Favorite Oil For 4-Cycle Spash-Oil System Engine ?

[fdcg27]

The typical splash lubed engine will be happy with anything resembling motor oil.
Use those orphan quarts or partial quarts of whatever you have laying around.
If you see that odd quart of almost any grade marked down to next to nothing, buy it for your mowers.
In my experience, these simple side-valve engines just don't care what oil you use in them.
Just be sure that you don't run one dry or overfill one by too much.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

LaRGER AC OPE engines have more instance of boundary lube and HD oils have more concentrated additives to support boundary and EP lubrication - look at the T5 report on a diesel to see the 2x amount of EP adds in the rotella. Small mowers arent loaded as hard as larger so they will do OK on PCMO - unleess you whack stumps with the blade, then, you're just have to be a lucky doggy not to lunch the engine.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
The typical splash lubed engine will be happy with anything resembling motor oil.
Use those orphan quarts or partial quarts of whatever you have laying around.
If you see that odd quart of almost any grade marked down to next to nothing, buy it for your mowers.
In my experience, these simple side-valve engines just don't care what oil you use in them.
Just be sure that you don't run one dry or overfill one by too much.


Agreed. Use what you have on hand. Maintaining proper level and having a reasonable change interval are the main things with these.

If I have to buy OPE oil, I'll pass by SAE30 for a 15w40 HDEO. I can generally find better deals on the 15w40 anyway.

 

[ChrisD46]

Looking beyond multi grade synthetic Passenger Car Engine Oil - At WM today I saw Rotella T5 10W-30 for $4.47 qrt. Rotella T6 15W-40 for $6.97 qrt. I did not see any HDEO straight 30W though - who makes ?

 

[Cujet]

I've had great results with M1, 5W-40TDT. Both UOA, and real world long engine life.

I suspect that Rotella T-6 would do similarly well, and many members here have excellent results with T-6. Both are robust, diesel engine oils, with excellent additive packages. And, both are capable of handling the extreme oil temperatures possible in air cooled engines.

 

[wag123]

Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
Looking beyond multi grade synthetic Passenger Car Engine Oil - At WM today I saw Rotella T5 10W-30 for $4.47 qrt. Rotella T6 15W-40 for $6.97 qrt. I did not see any HDEO straight 30W though - who makes ?

I think that the department manager for each WM must be free to order the oils that he/she thinks will sell well in the market the store is in.
The two WMs close to me both stock SAE30 in PYB and Supertech. One of them also stocks QSGB.
For my wife's Honda, one of the WM's didn't have ANY 0W-20 available in ANY brand, and the other one had M1, PP, and QSUD. I fussed at the department manager in the WM that didn't have any 0W-20 available.

 

[JR]

I have no personal preferrence. I use whatever i have laying around. Which is ussually 5w20 dino. I run long hard hours on everything. I do not have oil usage or engine failures..

Ken

I have a honda gen i service regurally(7-10days. It is used around the clock weeks at a time. It uses oil the guy says. So anything givin enough use will show some age. He use syn oils. I put in 15w50 m1, same usage, 5w50 castrol syntec same usage,.

 

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
Looking beyond multi grade synthetic Passenger Car Engine Oil - At WM today I saw Rotella T5 10W-30 for $4.47 qrt. Rotella T6 15W-40 for $6.97 qrt. I did not see any HDEO straight 30W though - who makes ?


My Wal-Mart stocks quarts of Pennzoil SAE30 and SuperTech SAE30, and 1 gallon jugs of Rotella SAE30. SuperTech is $2.67/quart and Rotella is around $11.97/gallon or so.

 

[ChrisD46]

A last question I have is whether or not a semi - synthetic or a sythetic would be better in a splash oil system lawn mower ? Here in Georgia when ambient air temps are pushing 100 degrees F and I look down at my air cooled B&S 4 cycle engine and I wonder what kind of beating that oil is taking - especially in July and August ?

 

[Bror Jace]

ChrisD46,
Most of the manufacturers warn (or they at least used to) that if a multi-viscosity oil is used, consumption may increase and the oil level should be checked frequently.

