Post your latest small engine oil change

diesellover said:
New to me predator super quiet 3500 generator. Always best to drain when hot. Cooked dinner with it using the air fryer at 13 Amps. Less tools at my disposal after moving from a different state. Found wood blocks at the ends worked great. Several have a drain hose, this just had a drain plug on the side. Unknown full synthetic 10w30 out, and 20 ounces t5 10w30 semi synthetic in.
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Blows my mind how many people on the Facebook group for predator generators brag about never changing the oil in these after 3000 hours etc etc. I get it, it's being used for a food truck. You don't always have time to work on it, but why on earth wouldn't you drain the oil? They just say it's not needed that they just sit there and add oil.

Oil peak temperature 160 degrees. It was running 13 amps 120 volts, and peak is 25 amps 120 volts (but they will run higher). I'm sure oil temperatures could get much higher after hours and high loads with old oil. And that oil does break down under those stressful conditions and many hours!
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Nuff said air cooled engines get hot and these engines aren’t just spinning a lawn mower or tiller blade. They’re put under high strenuous loads which shear oil easily. Regular maintenance does the equipment good. You’re well ahead of the game
 
Bi-annual oil change on the yard mule. Driveway and apron are too narrow to turn a trailer w/ a vehicle, so this entered the picture. Friend purchased a property and this was there so I saved it, gave it a fluff n buff and put it to good use. Moves a 4k boat trailer with ease.

M1 VTwin, 20w-50

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2003 Honda Rancher ES. 696 hours. Bought with unknown service history. Can tell its been too long since the last oil change.

After buying, changed oil with rotella T5 semi synthetic 15w40 which is JASO MA/ MA2 approved. Installed an STP oil filter for now, going to be a short interval.

Without changing the filter, yesterday I dropped the oil while hot and refilled with t4 15w40 that's also approved for wet clutches. Right now it's important to have a short interval. It's been about 3 hours or so. Dropped the oil to help work out any sludge or debris. Haven't noticed any different shifting or wet clutch behavior.

Going to go with a Honda filter or something else at the next full oil change. Just so easy to change the oil on these and cheap! Don't even need ramps etc.
 
wings&wheels said:
Bi-annual oil change on the yard mule. Driveway and apron are too narrow to turn a trailer w/ a vehicle, so this entered the picture. Friend purchased a property and this was there so I saved it, gave it a fluff n buff and put it to good use. Moves a 4k boat trailer with ease.

M1 VTwin, 20w-50

View attachment 289412
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very nice
 
diesellover said:
New to me predator super quiet 3500 generator....

Blows my mind how many people on the Facebook group for predator generators brag about never changing the oil in these after 3000 hours etc etc.
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One certainly has to question the validity of those Facebook claims. It is hard to imagine any piece of air cooled OPE running 500 hours without an oil change, let alone 3000 hours. Perhaps they run it close to their fryer and a lot of cooking oil enters from the top end?

All joking aside I own that same generator and love it. It was filled with 10w-30 M1 HM upon unboxing, then run to five hours and drained. Another fill of 10w-30 M1 HM went in and was run to 30 hours. After that it was filled with 5w-40 RT6 and it now stands at 80 hours. I am phasing out 5w-40 now and will probably go back to 10w-30 M1 HM at the next change. That should probably be soon.
 
diesellover said:
New to me predator super quiet 3500 generator. Always best to drain when hot. Cooked dinner with it using the air fryer at 13 Amps. Less tools at my disposal after moving from a different state. Found wood blocks at the ends worked great. Several have a drain hose, this just had a drain plug on the side. Unknown full synthetic 10w30 out, and 20 ounces t5 10w30 semi synthetic in.
View attachment 289408View attachment 289409View attachment 289410
Blows my mind how many people on the Facebook group for predator generators brag about never changing the oil in these after 3000 hours etc etc. I get it, it's being used for a food truck. You don't always have time to work on it, but why on earth wouldn't you drain the oil? They just say it's not needed that they just sit there and add oil.
Click to expand...
Hopefully they don't treat the kids like that. It would be akin to starving them of food..... child abuse. Or generator abuse in reality.
 
Once a year, I pull out my 75 year old mower ( engine is an old Lausen) to run it for a while and run the tank dry. Normally, it just sits in the garage idle all year.. I forgot to do it last year , so it's been two years. Yesterday, I pulled it out , ran it and changed the oil since it's been a few years. I have always used heavier oil in it , SAE 40.
 
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Astro_Guy said:
One certainly has to question the validity of those Facebook claims. It is hard to imagine any piece of air cooled OPE running 500 hours without an oil change, let alone 3000 hours. Perhaps they run it close to their fryer and a lot of cooking oil enters from the top end?

All joking aside I own that same generator and love it. It was filled with 10w-30 M1 HM upon unboxing, then run to five hours and drained. Another fill of 10w-30 M1 HM went in and was run to 30 hours. After that it was filled with 5w-40 RT6 and it now stands at 80 hours. I am phasing out 5w-40 now and will probably go back to 10w-30 M1 HM at the next change. That should probably be soon.
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oilboy123 said:
Hopefully they don't treat the kids like that. It would be akin to starving them of food..... child abuse. Or generator abuse in reality.
Click to expand...
Screenshot_20250626_140454_Facebook.webp

There's at least 6 of them in this group unfortunately! They act like adding oil and never changing it is far better for the engines and superior to changing it. It's wild. One things for sure, I believe they don't actually know how to change oil or why it should be changed.
 
Suction gun arrived! Removed the fuel from the inherited snow blower. Sitting for years, I had removed all the fuel and put some in it. I topped it off with Ethanol free. Now I have removed it all, and filtered it out entirely with a portable fuel filter funnel which even filter out water.

Drained out engine oil after it had been sitting for years and after running it on high throttle to get it hot. Decided to change the oil twice... I'm not sure the family member we got it from changed the oil in it either, but it's been 2 or 3 years. I was able to get it running before we moved to a new state back in April.
Oil out while hot, 160 degree temp with a laser thermometer.
** Oil in, WM 10w30 super tech from the same family member. They never used up one oil bottle before getting another and another. They had one weed eater and 6 containers of two stroke engine oil. I gave two of them to a good friend to mix into the diesel fuel for his 24 valve Cummins engine/ dodge 2500! The high pressure fuel pumps benefit from lubricantion. Super tech 10w30 was mixed with atf as well.

2nd oil in, Napa 5w30 synthetic blend!
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Filtered out gasoline that was mixed with ethanol free gas was poured into the families 1947 Ferguson TO20
 
Generator maintenance day. These are my backup units and just sit on the garage shelf most of the time.

1) Wen 4000 watt generator (backup, never used)

Out- 5 year old SuperTech SAE30 with 3 hours run time
In- SuperTech SAE30

2) Champion 2000 watt inverter generator #1

Out- Delo 15W40 with 8 hours run time
In- SuperTech SAE30

3) Champion 2000 watt inverter generator #2

Out- Delo 15W40 with 4 hours run time
In-SuperTech SAE30

(I usually use a 15W40 in the generators but apparently had none on the shelf. This SAE30 will have to do for the next couple years. )
 
Changed oil on the following Honda equipment today:
  1. 2002 stick edger, HHE31C with GX31 OHV engine. Barely used since last oil change in 2023.
  2. 2002 trimmer/brush cutter, UMK431 with GX31 OHV engine. Periodic use since last change in 2023.
  3. 2021 tiller, FG110 with GX25 OHC engine. Periodic use since last oil change in 2023.
Out: I believe it was Shell Rotella Gas Truck 5W-30.
In: Shell Rotella T6 5W-40.

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