Best oil for Big Predator 9500W inverter generator?

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Mar 16, 2003
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Hello gentlemen! I just purchased a new Harbor Freight 9500W invertor generator to power the whole house in an outage. It requires a 30 hour break in process. What oil would you recommend for this break in process and then what oil would be a good choice there after? It say to use a 10w30 weight oil. I'm in Colorado and the winters can be very cold so I was thinking synthetic a 0wXX weight? I normally use Castrol GTX for vehicles not on synthetic and Mobil 1 0w20 for my Honda and 0w40 for my Volvo so I have those on hand at all times. I'll probably need a different a different weight then those. Any recommendations for this generator?
 
I think a full synthetic like Mobil1 or Pennzoil Platinum or Castrol Edge in a 5w30 viscosity. I'd stick with a max 30 weight since that is the recommended running viscosity.
 
'Best oil' is purely subjective.
What are the OEM specifications for your application?
Do you have reason to believe the OEM requirements are not adequate?
If so, where does the OEM spec fall short in your opinion?
 
The engine calls for 37oz of 10w-30 and with for 50 hour intervals. Looks splash lubricated. Because you already have some oil both 20 and 40 grade I'd just say to scrape some from both or either and use that. You can rob some leftovers for it.
 
I use 10w-40 in all my OPE but in your climate I would lean towards 10w-30 or 0w-40. these are very basic engines and synthetic is not required.
 
I'm a big T5 10w30 fan in Predator OPE, the 13 HP one on my log splitter does great with it. Thin enough to start easily cold, thick enough to take the heat, plenty of ZDDP. The pour point for T5 10W30 and T6 5W40 are almost identical (-42 C. vs -51 C.), a 0W would be required to get much lower.
 
When i use up my amsoil hdd, i'm going to use HPL 0w40, probably leftover passenger car plus that i use in my truck.

HF 4375 non inverter.
 
The engine calls for 37oz of 10w-30 and with for 50 hour intervals. Looks splash lubricated. Because you already have some oil both 20 and 40 grade I'd just say to scrape some from both or either and use that. You can rob some leftovers for it.

If we're talking about a predator 459 cc engine I just saw a tear down on one. It has a small oil pump, a small oil filter/screen/rock catcher. It appears pressurized oil is fed to the main journals, counter balance journals however the rod journal, wrist pin, cam journals, cylinder relies on splash lubrication.

Also worthy of noting, since the main journals/crank journals are fed with pressurized oil no ball bearings are used support the crank shaft and balance shaft as the Predator 420 uses which is purely splash lubed.
 
If we're talking about a predator 459 cc engine I just saw a tear down on one. It has a small oil pump, a small oil filter/screen/rock catcher. It appears pressurized oil is fed to the main journals, counter balance journals however the rod journal, wrist pin, cam journals, cylinder relies on splash lubrication.

Also worthy of noting, since the main journals/crank journals are fed with pressurized oil no ball bearings are used support the crank shaft and balance shaft as the Predator 420 uses which is purely splash lubed.
That's surprising, thank you for that info. These little engines almost never get even partial pressurized lubrication but i knew they would can partial pressure but only on larger displacement single cyl engines. On the larger v twin you get a fully pressurized lubrication system.
 
Thanks, gentlemen! I'll probably stick with 10w30 after all. Should I break it in with conventional Castrol GTX 10w30 or Mobil 1 full syn 10w30? Thanks again!
 
Thanks, gentlemen! I'll probably stick with 10w30 after all. Should I break it in with conventional Castrol GTX 10w30 or Mobil 1 full syn 10w30? Thanks again!
Get a jug or two of whatever 10W-30 is on sale. Change the oil early and often during break in. The oil is only being used for a few hours at a time, so no need to buy anything special. Once you get some hours on the unit and the oil changes are draining clear (no more break in glitter), then go ahead an put a good synthetic oil in there for the longer oil change intervals.

On my new generators and lawn mower, I changed the oil at 20mins to do an initial flush of the engine. Then again at 1hr, 5hr, 10hr. Then every 10hr after that until the oil drained clear.
 
Any recommendations for this generator?
I cannot speak to that specific engine, but I have run both M1 10w-30 HM and Rotella T6 5w-40 in my Predator 3500 inverter generator. I keep it in the garage where it never goes below freezing. It always starts easily. How cold might your oil get? I wouldn't go for anything 0w-X unless you plan on starting it with oil at zero degrees F. That's just my opinion...
 
Get a jug or two of whatever 10W-30 is on sale. Change the oil early and often during break in. The oil is only being used for a few hours at a time, so no need to buy anything special. Once you get some hours on the unit and the oil changes are draining clear (no more break in glitter), then go ahead an put a good synthetic oil in there for the longer oil change intervals.

On my new generators and lawn mower, I changed the oil at 20mins to do an initial flush of the engine. Then again at 1hr, 5hr, 10hr. Then every 10hr after that until the oil drained clear.
Ok, so the owners manual says to run the initial oil during break in to 30 hours and then drain. That does seem like a really long time. Think it would be better to drain early and often through that 30 hour break in process?
 
I cannot speak to that specific engine, but I have run both M1 10w-30 HM and Rotella T6 5w-40 in my Predator 3500 inverter generator. I keep it in the garage where it never goes below freezing. It always starts easily. How cold might your oil get? I wouldn't go for anything 0w-X unless you plan on starting it with oil at zero degrees F. That's just my opinion...
Yes it is possible that I will have to run it in below zero temps. I may call their tech support and run it buy them....
 
Ok, so the owners manual says to run the initial oil during break in to 30 hours and then drain. That does seem like a really long time. Think it would be better to drain early and often through that 30 hour break in process?
On a Chinese generator, the oil will be black by 5 hours.
 
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