Oil suggestions for commercial mowers

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Hello board brothers. Thanks for allowing me to enter your board. I have been running John Deere mowers for a while now. I did have a local dealer and purchased John Deere 10w30 oil. When they closed down I started using Castro gtx 10w30. Then I thought I would try Napa oil. I am on here to see what the members suggest. I really liked the John Deere oil but I need something I can buy local. This year my mowers have been used and abused more than ever. One newer has over 1200 hours and other has over 800 hours. They both have Kawasaki engines. I want to do whats best for them. Synthetic,synthetic blend, extended life or other? For the record I run rotella 15w40 in my power stroke and my wrangler with Napa gold filters.
Thanks for suggestions
 
Assuming that the mowers take 10w30, rotella t5 10w30 or mobil 1 HM 10w30 would both be great choices. Napa gold filters are great filters for your OPE as well.

Which mowers do you have? How many hours between oil changes?
 
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Personally I would (and do ) use Rotella. a friend of mine owns a lawn service and has a dozen mowers with the Kawasaki motors. loves them. 2000-3000 hours on them. He uses Pennzoil Yellow bottle. 30W in the summer; 10-30 in spring and fall. so they work great on PYB. once again, I'd "upgrade" to Rotella.
 
They do call for 10w30. I try to go for 75 hours between hours but there has been a few times they have gone 100 hours between oil changes. I see rotella in 15w40 oil often but I guess that's what I look for guess I will look for 10w30 oil.
The amsoil is something I have seen but just not sure where to buy it. I am hoping to get 2000 hours out of these mowers
They are John Deere 757 and 737 models
Thanks for the fast reply
 
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Originally Posted By: danthaman1980
API SL PCMO in 10W-30 will work well.


That was my first thought - VR1 or M1 HM. HM oils have slightly more seal conditioners and work great in newer, low mileage motors too.
 
Don't run high mileage oil in newer engines
or even engines that don't burn oil or leak..

Seals will swell, then wear, then fail...
 
Originally Posted By: mattwithcats
Don't run high mileage oil in newer engines
or even engines that don't burn oil or leak..

Seals will swell, then wear, then fail...


Proof?



The vtwin kawi sometimes develop a knock on 20w50... no one has been able to successfully explain way.

I have a bad boy with the vtwin and cut 2.5 acres twice a week, run 10w30 synthetic and a huge mobil1 filter on it. Synthetic is whatever is on sale. The mobil1 filter was just extra and Luckily fit the mower.

Next year is 0w40 mobil1.

20$ a year is cheap insurance for me.
 
How will using a high mileage synthetic lower oil consumption after using high mileage oil? His info at the end doesn't really add up.

Realistically fuel dilution, a problem for vtwin kawi motors on mower apps, has likely swollen the seals as much as they can get anyways.

I wouldn't try to find a high mileage oil. But I wouldn't avoid it either.
 
I have a Scag with the same Kaw engine you likely have, if these are the air-cooled engines.

These are not picky or finicky engines, in terms of lubes. Use any decent dino PCMO or HDEO and you'll be fine. I use Rotella 10w-30 dino lube, but I'm not married to any brand; that just happens to be a fairly easy one for me to get at a good price.

You certainly don't "need" a syn in this application, unless you intend to greatly extend the OCI.

Of note, for a bit of engine info, if you have the vertical shaft a/c engines like mine, then the 19hp through 25hp engines are actually all the same long blocks, and only the intake/carbs are different to vary the power ratings. Only the largest one (25hp) actually uses an oil cooler (block mounted aluminum heat exchanger at the filter mount), but I bought one for my 19hp engine and added it for a very modest price ($35 IIRC). You might consider that if you have concerns for hot oil. However, if you're running a liquid cooled engine, this is not as big a deal.
 
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Another vote for T5 or T6. I currently use T5 semi synthetic 10W-30 in my Simplicity riding mower with a Kohler engine. Prior to that I used the standard M1 10W-30 successfully for almost 13 years.
 
I have the same engine on my Deere mower,535 25hp with the factory oil cooler. There is no need for a syn oil with these mowers, and as far as OCI mine is 100hrs. per manual, so you're fine with what you're doing.

I use the Deere TurfGard 10w-30 in all of my small engines, including my mower.
 
I would go with Rotella T6 5w40 or T5 synthetic blend 10w30.
Or Amsoil makes a 10w30 small engine oil (ASE) that I use in my stuff with great results. Amsoil is not sold in stores, buy from your local Amsoil dealer or order it online.
 
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