Oil for snowblower

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted by dave123
Biggest issue with the Snow King was people never kept them topped off to the top of full mark any 5w30 0w30 0w40 all good


Yup, then run them on a steep hill low on oil and wonder why the engine tosses a rod.

In my 14 years of working on small engines I've only seen 3 blown up Tecumseh snow kings. 2 came in with next to zero oil in them, and the other one the guy cranked the governor wide open because he thought that would make it throw snow further.

I run whatever SN 5w30 I can get on sale in my snowblowers and customer machines. Usually Supertech, Napa, Pennzoil, etc.

 

[JoeJ]

Any good synthetic will work well. 5w20 or 0w20(only if it's really really cold).

 

[2K2AcuraTL]

I dont over think this as far as snowblower and small mower.....
My oil stash is all PP or PPUP . 5w30 goes in and OCI about every 2 seasons
my 2c
J.

 

[Audioquest]

I buy the cheapest 5W30 mineral oil from any known brand and change it according to the service manual. My 1998 Tecumseh 8hp has never had an oil related issue yet.

 

[jayg]

Originally Posted by KneeGrinder
lol, I know, this is BITOG, but your over OCD/ing this. No on the 5w20. Any 5w30 is fine. If you keep your snow blower in the garage and its just around freezing, you could also run 10w30, but most everyone runs 5W.

I have 3 Honda track blowers, $3500. $2800. and $2200. I run Chevron mostly, but will run Supertech, or any other quality 5W30 I have in an open jug, any...

They have ST in them now.

eta; Tip, watch the temp, always try to blow/remove snow before temp rises above 32F, It turns slushy after that, and that's where the Hondas really shine, they throw slushies, others don't.



I use left over 0w20 Napa synthetic in all mine. They don't complain.

 

[Astro_Guy]

My "out to pasture" snow blower has the 8 HP Tecumseh Snow King motor, and it calls for SAE 30. I ran it with conventional SAE 30 oil for 16 years, including a couple of 24 inch storms. This machine was kept in the garage and had an electric starter. I run synthetic 5w30 in the new Ariens snow machine and start it with the rope more often than not. 5w30 seems to be a happy place for modern OPE; I'd say to use it and sleep easy.

 

[147_Grain]

0 / 5w30 synthetic.

 

[DejaVue]

Originally Posted by KneeGrinder
I honestly think Briggs went synthetic for spec because they figured nobody was "ever" going to change the oil!

Guilty!
My 7-year-old MTD 208cc with China Powermore engine had the original oil in it until this summer. If memory serves, the oil came out gray, which wasn't a surprise since it's the original break-in oil.

It's not like it sounded bad when I warmed it up before draining it, but the new 5w30 made it sound smoother.

Used the snowblower once so far this winter, and it worked fine. So that definitely means... that it has oil in it.