kohler command pro 10w30 or 10w50?

Unless you are mowing snow why would anyone recommend a 5W anything?

If it is 50+ degrees you don't need 5W oil -

When I pressure wash (Kohler engine) it is 90-100 degrees outside - I want at least a 15W40, would be OK with SAE 30 or 40 - last time I tried 20W50.

What is this fixation with 5W40????????
 
Unless you are mowing snow why would anyone recommend a 5W anything?

If it is 50+ degrees you don't need 5W oil -

When I pressure wash (Kohler engine) it is 90-100 degrees outside - I want at least a 15W40, would be OK with SAE 30 or 40 - last time I tried 20W50.

What is this fixation with 5W40????????
Yeah I run 20w-50 on my pressure washer and riding mower. A cheap 20w-50 would be cheap and should be easily more shear stable than much more expensive 5w-50.
A pressure washer running wide open throttle, max speed you're likely seeing 270 to 300f oil on a 100f day.
Probably want a 50 weight.
 
Just bought a toro turfmaster 30 with a kohler command pro cv224 engine. I'm having a hard time figuring out what weight oil it's supposed to use. I've always thought you're supposed to use 10w30 in kohler commands due to the hydraulic lifters. It seems kohler makes a pro 10w50 synthetic oil that's good for 300hrs. I aint going no 300hrs on an oil change, but anyways. The dealer I bought the mower from just filled it up with regular 10w30 SN rated oil and gave me the rest of the bottle in case I needed to add more. Opinions? Am I running the wrong oil weight?
I'd go synthetic 10w-40 and split the difference. My Briggs&Stratton definitely burns less oil when using synthetic. I've put RP 10w-40 or Valvoline Synthetic in it.
 
lower viscosity oils help in more instant lubrication ease of the engine, and span the climate of many operating temperature's, plus it can depend on what part of the country you live in,0w-40 and 5w-40 have their uses and serve the requirements and specs/licenses and approvals for many engines, the 0w and the 5w on the API label do mean something pertaining to this.
 
Unless you are mowing snow why would anyone recommend a 5W anything?

If it is 50+ degrees you don't need 5W oil -

When I pressure wash (Kohler engine) it is 90-100 degrees outside - I want at least a 15W40, would be OK with SAE 30 or 40 - last time I tried 20W50.

What is this fixation with 5W40????????
Because the 5W-40 and 0W-40 oils on the market also have stringent approvals that affect things such as viscosity stability, oxidation resistance and deposit formation. They are better oils than run of the mill 15W-40.

No you do not need a 0W nor a 5W winter rating in warm temperatures but it won't harm anything either. In this case it's not about the winter rating it is about the other attributes those 5W and 0W-40 oils have. They are very good oils and are useful in OPE.
 
How much grass do you cut in the winter?
On my pressure washer which I've collected the most data there's pretty close to a 1:1 environmental to oil temperature increases or decreases.
How much grass do cut in the winter?
So if outside temps drop 50 degrees, so will the oil temp?
 
You are going to have to change oil with the seasons if you want to use a 50w in the summer. I have this problem with my old JD F510 but I no longer use it to get the oil hot like mowing did. So it's on 5w30.
 
So if outside temps drop 50 degrees, so will the oil temp?
Yeah depending on the engine, 50f degree cooler air temps should be around 50f degree cooler oil temps plus or minus 5 degrees f.
I say check the temp. To get the bare minimum oil temperature data get all your oil change stuff setup. Run the mower hard, stop and drain the oil. When you pull the drain plug stick a thermometer probe in the hot oil stream.
Probably best to do the once in the summer on the hottest day and once if you run it in the winter on a typical winter day that you're mowing.
I'm just going to guess you're not mowing when it's 20f outside.
 
You are going to have to change oil with the seasons if you want to use a 50w in the summer. I have this problem with my old JD F510 but I no longer use it to get the oil hot like mowing did. So it's on 5w30.
You don't have to.
Say your highest oil temp is 260f in the summer on a summer oil drain temperature test. So assume it's hitting at least 270f sometimes and you run a 50 weight oil.
Then just pick a winter weight that's appropriate for your winter conditions. If it's a mower you're probably not mowing when it's below freezing. Right?
Say it's 60 degrees cooler in the winter at night Let's assume the oil is 40f when you start it, so we'll assume the oil is hitting around 200f when you mow grass when it's 50f outside.
50 weight oil at 200f is only going to be like 20 cSt. It is thicker, it's not going to hurt anything, the mower might burn 3% to 5% more gas to overcome the thicker oil. I wouldn't say it's worth changing the oil over IMO.
It seems like if you put enough hours on the oil in the summer to change it over to say 5w-30 for winter would you put enough hours on it over the winter to use up the 5w-30 oil?
 
