break in new lawnmower?

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hey fellas i bought a cheap mower with the bargain basement tecumseh engine last fall, it's probably the 128cc. now i used the sae30 oil in it for about an hour then i changed out to some left over mobil 1 10w30 all synthetic. i ran the mower for about two or three more hours and then drained it again and noticed the oil was a little bit grey from aluminum particles. is the engine still wearing in? i did try to vary the rpms from the governor while in use to ensure a decent break in. so i changed the oil a thrid time and the mower seems to run strong, for what it is. compression seems real good cuz it actually caught me off guard on the compression stroke while rip starting it. [censored] good compression! so i think i will keep changing the oil maybe one or two more times with some used mobil synthetic (
ps- i'd hate to see how many other small engines choke for hours on their own break in material and i know this happens with most people. gotta say these small engines are tough
 
The small engine OEM's usually recommend running 5 hours on the break-in oil then change every 50 hours after that. For most people that probably means once a year.

I think you've done enough to break it in already. M1 10w30 is fine. If it uses oil then try TDT 5w-40, I used that in my old mower with great results. My new mower (Honda) doesn't use any oil so I stick to the 10w30. I'm using Valvoline MaxLife.
 
You should be fine. I ran my mower all season with the same start up oil it came with when I bought it. (Oops) I probably had 10-12 hours of run time on it. That oil was really gray so I know what you mean. I am running Synpower in it this year.
 
On our new mower we have, we started it and let it get hot while varying the RPM's, then shut it down to cool, then fired it back up again and did the same thing a few times. Then we would cut the grass and shut it down. After 2 weeks of this we changed out the oil and are using Amsoil 4 stroke 10w30 in it. The oil was pretty dark and has some metal residue in it.

Mower pulls strong, doesn't use any oil and the oil still looks very clean after all last season and sitting all winter!
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I'm with the others, you are fine with what you're doing.

Those 30W oils usually have good add pkgs in them so you could have left it 5 hours or so. Wear metals are common so don't worry about it. Regular maintenance is key. Take care of the motor and it will probably outlast the deck.
 
I think if you ever change your oil in your lawn mower your way ahead of the game. That being said I changed mine after the first time of mowing with PP and then changed it every year.
 
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