I have a ’96 Honda 4518 garden tractor. I’m not sure what the 45 stands for but the 18 is for the 18 horsepower, twin cylinder, liquid cooled motor. It’s currently wearing a (42”?) 3-blade belly mower. It has a spin-on full flow filter. It’s the same part as most Honda 4-cylinder cars, actually, but the canister has to be on the small side to fit into a small space. I’ve used Castrol filters, NAPA silver and a few others. Right now I have a Supertech #3595 waiting to go into this thing. A $2 filter when I’m pretty sure Honda wants about $10 for their unit.
So, what oil do I use in it? Schaeffer 15W40 synthetic blend. Before that it was Mobil 1 10W30, I think.
Aside from the tractor being a really cold-hearted b!t¢h, especially for the first start-up of the season, it’s run great all it’s life. Well, until about a month or so ago.
I was mowing one day and the engine sounded like it was missing and noticeably down on power. Odd. The “miss” was not too consistent so I assumed it wasn’t ignition but rather fuel related. The air cleaner had been serviced recently (the foam pre-cleaner rinsed out and re-oiled) so I ruled that out as well. I dumped a couple ounces of iso drygas and a little Red Line SI-1 into the gas tank and it cleared up almost right away. The gas wasn’t that old (5-6 months?) but the garage can get awfully damp and I guessed that moisture could have accumulated in it. Still, I wasn’t sure the engine was running at 100% so I guessed that the fuel filter (factory original) was due for replacement. I visually inspected the translucent filter and it didn’t look too bad (dark, clogged, etc …). Still, it didn’t owe me anything after all these years so it was time to swap it out.
Also, seeing that it was past the 5 year/500 (?) hour mark, I decided to change the hydrostatic transmission fluid for the first time. It does not have a filter that I could see (owner’s manual does not mention one either), just requires a drain and a little over 5qts of new fluid. After being unable to source this stuff through NAPA, etc … I went to manhonda.com and bought the fluid (6 qts. @ $6 ea.), 2 fuel filters and a spare air filter. I’d dealt with these folks before and knew they were about a third cheaper than local dealerships and shipped fairly quickly.
The mower was ran for 2+ hours to be sure the HST fluid was up to temperature before draining it. It came out looking like moderately used motor oil … a light-to-medium gray color. The new Honda brand HST fluid going in looked like baby oil. Perfectly clear … not a hint of any color or tint to it at all. I was pretty blown away seeing this. Anyone have an idea as to what this stuff is? I’m assuming it’s a petroleum oil of some type but I can’t even be sure of that. On the bottle it says it has a pour/pump point of –50C.
Why couldn’t they simply use some form of ATF?
Anyway, with the new fuel filter in place the tractor ran great. No hesitation and power felt as strong as it ever has.
There was no difference in transmission operation which is a good thing since it worked fine before the fluid change.
--- Bror Jace
Aside from the tractor being a really cold-hearted b!t¢h, especially for the first start-up of the season, it’s run great all it’s life. Well, until about a month or so ago.
I was mowing one day and the engine sounded like it was missing and noticeably down on power. Odd. The “miss” was not too consistent so I assumed it wasn’t ignition but rather fuel related. The air cleaner had been serviced recently (the foam pre-cleaner rinsed out and re-oiled) so I ruled that out as well. I dumped a couple ounces of iso drygas and a little Red Line SI-1 into the gas tank and it cleared up almost right away. The gas wasn’t that old (5-6 months?) but the garage can get awfully damp and I guessed that moisture could have accumulated in it. Still, I wasn’t sure the engine was running at 100% so I guessed that the fuel filter (factory original) was due for replacement. I visually inspected the translucent filter and it didn’t look too bad (dark, clogged, etc …). Still, it didn’t owe me anything after all these years so it was time to swap it out.
Also, seeing that it was past the 5 year/500 (?) hour mark, I decided to change the hydrostatic transmission fluid for the first time. It does not have a filter that I could see (owner’s manual does not mention one either), just requires a drain and a little over 5qts of new fluid. After being unable to source this stuff through NAPA, etc … I went to manhonda.com and bought the fluid (6 qts. @ $6 ea.), 2 fuel filters and a spare air filter. I’d dealt with these folks before and knew they were about a third cheaper than local dealerships and shipped fairly quickly.
The mower was ran for 2+ hours to be sure the HST fluid was up to temperature before draining it. It came out looking like moderately used motor oil … a light-to-medium gray color. The new Honda brand HST fluid going in looked like baby oil. Perfectly clear … not a hint of any color or tint to it at all. I was pretty blown away seeing this. Anyone have an idea as to what this stuff is? I’m assuming it’s a petroleum oil of some type but I can’t even be sure of that. On the bottle it says it has a pour/pump point of –50C.
Why couldn’t they simply use some form of ATF?
Anyway, with the new fuel filter in place the tractor ran great. No hesitation and power felt as strong as it ever has.
There was no difference in transmission operation which is a good thing since it worked fine before the fluid change.
--- Bror Jace
