Oil Choices for B&S 550ex (Gold Series)

[danthaman1980]

I just purchased a Craftsman push mower with Briggs & Stratton 550ex (Gold Series) engine. The manual recommends changing the supplied SAE30 engine oil at 5 hours.

When I change the oil, I'm planning to run something from my stash. Here's what I've got:

M1 0W-40
GC 0W-30
T5 10W-30
PP 5W-30
PU 5W-30
Mazda w/Moly 0W-20
QSGB 5W-30

Another option is blending M1 0W-40 with Mazda w/Moly 0W-20, for a 'Caterham'-style oil.

I have a small-ish lawn, so useage will probably be 30 - 45 minutes per week. After the 1st change, I'll change the oil annually.

Which oil should I run in this engine?

I'm also planning on running TC-W3 at 250:1 and Sta-Bil Ethanol Treatment also at around 250:1. This is mostly to keep the carb healthy.

 

[Bandito440]

Use the Rotella T5. The blue/green marine Sta-Bil is my preference for OPE.

 

[Danh]

IIRC, the manufacturer recommends a straight 30 weight conventional oil or a 5w/30 synthetic, so the PP or PU in your stash would be good choices.

 

[scurvy]

You can run any of those oils; I would run whichever one I had leftovers handy and needed to use up.

Rotella T5 would probably be my choice out of what you've listed, if I had to just pick one.

 

[fxrider]

T-5

 

[spasm3]

t-5, hedo for the mower. Pcmo would work but is not as stout, i.e zinc level.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I use T5 10W-30 in both of my 4-stroke OPEs.

 

[hemitom]

T5 is perfect for what you need, you might want to lean out the tc-w3 to 500:1 , 250 might be to rich, i run 2 oz's to five gallons in my ope and never any issue's with the carbs .

 

[danthaman1980]

Wow, lots of votes for T5 : )

On the TC-W3, my plan is 0.5 oz in 1 gallon of gas, which comes out to 2 oz per 4 gal - only slightly stronger than the popular 2 oz per 5 gal mix for autos (I run a slightly weaker 1.5 oz per 5 gal mix in my truck).

If my math is right, that's right around 250:1 in the mower and 420:1 in the truck.

On the Sta-Bil, I should have clarified - I'll be using the blue/green 'Marine Formula Sta-Bil Ethanol Treatment', with which I have had great success for seasonal storage of mowers and carb'd motorcycles.

I was thinking 0.5 oz per gallon of gas on that too (which nets out to my easy-to-remember pet name for this mix: 'half and half'). This is starting to sound familiar - T5 and 'half and half' is exactly what I used in my last mower.

Now that I think about it, though, that would give me a net 1 oz of additive in a gallon of gas; over 125:1. Perhaps I should cut the Sta-Bil back to 0.25 for normal usage?

 

[OneEyeJack]

Originally Posted By: Danh
IIRC, the manufacturer recommends a straight 30 weight conventional oil or a 5w/30 synthetic, so the PP or PU in your stash would be good choices.


+1

 

[TheBig2003]

T5...a good 10W30 I find works the best on the 550 Series B&S. My father-in-law has one, albeit the Silver Series 550 (158cc) not the 140cc that they now have. And very little oil is burned, actually less than straight SAE30.

 

[Quest]

http://www.briggsandstratton.com/us/en/s...w-to-change-oil

Q.

 

[bvance554]

With that many choices I'd assume you have a lot of partially filled bottles. I'd use whatever allowed me to empty and toss the most bottles.

 

[Quest]

any monograde/multigrade motor oil can be used in B&S these days, so long as you check your oil level every couple of mows and top it up as needed.

Also: no need to loose sleep over a bit of oil consumption for these lowly mower engines, just like many OPEs, are known to burn some oil (least they don't come with valve stem seals to begin with)..

Q.