Briggs and Stratton factory fill oil

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

As always with me, I'm like a woman at times as I have to figure out exactly what I want and change things as things progress, sorry.

Anyway, This is an oil topic BUT.. not on a car or truck, So, kinda thought maybe here because there isn't enought discussion on lawn and tractor equipment? now that I think of it, maybe I'll just set one more up for this...

Lawn,tractor,motorcylce,others..

 

[dragboat]

I purchased a new lawn tractor yesterday,,it was brought home in the crate and was filled with oil at the factory,,I drained it out and it was just a yellow in color as can be! Any ideas as to what brand/type oil this could have been? Never saw anything like it before?
As always,just curious

 

[Bio-T]

dragboat,
They use regular factory fill oil that has a dye in it to help spot any oil leaks should they appear.
When I bought my 01 Ford truck it had the dye in it and it looked like anti-freeze, bright yellow with a green tinge, and I took it back to the Dealer and asked. The mechanic told me about the dye and then used a light to look for leaks. Said it doesn't hurt anything.

 

[dragboat]

Vetteman thanks. I thought it might be something special for breakin ect. It came out of there before it was gassed up and fired for the first time.
It was odd the owners manual recommended oil change once a year or every 50 hours on a motor with out a filter.

I heat cycled it 6 times before mowing . Now it's got some 10/30 Pennzoil in it with a tad bit of the Synergen additve. It was one hot running Jessy the first 10 or so runs,,seems to have run in now and does not heat up so fast as it did. Before literal 15 seconds later the crankcase was hot to the touch after a cold start.

This winter will do a little port work to it so can make more power than the neighbor's Lawn Tractor

 

[Johnny]

Only an Okie would have a hot rod lawn tractor to mow with.

I just bought a new Toro PUSH mower today with the 6.5 HP Briggs on it. In bold black print it says to use only 30 weight oil. Seems the old mower had 10W30 in it. What do you think dragboat, after the 5 hour break in, should I go 30 or 10W30.

 

[Al]

Go for it 10W-30 works. I actually use mobil 1 10W-30 in my Tecumseh. I remember my dad always said Briggs were junk-He liked Wisconsin. Anyway I inherited a Briggs Engine from him. He had it used-gave it to me and I had it about 20 years. The thing had to be 35 years old. Still ran like a champ. The gas tank finally split and I was going to replace it. The tank cost more than the engine. Scrapped it-RIP Briggs

 

[UncleS2]

If you must use a 10w30, be prepared for a much shorter service life from your nice new mower. If you just can't stand to use SAE 30, mebbe M1 15w50? Small engine mech's here all say use 30 or 40, no multi-weights at all.

 

[Johnny]

Boy, do I remember what the summers were like in Northeast Texas. I spent many a summer in Woden Texas, just North of Lufkin. I was leaning towards the 10W30, but you know, the Briggs are made in Milwaukee, and they have the same weather and temps that I do up here. Now my Toro snowblower has a Tecumseh motor and it recommends 5W30. But it operates at -20 instead of +90. Stewart, a snowblower looks like a garden tiller with a shroud and it blows snow instead of tilling dirt.

 

[Al]

I guess I should have mentioned that even I wouldn't use 10W-30conventional oil any more, although I have in the past. But one other piece of information on my Tecumseh. The thing had a bearing knock from new. I was in the hospital when my son bought it and started mowing with it. At 100 bucks from K-Mart - I thought, I'll see how long it lasts" I put in the Mobil 1 10W-30 and that's been 10 years ago. The Mobil 1 cut the knock down considerably and it has not gotten worse. Ordinarily I would agree that not using the recommended lighter oil might be a bad thing. However-ever since I can remember- at least 30 or 35 years, I have never used the straight 30 wt. The only engine I can remember failing was the one where I hit a pipe and bent the crank.

 

[MolaKule]

Dragboat,

I think a set of Chrome Pipes coming up through the cowling, instead of that down-low muffler, would look better.

Seriously, I run 10W 30 all year and use mine to mow, till the garden, and push snow. Never had a problem with it. With electric starters now, there is no real drag on them in cold weather with this vis.

BTW, how much of an HP increase might you get with porting?

 

[UncleS2]

Johnny, thanks for the description. Down here, snowblowers are in the same category as road salt: We know folks "up north" use them, but we've never seen them up close!

I once knew a guy who'd worked oilfield in Wyoming. His truck had the plug on the grille for the block heater. He claimed he just kept heading south until people asked, What's that?

 

[dragboat]

Johnny 10/30 is enough protection especially where you live in terms of ambient temps . Until 18 months ago my Wife and I lived in the country outside town for 26 years and have put many a hour on a garden tractor. Hard to wear the old motors out! In fact never have with good oil change practice.I have one pusher that I bought new in 1980 and still running great!Been through a few sets of wheels though

That Briggs motor uses a slinger which looks like a paddle to throw oil around for lubrication,I think you will like the easier pull starts of the 10/30 in early and late season.The Pennzoil I am near certain you will use is up to the task. I am thinking the main concern is to get what ever they assembled the motor with out of there ASAP and that the engine will be hard on the oil for the first 4 or so hours of running time tending to put the hurt on the oil and should be replaced once again after that change.

