Briggs and Stratton Lubrication

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Originally Posted By: AMC
Most briggs engines call for 10w-30 or SAE 30 and for good reason. The smaller briggs engines are splash lubricated and any xx-40 or higher oil may be too thick for the dipper(s) to throw and splash the oil around well enough.

Finally someone mentions this. Briggs used to be quite adamant in their instructions "Do not use 10W40 oil" or of course anything heavier. The lack of splash lubrication could be especially severe on a cold start. I always wondered how the top crank bearing in a vertical shaft lawn mower gets any oil.
 
Originally Posted By: mk378
Originally Posted By: AMC
Most briggs engines call for 10w-30 or SAE 30 and for good reason. The smaller briggs engines are splash lubricated and any xx-40 or higher oil may be too thick for the dipper(s) to throw and splash the oil around well enough.

Finally someone mentions this. Briggs used to be quite adamant in their instructions "Do not use 10W40 oil" or of course anything heavier. The lack of splash lubrication could be especially severe on a cold start. I always wondered how the top crank bearing in a vertical shaft lawn mower gets any oil.
Yet, none of this makes sense and I am about to blow your ideas out of the water. If any xx-40 is too thick for splash lube, then anything is way too thick at start up. And for cold starts, 10w40 would be at a lubricating vicosity before SAE 30 would. And lastly, Briggs and Stratton added there own 15w50 full synthetic to there recommendation.
 
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Because the original poster said he had a side valve engine I would recommend an SAE30 monograde.These oils have been well proven in these engines for years.What is more important than the oil is the oil change interval,it should be every 25 hours,these engines run very hot especially when fitted to push lawnmowers.
The newer multigrade recommendations are for the OHV engines which run a lot cooler and have longer change intervals.
Just my 2 cents worth.
 
Originally Posted By: JimmyChainsaw
Because the original poster said he had a side valve engine I would recommend an SAE30 monograde.These oils have been well proven in these engines for years.What is more important than the oil is the oil change interval,it should be every 25 hours,these engines run very hot especially when fitted to push lawnmowers.
The newer multigrade recommendations are for the OHV engines which run a lot cooler and have longer change intervals.
Just my 2 cents worth.
In other words, 15w40 will be just as good. While SAE 30 might have been proven, there is now enough of years that 15w40 can be just as proven, even a lot of other oils. Oils have improved quite a bit since B&S's earliest recommendation of API SF.
 
I am not aware that 15w40 is well proven in B&S small engines.It is probably used by home owners who happen to have some 15w40 lying around,but not by most of the high usage users I know.There are no OPE engine manufacturers recommending 40 weight oils.
 
Thought of this splash & sling during a number of past threads … and don’t want smaller motors harder to pull start …
But is it any wiser to use a 40 in a larger HP+ Briggs?
(Garden tractor size)
 
Pretty much every manual I have for air cooled OPE engines specifies xW30 oil other than my Yamaha EF2000is which specifies 10W40/10W30 as first choice.

It would appear that the proposed theory that a 40 weight oil would be too heavy for splash lube engines may be somewhat nebulous.

I prefer a heavier oil for hot weather applications in air cooled engines and have been using a blend of 30/40 weights for years in numerous air cooled and liquid cooled engines. Due to extreme temperature fluctuations I use a blend of Rotella 5W30 and 15W40 mixed 50/50. Whether or not it makes any difference regarding lubrication effectiveness is highly speculative. But in my mind, it seems to make sense. Here's the EF2000is oil recommendation chart.

 
Originally Posted By: JimmyChainsaw
I am not aware that 15w40 is well proven in B&S small engines.It is probably used by home owners who happen to have some 15w40 lying around,but not by most of the high usage users I know.There are no OPE engine manufacturers recommending 40 weight oils.


Here's the chart for the B&S Intek series engine. See note below concerning air cooled engines running hotter. Especially during hot weather. One would think they'd recommend a heavier oil for these conditions? They also have a warning for using straight 30 weight oil. Seems to me that 15W40 in an air cooled engine in hot conditions would be ideal.

 
Originally Posted By: boraticus
Here's the chart for the B&S Intek series engine. See note below concerning air cooled engines running hotter. Especially during hot weather. One would think they'd recommend a heavier oil for these conditions? They also have a warning for using straight 30 weight oil. Seems to me that 15W40 in an air cooled engine in hot conditions would be ideal.


I still don't get how you can look at that chart and then think 15w-40 would be better.... 40 weight oil is NEVER mentioned anywhere at any time. The OP asked about a B&S engines. Not Yamaha, or any other brand so their lube charts mean nothing here.

If you really do operate your engine in very hot weather, use what the manual suggests and buy some full synthetic 10w-30.
 
Originally Posted By: AMC
Originally Posted By: boraticus
Here's the chart for the B&S Intek series engine. See note below concerning air cooled engines running hotter. Especially during hot weather. One would think they'd recommend a heavier oil for these conditions? They also have a warning for using straight 30 weight oil. Seems to me that 15W40 in an air cooled engine in hot conditions would be ideal.


I still don't get how you can look at that chart and then think 15w-40 would be better.... 40 weight oil is NEVER mentioned anywhere at any time. The OP asked about a B&S engines. Not Yamaha, or any other brand so their lube charts mean nothing here.


If you really do operate your engine in very hot weather, use what the manual suggests and buy some full synthetic 10w-30.



I included the Yamaha chart because it is a class leading brand of small engine manufacturing and I would suspect that their R&D is also superior compared to domestic engine brands. As such, the trend may be leading toward xW40 weight oils in small air cooled engines.


Did you read the B&S cautions? If so, don't you think that a 10/15W40 oil would address both of those issues?

My thoughts are that xW30 oils are recommended due to being extremely common, readily available and recognizable by even the most uninformed novice, as well as being good enough to satisfy the basic lubrication requirements of the engines.

It keeps oil selection simple for homeowner maintenance of OPE. However, I personally don't feel that it's the best choice.

My experience has been that small air cooled engines will run a very long time on anything that even resembles oil. We're pretty much splitting hairs here.....
 
Originally Posted By: FastLane
Small engines generally last forever. I buy a jug of M1 10W30 when it goes on sale. I’ve yet to have an engine die.



Lawn mower engines generally aren't loaded down very heavily, so oil weight isn't that critical.
 
Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman

Lawn mower engines generally aren't loaded down very heavily, so oil weight isn't that critical.


Unless you fill the crankcase with oil that is too heavy.
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Briggs Link

They recommend 5W-30 for anything UNDER 100°F.

They recommend 15W-50 for anything OVER 20°F.



Chart says over 120F. If it's over 120F, I'm not doing anything.

This line sounds a bit off : "Air-cooled engines burn about an ounce of oil per cylinder, per hour."

Never have I seen an engine consume that much oil. Should have said "may possibly" burn that much oil.
 
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