You don't have to.
Say your highest oil temp is 260f in the summer on a summer oil drain temperature test. So assume it's hitting at least 270f sometimes and you run a 50 weight oil.
Then just pick a winter weight that's appropriate for your winter conditions. If it's a mower you're probably not mowing when it's below freezing. Right?
Say it's 60 degrees cooler in the winter at night Let's assume the oil is 40f when you start it, so we'll assume the oil is hitting around 200f when you mow grass when it's 50f outside.
50 weight oil at 200f is only going to be like 20 cSt. It is thicker, it's not going to hurt anything, the mower might burn 3% to 5% more gas to overcome the thicker oil. I wouldn't say it's worth changing the oil over IMO.
It seems like if you put enough hours on the oil in the summer to change it over to say 5w-30 for winter would you put enough hours on it over the winter to use up the 5w-30 oil?
At 25F it's hard to crank. I doubt it it gets over 150F in the summer with how I use it.
 
  • 0W-20/30 for the cars
  • 5W-30 for the snow blower
  • 15w-40 for the remainder of the OPE
You may all now return to your regular channel, even if you do not understands the reference.
Here’s my take on it. Manufacturers’ certifications are grade specific, 0w20 vs 0w20, 5w30 vs 5w30 and so on. Not 0w20 vs 5w30 vs 10w40 and so on.
Brand xyz 0w40 may have all the API, ACEA and certifications under the sun and will be blown away by a run of the mill CK-4/SP 15w40 in every metric except cold start performance and fuel economy at half the cost.
 
At 25F it's hard to crank. I doubt it it gets over 150F in the summer with how I use it.
Running at 25f? Not a lawnmower or pressure washer then?
Only way to know the oil temperature is to put a thermometer on it.
The only engine I have that doesn't get much above 180f is my over powered wood chipper. It doesn't run above 3,200rpm very often and it doesn't see much wide open throttle. I can see 150 to 160f on my wood chipper if I'm running it at say 2,500rpm and tossing twigs and leaves in it.
For me my hottest oil running machines are riding lawnmower, pressure washer and generator.
 
My old mower is just for towing anymore and seldom is running for more than 5 minutes.. It had an oil temp gauge and oil cooler on it when I did use it for mowing. It kept the oil around 220F peak, it was near 300F without that on a hot +90F day and 2 hr mow. Front mount cooler so it was all air pushed though when moving or what radiated off it. Nice heater when it was cold.
 
My old mower is just for towing anymore and seldom is running for more than 5 minutes.. It had an oil temp gauge and oil cooler on it when I did use it for mowing. It kept the oil around 220F peak, it was near 300F without that on a hot +90F day and 2 hr mow. Front mount cooler so it was all air pushed though when moving or what radiated off it. Nice heater when it was cold.
Oh that makes sense. I used to have an old riding mower like 20 years ago, the deck rusted out on so it was just a yard tractor. In that case a 30 weight would be perfect.
 
Oh that makes sense. I used to have an old riding mower like 20 years ago, the deck rusted out on so it was just a yard tractor.
It's 25 years old and if I would have maintained it such as taking the covers off to clean and adjusting the valves is probably would still be using it for mowing. 😖 It finally have exhaust valve issues and I put a used head on it.

New carb and fuel pump and runs great. I though I was having a ignition issue recently as sometimes it would start sometimes not. Turned out to be the carb I put on was not properly grounded for the shutoff solenoid as the fiber gasket apparently insulated it. Took a year for the resistance to build up.
 
Because the 5W-40 and 0W-40 oils on the market also have stringent approvals that affect things such as viscosity stability, oxidation resistance and deposit formation. They are better oils than run of the mill 15W-40.

No you do not need a 0W nor a 5W winter rating in warm temperatures but it won't harm anything either. In this case it's not about the winter rating it is about the other attributes those 5W and 0W-40 oils have. They are very good oils and are useful in OPE.
For automotive applications I am right there with you - but I am talking about heavy use OPE.

I don't recall ever seeing a generator or lawn mower with a 0W40 or 5W40 recommended oil.
 
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