Originally Posted By: KJK200
Originally Posted By: boraticus
Use any oil within the recommended viscosity range. These OPE engines can run for decades with minimal attention to the oil. Changing your oil within the manual's specifications or once a year is all that really matters. What you choose to use is of minor importance provided the oil is within specified requirement.
Engines run well and last long with any decent off the shelf oil. They don't have fussy pallets. Change the oil. That's what matters.
Does this go for snow blowers and push lawn mowers as well?
If so, I am going to try the Walmart SuperTech 5w-30 synthetic oil in all of them. And then I will change all of them at least once a year since it will be so easy.
OPE engines are all pretty much the same regardless of what they're used on. With even marginal maintenance, they'll often outlast the equipment they're mounted on.
I can't recall the last time I heard of an OPE engine that met an early demise due to the brand of oil or viscosity used in it.
I've worked on one lawn mower engine that was over fifteen years old that probably had the original oil in it. When I drained the oil, a mere couple oz. of black liquid grease poured out. Nonetheless, the engine still ran fairly well despite the fact that it produced a ridiculous amount of blue smoke on start up and a fairly good cloud during operation.