my brigs hates synthetic

[meborder]

Had some left over Pennzoil platinum and Castrol edge (gold) in 5w30 and thought my craftsman rider would be a good use for it.

Mower hates it.

Typically, I have to add a few ounces a couple times a year. Now I have to add nearly half a quart after every use. This after fixing the leak I've had for the past couple of years (stupid easy drain spout).

Surprised I guess, but then thats what I've gotten every time I've use Pennzoil platinum.....

Thinking I might just drain it and refill with the T5.

 

[KingCake]

Been my experience with most multigrades. I stick with cheapest SAE30 I can find and no problems.

 

[SuperDave456]

I stick with a high mileage 10w40.

I've been running 10w40 Maxlife for around 6 years now.
I broke in most of my lawn equipment with Rotella T6.

 

[AnthemBassMan]

I run Rural King synthetic 10w30 in bot my push mowers. An early 2000s Poulan with the Briggs 500 Series on it, and a 1992 Craftsman II with a Tecumseh 3.5hp on it. I change them twice a season, but the most I've seen it drop was maybe an 1/8" on the dipstick.

L8R,
Matt

 

[tig1]

I use M1 10-30 in all my OPE. Never have to add oil to the two Briggs engines I own. The same can be said for the Subaru engine on my generator. But then all of my engines have only seen M1 oil. Never dino.

 

[4WD]

B&S synthetic (I use) is 5w30 ...
Lawn tractor & walk behind are both Craftsman - one easy pull on the smaller B&S - easy starts on 19 HP Platinum

 

[Wheel]

My Craftsman tractor ran Mobil 1 or Castrol Edge for years in it without issue, but T5 is cheap and meets the spec (10w30). It starts fine all winter with it too for plowing, but upstate NY isn't as cold as SD.

 

[jkasch]

Originally Posted By: KingCake
Been my experience with most multigrades. I stick with cheapest SAE30 I can find and no problems.


+1 (except I'll pay for a brand name) Eleven Michigan seasons on an Intek and it doesn't use a drop all season. Valve adjustment has stayed in the center of spec all this time.

 

[mlatour]

For some reason the only oil my mower didn't 'like' was Green Castrol 0W-30 which foamed up quite a bit.

It has since ran just fine for many years on Shell Rotella T-SB semi-syn diesel rated 0W-30
and recently switched to Rotella-T 15W-40 for practicality reasons (also use it in my dirtbike).

Side note, my then RAM 1500 4.7 liter V8 also didn't like the GC (a 'thick' 30W) or above mentioned T-SB 0W-30,
felt very sluggish versus the PP or Mobil-1 5W-30 I normally used in it.

 

[Lubener]

Why waste a synthetic on a mower??

 

[meborder]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
Why waste a synthetic on a mower??


Newer ope recommend synthetic for optimum performance, bob tends to agree by and large

More importantly, to me, is the question"where do I waste it otherwise?"

It was about a quart of one oil and about 2quarts of another. Not a fan of mixing oils in general so I wont use it for top off in my expedition. I'm not going to use either brand of oil going forward, so what else do I use it in? Mixing brands in a mower bothers me much less than mixing brands in a car/truck.

 

[4WD]

My thing for OPE is heat, so I used Mobil 1 or OEM oil for years - but lots of folks run HDEO - mostly one of the big 3 ...

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
Why waste a synthetic on a mower??

Personally, I wouldn't be too interested in running out to purchase synthetic for my mower (unless, maybe, I had some commercial or agricultural application, but even then, not so so sure), but I've always got a stray quart of something laying around, from M1 to PYB to RP or Syntec, so it may or may not get a synthetic.

 

[lars11]

none of our briggs use any oil and I user sae30, 5w40syn, 0w30syn and 15w40 depending on situation. If your engine use oil, it is somehow worn, and it may be worse if you use specific oils like weak multigrades etc. Maybe a straight 30 or 40 will help, but you still have a problem coming up (but that may take a while)

 

[bubbatime]

Synthetic is beneficial to high load, high heat engines. Pressure washers, generators, etc. Also, commercial mowers that are ran for 8 hours a day 5 days a week. Regular conventional works fine on most residential mowers that get used 1-2 hours a week.

As the OP has seen, synthetic can consume in certain engines. Usually older engines with a lot of hours on them.

I always run conventional 30 weight in older engines. I have seen time and time again where synthetic is not a good match with older engines.

 

[CT8]

Unless there are below freezing starts are needed try Rotella 15w-40. I run DELO or Delvac 1300 [same kind of oil] in my ope.

 

[FastLane]

I think synthetic is perfect for air cooled small engines. I run Mobil 1 in my OPE. No issues.

 

[Wheel]

Originally Posted By: Wheel
My Craftsman tractor ran Mobil 1 or Castrol Edge for years in it without issue, but T5 is cheap and meets the spec (10w30). It starts fine all winter with it too for plowing, but upstate NY isn't as cold as SD.

The tractor is a 1999, and is still running fine.

 

[TriMoto]

I have top off the T6 5W-40 around the 25 hour mark on the 12.5 B&S on my Allis Chalmers 611. Especially when working it hard above 75F.

 

[meborder]

How old is old? As best I know it had a new engine installed one season before we bought it. Previous owner warned is to change the oil every year since he didn't and thats why it had a new engine. Downsized his yard and didn't need a rider anymore.

That was circa 2005.

Up until last year I used Trop artic 10w30 exclusively, because thats what I used in everything because I always get it on sale for $2/qt.

Tried some Mystic 10w30 HDEO and liked what I saw when I drained the oil at the end of the season. Oil wasn't as dark giving me warm and fuzzies.

Since that time I've been trying to fix the leaky quick drain spout. I'd drain it out, run out of time, put oil back in to mow and repeat. Finally just replaced it with a brass pipe and cap.

No more leak, but is consuming this synthetic at twice the rate it was leaking. One step forward, two steps back.


Got two quarts of Castrol gold left. Looks like I get to use it up 1/4 qt at a time after every use .....

No use for the mower in the winter. Gets parked about October and revived about march. Best part of owning a mower.... Parking it for the winter.