Small engine oils

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No need for a multi-viscosity here in Florida with a 9 to 10 month mowing season. I've been running 30wt SN with brands ranging from SuperTech to Pennzoil with no apparent problems. However, I'm thinking about picking up a 2 gallon jug of HDEO 30wt from Rural King for all my OPE for next season.
 
Originally Posted by NHRATA
Is anyone using the small engine oils for their snow blowers and lawn mowers


That Briggs and Stratton synthetic oil cost $10-12 a quart. Synthetic Supertech 5W30 oil at Wal-Mart cost $3 a quart.

I use and have always used store brand oil in small engines. Thousands of oil changes. Every bit as good as the name brand stuff.

SAE30 Supertech is $2.70 a quart. Everything you need, nothing you dont, in the south, year round.
 
I guess I'm one of the minorities LOL the Kawasaki oil for my commercial walk-behind cost me $6 per quart, the Briggs oil for my commercial snowblower is also $6 per quart. I figured since both were high in zinc and the engines were air-cooled I was doing them a favor
 
When I was having a hard time finding good oil in mid 2000's I ran Yardman 5w30 Synthetic snow thrower oil in the Yaris. Best stuff that was ever in there, Smooth, easy starts good power. High ZDDP and moly.

These days John Deere lawnmower oil a is just rebadged Conoco ILSAC GF-5, and others could be worse.
 
I have used B&S in the past, should be SH, SJ rated so good stuff for your lawn mower. I have also used Kohler 10w30 but switched over to T5 10w30 this year. For my snow blower I've been using VWB 5w30, I don't feel it needs an HD oil since it doesn't see the heat or dust.
 
I am in Florida also, I get the 2 gallon jugs of 30hd from walmart. Cheap. I change the mower oil and generator oil frequently. High heat and humidity. My generator is a made in Japan Honda, I don't want it to ever die. I always have used 30hd. 10w 30 burns and seems to boil out or disappear.
 
My Deere 318 has 10w30 royal purple in it now and will probably get 0w40 this winter then run with it through the summer just because I have it.
 
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Zinc is nothing to worry about with these small gas engines. There are other anti-wear agents in the oil. All my unfiltered engines get PYB 10w30, excepted the snowblower. That gets QS Ultimate 5w30. The zero turn gets M1 TDT 5w40. Got all those on sale, but I thought I was doing good when I got PYB for $3 a quart when I found others did that good with a synthetic.
 
Both of my Kubotas and both of my Kohlers are running OEM oil at the moment, and my Champion generator has a mix of Kohler 10w30 and castrol gtx 10w30. They will all be running some flavor of Rotella on their next oil change though. But I might use mobil 1 15w50 for the 35hp Kohler, as it's around the same price point. All fairly new, so I went with OEM oil and filters for the first couple oil changes in case they had some issues while still under warranty. As it turns out, my M7060 has a problem with 2nd gear, so hopefully Kubota will play nice when it goes to the shop.

If you want to stay in spec with grade but are worried about viscosity (I know most Kohler engines only spec 10w30 for most operating temperatures), Rotella T5 10w30 is pretty darn thick for a 30 grade. It's 12.2 cSt @ 100C and it meets ACEA E9, which means it has to have a HTHS viscosity greater than 3.5 cSt @ 150C. Most 10w30s are just a bit over 10 cSt @ 100C. For instance, Amsoil ASE 10w30 Small Engine Oil is 10.3 cSt @ 100C and 3.3 cSt @ 150C, and Mobile 1 10w30 is 10.1 cSt @ 100C and 3.0 cSt @ 150C. Rotella T6 5w40 is a great synthetic HDEO, that many have said even picky Kohlers with hydraulic lifters like. T5 and T6 are both pretty inexpensive at Walmart (15.97/gal and 19.97/gal). They don't carry any gas engine API certs though, so using them in some motors still under warranty may not be the best move.

On the topic of Kohlers with picky lifters - My 35hp Command Pro on my chipper/shredder calls for 10w30 up to 80F and then 20w50 for hotter temperatures, with no mention of an Xw-40. Pretty odd. I can also testify that this motor doesn't have any lifter tick using 20w50.

I'm sure the OEM small engine oils are good choices as well, and still somewhat reasonably priced (Kohler 10w30 is 5.99/qt @ TSC). Kohler claims to have a stout add package with lots of zinc and moly, stay in grade stability, high TBN, etc. It looks like a true HDEO, spec'd CG-4 for older/small diesels, as well. I haven't found a VOA on any Kohler oils though, so who really knows. The product sheet looks good though. https://resources.kohler.com/power/kohler/enginesUS/pdf/E2265 Oil_SellSheet 9854.pdf The PQIA analysis for Kubota 15w40 looks pretty good too. There's no HTHS or NOACK data though. http://pqiadata.org/Kubota_15W40.html
 
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I used to run amsoil hdd or amsoil mcf ( they now label it as metric bike oil) but i now run delo 400 15w 40 in my toro z and in my pushmower.
 
Some good information here, I actually just talked to a buddy of mine who runs a landscaping company. He says he uses O'Reilly house Brands in all of his commercial mowers.
 
I run Amsoils Commercial Grade 10w30 in my push mowers because I like amsoil and it's made for mowers. I guess you can run any type of oil in them but I tend to think a lawn mower, or any sort of lawn equipment for the matter, will see far more abuse and will run at hotter temperatures than a regular car or Diesel engine. Not backed by science just my opinion, mowers run all the time on the same oil put in them from the box so they are resilient.
 
Originally Posted by Linctex
Originally Posted by Kira
The one that jumped out at me was the "Harley-Davidson V-Twin Oil" I saw in someone's garage.

What might that cost?


It's been too long for me, but I remember back in the 90's the stuff was like $5 a quart!!

and it was CITGO oil!!

The same exact thing in 20W-50 in a SuperTech bottle at Walmart for maybe $1.18


Now, in the early 90's I had an Evo Sportster,
and I did buy their special "primary lube"
which looked like straight 20W but smelled like gear lube.

Correct, it is CITGO oil. When I went to Kawasaki school, I was asking all kinds of questions even the teacher had a hard time answering........ to my knowledge it's not rebranded, citgo makes it per Kawasaki specs...... the coincidence that its CITGO may be that they are the cheapest bid
 
I put some 5w20 PP in my free mower from the previous home owner... when I changed it the next year it had a nice shimmer to it
shocked2.gif
so I put some PP 5w30 in it. Still has yet to miss a beat.
 
Originally Posted by tig1
No. I use M1 10-30 in all my OPE.


I do as well - been working great for years
 
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