new to changing lawn mower oil, help
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is briggs and stratton one of the best brands for my engine? the air filter is sold all over, i saw at meijer and walmart but i went to a toro store and they told me it was the square blue one, is that right? what about the spark plugs on the toro 22 inch recycler, as i plan to change both soon. Is briggs and stratton oil good and from what I've heard, all sae 30 is conventional, with a small number of brands carrying it in a blend, but the kawasaki sae 30 is conventional but their 10w30 is synthetic blend, so i got tricked the other day about that but is all sae 30 conventional?
Seriously...it's a lawn mower. Put anything better than City Star in it and change it once a year and it will outlive you.
Originally Posted By: engineer20
is briggs and stratton one of the best brands for my engine? the air filter is sold all over, i saw at meijer and walmart but i went to a toro store and they told me it was the square blue one, is that right? what about the spark plugs on the toro 22 inch recycler, as i plan to change both soon. Is briggs and stratton oil good and from what I've heard, all sae 30 is conventional, with a small number of brands carrying it in a blend, but the kawasaki sae 30 is conventional but their 10w30 is synthetic blend, so i got tricked the other day about that but is all sae 30 conventional?
Don't you have some grass that heeds mowed?
is briggs and stratton one of the best brands for my engine? the air filter is sold all over, i saw at meijer and walmart but i went to a toro store and they told me it was the square blue one, is that right? what about the spark plugs on the toro 22 inch recycler, as i plan to change both soon. Is briggs and stratton oil good and from what I've heard, all sae 30 is conventional, with a small number of brands carrying it in a blend, but the kawasaki sae 30 is conventional but their 10w30 is synthetic blend, so i got tricked the other day about that but is all sae 30 conventional?
Don't you have some grass that heeds mowed?
Taking a break from the >100 ht index outside today. As an engineer always willing to help a fellow engineer, I thought I would offer my opinions on the last volley of thought provoking questions...
- Yes, you MUST use B&S oil in your B&S engine. Use of another oil, such as the Kawasaki oil you mentioned, will guarantee an engine failure before the end of the cutting season. Remember, you should always use the manufacturer labeled oil for all of your OPE and vehicles. Always. Also, use of 'aftermarket brands' such as Quake State, Valvoline, Castrol, etc will void the engine warranty. FYI - B&S is now advertising 'no oil change for life' in some of their new engines. Personally, I think that new philosophy should be back spec'd to earlier models. I recommend you use B&S SAE30 for one and ONLY one oil change. Afterwards, just check oil level at the end of each mowing season and top off as needed.
- As to the air filter....those are not necessary and are just a way for the dealer/manufacturer to pad their pockets. Just think about it....all you have are some nose hairs to prevent potentially damaging particulates from reaching your 'engine' when you breathe. Yet, you are still alive and, I presume, healthy. Right? Aren't you breathing the same air as your engine when you are mowing the yard? If you feel you must have a filter for your mower engine, just cut up some old panty hose and stretch across the intake. An added bonus is that removal of the air filter will result in at least a 40% increase in Hp and torque!
Let me finish with one of the most famous quotes on this site. I never tire of reading it because I always know that when it is stated, the source is obviously extremely knowledgeable and I should just take his/her word for it without asking for an explanation:
"You can thank me later."
- Yes, you MUST use B&S oil in your B&S engine. Use of another oil, such as the Kawasaki oil you mentioned, will guarantee an engine failure before the end of the cutting season. Remember, you should always use the manufacturer labeled oil for all of your OPE and vehicles. Always. Also, use of 'aftermarket brands' such as Quake State, Valvoline, Castrol, etc will void the engine warranty. FYI - B&S is now advertising 'no oil change for life' in some of their new engines. Personally, I think that new philosophy should be back spec'd to earlier models. I recommend you use B&S SAE30 for one and ONLY one oil change. Afterwards, just check oil level at the end of each mowing season and top off as needed.
- As to the air filter....those are not necessary and are just a way for the dealer/manufacturer to pad their pockets. Just think about it....all you have are some nose hairs to prevent potentially damaging particulates from reaching your 'engine' when you breathe. Yet, you are still alive and, I presume, healthy. Right? Aren't you breathing the same air as your engine when you are mowing the yard? If you feel you must have a filter for your mower engine, just cut up some old panty hose and stretch across the intake. An added bonus is that removal of the air filter will result in at least a 40% increase in Hp and torque!
Let me finish with one of the most famous quotes on this site. I never tire of reading it because I always know that when it is stated, the source is obviously extremely knowledgeable and I should just take his/her word for it without asking for an explanation:
"You can thank me later."
