Briggs and Stratton Small Engine Questions

Tbone0106

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It does not matter what sort of oil you use. The purpose of the oil is merely to provide a surface for dust particles to stick to. You could use gearcase oil, chainsaw bar oil, 10W-40 Pennzoil, or the crap you drained out of your truck last Wednesday.
The folks who want to sell you "special" air filter oil are the same folks who have been lying to you for years, telling you that your engine just simply MUST have an oil change every 3,000 miles. It shouldn't surprise you to learn that these nice folks are OIL COMPANIES.
 

nbpt100

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The lack of a fuel filter is intentional. Your mower's fuel tank is probably only an inch or two above its carburetor. It's a gravity feed system, and a filter would very likely slow fuel feed enough to starve the engine.
I believe the 158cc engine the OP has uses a diaphragm type carb that sits on top of the gas tank. It uses vacuum to pull the gas into the carb bowl that is made into the top of the tank. Its an Old design been used for decades. There is no gas filter. Just a screen on the gas pick up. The OP can correct me if it is not the type of engine he has. Maybe I will learn something new. But to your point. I do not like to put gas filters on most push mowers for the reason you say. They usually have a screen filter in the tank anyway. That is good enough.

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bertsmobile1

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It does not matter what sort of oil you use. The purpose of the oil is merely to provide a surface for dust particles to stick to. You could use gearcase oil, chainsaw bar oil, 10W-40 Pennzoil, or the crap you drained out of your truck last Wednesday.
The folks who want to sell you "special" air filter oil are the same folks who have been lying to you for years, telling you that your engine just simply MUST have an oil change every 3,000 miles. It shouldn't surprise you to learn that these nice folks are OIL COMPANIES.
Actually it does make a very big difference
filter oil is nothing like engine or gearbox oil apart from a common starting point.
Conspiracey theories belong on places for the brain dead like Face Book.
As for oil, you can not change it enough if you really want to protect your engine.
Leaving it in there till it is "worn out" is not a good idea and considering the difference in cost between a couple of litres of oil and any engine work, a false economy for fools .

And FWIW back in the late 60's early 70's I worked with the team who pioneered X-Ray diffraction analysis of oil in helicopter engines which eventually overtook gas chromotography which became SOP during WW II
The latter gives you to total amount of metals in the oil
The former identifies the individual alloys so you know how much is piston ring, cam gear, cylinder walls etc .

And oils go off over time let alone engine hours .
 

Tbone0106

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Actually it does make a very big difference
filter oil is nothing like engine or gearbox oil apart from a common starting point.
Conspiracey theories belong on places for the brain dead like Face Book.
As for oil, you can not change it enough if you really want to protect your engine.
Leaving it in there till it is "worn out" is not a good idea and considering the difference in cost between a couple of litres of oil and any engine work, a false economy for fools .

And FWIW back in the late 60's early 70's I worked with the team who pioneered X-Ray diffraction analysis of oil in helicopter engines which eventually overtook gas chromotography which became SOP during WW II
The latter gives you to total amount of metals in the oil
The former identifies the individual alloys so you know how much is piston ring, cam gear, cylinder walls etc .

And oils go off over time let alone engine hours .

Few of us share you experience with helicopter engine oils. Few of us have the slightest need for that knowledge.

When I was growing up -- probably about the same time you were growing up -- there was none of this "change your oil ever 3,000 miles" bullshit. Even to this day, no car manufacturer recommends changing the engine oil every 3,000 miles, or even twice that.

However, good advertising requires getting people worked up over something or other, and the oil companies have latched onto this "every 3,000 miles" mantra as a way to sell their stuff.

It literally makes no difference what sort of oil you use to soak a foam air filter with. It isn't there to lubricate anything. As long as it remains in the foam and catches the dust particles, it's doing its job, whether it's premium-priced air filter oil or mineral oil from Walmart.
 

bertsmobile1

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Few of us share you experience with helicopter engine oils. Few of us have the slightest need for that knowledge.

When I was growing up -- probably about the same time you were growing up -- there was none of this "change your oil ever 3,000 miles" bullshit. Even to this day, no car manufacturer recommends changing the engine oil every 3,000 miles, or even twice that.

However, good advertising requires getting people worked up over something or other, and the oil companies have latched onto this "every 3,000 miles" mantra as a way to sell their stuff.

It literally makes no difference what sort of oil you use to soak a foam air filter with. It isn't there to lubricate anything. As long as it remains in the foam and catches the dust particles, it's doing its job, whether it's premium-priced air filter oil or mineral oil from Walmart.
Done the testing and yes it does make a difference .
And yes engine oil works, old kitchen oil works , Wd40 would probably work, but filter oil works BETTER and washes out BETTER and has less effect on the life of the foam so it is better .
And if you are going to make an informed decision upon oil change intervals then you do need that knowledge or at very least an understanding of engine wear and oil degregation otherwise you are just shooting in the dark at a target you can not see with a weapon you don't know how to use.
and FWIW I taught oil, lubricants, greases & cutting fluids to TAFE students for near a decade
Engines of yesteryear were grossly over engineered because running engines on test beds till failure is very expensive and the testing is even more expensive compared to making the blocks 1/2" thicker & pistons 4 times the weight of modern pistons.
Modern engines are substantially under engineered to last a finite time and be just good enough to do the job which is why they are lighter .

Oil change intervals are determined by running the engines on test beds and analysing the oil & exhausts , plotting contaminants & break down against operating hours.
Every curve that results will have a point of inflection and for aircraft, the lowest hour POI becomes the oil change interval
For cars it is the most common POI that is the interval
Now the down side of that is no one ever runs their engines exactly the same as the test bed engines so the change interval is an extrapolation of the results designed to ensure the engine makers do not end up with a pile of warranty claims ( hopefully ) .
Now if that means that you end up changing the oil before it is totally worn out then yes THEY ARE OUT TO GET YOU .

So you don't know the theory , you don't have the knowledge yet you can state without fear of correction that the intervals are all BS
That is an interesting mind set you have there
 
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nbpt100

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I trust Skyharbor has gotten all his questions answered? If not? Maybe he can start a new thread with a new question statement.
 
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