My brew for the Briggs & Stratton Intek OHV

[Peter_Pan]

So it's that time of the year again to change out the engine oil in the riding mower. The book indicates to change the oil before storing for the season however I actually forgot to do it last year so I changed it out today.

I looked through my very small stash and found some left over oil that I mixed in to come up with the 20 oz:

10oz QS SAE 30 SJ rated
5 oz Castrol Syntec 5W-30 SM
5 oz Formula Shell Synthetic 5W-30 SM

The old fill was entirely Formula Shell Synthetic 5W-30 SM and when I drained it it still had a dark brown color to it even after a whole season of heavy use at around 30 hours! Very impressed with it.

I also changed the filter with a bit bigger old Bosch filter I had around. The OEM is a tiny, although well made, little filter of which pictures have been posted on this site before.

What are the opinions about my cocktail?

BTW, This is the recommended viscosity chart from B&S:

 

[Smokescreen]

This would probably do better in the small engines forum.

 

[Pete591]

16 HP Vanguard....500+ hours...last Balckstone showed 2 PPM iron and no copper or lead.

1/2 M-1 15W-50 GoldCap High ZDDP.

1/2 Motul 300V 15W-50 Double Ester Group V. (moly 867 ppm) High ZDDP.

M-1 oil filter.

Change Spring/Mid-summer/fall.

WHY?

The motor is running like it did on day one.

 

[SuperDave456]

For smaller air cooled engines there is a following of people here that seem to like thicker full synthetics.

Rotella 5w40 (easily found at Wally World) or a full synthetic 50 weight of your choice would be great.

 

[1 SX]

I did put the PP syn 5W20 in my 18.5 b&s ohv. Only because i drained out all the old oil, and the filter i got did not fit, so i had to fill it back up, and put on the old oil filter... I did have to use it and i was going to change it right out again anyways, and did not want to use the PP 5W30,(this was going ot be the oil i put back in it...) For the couple of hrs i did put on it, i did not notice any huge difference, only the engine sounded like the oil was... thin.. Got the OEM B&S oil filter, and changed the syn 5W20 out to 5W30 and put on a nice new filter, all is well.. :-D and no oil consumption all summer, and this is using synthetic 5W30, in hot summers.

 

[Cmarti]

Originally Posted By: Peter_Pan
So it's that time of the year again to change out the engine oil in the riding mower. The book indicates to change the oil before storing for the season however I actually forgot to do it last year so I changed it out today.

I looked through my very small stash and found some left over oil that I mixed in to come up with the 20 oz:

10oz QS SAE 30 SJ rated
5 oz Castrol Syntec 5W-30 SM
5 oz Formula Shell Synthetic 5W-30 SM

The old fill was entirely Formula Shell Synthetic 5W-30 SM and when I drained it it still had a dark brown color to it even after a whole season of heavy use at around 30 hours! Very impressed with it.

I also changed the filter with a bit bigger old Bosch filter I had around. The OEM is a tiny, although well made, little filter of which pictures have been posted on this site before.

What are the opinions about my cocktail?

BTW, This is the recommended viscosity chart from B&S:

Add a dash of bitters and a cherry, and it could be a Manhattan!
I run Rotella 5W-40 Syn in my new JD with an B & S Intek, cause I have gallons of it in the barn for all my aircooled toys. It is out of the Manf recommendations, so it may not be smart......but I am rarely accused of that, and I think oil related failure is even rarer.

I ran store brand 30 wt HD with a glob of STP in my last B & S and it was still running when the tranny ripped out of the rider! Good Luck.