I believe this is because some were (and probably still are) not shear stable at air-cooled OPE temps and are prone to thinning. All things being equal, a thinner oil is more likely to be consumed.

If you feel you are really pushing your unit in warm weather, go with a 15W-40 HDEO like Chevron Delo, Shell Rotella, Pennzoil Long-Life and the like.

 

[Spazdog]

Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
A last question I have is whether or not a semi - synthetic or a sythetic would be better in a splash oil system lawn mower ? Here in Georgia when ambient air temps are pushing 100 degrees F and I look down at my air cooled B&S 4 cycle engine and I wonder what kind of beating that oil is taking - especially in July and August ?


Summer of 2011 we had 70 days of 100°+ temperatures.

The SAE30 G-Oil still looked clean and clear like this:

I don't know what it was sheared to but it wasn't burned.

 

[Errtt]

Been using Rotella 5w-40 (Honda HRX and Inverter generator) and all seems well. Previous was Rotella 15w-40, and have used Amsoil before.

 

[ChrisD46]

Spazdog : Nice ! Your SAE 30 took a beating and still looks great - was that a HDEO ?

 

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted By: Bror Jace
ChrisD46,
Most of the manufacturers warn (or they at least used to) that if a multi-viscosity oil is used, consumption may increase and the oil level should be checked frequently.


That only applies to conventional oil. Synthetic multi-viscosity oils tend not to consume and is actually Briggs number one oil recommendation.

 

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted By: ChrisD46
A last question I have is whether or not a semi - synthetic or a sythetic would be better in a splash oil system lawn mower ? Here in Georgia when ambient air temps are pushing 100 degrees F and I look down at my air cooled B&S 4 cycle engine and I wonder what kind of beating that oil is taking - especially in July and August ?


Already answered your question : 5W30/10W30 synthetic can handle the high temps better, stays cleaner, consumes less, has less deposits on the oil rings/cylinders/valves, etc. SAE30 is a good choice too, but I think synthetic is better for this application.

Briggs & Stratton says that synthetic 5W30 provides the best protection. Briggs number 2 recommendation is SAE30.

 

[[email protected]]

I have a 13.5hp Yard Machines riding mower that I have tried a few different things in. I have a 3 acre lot of thick grass that I have to cut 2-3x a week at 1 hour + each time. The machine sees some pretty consistent usage since I bought it in 2009.

- Texaco synthetic blend 10w30 - works ok, engine slightly noisy, little/no oil consumption.

- Delvac 15w40 (leftover from boat) - engine very noisy, seemed to run hot, and consumed oil.

- Amsoil's heavy duty 4-stroke 10w30/30w oil. Works great, engine quiet, runs cooler, seems to use less gas, doesnt consume any oil.

My owners manual recommends synthetic oil to be used only.

 

[ChrisD46]

Bubbatime : Yes , I overlooked you had replied ...

 

[hatt]

I use whatever I have around. Last change on pressure washer was Delvac. Last change on the old Deere with Kaw was Mercury 25w-40. Figure it to last another 25 years.

 

[mark pruett]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Briggs & Stratton says that synthetic 5W30 provides the best protection. Briggs number 2 recommendation is SAE30.


The part I don't quite get is why there's no synthetic 10w-30 recommendation. Seems to me that a synthetic 10w-30 would have all the high-temp advantages of a synthetic 5w-30, and although thicker at starting temps than the 5w-30, would still be a lot thinner than 30HD. Plus, the 10w-30 could potentially have less in the way of VI improvers.

Kind of the best of both worlds, if you think about it.

FWIW, I've run my mower (the one I'm giving away) on 5w-30 PP, 10w-30 Supertech Syn, and 30HD Exxon Superflo, and none of them were appreciably darker than the others at the end of the season, and there was little to no consumption with any of them either. This really probably is very similar to counting the number of angels that can stand on the head of a pin, but the 21st century version.

 

[afoulk]

I'm running Chevron delo 15w40 in my 7HP Briggs intek right now. And, yes, I know, it calls for synthetic, but I look at it this way, small engines have been run on conventional for decades, and for the most part, remain trouble free if taken care of. I did go to Walmart with the intention of getting synthetic delo 5w40, but seems they don't sell it anymore.