Standby air Cooled Generator

[John-r]

Looking for an oil to use in a air cooled standby generator.
This is an air cooled V twin 36 HP with pressure lube and an oil filter.
Manual calls for

5w-30 synthetic for temp -20 to +10
10w-30 synthetic for temp -10 to + 40
and straight 30 weight for temp +32 to 100+

Anyway what I'm looking for is an oil that will cover all the uses, I live in Michigan, we do get cold winters and hot summers.
I don't want to have to change the engine oil at the change of seasons.
When this thing starts, it runs full throttle right away, so I need something that will protect it no matter what the weather is.

What do you guy's recommend?

 

[JHZR2]

Do you get much below -10 ever for long?

If not, I'd run amsoil ACD. That's what I use.

 

[JTK]

What make/model engine? If you want to stick with a 30wt variant, I'd want it to be an oil intended for small, air cooled engines. Kohler for instance sells a Kohler branded oil. I believe Briggs does too.

I run heavy-duty/diesel engine oils in all my air cooled stuff, regardless of what the manual recommends. 15w40 or 5w40.

Joel

 

[John-r]

Originally Posted By: JTK
What make/model engine? If you want to stick with a 30wt variant, I'd want it to be an oil intended for small, air cooled engines. Kohler for instance sells a Kohler branded oil. I believe Briggs does too.

I run heavy-duty/diesel engine oils in all my air cooled stuff, regardless of what the manual recommends. 15w40 or 5w40.

Joel

It's Generac's own branded engine, it's an overhead valve twin, (36 HP) this engine runs on propane and kind of looks like a Honda.
I use Shell Rotella 5-40 synthetic in my Goldwing with great results.
I also use this oil in both of my diesel tractors, and my diesel truck.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: John-r

I use Shell Rotella 5-40 synthetic in my Goldwing with great results.
I also use this oil in both of my diesel tractors, and my diesel truck.


That's what I would run in the Generac too. 5w40 is excellent for extreme cold starting and gives added protection for high ambient temps as well.

IMO, Generac and others always recommend 30wts because it's easily accessible and an oil that people are familiar with. It covers a broad range of conditions as well, but it's not necessarily the best for these engines.

Joel

 

[Trav]

I use Mobil 1 0w40 in mine.
I thought about it a while and i figured that this thing will most likely be used in winter and then for longer duration.
It happened. It needed to run 14 days, the 0w40 held up well.

I did change the oil every 100 hrs but it came out looking good. Refill with oil and fuel and started it again.
Temps were between -10 and 20 f the whole time, it started right up and didn't miss a beat.

 

[John-r]

Originally Posted By: Trav
I use Mobil 1 0w40 in mine.
I thought about it a while and i figured that this thing will most likely be used in winter and then for longer duration.
It happened. It needed to run 14 days, the 0w40 held up well.

I did change the oil every 100 hrs but it came out looking good. Refill with oil and fuel and started it again.
Temps were between -10 and 20 f the whole time, it started right up and didn't miss a beat.


That sounds great, how does it do for a hot summer run?
Just trying to find something that will work all year around.
The Rotella would be good, but I like the idea of 0w-40 for very cold winter starts, it should start to lube the engine right away upon start up, and the 40 weight should be good in the hot summers.

 

[Donald]

Use Amsoil 4-Stroke and be done with it. Its made for the smaller air cooled engines. I use it in my propane generator and everything else OPE that is 4 cycle.

 

[Trav]

No problems whatsoever. I ran it last summer for about 12 hrs during a blackout.
Nice thing is you can buy it anywhere. I use it in the lawnmower, snowblower, pressure washer and similar stuff else that uses a 4 stroke, no problems.

 

[JimPghPA]

Cujet post here on BITOG #1780297 - 02/13/10 11:06 AM

would be a good read. Cujet has several post here on BITOG about how good Mobil 15W50 is and in some of those post he wrote about neighbors air cooled engines not surviving in the Florida heat while his continue to run without problem with the 15W50.

There are many good oils. GC, Rotella T6 5W40, M1 TDT, Mobil 0W40, Mobil 5W40, Mobil 15W50, Mobil V Twin 20W50 The thicker oils (50 weights) would be for HOT days.

Personalty I would stay away from Rotella T5 if it is still not JASOMA rated. Rotella T6 is JASOMA rated.

I keep GC in my two gen-sets, 5000 / 6250 Watt with Tecumseh 10 HP, and Generac inverter type 2000 watt.

However I also keep two quarts of Mobil V Twin 20W50, and two quarts of Mobil 15W50 for hot days.

 

[John-r]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Cujet post here on BITOG #1780297 - 02/13/10 11:06 AM

would be a good read. Cujet has several post here on BITOG about how good Mobil 15W50 is and in some of those post he wrote about neighbors air cooled engines not surviving in the Florida heat while his continue to run without problem with the 15W50.

There are many good oils. GC, Rotella T6 5W40, M1 TDT, Mobil 0W40, Mobil 5W40, Mobil 15W50, Mobil V Twin 20W50 The thicker oils (50 weights) would be for HOT days.

Personalty I would stay away from Rotella T5 if it is still not JASOMA rated. Rotella T6 is JASOMA rated.

I keep GC in my two gen-sets, 5000 / 6250 Watt with Tecumseh 10 HP, and Generac inverter type 2000 watt.

However I also keep two quarts of Mobil V Twin 20W50, and two quarts of Mobil 15W50 for hot days.



Drawing a blank here, what is GC oil?