But you are also reading from a guy that firmly believes that there is only one chance to breakin a motor correctly

I have a pusher simalar to yours,it has a problem with fuel contamination of the oil. I should have taken it back instead of trying to fix it myself. Just thought I would throw that in for something to watch for.I messed with the foat level and the drop to no avail.Might have just been a problem on that mower or year,,keep an eye on yours though.

[ July 07, 2002, 12:51 PM: Message edited by: dragboat ]

 

[dragboat]

I would only be guessing at HP but the Briggs exhaust is very restrictive and even the entrance to the muffler needs attention. Funny,one ports the block not the heads on the L head design.I have one that is modded and runs on C12 gas,,before the compression mod the porting and modified less restrive muffler seemed to make it run much cooler.This is a 3 hp pusher and tuning the main jet is almost infinate with a screw driver.

I played with Methanol once and ultra high compression with modded goveners,,I learned quick the aluminum rod must have some heat in them to survive

And then still they are the weak link and snap into like pretzels if revved high

[ July 08, 2002, 11:55 AM: Message edited by: dragboat ]

 

[Al]

Briggs has actually recommended/preferred 10W-30 for years now. I have the Factory Service Manual (Part 270962). Of cource they recommend their own oil. 5W-20, 5W-30 for temps below 20F. 10W-30 for 0F to 100F. 30 for greater than 40F. So there you have it - I guess I was ahead of my time 30 years ago.

 

[dragboat]

Talking about unscientific but have any of you performed the old spit test on a crankcase of a Briggs motor? I have seen it roll off or rather blasted off engines in our 105 F ambient temps when worked hard non stop for 5 -6 hours straight

Like a Timex,takes a lickin and keeps on ticken!

That first little tractor took some abuse now and was used as a brush hog of sorts rebuilt the front end twice an ultimatley traded it for a 1050 cfm Dominator late one night in my shop while having too much fun with BUD

Had a new one the next day,it had a much easier life.This newest one will last forever in this city use.

[ July 09, 2002, 12:39 AM: Message edited by: dragboat ]

 

[GeorgeCLS]

Highly recomend running a full synthetic 10W-30 as much of the Briggs cooling is from the oil. Synthetic oil disapates heat at a much faster rate than mineral based engine oil and will provide for a cooler running engine. One of my associates builds/tunes Briggs cart engines and fills them with Mobil 1 10W-30 after rebuild and if the owner continues with M-1, the engine lives. From his experience, if they switch to some "racing oil" the engines soon come back with problems or destruction.. He has one 40+ horsepower engine that he has run 2 seasons without touching; this has a guard over the head to keep it from blowing off!

 

[BOBISTHEOILGUY]

quote:

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Originally posted by GeorgeCLS:
Synthetic oil disapates heat at a much faster rate than mineral based engine oil and will provide for a cooler running engine.

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George, I like that statement but fail to see how that happens, There is a discussion located at http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000068;p=2#000052
about synth's and cooling. might like to look at this argument.

Another thing I just found out is these newer walmart brand briggs motors are now coming out with some kind of plastic or maybe he said tephlon type of crank instead of the metal ones. He included the quantum engines also.

 

[GeorgeCLS]

I realize we are going for quite a trip here with Briggs engines to jet engines but in early jet engine study, one of the significant attractions of synthetic, along with its high film strength, was its high heat transfer rate. It is not, however, rocket science: synthetic oils, both PAO and Ester, do not have any parafins while mineral base oils do. The parafins simply hold heat and thus mineral based oils then are not able to release heat as readily as synthetic oils. This is significant for air cooled engines which can depend on oil for as much as 40% of their cooling. With a good synthetic oil (right balance of additives, etc.) creating less heat to begin with, then disapating it at a higher rate, we have a cooler running engine. (and transmission or rear end for the exact same reasons)

This was one of the reasons Chevrolet switched the Corvette to Mobil 1 synthetic engine oil in 1977. They removed an oil cooler and along with its lines and hardware saved over 100 pounds in weight (and of course cost). Reason: the Mobil 1/synthetic oil engine actually ran cooler oil temps without the cooler than the mineral based oil engine ran with cooler.

 

[satterfi]

George

Obviously you've seen heat capacity data for various motor oils.

Care to share the data with us or give us a link where we go?

 

[GeorgeCLS]

30 years ago I had to derive these numbers in the lab but unfortunately I do not have a current reference site that would give heat transfer rates for the various lubricants. We just accept and use these facts today as operatonal advantages but do not compute solid numbers. It is an accepted integral part of synthetic lubricant advantage as part of life extension. When switching a gearbox from mineral Mobilgear 630 to a Mobil SHC 630 we can generally assume a 10 to 15 F gearbox temperature decrease.