Change your new mower oil after 5 hours! TRUST ME!

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I read the manual for my mower and it said to change the factory fill after 4 hours which I deemed perfect for break in as well.

I then changed the oil and was absolutely ASTONISHED to see the amount of metal flake in the dropped oil. The oil was still clear and colorless, but it looked exactly like grey metallic paint.

Anyone thinking not to change the factory oil after the break in needs to take a look at what I saw and you will drop your oil as soon as you get home.

It was like a grey metal slurry.
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will do on the mower, tiller and power washer that we recently got.

Thanks!

JMH
 
Yep BlazerLT, I call the mess that drains out of new small engines "silver soup." It's most noticeable because most of these units (the smaller ones) have no spin-on filter to catch the easily visible debris.
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On a new motor (on ANY outdoor power equipment) I change the oil after the first 2 hours ... then again after 2-4 more hours and my third interval isn't terribly long either.
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In the last two years, I have broken-in 1 electric generator (w/ filter), 1 wood splitter, 1 lawn mower and 1 snow blower. Each received frequent oil changes and a silvery syrup drained from each at least once or twice before they cleared up.

As you pointed out, the oil looks nice and clean on the stick. Merely checking it does not give you any idea how much mess is in the crankcase.
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--- Bror Jace
 
For sure!

Looked clean draining out then I held the oil drain pan up in the sun and OH>>>>MY>>>>GAWD!!!!

I will drain the oil once more again after 5 more lawn mowing stints and it should be good for a while.
 
I have noticed the same thing with the engines that I have. I believe that the main reason for the soiling of the oil, as I call it, is that many of these engines now have aluminum cylinders and bores. If the engine comes with oil I will use it for the first fill. If it doesn't I run usually run a good ol hdeo 15W-40. I run that first fill for a very short period of time and dump it. Usually as short as a half an hour to an hour. Then I fill with 15W-40 and run that fill for a few hours and dump it. I usually run that second fill for around three or four hours. I then run one more fill of hdeo to clean the break-in stuff out. That one usually is around five hours. If that drain looks good and clean I dump in syn and run that for the manufactures intervals. Using this practice and several hundred hours I can say I have never had a lube oil failure or problem, ever.
 
I changed the oil in my Troy-Bilt w/Honda at 2 hours and it looked like liquid pencil lead with plenty of metal flake. It's going to get changed again in another 2 hours.

GrtArtiste
 
Yeah....pretty much everyone should know to do so...... but most will actually leave it in either all year till they change it, or never change it.
Kinda is worse with aluminum bore engines.... I have two 6hp briggs engines (one quantum vertical, other a ohv horizontal powerbuilt) the quantum was bad the first change (4 or 5 hours), second time maybe half as bad (around 10), 3rd time barely any (all with straight 30)(25 hours), 4th I couldn't tell (10w-30 mobil one) (25 hours).
The powerbuilt (generator)was bad the first time (of course when it was bought new after a bad hurricane), didn't get time to rest for 6 days (don't know). Second was half as bad(maybe 2 hours), 3rd will be next year... the first two fills with straight 30, this with 10w-30 mobil 1.

Of course my 18.5 intek, you can't tell.... it happens to have a oil filter. Oil stayed nice and clean. Got changed after 5 hours, then 10 hours. I'm on the third fill with mobil one 10w-30
 
Unless it is a Honda motor, which has a super-secret batch of high-moly break-in oil that you have to keep in for at least 100 hours(sorry, I couldn't resist
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Ok, seriously, I aqree %100. I just changed the oil in my new riding mover after 5 hours, and the oil had tons of metal sparkles in it.
 
After using the new mower for a few little 1 to 2 minute sessions, I finally used it for almost an hour today. Will probably run it for a little more tomorrow, then it gets its first oil change, approx 1.5 hrs. Gonna be interesting to see how many sparklies show up from that new Honda engine. Just hope my heart can stand it!
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Looks like I'll be able to pour old oil directly from the mower's filler spout into a tilted gallon water jug. And I have a real hodge-podge oil mix going for its 2nd fill- probably gonna have 4 different oils in it.
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quote:

Originally posted by Stuart Hughes:
After using the new mower for a few little 1 to 2 minute sessions, I finally used it for almost an hour today. Will probably run it for a little more tomorrow, then it gets its first oil change, approx 1.5 hrs. Gonna be interesting to see how many sparklies show up from that new Honda engine. Just hope my heart can stand it!
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Looks like I'll be able to pour old oil directly from the mower's filler spout into a tilted gallon water jug. And I have a real hodge-podge oil mix going for its 2nd fill- probably gonna have 4 different oils in it.
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There is a drain plug under the mower for draining, don't pour it out the filler tube or you won't get all the nasty stuff out.

