Valvoline 30w or Briggs and Stratton oil?
- Thread starter Chris B.
- Start date
- Status
Our Briggs and Stratton lawn mower came empty, with a pint of Pennzoil 30.
Doubt you would see much difference either way.
Doubt you would see much difference either way.
Use either oil it's a lawn mower.Change the oil and air filter as suggested by the mfg. and the motor will last and last.
MolaKule
Staff member
I use Amsoil 10W30 ATM and have more engines than mower decks.
Engines outlast the decks.
Engines outlast the decks.
Yes, as 'Kule and a couple others have pointed out, the typical lawn mower engine (B&S, Honda, etc ...) are very robust lil' beasties. Any oil, with years in between oil changes, will do. Just about every other part of the machine (lawn mower, generator, pump, etc ...) will wear out, rust out or otherwise fail before the internal combustion engine does.
So, any time spent agonizing over choice of oils is time wasted for nothing.
Of course, I'm the worst offender in this regard.
I get off on babying my stuff so I'm another clown looking for that "perfect" lube.
I use the 15W40 fleet oils, namely; Chevron Delo400, Pennzoil Long Life and Schaeffer Supreme 7000 (synthetic blend). Their robust additive package is more than capable of surviving the more common torture tests we subject out equipment to.
As for a straight weight oil, I'd use either Pennzoil (30 and 40 weights are both available at WalMart) or Chevron Del400 in straight 30 which i think you can get at AutoZone. The Pennzoil has a group II+ base oil plus moly and the Chevron oils consistently turn in great wear results in the UOA section of this forum.
I have been less than impressed with OEM brand oils, in general. They seem to be of indifferent quality.
--- Bror Jace
So, any time spent agonizing over choice of oils is time wasted for nothing.
Of course, I'm the worst offender in this regard.
I get off on babying my stuff so I'm another clown looking for that "perfect" lube.
I use the 15W40 fleet oils, namely; Chevron Delo400, Pennzoil Long Life and Schaeffer Supreme 7000 (synthetic blend). Their robust additive package is more than capable of surviving the more common torture tests we subject out equipment to.
As for a straight weight oil, I'd use either Pennzoil (30 and 40 weights are both available at WalMart) or Chevron Del400 in straight 30 which i think you can get at AutoZone. The Pennzoil has a group II+ base oil plus moly and the Chevron oils consistently turn in great wear results in the UOA section of this forum.
I have been less than impressed with OEM brand oils, in general. They seem to be of indifferent quality.
--- Bror Jace
Yeah, I've seen "Frigidaire" brand 30 wt. oil at my local Home Depot. I have no idea who actually makes it. For my lawn mower and edger use, I always just change the oil out yearly and plop in 30 wt. SuperTech dino. At its "SL" API rating it's gotta be at least as good as "Genuine Brigss & Stratton" lawnmower oil. It's also a heck of a lot cheaper. The mower's 5 years old. The edger is 35 years old. Never had the head off. These are low compression engines designed to minimally stress their oil. Shoot, most B&S residential mower engines still rely on splash lubrication. Even B&S's "commercial" handmower engines with oil filters only use a pump to circulate the goo juice through the filter and rely on splash lubrication from a rotary slinger to oil the moving parts. Most of Tecumseh's rotary mower engines use a primitive piston oil pump at the low end of the crankshaft to lift the oil to the upper main bearing and then basically allow the oil to trickle down to the rest of the moving parts. Neither brand is known for poor mechanical reliability. Even the unlinered mower engines will last parctically forever if they just get their oil changed every year or two.
[ May 11, 2003, 10:18 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
[ May 11, 2003, 10:18 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
lawnmowers can use any oil you throw at them.
- Status
