Toro Push Lawn Mower Briggs & Stratton No Oil Change!

A

Andya

Joined
Mar 12, 2019
Messages
14
Location
Pennsylvania
Hi,

Just serviced a friends lawnmower. Replaced the standard stuff, air filter, spark plug, sharpened blade etc.

Interesting, these particularly Series 80000 Briggs & Stratton engine don't require a oil change for the life of the engine!! Just top up as needed.

Well this is the lawn mowers 3rd season. On inspecting the oil, it was extremely dark. So I edged on the side of caution and changed the oil. It had done around 75 hours and the original factory oil.

I used Supertech 5w30 fully synthetic. Ambient temperatures in the area doesn't go above 90 Fahrenheit. Briggs and Stratton have this particular oil weight as acceptable on their website. Just worried when I saw the state of the original oil. I just had to change it for her!!! Also it had been 3 years on the Champion Spark Plug and original air filter. Both were in desperate need of replacing.

So my question is would you run the same oil for the lifetime of the engine and top up as necessary? Or would you still change the oil at the end of the season?

Thanks.
 
For $2 worth of oil, I'd do a dump/drain every year or two (and just use something cheap/or any old 10w30 I had laying around), but I'd fully expect no issues leaving the FF in the engine for the life of the mower, probably 10-15+ years for a typical machine. These are labeled as such, but I'm sure many mowers never get any oil changes at all over their life - they just aren't picky and odds are good that they'll live a long life with or without changing oil (most mowers probably get junked for something like a wheel breaking off or a self-propel system that breaks, or perhaps a fuel-related no-start condition - I doubt engine issues are to blame for the demise of most mowers).
 
Heads Up! Briggs also quit using steel sleeved liners in these engines. The aluminum casting is finished honed to the silica bore. So once the bore is scored they are done.....no rebuilding is possible.
 
You probably don't have to change the oil in them, but if you do, any oil should be fine to use. I like the little bottles at Dollar Tree. It's SN (maybe it's SP now) 10w30 syn blend, and the 16 ox size is perfect for a small engine in a lawn mower.

Replacing the spark plug with NGK will also make a difference. I could never start the mower with one pull on the original Champion, but I can with NGK. Another option is the Autolite Iridium XST.
 
what is Briggs & Stratton's engine life claim? (usually there's a sticker with tiny print indicating that hour use spec.)
Once a year drain is what I do, like mentioned above. Engine goes 12 years, give or take, before a bad rod or high oil usage forces
a swap. (Snapper self-propelled walk-behind, early eighties 6 speed Hi-Vac) I probably would buy the new 'no oil change' B&S, for use on my
antique, but I'd still drain every 12 months, & filter & plug & blade check/swap. Why would I neglect my own equipment? I'm not that lazy. Yet.
edit: seems the no oil change required engines have a two year consumer warranty.
 
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Funny you should mention this.

My SIL has been having his grass done for a while, so he loaned us his mower for the TN house since we still have the GA house and the Honda is there.

This is a Bolens push mower of about 2016/2017 vintage I think.

Today I put an air filter on it, a plug and changed the oil in it. It's one of those never change deals.

I swear chunks came out, aluminum flashing and silicone and the stuff looked more like 100,000 mile gear oil than motor oil. It also smelled like gear oil. I'm 100% positive its never been changed.

I guess i should have grabbed a sample but doing a UOA on mower seems a little over the top, especially a 140.00 mower.

You can count me as not a believer in the never change strategy.
 
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My Honda riding mower built in 1992 has been getting oil changes every November since I bought it from a dead guy's garage sale.

Runs like a top. What oil do I use? Leftovers from car oil changes as long as it doesn't start with 0W. About as much overthinking as I'll allow.
 
Andya said:
Hi,

Just serviced a friends lawnmower. Replaced the standard stuff, air filter, spark plug, sharpened blade etc.

Interesting, these particularly Series 80000 Briggs & Stratton engine don't require a oil change for the life of the engine!! Just top up as needed.

Well this is the lawn mowers 3rd season. On inspecting the oil, it was extremely dark. So I edged on the side of caution and changed the oil. It had done around 75 hours and the original factory oil.

I used Supertech 5w30 fully synthetic. Ambient temperatures in the area doesn't go above 90 Fahrenheit. Briggs and Stratton have this particular oil weight as acceptable on their website. Just worried when I saw the state of the original oil. I just had to change it for her!!! Also it had been 3 years on the Champion Spark Plug and original air filter. Both were in desperate need of replacing.

So my question is would you run the same oil for the lifetime of the engine and top up as necessary? Or would you still change the oil at the end of the season?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
It's a sales marketing ploy because many view an oil change as a hassle.. The engine will atleast last the warranty period which is all they are concerned with. No matter what is recommended, I do yearly oil changes. How hard could it be to tip the mower on its side to drain it?
 
Wrenchturner44 said:
Heads Up! Briggs also quit using steel sleeved liners in these engines. The aluminum casting is finished honed to the silica bore. So once the bore is scored they are done.....no rebuilding is possible.
Click to expand...
Briggs has been using aluminum bores for at least 40+ years.
 
vw7674 said:
what is Briggs & Stratton's engine life claim? (usually there's a sticker with tiny print indicating that hour use spec.)
Once a year drain is what I do, like mentioned above. Engine goes 12 years, give or take, before a bad rod or high oil usage forces
a swap. (Snapper self-propelled walk-behind, early eighties 6 speed Hi-Vac) I probably would buy the new 'no oil change' B&S, for use on my
antique, but I'd still drain every 12 months, & filter & plug & blade check/swap. Why would I neglect my own equipment? I'm not that lazy. Yet.
edit: seems the no oil change required engines have a two year consumer warranty.
Click to expand...
Good post. Briggs and Stratton know that most of their lawn mowers get kicked to the curb when carb problems caused by old gas crop up and people (not bitogers) get tired of trying to start them. They quickly find out that taking it to a lawnmower repair shop is more of a pain then just driving down to Home Depot. With that in mind, it doesn't matter if you change the oil or not, as long as there is some in there. ( and a lot of people are not capable of making that happen). I change once or twice a season). I keep two mowers, one for my yard, and one to help the neighbors and for cutting an uneven area with twigs, pine cones and high spots. I just run over everything with it. ;)
 
Have a 15 year old Briggs Deere Self Propelled.

Oil gets changed every season. I have all year to come up with 20 ounces of bargain diesel oil, thats what it normally gets.

This season I had a quart of conventional supertech 10w30 and used that, but now I'm seeing some consumption issues so I may need to go back to Mother Delo or Delvac.
 
Like already said, I guess it all depend on the considered lifetime of the engine. In my country, could be the two year warranty, paired with the maximum recommended surface to mow that was in the mower's litterature to ensure the manufacturer doesn't receive too many claims.

Regardless, I change the oil after each season, using leftovers of various jugs I otherwise never finish. Takes a few minutes and under a liter of oil with my small Honda, no big deal.
 
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