Synthetic oil in a JD lawn tractor

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Folks: I have a new John Deere lawn tractor with a 2 cylinder Kawasaki engine.
It's time for an oil change and am wondering if some Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 I have at home would be ok to use in this for the winter when I have my snow blower mounted to it.
Thanks.
 
Agreed. That would be an excellent choice for cold winter starts. Is this an air or liquid cooled Kawi?
 
I've run Mobil 1 10w30 in my JD L130 with a Kohler V-twin from day 1. It has something like 1600 hours on it. I used to change the oil and filter every season, but I do it every 2nd or even 3rd season now because the oil always comes out looking clean. I mean really clean, like barely used. My engine runs strong and performs like new.
 
This get asked all the time, and it's a fair question. Synthetic will give some extra protection over "most" conventional oils, but that difference is hard to quantify. Then you add to the quest for "best protection" and that brings up the crux of the issue.
If a $4 a quart protects you engine just fine, then what is the value of extra unneeded protection? I mean, if conventional oil would give you 3000hrs on your Kawa engine, and syn would give you 3050hrs, what is the advantage? In the real world, we'll never know.

I think you have the right approach, you have it on hand, it's great oil, and fits the use, so why not use it. To be honest, if I had a car to use it in, that's where it would go, and I'd get some HDEO for the mower. If we change oil regularly, in a car or a mower, and maintain it otherwise, oil selection is getting to be a non issue. All the newer oils (with the exception of "fly by nighters" and scammers) are that good.
 
Use it year round. I run my Kawasaki engine year round on 5w30 synthetic oil and have no consumption issues.
 
Originally Posted By: NH73
Use it year round. I run my Kawasaki engine year round on 5w30 synthetic oil and have no consumption issues.


Same here. I have had no issues either. It depends on what brand I get on sale but it will be 5w-30 every time. That is on the LX289. The only difference is it being liquid cooled instead of air cooled so it is a little easier on oil IMO. I don't really get the point of 10w-30 over 5w-30.
 
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