If it were me, and this is what I do, I would use M1 High Mileage oil in OPE. It has a better add pack for OPE, ie. more ZDDP etc. Mobil 1 High Mileage is one tough, well built oil, and you could use it in anything. Is it overkill? probably so, but you'd have no worries. I use it in my garden tractor with a 27HP OHV Briggs V-twin and it works great. In push mowers, I use rotella 30WT since it is cheaper and I can change it more often, which would be a waste of M1. The reason for more frequent OCI in push mowers is the lack of oil filtration and fuel dilution, which is much less in OHV twin engines with a filter.
You should remember that most all OPE will run on dog pee for oil, and run for a long long time. You simply have to decide how much $$ you're willing to spend to protect/care for these pieces of equipment. If syn is your game, and it's mine, I like Mobil 1 High Mileage, and Rotella t6, with Royal Purple syn 30wt as a backup. Semi syn is not for me, I either go full or none. Conventional oil, is wide open, SuperTech High Mileage, any of the Rotella stable, Valvoline Premium Blue, etc.
There are so many oils that will work fine, it's mind boggling. I would venture to guess that there are so few instances where an oil can be traced to the failure of an OPE engine that it is miniscule. The lack of proper oil level, oil changes etc are far more likely to be the cause of any type of failure. Add to that the manufacturing defects that cause "down the road" failures and user abuse of the piece of equipment, whether it be mowing and overheating an engine, or whatever, and you've pretty much covered the vast majority of failures. I've personally never seen an oil related failure and I've seen many many mowers and other OPE abused, not cared for, or had proper (or any) maintenance, and still survive to work another day, it's truly amazing.
I've heard so many guys saying "Stihl is no good, or Husqvarna is not reliable" only to look at their saws and see a scored piston from running without any oil in the gas, or no chain lube in the oiler resivour, and I think these have to be some of the same guys who are belly aching about their mower's premature demise and blaming it on the oil.
You should remember that most all OPE will run on dog pee for oil, and run for a long long time. You simply have to decide how much $$ you're willing to spend to protect/care for these pieces of equipment. If syn is your game, and it's mine, I like Mobil 1 High Mileage, and Rotella t6, with Royal Purple syn 30wt as a backup. Semi syn is not for me, I either go full or none. Conventional oil, is wide open, SuperTech High Mileage, any of the Rotella stable, Valvoline Premium Blue, etc.
There are so many oils that will work fine, it's mind boggling. I would venture to guess that there are so few instances where an oil can be traced to the failure of an OPE engine that it is miniscule. The lack of proper oil level, oil changes etc are far more likely to be the cause of any type of failure. Add to that the manufacturing defects that cause "down the road" failures and user abuse of the piece of equipment, whether it be mowing and overheating an engine, or whatever, and you've pretty much covered the vast majority of failures. I've personally never seen an oil related failure and I've seen many many mowers and other OPE abused, not cared for, or had proper (or any) maintenance, and still survive to work another day, it's truly amazing.
I've heard so many guys saying "Stihl is no good, or Husqvarna is not reliable" only to look at their saws and see a scored piston from running without any oil in the gas, or no chain lube in the oiler resivour, and I think these have to be some of the same guys who are belly aching about their mower's premature demise and blaming it on the oil.
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