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Originally Posted By: Geauxtiger
- Yes, you MUST use B&S oil in your B&S engine. Use of another oil, such as the Kawasaki oil you mentioned, will guarantee an engine failure before the end of the cutting season. Remember, you should always use the manufacturer labeled oil for all of your OPE and vehicles. Always. Also, use of 'aftermarket brands' such as Quake State, Valvoline, Castrol, etc will void the engine warranty.
Dayum, must be why my 1981 B&S blew up back in 2011, if I'd been using the correct oil could probably have gotten another 30 years out of it...
- Yes, you MUST use B&S oil in your B&S engine. Use of another oil, such as the Kawasaki oil you mentioned, will guarantee an engine failure before the end of the cutting season. Remember, you should always use the manufacturer labeled oil for all of your OPE and vehicles. Always. Also, use of 'aftermarket brands' such as Quake State, Valvoline, Castrol, etc will void the engine warranty.
Dayum, must be why my 1981 B&S blew up back in 2011, if I'd been using the correct oil could probably have gotten another 30 years out of it...
Need hip waders in this thread. lol
...just playing along and acting silly. No ill intent. Actually, lilke so many on here, I am very interested in the science of Lubricating oil.
Unlike the OP, I actually am a Chemical Engineer. But, my career has not been remotely related to the typical BITOG topics.
The geek in me finds the science of lube oils very interesting.
99% of the time I choose to read and learn, rather than open my mouth and show my real (lack of) knowledge about the subject.
I DO wish tho that there could be more real techincal discussion. There are a handful of folks on this forum whom I listen to carefully. By the way...those I follow never say "you will thank me later".
Unlike the OP, I actually am a Chemical Engineer. But, my career has not been remotely related to the typical BITOG topics.
The geek in me finds the science of lube oils very interesting.
99% of the time I choose to read and learn, rather than open my mouth and show my real (lack of) knowledge about the subject.
I DO wish tho that there could be more real techincal discussion. There are a handful of folks on this forum whom I listen to carefully. By the way...those I follow never say "you will thank me later".
Originally Posted By: Geauxtiger
I DO wish tho that there could be more real techincal discussion. There are a handful of folks on this forum whom I listen to carefully. By the way...those I follow never say "you will thank me later".
While I don't have an engineer's background, I grew up around small engines and have been using them in various applications (even business related as of the last few years). I can only speak on personal experiences. I wish I could speak on what i've read, but there are sites on the net that will tell you Santa Claus is real. lol
I am a proponent of Moly added to the oil (liqui-moly or similar), and a UCL in the gas. Been doing the UCL thing for about 30-years now (MMO I learned about from my Dad) and hey - if it works, don't fix it. Never had a carb gum up on me when using MMO in the gas. (knock on wood)
I DO wish tho that there could be more real techincal discussion. There are a handful of folks on this forum whom I listen to carefully. By the way...those I follow never say "you will thank me later".
While I don't have an engineer's background, I grew up around small engines and have been using them in various applications (even business related as of the last few years). I can only speak on personal experiences. I wish I could speak on what i've read, but there are sites on the net that will tell you Santa Claus is real. lol
I am a proponent of Moly added to the oil (liqui-moly or similar), and a UCL in the gas. Been doing the UCL thing for about 30-years now (MMO I learned about from my Dad) and hey - if it works, don't fix it. Never had a carb gum up on me when using MMO in the gas. (knock on wood)
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3 years???!!!!!
I was under the impression that the break in oil should be changed after 5 hours of use and then every 25-50 hours after that.
Most lawnmowers do not have an oil filter, IIRC some Kohler equipped mowers and some riding tractor do.
I was under the impression that the break in oil should be changed after 5 hours of use and then every 25-50 hours after that.
Most lawnmowers do not have an oil filter, IIRC some Kohler equipped mowers and some riding tractor do.
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it was a mistake, i plan to change the oil every few uses now to make up for not changing it for the first few years, and i will change the air filter tomorrow (it looks really dirty)
i changed the air filter too the other day, i saw some OIL on one part of the air filter (one side). is this bad? the oil now is black from the dipstick again, probably because the original oil was SO dirty, so should I change it again? I plan to use B and Stratton oil in it and will do another oil analysis on it. How often do you change air filters and what spark plugs does it use? home depot had champion ones but i heard champion makes [censored] spark plugs, but walmart had the b and s brand spark plugs, BUT those said MADE by Champion! so isn't that the same thing? what brand spark plugs should I use and does anybody know what part number for the spark plug I should use? The air filter was the rectangular blue one. the lawn mower stores sell them (toro store) for cheaper than at walmart! Walmart is 5.97, meijer is 5.99 but at the toro lawn mower store, it's only 5.45!
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