Synthetic motor oil in your lawnmower??

[Oldwolf]

This is from the B&S website:

Quote:

Oil Recommendation *SAE 30 40°F and higher (5°C and higher) is good for all purpose use above 40°F, use below 40°F will cause hard starting. *10W-30 0 to 100 °F (-18 to 38 °C) is better for varying temperature conditions. This grade of oil improves cold weather starting, but may increase oil consumption at 80°F(27°C) or higher. *Synthetic 5W-30 -20 to 120 °F (-30 to 40 °C) provides the best protection at all temperatures as well as improved starting with less oil consumption. *5W-30 40 °F and below (5 °C and below) is recommended for winter use, and works best in cold conditions. Type of oil to use *Use a high quality detergent oil classified "For Service SF, SG, SH, SJ" or higher. *Do not use special additives. *Choose a viscosity according to the table above.

 

[typ901]

My snowblower -small MTD 300 series 5hp, 2-stage requires 5w-30, at least SG classification, and recommends 0w-30 for cold weather starts... (When below zero!) Which in winter it is frequently. Odd thing is that CPSC and EPA give this snowblower an average useful life of 7 years or 60 hours of operation.

 

[boraticus]

Yeah, well just remember, if the machine last longer than the CPSC and EPA say, you MUST take it out back and shoot it. Its da law... Actually, I think they're talking about exhaust emissions. When an engine gets older, they tend to burn more of everything and not as cleanly thus increasing pollutants in their exhaust emission.

 

[JustinC25]

Rotella, or Delo 15w40 in the mowers I service. PP 5w30 in the Snowblower.

 

[superior_power]

Originally Posted By: FrankN4

Briggs and Stratton now recommends synthetic in all their engines. I use 10W-40 synthetic motorcycle oil in my John Deere with Kawasaki engine. It now has 1862 hours. I use 10W-40 synthetic motorcycle oil in my John Deere with Briggs and Stratton engine. It now has 52 hours. I use 10W-30 MaxLife synthetic in my little 5 HP Briggs and Stratton trim mower. It now has a best estimation of 64 hours(no meter)

Negative there rough rider.... According to their website, B&S permits the use, but does not recommend it over dino. They simply state that it works better throughout all the temp ranges than any single viscosity of dino oil. Here is the link to their website where it covers this. And here it states "We have recently modified our engine oil recommendations to state that you may now use a synthetic 5W30 or 10W30 oil in all temperature ranges. We recommend the use of Briggs & Stratton Synthetic Oil (p/n 100074)." This simply means that if you are going to use synthetic oil, they recommend using their oil.... And though their website says that you can break in an engine with synthetic oil, it is my understanding through my training, experience, and conversation with other Small Engine Technicians that these engines need to use dino during the break in period to permit the seating of their rings, etc. and to prevent the excessive use of oil. My understanding is that if you don't permit the engine to properly break in with dino, that you MAY have oil burning problems until it has had the chance to break in with dino oil. The engines will normally come with dino oil from the manufacturer (at least in my experience). Just saying...

 

[1999nick]

The Briggs & Stratton factory website states that "Briggs & Stratton offers a synthetic 5W30 oil that provides the best protection as well as improved starting and less oil consumption." It goes on to state that their 5W30 synthetic is good from -20 to +120. Sounds to me like they definitely recommend it over dino.

 

[ARB1977]

Honda GVC 160 uses Amsoil small engine formula...next season i may add some mmo to the mix.

 

[FrankN4]

Originally Posted By: superior_power

Originally Posted By: FrankN4

Briggs and Stratton now recommends synthetic in all their engines. I use 10W-40 synthetic motorcycle oil in my John Deere with Kawasaki engine. It now has 1862 hours. I use 10W-40 synthetic motorcycle oil in my John Deere with Briggs and Stratton engine. It now has 52 hours. I use 10W-30 MaxLife synthetic in my little 5 HP Briggs and Stratton trim mower. It now has a best estimation of 64 hours(no meter)

Negative there rough rider.... According to their website, B&S permits the use, but does not recommend it over dino. They simply state that it works better throughout all the temp ranges than any single viscosity of dino oil. Here is the link to their website where it covers this. And here it states "We have recently modified our engine oil recommendations to state that you may now use a synthetic 5W30 or 10W30 oil in all temperature ranges. We recommend the use of Briggs & Stratton Synthetic Oil (p/n 100074)." This simply means that if you are going to use synthetic oil, they recommend using their oil.... And though their website says that you can break in an engine with synthetic oil, it is my understanding through my training, experience, and conversation with other Small Engine Technicians that these engines need to use dino during the break in period to permit the seating of their rings, etc. and to prevent the excessive use of oil. My understanding is that if you don't permit the engine to properly break in with dino, that you MAY have oil burning problems until it has had the chance to break in with dino oil. The engines will normally come with dino oil from the manufacturer (at least in my experience). Just saying...

Oil Recommendation •SAE 30 40°F and higher (5°C and higher) is good for all purpose use above 40°F, use below 40°F will cause hard starting. •10W-30 0 to 100 °F (-18 to 38 °C) is better for varying temperature conditions. This grade of oil improves cold weather starting, but may increase oil consumption at 80°F(27°C) or higher. •Synthetic 5W-30 -20 to 120 °F (-30 to 40 °C) provides the "best" protection at all temperatures as well as improved starting with less oil consumption I called Briggs and asked them if they "recommended" the synthetic or if they just "allowed" the synthetic. They said. "we recommend the use of 5W-30 synthetic for the best protection in all temperature ranges." Since they used the word recommended in print on their web site and used the word recommended on the phone, I just assumed they recommended synthetic.