Also, stick to the weight of oil the manufacturer suggests, don't start mixing a bunch or oils.

Keep it simple and that engine will last you a long time.
 
I'd much prefer to drain oil out the bottom. But:
*The Honda owner's manual says to pour the old oil out the fill spout.
*I haven't looked under this mower yet, but I did see a bare, empty new Honda GCV160 engine at the local auto parts store. When the owner handed it to me to demonstrate its light weight, I tilted it over & couldn't see a drain plug on the bottom of that engine. I'll find out for sure tomorrow.

As far as oil goes, the next fill will have the remaining 2.5 oz of the 10w30 SJ oil included with the mower; about 11.5 oz of Havoline 10w30; whatever's left in a Shell Rotella jug(probably about an ounce) with the remaining ounce or three made up from some Valvoline Racing Oil SAE 40 SJ- that should have *plenty* of AW additives in it, plus provide a little extra film strength for break in!
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I'll only run that for a few hours. After that, I dunno- a couple of fills of TropArtic or Havoline 10w30, then might switch to WalMart Synthetic(Group III) in 10w30 or even 5w30.
 
I don't think my Honda HRC216PDA commercial with the GSV160 motor has a drain plug. You just tilt it on it's side and drain it out the fill hole, really simple. I changed my oil after just warming it up and running if for about 10 minutes. There was a little mositure and a few flakes. I bought a gallon jug of 5w-30 Castrol GTX and went through the jub in about 3 weekends of mowing a half acre. I know you won't believe it but, now that I declared it broken in, the next oil change was Red Line 5w-30. Did not notice anything different, except that I feel better. Oh, and I added a fuel filter, too.
 
The Honda GX 6hp OHV on my new power washer has two identical height access holes on the sides of the engine blocks. One have a dipstick the other is just a plug. You drain the oil out either side.

JMH
 
Changed oil on new power washer with Honda GCV160 after 1.5 hours operating time, couldn't beleive how metallically dark the factory fill was.

Refilled with Motorcraft 15w-40 "diesel" oil, seemed like a good choice @ $2.22/US quart.
 
I love my vacuum pump oil extractor for this duty. I just dump it down the fill hole and let'er suck. The first time I did it I opened the bottom drain after vacuum extracting to see how much oil would come out. Not a drop came out.

The only problem is that it's SO easy that I've been changing the oil too often. Almost every 5 mows (about 2.5 hours for 5 mows). Good thing it takes just under 1/2L per oil change, and is cleaning out my stock of leftover bottles of Xw-30's and 40's.

This keeps me from doing needless recreational oil changes on my vehicles I guess
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I've already done a second oil change on my Troy-Bilt w/Honda GCV 160. It came out much cleaner than the first fill, but not as clean as I hoped. I put in another fill of Citgo Supergard 10w30 SL and will run that a few hours before I put the Trop Artic 10w30 SM in.

GrtArtiste
 
quote:

Originally posted by Jim 5:
I love my vacuum pump oil extractor for this duty. I just dump it down the fill hole and let'er suck. The first time I did it I opened the bottom drain after vacuum extracting to see how much oil would come out. Not a drop came out.

The only problem is that it's SO easy that I've been changing the oil too often. Almost every 5 mows (about 2.5 hours for 5 mows). Good thing it takes just under 1/2L per oil change, and is cleaning out my stock of leftover bottles of Xw-30's and 40's.

This keeps me from doing needless recreational oil changes on my vehicles I guess
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The thing is you won't get the grit and metal flake when sucking it out the top as you will get when the oil takes it out when you drain out the bottom.
 
I've thought about that and I'm not sure why you wouldn't.

The vacuum sucker sort of creates a "false hole" that all of the fluid drains towards rather than draining towards the actual drain hole. Instead of falling through the actual drain-hole the oil goes upwards. I'm not really sure how it would be any different really. Maybe if the bolt hole allows a faster drain causing more grit to spill out, I can see it.

Further,you can actually move the suction around and kind of vacuum clean the sump since the sump on my mower isn't overly large.

I'm open to hearing your thoughts as to why you wouldn't get as much grit and metal flake out with suction. I can get just as much oil out...maybe more.

Either way, my mower's around 8 years old, so it's not going to matter much in my case.

I'm with you on the oil changes after break in..I've seen that shimmery stuff come out on new engines and you've got a real point there.
 
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