40 weightoil make an air cooled engine runhotter?

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: callbay
What is also interesting is that the manual says change the oil and filter after 200 hours, 2 years, or "24 hours of continuous use".

So that means if we have a week long power outage I would have to change the oil & filter seven times.


They probably are tired of people not checking their oil and blowing up their engines. If the engine has a filter it would probably be OK to go the full 200 hours before changing it as long as you checked the oil at every fuel fill up.


I think any decent generator engine has a low oil shutoff. Although I'm not sure how reliable they are. I know my Honda has one and their dipstick is hard to read anyways.

 

[Cujet]

I just re-engine'd the Snapper mower. It's Kawasaki finally gave up the ghost. The new Honda 190 engine's oil temp will be measured next big mow.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Cujet
I just re-engine'd the Snapper mower. It's Kawasaki finally gave up the ghost. The new Honda 190 engine's oil temp will be measured next big mow.


Small engines run about 230-250 depending on outside temp. Probably could hit 280 mowing really tall grass in 100 degree weather. Never measured that though. It was only 80 degrees outside when I measured my Kawasaki and it was around 220 I think.

 

[jhellwig]

Just put some form of motor oil in it. If you keep it topped up and changed and keep everything else in good working order it will last longer than you care for it to last.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: Eddie
Why go against the manufactures engine recommendations? Do you have some reliable data that suggest 40w is better than 30 in this application? I would run a synthetic 5w30 as recommended. Ed


Did you forget the Florida hurricanes of 2004? My house was without power for about 45 days. In July and August. In Florida. My house was over 110 degrees inside. People were running their free FEMA generators 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to run their refrigerators, cooling fans, and small window air conditioning units.

People that were using 30 weight oil were blowing their engines up within a week. On a heavy duty cycle engine, such as a generator, a 40 weight or 50 weight oil offers superior burn off protection. With a 30 weight you have to add oil to the engine every 10 hours of use, and people just were not doing that, and thus were blowing up their engines. 15W40 and 20W50 offered a large margin of protection for our severe usage pattern.

I am HIGHLY of the opinion that 15W40, 5W40, and 20W50 offer superior performance in generators, in the summer heat. I won't use a 30 weight oil in this application where I live. I dont have to worry about cold starts here.


That makes a lot of sense. a 5w-30 may flash off faster when temps elevate whereas a thicker oil needs more heat to thin out and thus burn off.


Bubba time has made his point in my opinion. Ambient temps MUST be considered as well as duty cycle when considering an appropriate grade and the 30 grade recommendation isn't always appropriate.

 

[mjoekingz28]

We and they must also realize that on some generators with little to no R&D they may konk out sooner since there is no real actual airflow.

 

[Eddie]

I admit defeat. Manufactures recommendation on oil viscosity is not always best. Ed

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted By: jhellwig
Just put some form of motor oil in it. If you keep it topped up and changed and keep everything else in good working order it will last longer than you care for it to last.


That's just not so. I've now killed 3 engines so far. 2 outright failures and one worn out.

 

[Bror Jace]

Cujet, given that your conditions typically torture engines to their point of failure (rare for OPE), I'd love to see you give this stuff a go:

http://www.liqui-moly.us/liquimoly/produktdb.nsf/id/us_2009.html?OpenDocument&land=US

I'm trying it in my Civic at the moment ... hoping to see measurable mileage gains. So far, so good.

Oh, and to all, it's not SAE 40 vs 15W-40. 15W-40 is also an S.A.E. weight. Just a pet peeve of mine.

 

[mjoekingz28]

Cujet, how about setting up a decent fan to assist the generator in keeping cool while it is running. Also, a canopy or tent to keep the sunlight away.

 

[tig1]

A friend is a Generac tech, and does Preventative Main. on quite a few generators. He uses M1 5-30 in all his engines and has never had any oil problems.

 

[Cujet]

Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Cujet, how about setting up a decent fan to assist the generator in keeping cool while it is running. Also, a canopy or tent to keep the sunlight away.


Jokingly, your post make me think of this:

In the case of the Honda water pumps, this was prior to construction of my home. So the property needed to be de-watered for various reasons, and it needed to happen fast. I did not expect the water pump engines to fail. I now understand why they did.

In the case of the generators, mine never had issues. I used M1 15W-50 for months and months, with frequent changes. Generator still runs perfectly. Co-worker's generator threw a rod within a day. Like so many of my neighbors (about 10,000 homes here). The thin oil and the high load emergency conditions (hot and humid) resulted in the same exact, rapid failures.

In the case of my Kawasaki powered mower, it simply wore out. Plenty of hours on the absolutely tortured engine. Oil temp was always over 260 when I measured it.