CHinese 6.5HP Honda Clone Engine

[kd5byb]

Good afternoon all,

About six months ago, I bought a Champion Power Equipment 6.5HP engine when Costco was having their blow-out sale. It's basically a Chinese clone of the Honda 6.5HP engine, which I think is a GX-200. I also have a generator that uses one of these clone engines, but instead of being a "Champion Power Equipment" brand, it's a Jiang Dong brand. (For what it's worth, the generator runs extremely well and starts much easier than my twin-cylinder Vietnam-era 2A016 MEP-25 genset.)

Manual says to use 10w30 and I initially filled it with Mobil 1 10w30 as that is what I had on the shelf. About that time, I remember reading an article/webpage on these Chinese engines, which highly recomended using xW-40, like Rotella T Synthetic, instead of the 10w30 required by the manual. Apparently the 10w30 yielded short engine life, while the 5W-40 yielded long life. (Or as long as you'd expect from a $120 engine.)

I've searched high and low for where I got this (including about three hours here manipulating the search) and can't find it! Anyone here familiar with these engines and the diesel xW-40 recomendation over 10w30?

As an interesting aside, you can find many manuals for this type of engine online. Some say SAE 30, others 10w30, and even some will say 15w40!!! I'm not that concerned about using the 5W-40 Rotella T synthetic in - just trying to determine if my memory is anywhere near accurate!!!

thanks!
ben

 

[Pablo]

My manual says 10w30. And that's what I use. ACD SAE 30. Protects fine.

A 5W-40 should be OK, but might rob a little power - I know for a fact conventional 15w40 will bog the engine.

 

[kd5byb]

Hi Pablo,

Thanks for the response. I see that the ACD is a 10w30/SAE 30 rated diesel oil. Any reason to pick it over the ASE Formula 4-Stroke oil? I'm curious - next year I had planned to swap over my lawn equipment (John Deere STX-38 that uses 10w30 both in the engine and the transmission and a Craftsman mower) over to ASE. Is ACD a better choice? Seems like it might be more economical. (BTW, I like the new webpage but it's difficult to find the ASE listing - there's a small pull-down that took me a while to notice.)

But before I swap over to ASE/ACD, I've got to use up my current stock of Mobil 1 10w30 and then a jug of SuperTech synthetic 10w30. I might put the SuperTech in the sister-in-law's car to use it up faster.

I'll stick with the 10w30 in mt two Chinese 6.5HP's and use the Rotella T in my Vietnam-era generator. I can use the 5W-40 Rotella T Synthetic in the generator - at some point, the military lubrication order on the 2A016 engines went from an SAE 30 (as is called for on the dip-stick) to a 15w40 recommendation. I'd bet it was for reduced logistical impact, as they could use one oil for diesel engines as well as the few remaining gas engines like this one. I've used both SAE 30 and 15w30 in this generator set and in the eight to ten hours I put on it each year, the oil never even gets discolored. It gets changed before and after each use. It's got a one quart sump so that's only two quarts of oil - seems like a good investment for a piece of equipment that sits a lot and then gets pressed into hard service.

Anyways, thanks much!

-ben

 

[Pablo]

No real difference in this engine. I have several gallons of ACD in stock, one a partial, so I didn't want to open a new qt of ASE.

 

[Jim 5]

Originally Posted By: kd5byb
Hi Pablo,


But before I swap over to ASE/ACD, I've got to use up my current stock of Mobil 1 10w30 and then a jug of SuperTech synthetic 10w30. I might put the SuperTech in the sister-in-law's car to use it up faster.

You could always take the oil back to wal-mart and do a trade for whatever oil grade suits you. I have done this a few times after buying a car with different requirements than my stockpile could offer

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: kd5byb
..I've searched high and low for where I got this (including about three hours here manipulating the search) and can't find it! Anyone here familiar with these engines and the diesel xW-40 recomendation over 10w30?


Ben, we've got a few of these engines in the family too (portable generators). There was a post some time back from Lonnie I believe, where a 40wt substantially increased the life span of these engines over a 10w30. I don't recall if it was on a 6.5hp or it's 13hp big brother, but this engine was used in commercial service. They wouldn't last long with 10w30, but had yet to die running a 15w40 HDEO. I'm sure ACD would have the same effect, but 40wt HDEOs can be had off the shelf a tad easier and cheaper. I wouldn't run 15w40 for cold ambient temp starts, but 5w40 would fare well for that.

Joel

 

[kd5byb]

Hey fellas,

Thanks for the replies. Wow, great memory! I put in "Lonnie" and "Chinese" as search terms and found Lonnie's thread on the Chinese engines. The other day, when I was just searching on "Chinese," I found nothing at all. I'd post the link to Lonnie's post, but the link is a mile long, so I'll just quote part of it below:

Originally Posted By: Lonnie
A friend has something called a Ditch Witch for digging trenches that now has a small Chinese engine which is an exact copy of a Honda, which he used to replace the original Briggs and Stratton. At first he had problems with short engine life. The engine really gets wipped, full rpm, full load and it gets jerked around a lot, loading and unloading. The oil used was an API cert 10w30, Mobil Clean 500, first engine, second engine was the same Mobil Clean 5000 10w-40. The dealer replaced the engine twice with no griping (would a Honda dealer do the same?). For the third engine he gave him some 10w30 Red Line oil to try and asked him to clean and re-oil the foam pre-filter every day, and if really dusty, every mid day break, with, you gessed it Red Line oil but this time their racing 2-stroke oil. This last engine has gone the whole summer, 5 days a week and the engine runs like new. So, could the combination of cleaning the pre-filter more often and the synthetic oil be the difference in really sever applications?


I swear I remember reading something exactly along these lines, but with the conclusion being that a synthetic HDEO 5W-40 was the way to go. There are two of us that remember this, so I'm now thinking that I need to be looking for another Chinese engine thread besides Lonnie's. It seems to me that Lonnie's friend has something larger than the 6.5HP engine, so perhaps it is the case that the larger one does okay on 10w30 while the 6.5HP prefers 5W-40? I will search/research this more.

I've got Mobil 1 10w30 in both my Chinese 6.5 HP's now and I think I'll use that until I make the switch to something Amsoil next year. Good thing is that I've got lots of uses for 10w30 that I've got on hand now. Sister-in-law's car is totally non-oil critical plus I do use a bit on the mower's over a year's time.

thanks much!
ben

 

[kd5byb]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
No real difference in this engine. I have several gallons of ACD in stock, one a partial, so I didn't want to open a new qt of ASE.

Completely understand. Any advantage to ACD over ASE in, for instance, a Kolher Command CV12.5, 12.5 HP engine? Or the transmission in a Deere mower?

THANKS!
-ben

 

[Pablo]

ACD has a better TBN, and probably better for a constant RPM's.

ASE has more rust inhibitor and I've been told better for higher/varying RPM's.

Neither have FM's.

So for the Kohler it depends on the usage. I'd pick the ASE for the transmission.

 

[kd5byb]

Hey Pablo,

Sounds great - will put ASE on my list for next year. The Kohler sees full speed all the time except for a few minutes of idle after start and before shutting down.

Thanks!
-ben