Kawasaki 15 w 50

I thought the last miracle research about zinc and phos was that, they did zero for engine wear? Google says zinc is good for hi temps and pressures like old flat tappet cams.

Briggs valve springs are easily compressed with your fingers.
 
Old Gweilo said:
Air cooled engines can reach significantly higher temps than 212. This may account for the higher viscosity oils they recommend for these..
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No offence mate but this is BS - most oils can operate without a problem to 139 C.

ALL oils should reach at least 100 C once, in an operating day, to drive off volatile fractions (water/fuel residue/etc).

A good general operating temperature is anywhere from about 90 C -110 C

Air-cooled engines do nor run significantly hotter than liquid cooled , they just have a wider operation temperature range, in response to ambient conditions.

NOTE: Its no more good for an IC engine to run cool than hot
 
I got almost 2000 hours out of a Kohler Command engine in my Scag before a rebuild, with zero extra zinc added or anything except 10W-30 oil and regular oil changes. I believe changing oil and filter every 50 hours or so is more important than worrying about zinc content.
 
Hello M.,

Consistent regular oil servicing and using the same brand of oil has always been important to me.

Engine oils have improved greatly in the past 40-50 years, so the old engines that used to specify only SAE 30 oil, now actually run better on SAE 10W-30 or 10W-40. For hot seasons like here in South Texas, 15W-40 or 15W-50 is pretty common in most air cooled and diesel engines.

I know a lot of people that would rather spend their money on "snake oil" additives with shady advertising than to fix the real issues.... It's easy to be cheap and try a quick band-aid fix. The 2 popular ones I grew up with back in the 60's were STP and Motor Honey oil additives. I think they were more of a viscosity and additive boost to the poor-quality base oil of the time.

Most don't come to reality until they have tried at least 3 or 4 different additive brands. By that time, the problems have gotten much worse or the engine is usually beyond repair.

I call it the old "get me through one more season" syndrome.
 
"It quiets down a rod knock".... until the rod breaks and goes through the block. At that point, no noise and no oil to worry about. LOL
 
It's 108F in the full sun, here in my part of Georgia. I personally won't use anything less than 10W40. 15W50 and 20W50 is also acceptable.
My 2025 Polaris Ranger 570 specifies 5W50 and it's water cooled. It currently has Lucas 5W50 Side by Side oil in the sump. The Lucas oil meets Polaris speciations.
 
MParr said:
It's 108F in the full sun, here in my part of Georgia. I personally won't use anything less than 10W40. 15W50 and 20W50 is also acceptable.
My 2025 Polaris Ranger 570 specifies 5W50 and it's water cooled. It currently has Lucas 5W50 Side by Side oil in the sump. The Lucas oil meets Polaris speciations.
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I was raised in Alabama and that is what we always used in mowers and cars, 10W-40 oil. Been in Missouri last 30 years and now always use 10W-30 in mowers. Cars these days are often different on oil.
 
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