and hide from my wife while I do it)
 
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