Of course. I don't know the price, I don't bother to check, lol. I just grab what I need, put it on the counter and give them a card. In a pinch I'll use about any motor oil I have around (10W-30 or 10w40) to top off if I have to but usually it's the straight 30 Kawi oil for changes and topping off. Automotive motor oil is formulated for water-cooled engines, not air-cooled ones. Only my truck and the hydros on my Exmarks get synthetic oil.
Oil filter check for Kawa FR691V
- Thread starter iclick
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Of course. I don't know the price, I don't bother to check, lol. I just grab what I need, put it on the counter and give them a card. In a pinch I'll use about any motor oil I have around (10W-30 or 10w40) to top off if I have to but usually it's the straight 30 Kawi oil for changes and topping off. Automotive motor oil is formulated for water-cooled engines, not air-cooled ones. Only my truck and the hydros on my Exmarks get synthetic oil.
I'll probably use Mobil1 15w50, as most of the mower's use will be in temps of 90° or above and that oil is good from 32-100°+. It's also stable to 350°+, which we should never see in a mower engine. Mowers don't need special mower oil any more than Harleys need special motorcycle oil. I went through that debate for 20 years on Harley forums. I used 20w50 synthetic oil in my two air-cooled Harleys, one logging 106k and the other 66k, and never had any engine problems at all. That oil was not motorcycle-specific.
BTW, every spring and fall Mobil1 has a rebate event--$12 back for 5 qts. with a 10-qt. limit per rebate event. I buy Mobil1 5w30 for my car and truck at Walmart at ~$25 for a 5-qt. jug and will get a rebate for $12 for each jug. That's ~$2.50/qt. for a very good synthetic oil that will work as well in a mower as a Corvette. This spring I'll buy one 5w30 for the car and truck and one 15w50 jug for the mower.
I used Royal Purple 20w50 in my old mower's 22hp B&S IC engine that just ended its 12th season, and it doesn't use any oil between yearly changes. It also didn't incur any repairs except a voltage regulator. The Kawi oil won't hurt anything, of course, if you want to pay the premium. The manual says to use SF, SG, SH, SJ or SL class oil--and that spec covers most any oil you can find in the store.
I think I'll put my trust in what Kawasaki's engineers think is the best oil for their engines over what some guy on the internet says. I'm sure your lubricant pick will be fine though, especially with a 20 hour service interval.
I've got 4 mowers, 5 blowers, 4 string trimmers, 3 hedge trimmers, 3 chain saws and 3 snow blowers and I look to my dealers for support in a pinch to keep me up and running. So sticking with a few brands/dealers and buying my parts and supplies from them puts me in their preferred customer category and simplifies my parts and service needs. It all gets written off on my taxes too. So it's a different situation than the average homeowner.
I've got 4 mowers, 5 blowers, 4 string trimmers, 3 hedge trimmers, 3 chain saws and 3 snow blowers and I look to my dealers for support in a pinch to keep me up and running. So sticking with a few brands/dealers and buying my parts and supplies from them puts me in their preferred customer category and simplifies my parts and service needs. It all gets written off on my taxes too. So it's a different situation than the average homeowner.
You've got quite an inventory! Your plan seems well thought out and it obviously works well for you. My purchases for lawn equipment and supplies wouldn't contribute much to a dealer's bottom line and I'm not tied to any one dealer.
I hope I didn't come across as pushing any particular brand of oil, as there are many good ones to choose from. I've used Royal Purple for years in my cars, truck, motorcycles, and mowers--but I've settled on Mobil1 for my car and truck for the time being, mostly because of its reputation and the bi-yearly rebates they offer. Also, my car mfr. recommends M1 for street and track use. I haven't been using M1 in the mowers, but will probably go with 15w50 for the new Raptor, that is unless I find a compelling reason to use something else.
On another subject, I'm a gauge junkie and would like to have an oil-temp gauge for the mower, but can't find one. The drain plug isn't a conventional design so i can't simply find a sender with the right thread size. I did install an hour gauge and have a voltmeter coming in any day now. Those fit conveniently in the two blanks in the control panel, but I don't know where I'd put another gauge.
7394
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Your Owners manual should have that for you, For my Kawasaki FRX651, the OM states to do 1st oil change @ 8 hours to get the break-in oil out.
After my book says 200 hours, but I only put on 25 hours per season, so I change oil & filter end of each mow season. So after over 4 + years of ownership I'm only at 110 hours.
I'm with you. My old mower just finished its 12th season and has 233 hours on it, which is about 20 hrs/yr. Here's what the docs for Huster/Kawi say:
Kawi FR691V printed OM: Change the oil every 100 hours and the filter every 200 hours. For me that's every five years for the oil and 10 years for the filter (yeah, sure). There's no mention of an early first oil change.
Kawi FR691V PDF manual: Same as above except specifies the initial oil and filter change to be at eight hours.
Raptor printed OM: Initial oil and filter change at five hours, then "per the engine manufacturer's recommendations" thereafter.
Raptor PDF OM: Initial oil change at five hours (no mention of filter), then every 40 hours thereafter. For the oil filter it says "per the engine manufacturer's recommendations."
This doesn't exactly jibe, now does it. Nonetheless, I'll be doing my first oil and filter change at five hours, then every year (~20 hours) thereafter.
Boudreaux In Eunice La.
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Are you sure about the 200 hour mark....??? Is that engine oil and not Hydro oil ???? Just thinking ......
cpurvis
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That's what my Kawasaki manual says.
I've got an Acura RSX in which they recommend 10K oil changes and 20K filter changes and the filter on that 160 hp engine is smaller than the one on the 23 hp Kaw.
Apparently with the crankcases buttoned up and breathing only filtered air, oil and filters last a lot longer.
I can't imagine not changing the oil filter when doing an oil change regardless of what the manual says. Besides, if you always change it you don't have to worry about whether you changed it the last time.
Keep in mind that if you don't change the filter you're retaining the dirty oil in the filter and mixing it in with your fresh oil. Who would want to do that? Recommend changing filter with every oil change.
Keep in mind that if you don't change the filter you're retaining the dirty oil in the filter and mixing it in with your fresh oil. Who would want to do that? Recommend changing filter with every oil change.