First Oil Change

[Gord Baker]

I just got the Scag Liberty with the Kohler 22hp engine and now have 9 hours on it. I need to change oil and filter, can I use syn oil? Can I use Mobile 1 oil in it? Should I use 10w 40 oil?
Thanks for any suggestions on this, such a great mower.

RTFM. I am sure the Manual explains this.

 

[Old Gweilo]

I just got the Scag Liberty with the Kohler 22hp engine and now have 9 hours on it. I need to change oil and filter, can I use syn oil? Can I use Mobile 1 oil in it? Should I use 10w 40 oil?
Thanks for any suggestions on this, such a great mower.

1) Stick to recommended change intervals "even if synthetic oil is used". At minimum change annually just before fall storage.
2) Stay within recommended weights recommended by Kohler. If using multi-grade, "no higher than" lowest number and "equal to" the highest number. So, if say a 20 W 50 were recommended, a 15 W 50 would be fine.
3) Stay with Motorcycle oils or Diesel engine oils of appropriate rating as these, unlike Automotive oils, are high in zinc. Motorcycle oils are usually easier to match with recommendations.
4) Full synthetics are better than conventional oils but using them in pursuit of extending drain intervals is a bad idea. Stick to # 1 above regardless of what oil you use.

NOTE: Air cooled engines subject an oil to wider temperature variations than liquid cooled engines do, regardless of engine size. This is why change intervals and ZDDP (Zinc) content are more important. You shouldn't store seasonal air cooled engines with season old oil in them or start engines intermittently during seasonal storage periods. This may lead to increased condensation (water) and acid formation within the engine. This is not good for bearings. Zinc is very good for engines but very bad for catalytic converters. This is why zinc content in modern automotive oils is typically low.

Hope this helps.

 

[Auto Doc's]

Keep life simple, use what the equipment manufacturer recommends. They have already conducted the oil studies to prove what is best for their equipment.

If you are looking for cheaper substitutes that have not been proven, that is up to you as an individual.

 

[Briantii]

First of all, you should be adhering to the viscosity that Kohler recommends for that mower, otherwise you may be denied warranty service. Second, you should NOT be using car oil
in a mower engine, or any small engine that is air-cooled for that matter. There's a couple of reasons for this. Small engines are usually air-cooled, so the oil needs to be able to handle
higher temps associated with air-cooled engines. Mowers are especially susceptible to running at higher temps and for longer periods of time. The oil has to be able to handle high, as well as low
temperatures at start-ups and synthetic oils are GREAT in this area. Also, small engines in general need high levels of zinc additive in the oil. This additive is essential in protecting small
engines from wear over the long term. Mobil 1 is an oil designed for water-cooled automobile engines and does not contain zinc due to zinc contamination of catalytic converters.
Stay away from car oils for this reason, and by a good synthetic SMALL-ENGINE OIL. There's a few good ones out there. I personally use AMSOIL small-engine oil. It has a 200 hour change
interval as a bonus. There a other brands out there, but don't put a cheap oil in a $30,000 machine!

I agree in spirit, but I believe in sticking to what the manufacturer calls for and many of them call for an API certified oil just like your car does. My challenge with Amsoil (and Redline and HPL, etc) isn’t that their stuff isn’t good or better than spec but it’s that they frequently don’t have it certified so on new equipment you’re putting the warranty at Rick if they figur out you used a non-conforming oil.

I‘ve found using the manufacturer called for specs in a synthetic and changing it very frequently when new (every 5 - 10 hours x 2-3) has kept my engines spotlessly clean and they barely change the color of the oil even as they transition to longer drain intervals after full breakin.

 

[mechanizm]

I just got the Scag Liberty with the Kohler 22hp engine and now have 9 hours on it. I need to change oil and filter, can I use syn oil? Can I use Mobile 1 oil in it? Should I use 10w 40 oil?
Thanks for any suggestions on this, such a great mower.

synthetic oil is a scam. "full" synthetic means N O T H I N G but everyone thinks that it means 100% synthetic. If it were 100% synthetic oil they'd say so.

People brag about using synthetic oil and having to do fewer oil changes. This is dumb. What causes wear in an engine is the particles in the oil not the oil itself. If you leave dirty oil in your engine it will cause wear. It matters NOT if it's dirty synthetic oil or dirty standard oil.

Furthermore: If I know my oil companies (and I think I do) what's to stop them from putting regular oil in a synthetic oil container and charging 3 or 4x the price?

Buy the cheapest oil at Walmart and just change it more often and this is the key. You can change your oil thrice instead of wasting money on synthetic. I've been doing this for DECADES on all my lawn tractors, cars, trucks and motorcycles with no problems.

 

[Briantii]

synthetic oil is a scam. "full" synthetic means N O T H I N G but everyone thinks that it means 100% synthetic. If it were 100% synthetic oil they'd say so.

People brag about using synthetic oil and having to do fewer oil changes. This is dumb. What causes wear in an engine is the particles in the oil not the oil itself. If you leave dirty oil in your engine it will cause wear. It matters NOT if it's dirty synthetic oil or dirty standard oil.

Furthermore: If I know my oil companies (and I think I do) what's to stop them from putting regular oil in a synthetic oil container and charging 3 or 4x the price?

Buy the cheapest oil at Walmart and just change it more often and this is the key. You can change your oil thrice instead of wasting money on synthetic. I've been doing this for DECADES on all my lawn tractors, cars, trucks and motorcycles with no problems.

Synthetic is about the only thing you can find anymore. With the latest specs the oil pretty much has to be at least a synthetic blend to meet them. I buy my oil from Walmart too, but it’s synthetic and it’s not terribly expensive either. You also want to focus on an oil that is good at resisting thermal degradation and sludge and that’s typically going to be a synthetic. These air cooled engines can run pretty warm.

 

[BTBO]

I just got the Scag Liberty with the Kohler 22hp engine and now have 9 hours on it. I need to change oil and filter, can I use syn oil? Can I use Mobile 1 oil in it? Should I use 10w 40 oil?
Thanks for any suggestions on this, such a great mower.

I too have a Liberty Z, but with the Kawasaki. 1st oil/filter change was @ 10 hrs using Mobil-1 20W50 (hot south Louisiana climate) and Mobil-1 102 filter. At 120 hrs, I switched to Valvoline 20W50 VR1 racing oil (black bottle) for the added benefit of higher zinc content, which provides better wear and corrosion protection.

 

[BTBO]

I too have a Liberty Z, but with the Kawasaki. 1st oil/filter change was @ 10 hrs using Mobil-1 20W50 (hot south Louisiana climate) and Mobil-1 102 filter. At 120 hrs, I switched to Valvoline 20W50 VR1 racing oil (black bottle) for the added benefit of higher zinc content, which provides better wear and corrosion protection. An alternative oil filter is WIX 51348XP.

 

[GearHead36]

Both my riders have Kohler engines. I don't go for the 300 hour oil. I prefer to change it every year, and 300 hrs would take me 5-6 yrs to accumulate. So I go with the "short-interval" oil, and change it every year.

 

[Auto Doc's]

Hi G,

You are certainly not doing any disservice by changing your oil on an annual basis due to reduced frequency of use.