Power Washer OCI (Honda GCV 190)

[UNC151]

My pressure washer holds 12 ounces of oil (1.5 cups). The manual recommends changing it every 25 hours. This seems to be a bit long for an engine that is ran at full throttle 90% of the time. I am considering changing it every 5 hours or so and am using HDEO (15W-40 or 5W-40--whatever is left over from my PSD OCs).

What say you? Too often or OK?

 

[Drosselmier]

Changing oil before recommended is never a bad idea. With so little oil needed,Why not?

 

[demarpaint]

25 hours isn't bad. IIRC mine holds a quart and the OCI is 50 hours, I cut that in half, because it doesn't run full throttle for very long and many times it won't reach operating temp. A 5 hour OCI IMO is too short I'd probably go 10-15 hours with my user profile.

 

[TmanP]

I think that, while 5 hours is pretty often, it won't hurt anything and may help. If it lets you sleep at night then go for it.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Whatever you feel is comfortable should work. I will say that I change my oil (in everything) far more often than I really should. I just get this weird personal satisfaction from changing oil. I never recommend my OCIs to anyone else. But I probably do it about every 5-10 hours as well. A few times a season in each engine. I happen to use Rotella T5 10w30.

I have a GC160 on a pressure washer. Mine runs about 5-10% throttle at no load and about 40-50% throttle under full load. So even with the pressure on (a 2500 PSI AR pump), the engine's still not stressed all that much.

 

[FastLane]

I change mine once a year. I would be surprised if there was 5 hours on it. Who cares. They hold very little oil.

 

[UNC151]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
I have a GC160 on a pressure washer. Mine runs about 5-10% throttle at no load and about 40-50% throttle under full load. So even with the pressure on (a 2500 PSI AR pump), the engine's still not stressed all that much.
Thanks, mine is a 3100PSI model, but it seems to have only two speeds--idle and full with nothing in between. I agree that I am probably changing it too often, but it is the 12 oz capacity that is killing me

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
Thanks, mine is a 3100PSI model, but it seems to have only two speeds--idle and full with nothing in between.


If you're curious about it, work the throttle governor lever from idle to full as the engine is off and watch how far the throttle arm rotates in that range. Then, with it running, observe the no-load throttle arm position and then the full-load throttle arm position. I found my full-load position to be only about half throttle. It sounds like it's under load (and it is), but it's not truly running wide open throttle.

 

[meep]

^^^ agreed.

if the unloader valve jams and the engine tries to keep it going while the pump pumps against a shut sprayer, you'll see (and hear) there's a good bit of headroom left.

 

[DeafBrad]

That seems like a small amount of oil, but it is not. Per liter that would be equivalent to my 3.6 liter engine holding more than 6 quarts of oil. It holds 5.