 

[addyguy]

I don't own any OPE; but if I did, I would run GC 0W-30 in them after break-in. I think GC is just about a perfect small-engine oil.

 

[StevieC]

I run Amsoil 4-Stroke engine oil (10w30) synthetic in everything, including our snow blower. IMO it's the best on the market for outdoor equipment. We put about 50-100 Hours a season on our John Deer riding mower with snow plow and use the Amsoil in it and it always comes out just slightly darkened from when it went in.

 

[superior_power]

Originally Posted By: FrankN4

Originally Posted By: superior_power

Originally Posted By: FrankN4

Briggs and Stratton now recommends synthetic in all their engines. I use 10W-40 synthetic motorcycle oil in my John Deere with Kawasaki engine. It now has 1862 hours. I use 10W-40 synthetic motorcycle oil in my John Deere with Briggs and Stratton engine. It now has 52 hours. I use 10W-30 MaxLife synthetic in my little 5 HP Briggs and Stratton trim mower. It now has a best estimation of 64 hours(no meter)

Negative there rough rider.... According to their website, B&S permits the use, but does not recommend it over dino. They simply state that it works better throughout all the temp ranges than any single viscosity of dino oil. Here is the link to their website where it covers this. And here it states "We have recently modified our engine oil recommendations to state that you may now use a synthetic 5W30 or 10W30 oil in all temperature ranges. We recommend the use of Briggs & Stratton Synthetic Oil (p/n 100074)." This simply means that if you are going to use synthetic oil, they recommend using their oil.... And though their website says that you can break in an engine with synthetic oil, it is my understanding through my training, experience, and conversation with other Small Engine Technicians that these engines need to use dino during the break in period to permit the seating of their rings, etc. and to prevent the excessive use of oil. My understanding is that if you don't permit the engine to properly break in with dino, that you MAY have oil burning problems until it has had the chance to break in with dino oil. The engines will normally come with dino oil from the manufacturer (at least in my experience). Just saying...

Oil Recommendation •SAE 30 40°F and higher (5°C and higher) is good for all purpose use above 40°F, use below 40°F will cause hard starting. •10W-30 0 to 100 °F (-18 to 38 °C) is better for varying temperature conditions. This grade of oil improves cold weather starting, but may increase oil consumption at 80°F(27°C) or higher. •Synthetic 5W-30 -20 to 120 °F (-30 to 40 °C) provides the "best" protection at all temperatures as well as improved starting with less oil consumption I called Briggs and asked them if they "recommended" the synthetic or if they just "allowed" the synthetic. They said. "we recommend the use of 5W-30 synthetic for the best protection in all temperature ranges." Since they used the word recommended in print on their web site and used the word recommended on the phone, I just assumed they recommended synthetic.

I refuse to argue, however, consider what they really are saying (I believe).... Perhaps they are saying that the synthetic provided the best in ALL OF THE TEMPERATURE ranges. This means that it will work in temperatures that perhaps only one of the others would cover. So that means that it works in ALL RANGES where as the others have their best temperature ranges.... Notice that it says that along with the temperature ranges: "good for all purpose use above 40°F, use below 40°F will cause hard starting." "better for varying temperature conditions. This grade of oil improves cold weather starting, but may increase oil consumption at 80°F(27°C) or higher." "best protection at all temperatures as well as improved starting with less oil consumption" Just a thot. Have a nice day......

 

[Crashbox]

My 2001 Honda Harmony II mower has had synthetic oil from day one- first M1 5W-30 or 10W-30, then AMSOIL ASL 5W-30 and now ACD 10W-30/30 with a dash of Auto-Rx.

 

[jeffie]

Which is better 10/30 or 5/30 in an air cooled engine and why?

 

[boraticus]

Originally Posted By: jeffie

Which is better 10/30 or 5/30 in an air cooled engine and why?

Talk among yourselves....... Operating temperature range. Colder weather = lighter oil, warmer weather = heavier oil.

 

[FZ1]

I just follow the manual. 10-30 for my Honda. Synthetic of course.

 

[superior_power]

I agree, check your engine manual and follow that.

 

[Peter_Pan]

Originally Posted By: rclint

I guess I'm the odd one out here. I have one old Kohler K series (14 hp) on a Cub Cadet 1450, I also have a newer Craftsman DYT 4000 ( 24 hp B&S) I run HDEO 30 wt in both of them, as they call for a 30 wt oil. I really believe that if the owners manual calls for normal operating temps using 30 wt oils they know what they are talking about. You can research this, and many benefits to using 30 wt oils in air cooled engines, however I'm also sure that some air cooled engines now call for a 5-30 etc, however I think the owners manual is the best guide when choosing the oil for a air cooled engine. Not to take away anyone's freedom to do as they please either. Shell Rotella, and Dello HDEO 30 wt are hard oils to beat in these small air cooled engines, the oil holds up well ( I change once per season if I remember.. I try to change in the spring).

Your B&S V-Twin in your Craftsman Mower calls for different weight oil for different temp ranges, including Synthetic 5W-30 for all temperature ranges. I know cause I have a similar mower to yours and here is a photo from the B&S Engine Manual: