Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: user52165
I'm sure those CRAZY Honda engineers who have been selling these for 40 years and Millions of engines in all the worlds climates will be glad to hear your amateurish comment. 10W-30 which they recommend is fine for their OPE.
As a former power equipment mechanic that has worked on hundreds of generators, that lives in a similar climate as the op, and seen hundreds more with seized engines from running 30 weight oil, I'll stand by my comments. There is absolutely NO reason to run a generator with 30 weight oil, in Florida, or in Texas. PERIOD. Who's the amateur?
Originally Posted By: Cujet
After the Hurricanes here in Florida, there were thousands of generator engine failures. Most of them were oil related issues due to overheated oil.
Absolutely 1000% correct. Except it wasn't thousands of generators. It was tens of thousands of them. To be honest, there was probably a 75% failure rate on generators during the 2004 Florida hurricane season. I was personally without power for like 2 months. In July and August.
30 weight provides just enough protection in ideal conditions. That doesn't take into account that often times folks will run the generator for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, in an emergency. Add in fuel dilution, extreme oil temps (250-300 degrees), the lack of maintenance, the lack of oil changes (no one wants to change the oil every 2 days), and we quickly see why 30 weight is just a terrible idea in southern climates. 40 weight minimum. Trust me on this. You want a generator to last in Florida or Texas you run synthetic 15W50.
Good enough reason for me, but it does get down to 35-40 degrees in the winter. Will a regular 15w40 oil be ok in this situation still or is that too cold?
