Champion Generator Oil

OilUzer

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I bought a Champion generator and according to the operator's manual:

"The recommended oil type for typical use is 10W-30 automotive oil."

It also has a chart of "Recommended Engine Oil Type" showing 10W-30, 5W-30, 10W-40 and 5W-30 Full Synthetic.

Also:

"Notice:
Synthetic oil may be used after the 5 hour initial break-in period. Using synthetic oil does not increase the recommended oil change interval."

Under "Add Engine Oil" section:
Damage to the generator as a result of failing to follow these instructions will void your warranty.

Out of curiosity, I called their tech support number and was told to use conventional oil for the break-in period.

I have M1 EP 10W-30, M1 Euro 0/5W-40, Castrol Edge Euro 5W-30, Kirkland 5W-30 and some unopened old SAE 30 ...

I have read after some car engine rebuilds, they use dino first ... But never paid much attention since it never applied to me.

Not a big deal to buy some dino but I am curious about the "conventional oil" recommendation!
Any ideas?
 
I have a champion generator as well. I ran valvoline daily protection 10w30 for 5 hours and then changed the oil. I’m running 1 quart of HPL 5w30 No VII and 0.2 quarts of 5w30 HPL pcmo after the break in period.
 
Some engine rebuilders seem to recommend conventional over synthetic for break in yet synthetic is the factory fill on many new vehicles. I don’t get it their reasoning.

As far as the customer support recommendation, you called them and 1 person voiced their opinion. It has no weight to what the owners manual says IMO.

I use whatever I have on hand for the initial fill.
 
I have a WEN - same Chonda engine is my bet. I read a lot of threads by the go-kart guys running the Chinese knock off 212cc engine. There recommendation - run 1 hour on conventional, change the oil, run another hour, change the oil to whatever you like, good. Thats what I did. The first change came out complete silver - probably pre lube with a lot of machining debris. Second change came out with a little machining debris.

I am using conventional. Mine says change every 25 hours of run time - which with no filter I will do. But after break in it likely doesn't matter which oil.

I also suggest a magnetic dipstick.
 
Synthetic oil is fine for engine break it. Base type makes no difference for breaking an engine in.

That said, yeah total waste of money. Dump the oil early.

I used syn for my break in because that is all I had, dumped after a few hours. Now I'm a couple years on this OCI, oil is fine. I might change this coming summer. HF 9500 Predator.
 
Not a big deal to buy some dino but I am curious about the "conventional oil" recommendation!
Any ideas?
Because they don't know what they are talking about. Considering that most synthetic oils are Group III base stock (or at least a majority) that means the molecules are more or less identical to a Group I or Group II conventional oil and there is no functional difference in this regard. Even if you purchase a majority Group IV oil it is still going to break in just fine. The whole thing comes from an old notion that synthetic oils are "too slippery" to allow proper break in which isn't accurate.

There are quite a few threads on here about this topic if you wish to look around.
 
Because they don't know what they are talking about. Considering that most synthetic oils are Group III base stock (or at least a majority) that means the molecules are more or less identical to a Group I or Group II conventional oil and there is no functional difference in this regard. Even if you purchase a majority Group IV oil it is still going to break in just fine. The whole thing comes from an old notion that synthetic oils are "too slippery" to allow proper break in which isn't accurate.

There are quite a few threads on here about this topic if you wish to look around.
The historical logic had nothing to do with the base stock. For break in engine builders wanted a higher dose of ZDDP/zinc. Supposedly conventional oil had more. I have no idea if that was true then, or is true now - I suspect not now likely - but that was the logic. Honda at least at one time used a special factory "break in" fill.

There are still companies that sell "break in oil" or a zinc additive to use in break in, if you like.
 
The historical logic had nothing to do with the base stock. For break in engine builders wanted a higher dose of ZDDP/zinc. Supposedly conventional oil had more. I have no idea if that was true then, or is true now - I suspect not now likely - but that was the logic. Honda at least at one time used a special factory "break in" fill.

There are still companies that sell "break in oil" or a zinc additive to use in break in, if you like.
That may be an angle or twist but it certainly had to do with the basestocks
 
It has to do with the ring package and cylinder material. The air cooled engines will be manufactured with cost control in mind so that probably means a ductile iron cylinder liner and iron rings...so the concept is that conventional oil will have more friction and allow the rings and cylinder to mate together better...that is the thought anyway.

The most important aspect is that you load the generator during the break-in process. I would use that straight 30W you have for the break in.
 
I bought a Champion generator and according to the operator's manual:

"The recommended oil type for typical use is 10W-30 automotive oil."

It also has a chart of "Recommended Engine Oil Type" showing 10W-30, 5W-30, 10W-40 and 5W-30 Full Synthetic.

Also:

"Notice:
Synthetic oil may be used after the 5 hour initial break-in period. Using synthetic oil does not increase the recommended oil change interval."

Under "Add Engine Oil" section:
Damage to the generator as a result of failing to follow these instructions will void your warranty.

Out of curiosity, I called their tech support number and was told to use conventional oil for the break-in period.

I have M1 EP 10W-30, M1 Euro 0/5W-40, Castrol Edge Euro 5W-30, Kirkland 5W-30 and some unopened old SAE 30 ...

I have read after some car engine rebuilds, they use dino first ... But never paid much attention since it never applied to me.

Not a big deal to buy some dino but I am curious about the "conventional oil" recommendation!
Any ideas?
Does it have a filter?

Anyway, I if I had to buy some oil for break in, I would use the cheapest readily available oil. like super tech, run it for the recommended 5 hours, then use whatever 10w30 makes you happy. I think there is some evidence that 10w30 is more "stable" and "less volatile" than 5w30, and might be better in general in the air cooled engine design.
 
That may be an angle or twist but it certainly had to do with the basestocks
There were special high zinc break in oils back in the 80's - before synthetic oils were much of a thing at all.

That may be the consensus here, and possibly its technically correct, but that is not where it comes from. My neighbor raced, and whenever he got a engine the engine builder sent along some break in oil. I wasn't even old enough to drive, so this had to be late 80's at latest.

"we birthed the first high zinc, petroleum and low-detergent break-in oils to the engine building industry."

Not saying it did or did not work, or did or did not matter, but that was the logic
 
The historical logic had nothing to do with the base stock. For break in engine builders wanted a higher dose of ZDDP/zinc. Supposedly conventional oil had more. I have no idea if that was true then, or is true now - I suspect not now likely - but that was the logic. Honda at least at one time used a special factory "break in" fill.

There are still companies that sell "break in oil" or a zinc additive to use in break in, if you like.
That doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. That sounds like some serious lore in and of itself.
 
Does it have a filter?

Anyway, I if I had to buy some oil for break in, I would use the cheapest readily available oil. like super tech, run it for the recommended 5 hours, then use whatever 10w30 makes you happy. I think there is some evidence that 10w30 is more "stable" and "less volatile" than 5w30, and might be better in general in the air cooled engine design.
Not many do. In addition to my Champions I have a Briggs VG gen and a 457cc Chonda gen - yet, only the B&S VG twin has a filter ...
 
When I bought my Generac Inverter generator I asked the guy what oil I should use . He set this on counter .
IMG_2187.webp
 
normally i break in on T4/delvac/delo 15w40 then go to a synthetic 5/15w40 HDEO. Have recently been filling with M1 0w-40 on equipment that has an oil pump/filter to hopefully flow a little better when cold.
 
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