I have just purchased an ExMark 44" with a 19 HP Kawasaki. New to the site and would appreciate advice on what oil to use. Small yard service, 21 yards, and my own 2 acres. It will be babied as much as a commercial can be. Thanks for any opinions. Travis.
New commercial Mower What oil?
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Not pass car SM thats for sure! A quality mixed fleet HDEO should do fine, Delvac, Rotella T, John Deere. What grade is recommended in the owners manual? Watercooled? Oil pump and filter?
Air cooled, 10w30 recommended, no oil pump. I think I am going to start running PP in all my vehicles with wix filters and I will probably go that route with my mower too, unless I get some different advice here.Thanks, Travis.
JTK
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ExMark doesn't make a 44" walk behind so I assume this is a zero turn rider? The 19hp Kawi V-twin has pressurized lube, so there is a pump. Like said, given commercial usage and hot TN summers, I'd run a 5w40 or 15w40 HDEO for sure.
Joel
Joel
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Yeah, I forgot to mention it is a zero turn. Thanks a lot for the advice. Only have 5 hours on it, 5 more to change it. I maintain my vehicles religiously , and now that I have found this site, I want to make double sure that I am not wasting my time and $$ or not getting all that I can out of that maintenance by using lesser filters or oil. I will pay to use the best. This will be my last mower.
Amsoil ASE would be my pick. You could probably get 150 hours with a good filter.
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Amsoil ASE SAE 30WT/10W-30 commercial small engine oil. 1200 ppm ZDDP and no VI's sold me.
It's a match made in heaven for my new 20 HP Briggs V-Twin.
I ran the oil that came with the tractor engine a bit and then put the Amsoil ASE in.
After an hour the engine performed and sounded a lot smoother.
It's a match made in heaven for my new 20 HP Briggs V-Twin.
I ran the oil that came with the tractor engine a bit and then put the Amsoil ASE in.
After an hour the engine performed and sounded a lot smoother.
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Is Amsoil by distributer only? I guess I will look it up on the net. Still learning about this oil world. What about an acronym list? Is there one on this site that will explain whet all the PPs and OCIs mean, I can guess on most but some I just do not get. Thanks. Travis.
The Amsoil ASE mentioned is a stout oil and specifically recommended for engines such as yours. Schaeffers 5W-40 syn or 15w40 blend are both very good, and sold by distributors. Contact site sponsors for either of these, perhaps.
"HDEO" or heavy duty engine oil is commercial oil meeting specs for over the road trucks and others, and is low wearing, cleaning running, and long life in diesel or gas engines. Synthetic HDEO could possibly last longer in service and temperature extremes but will cost more up front.
Some grades of HDEO are 15w40, 5W-40 (usually syn), 10w30, SAE 30, and 15W-50.
Some oils that I have used in addition to the others already mentioned:
Rotella 5W-40
Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W-40
Amsoil ACD 10w30/SAE 30
Mobil 1 15W-50
Please don't use regular syn "PCMO" or passenger car motor oil, such as Pennzoil Platinum 10w30. These oils work well for fuel economy in a water-cooled car engine, but too thin and low Zn/Ph for heavy duty use in your ZT's Kaw engine for best protection.
If you really still want to use PCMO syn, then consider something like "GC" or Castrol Syntec 0w30 or M1 High Mileage 10w30 or 10W-40. These are a step up in viscosity and wear protection at operating temps while still keeping the engine clean at higher operating temps of air-cooled engine summer use.
"HDEO" or heavy duty engine oil is commercial oil meeting specs for over the road trucks and others, and is low wearing, cleaning running, and long life in diesel or gas engines. Synthetic HDEO could possibly last longer in service and temperature extremes but will cost more up front.
Some grades of HDEO are 15w40, 5W-40 (usually syn), 10w30, SAE 30, and 15W-50.
Some oils that I have used in addition to the others already mentioned:
Rotella 5W-40
Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5W-40
Amsoil ACD 10w30/SAE 30
Mobil 1 15W-50
Please don't use regular syn "PCMO" or passenger car motor oil, such as Pennzoil Platinum 10w30. These oils work well for fuel economy in a water-cooled car engine, but too thin and low Zn/Ph for heavy duty use in your ZT's Kaw engine for best protection.
If you really still want to use PCMO syn, then consider something like "GC" or Castrol Syntec 0w30 or M1 High Mileage 10w30 or 10W-40. These are a step up in viscosity and wear protection at operating temps while still keeping the engine clean at higher operating temps of air-cooled engine summer use.
bmwtechguy, I am not sold on any weight oil, or syn or dino. Still gathering info from all you guys, and been reading on this site all day. Being a firefighter, I am in the station 24 hours, so I have plenty of time to read all my car sites and forums. This is definitely one of the best. Travis.
Travis, you sound like me several years ago when I found this site. There is still some good info to be found here if you are willing to read, search, and sometimes ask for it.
Yeah, I know. Like most any big auto related forum, you have to have a little filter in what you read, and not take just any opinion but look for the consensus when you can find one, or at least the guy who bases his opinion on real world experience. This is a good one , thats for sure.
ASE or Delo HDEO 30 would be my suggestion. I did a used oil analysis on the ASE in a commercial mower application some time ago and it was BARELY taxed at 100 hours. The stuff is stout and has real low volatility.
Originally Posted By: FZ1
Any 10-30 synthetic.
Or Rotella "T" 10-30 HDEO.
And, when it comes to filters, there are a bunch out there (WIX 51394/NAPA 1394, Purolator L14476, etc.. assumed) at much lower cost than OEM. Double-check the OEM filter number at one of the X-ref sites:
Fram site.
WIX/NAPA (use the last 4 digits of the WIX number for NAPA's #).
Purolator.
or ask here!!
Any 10-30 synthetic.
Or Rotella "T" 10-30 HDEO.
And, when it comes to filters, there are a bunch out there (WIX 51394/NAPA 1394, Purolator L14476, etc.. assumed) at much lower cost than OEM. Double-check the OEM filter number at one of the X-ref sites:
Fram site.
WIX/NAPA (use the last 4 digits of the WIX number for NAPA's #).
Purolator.
or ask here!!
Rotella T Synthetic 5w40, Done....
Thanks for all the responses. I bought a Wix filter for everything I have today. Have not picked oil yet. Sorry to be so lame, but I suck at acronyms, what is RTS?
Rotella synthetic 5w40, blue bottle from wal mart.
Travis, just dont use a car oil like Penn Platinum or Castrol Syntec, they are too weak for commercial application. At the very least get some shell Rotella, Mobil Delvac or even John Deere or Briggs and Stratton at your home center is a REAL robust oil.
JTK
$100 Site Donor 2025
Originally Posted By: Travis1963
.... I suck at acronyms, what is RTS?
There's several variants of that one.
I believe RTS is Rotella-T Synthetic (a Shell product) or you might see SRT; Shell Rotella-T.
Joel
.... I suck at acronyms, what is RTS?
There's several variants of that one.
Joel
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