 

[JimPghPA]

GC stands for German Castrol. It is 0W-30 and is a very thick 30 (almost a 40). It use to be Castrol Syntek, Now it is Casrtol Edge 0W-30. Somewher on the front of the bottle it will say “European Formula”, and somewhere on the back of the bottle near the bar code it will say “Made in Germany”.

Only the 0W-30 Castrol European Formula, Made in Germany, is this special oil. If you look at the specification it protects better than Castrol 5W-30 and better than Castrol 10W-30. It flow better when cold, and it holds up better when hot. It also does a good job of keeping seals from leaking.

There was a post here on BITOG about GC back when it was marketed as Castrol Syntek. Mercedes had forgotten to specify Castrol Syntek 0W-30 for their cars. Some owners knew to use it, and others did not. The ones that did not use it had the main seals leak. Because the oil they used was within specification for the vehicle, but not GC, and the main seals leaked, Mercedes had to replace the main seals under warranty. Mercedes changed the recommended oil to Castrol Syntek 0W-30.

Now it is known as Castrol Edge but it will still say European formula on the front, and Made in Germany in small print on the back near the bar code. You can get it at Pep-Boys, and Auto-Zone

Rotella T6 5W-40, and Mobil TDT (turbo diesel truck, at pep-boys) 5W-40, Mobil 0W-40 (you can get Mobil 0W-40 at Napa if they are out they can order it, pep-boys might have it), Mobil 15W-50 (available at auto-zone), and Mobil V twin 20W-50 (motor cycle oil at pep-boys look for a separate oil display not part of car or truck oil), are all very good oils.

For all around temperatures, probably the best bang for the buck is Rotella T6 5W-40, you can get it at just about any Wall-Mart.

For VERY HOT WEATHER, probably the best oil for OPE (out-door power engines/ out-door power equipment) oil is Mobil 15W-50

Mobil 20W-50 V twin motorcycle oil is a very good oil but might be a little to thick for cold temperatures such as below 15 Fahrenheit.

 

[JimPghPA]

Depending on the base oil, and the way the oil is formulated some oils will hold up better than others.

The low cost oils that are multi-grade such as 10W-30 generally start off with a 10 weight and add modifiers to get it to protect like a 30 weight when hot. The trouble is those modifiers (molecules) break down when sheered such as when subjected to gears and or temperature that is too high. Where as a low cost oil that is mono weight such as a straight 30 weight will start off with a base that is 30 weight and therefore does not have modifier molecules to shear and break down.

A good true synthetic such as GC will start off with a true synthetic that is a 30 weight without modifying molecules, but still will perform like a lite weight oil when cold. And they may add something to help the seals in the engine stay in good shape.

Rotella is made by Shell. Basicly it is a very good oil, that has a low price because money is not spent on advertising. For years Rotella was known and used by farmers for their tractors, and tractors have a huge oil sump, some several gallons. Farmers also found it to be a good oil for all the other engines they had such as their trucks. Motorcycle riders found it to be a very good oil. There was one post here on BITOG a while back where someone with a Harley put over 900,000 miles on his bike with Rotella, and the engine parts were all still within speck.

 

[John-r]

Well I ran the generator under varying loads for a total of 8 hours, changed the oil and filter, and used Mobil 1 5w-30.
The oil that I drained out was discolored very little, still transparent, no metal flakes at all.
I called Generac and the tech I talked to recommended the Mobil 1 5w-30 for all year around.
I should be good to go now, I will change the oil again at 100 hours, then go to the recommenced 2 years or 200 hours.

Thanks for the help.

 

[MolaKule]

I would stay with a 30 weight, and being a former Detroit/Flint resident, I would use a 0W30 such as RLI 0W30. Their Antimony/Moly/ZDDP AW/FM mix makes it a good all weather oil.

 

[fpracha]

Originally Posted By: JimPghPA

For VERY HOT WEATHER, probably the best oil for OPE (out-door power engines/ out-door power equipment) oil is Mobil 15W-50
Mobil 20W-50 V twin motorcycle oil is a very good oil but might be a little to thick for cold temperatures such as below 15 Fahrenheit.

Well aren't both these 15w50 & 20w50 oils very much thick for cold weather ?

What temperature range do you consider as Very Hot Weather ?

 

[Sebastian]

I would use that 5W30 oil too.

I don't understand why the specification calls for a 5W30 up to 10° and a 10W30 up to 40° since both oils have the same viscocity when "hot".

 

[John-r]

Originally Posted By: Sebastian
I would use that 5W30 oil too.

I don't understand why the specification calls for a 5W30 up to 10° and a 10W30 up to 40° since both oils have the same viscocity when "hot".


The 10w-30 and the straight 30 weight are both mineral oil,
The 5-30 is the only synthetic oil listed.

 

[Cujet]

I always mention Mobil 1 5W-40 Turbo Diesel Truck. It's a very robust oil, with a stout additive package and it's viscosity numbers are ideal for most air cooled engines.

I use it extensively in South Florida, in awful conditions. Works perfectly. It also remains thin in cold temps.

 

[Sebastian]

Originally Posted By: John-r
Originally Posted By: Sebastian
I would use that 5W30 oil too.

I don't understand why the specification calls for a 5W30 up to 10° and a 10W30 up to 40° since both oils have the same viscocity when "hot".


The 10w-30 and the straight 30 weight are both mineral oil,
The 5-30 is the only synthetic oil listed.


Ok, but that has nothing to do with the temperature range, even more, the 5W30 surely has a better VI than the 10W30 or 30 so it would give better viscocity protection in case the engin temperature over passes 100°C.