Pressure washer engine oil?

I've caught the oil in mine running 280f on a hot summer day that's running 30 minutes of wide open throttle at 3,800rpm.
If it's 70f out it will run 250 to 260f on extended wot runs at full speed.
Thats too hot. 3800 is too fast too. I can hold the oil filter on my mowers after 20 minutes in 60 degree weather. Might want to clean those cooling fins
 
Thats too hot. 3800 is too fast too. I can hold the oil filter on my mowers after 20 minutes in 60 degree weather. Might want to clean those cooling fins
Too fast for a lawnmower maybe. If it's too fast then why does the owners list 3,800rpm as the max speed?
It's not just the speed it's also the load. My wood chipper runs 3,600rpm because that's all it needs but it only hits 180f because it isn't only running wide open throttle maybe 10% of the time I'm feeding sticks into it.
Push lawn mowers see wot maybe 30% of the time and they only hit 200 to 230.
 
My pressure washer runs at 3800 too with no load. I usually kick it down to 3600 with no load and wheb the pump turns on its around 3400
 
Mine sees 0w40 or some sort of Rotella. (I’m trying to get down to only 2 types of oil at home.)

I imagine pressure washer engine oil has the most ideal life OPE wise. Gets hot to burn off any moisture and sees many WOT runs. I can’t see them caring about oil as long as it’s full and on level ground.
 
Mine sees 0w40 or some sort of Rotella. (I’m trying to get down to only 2 types of oil at home.)

I imagine pressure washer engine oil has the most ideal life OPE wise. Gets hot to burn off any moisture and sees many WOT runs. I can’t see them caring about oil as long as it’s full and on level ground.
Its not running around in a cloud of dust like most other engines. Ive never even thought to check the air filter. The engine still has a hard life though. You're not supposed to just let them run without the wand trigger pulled, because the water flowing keeps the pump cool, so they basically stay loaded the whole time.
 
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Its not running around in a cloud of dust like most other engines. Ive never even thought to check the air filter. The engine still has a hard life though. You're not supposed to just let them run without the wand trigger pulled, because the water flowing keeps the pump cool, so they basically stay loaded the whole time.
You’re correct about them typically not being used in dusty conditions hence why I said they have an easy life.

An engine running under load isn’t hard on oil or the engine. In fact, being ran under load is good for engines.
 
You’re correct about them typically not being used in dusty conditions hence why I said they have an easy life.

An engine running under load isn’t hard on oil or the engine. In fact, being ran under load is good for engines.
There's a guy on here that says the pressure washer engines last the shortest amount of hours compared to other things. I forgot who it was though
 
My recently purchased Westinghouse pressure washer recommends 10W-30 oil, and that's what I'll use. Bought a jug of Delvac Extreme 10W-30, and use it in all my yard equipment. Just for kicks, I'll pull a sample after heavy use and measure temperature. If it's pushing 300F, I'll go up to 5W-40. I've got a jug of the old type Rotella T6 with 1500ppm ZDDP. That jug is aging out and needs to be used up anyway.
 
My pressure washer has a Kohler engine and Kohler specified anything plain conventional 30, 5W-30, & 10W-30 or synthetic 5W-30 through 15W-50 synthetic. The book just warned that there may be higher oil consumption with a 5W in hot weather.
 
Pressure washers are hard working engine. If you treat your machine well and want it to last longer than it's water pump I'd put heavier oil. Personally on my Dewalt 3200psi pressure washer I put 15W-40 and the next oil change I'll add some engine restore for additional zink.
To be honest I only have two type of oils in my garage. 10-30 for my jeep and 15-40 for my diesel truck. All my small motors (riding mower, brush hog, leaf vacuum and more) get 15-40 HD diesel oil. Those motors run fully open most of the time and work hard when you push them.
 
Pressure washers are hard working engine. If you treat your machine well and want it to last longer than it's water pump I'd put heavier oil. Personally on my Dewalt 3200psi pressure washer I put 15W-40 and the next oil change I'll add some engine restore for additional zink.
To be honest I only have two type of oils in my garage. 10-30 for my jeep and 15-40 for my diesel truck. All my small motors (riding mower, brush hog, leaf vacuum and more) get 15-40 HD diesel oil. Those motors run fully open most of the time and work hard when you push them.
The rpm drops pretty good on a pressure washer. It does not usually drop much on a mower
 
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