OK to use synthetic oil ?

[TobyU]

A lot of that thinking about synthetic oil would not allow proper break-in was false. Just the engine manufacturers not committing to the new oils even though a lot of synthetic oils start with the same refined base as the conventional oil they are replacing. Use of conventional oils for the first 50 hours to aid break-in has been removed from the owners manuals. And changing the break-in oil at 5 hours has been eliminated on engines with oil filters,because the break-in debris gets filtered. So the interval is now to go by the first recommended oil change interval so 50-100 hours. Almost all vehicles come from the factory with synthetic oil in the engine. Auto engines don't even have a break-in oil change, and basically never did. My 2011 Ram 1500 uses synthetic oil in everything but the engine. And the reason it doesn't use synthetic in the engine is because the synthetics in the 5w20 oils don't meet the Chrysler oil specs,


The Kohler synthetic oil change kit sourced from Amsoil and has a 300 hour change interval, which in most cases may be excessive. The old 25 357 06-S conventional oil now has been replaced with 25 357 64-S full synthetic. So Kohler doesn't even offer a conventional oil even outside of the synthetic oil service kit that they are pushing sourced from Amsoil.

A lot of the reason they now you synthetic oil from the factory is because the manufacturing procedures and tolerances got much better. They finished the cylinder walls and the ring materials are better so they no longer need conventional oil for things too polish together for a bit to seal properly.
They can build engines so well today that they don't even need a break-in period at all.
That was not the case 25 years ago and it's still not really the case in outdoor power equipment because these engines are low performance little turds.
They don't get nearly as high quality or expensive machines that bore and finish those blocks as an automotive engine does.
They also don't get nearly the expensive or high quality rings etc.

 

[Jhon]

Not exactly on point, but worth noting when talking about using synthetic oil: The conventional dinosaur stuff works better for breaking in new rings. Otherwise, I only use synthetic.

Good Call. When I purchased a large generator a few years back, I called the manufacturer (Duromax) and asked about using synthetic oil. The Tec said exactly what you said. Run regular oil in it for the first 30 or so hours and then I can switch to synthetic. And that is what I did.
PS, I have a 17 year old John Deere lawn tractor that I ran on John Deere motor oil for most of its life. But I switched to a synthetic blend about 3 years ago and it seems to work fine. I just great a great deal on Castrol EDGE Full Synthetic Engine Oil for 2 bucks a quart from Autozone. So I will eventually switch to that in my tractor.

 

[GroundLoop]

One of the things missing in conventional dino oil is zinc. If you want to continue using dino oil adding in a zinc additive will help prolong the life. https://revxoil.com/shop/zinc-oil-additive/ My 13 year old Kohler Courage engine in one of the zero turns supposedly has/had a lifetime of 500 hours but I now have surpassed that and the engine still sounds good and the old oil looks good when changed. I have a few old 80's GM performance cars with flat tappet cams and running synthetic is not recommended due to leaks. I have been adding ZDDP for the past 30 years.

 

[PGB1]

An engine lubrication engineer for one of the car companies told me that if you switch to synthetic on an old engine, do the next oil & filer change sooner to get rid of the newly dissolved & dislodged solids.

For me, just as Crazy Charlie mentioned earlier, old engines start leaking after switching to synthetic. As I understand it, synthetics are very good at cleaning & dislodging the gunk that conventional oil leaves behind. I've not had this problem with semi-synthetic.

Paul

 

[lbrac]

Conventional Oil is paraffin oil and paraffin equals sludge. I don't need to break an engine in with sludge. Plus with modern metallurgy break-in isn't necessary. I use Rotella T6 5w40 In my briggs engines and also in my generator. The difference is in the detergent package. Rotella is a truck engine oil that uses a longer lasting detergent. I have two riders over 10yrs old that run perfect and don't have any of the problems that I read about here. I change the oil every couple of seasons. No sense in buying extended interval oil and over servicing the equipment. Thats it from a truck mechanic's point of view.

Many years ago, when things were simpler, and much less technical, it was known that Quaker State brand engine oils were refined from paraffin based crude oils from PA. Most other engine oils at the time were asphaltic based. When wet clutches that were lubricated by engine oil were using paraffin based oil, the clutch plates would slip when the paraffin saturated the plates of the clutch, and the plates could also stick together when they cooled. Back then, motorcycle clutches were affected by paraffin based oils more than most equipment. Most oil came from US sources then, but comes from many sources now. I put 500K miles on a 1987 Volvo 245 using various brands of conventional oils without any engine problems, and even valve adjustments were not needed. Oil changes were at 3K miles until I was driving 600+ miles/week, when I went to 5K mile changes. It was still running well when sold. It used a quart of oil between oil changes, partially from minor rear crank seal leaks. Things are more technical these days and relatively minor differences are now known, and sometimes understood; sometimes not.

 

[The Maintenance Guy]

Like the old Pennzoil commercial…motor oil is motor oil . At least when it comes to lawnmowers for me. I pour in whatever I have leftover from oil changes. If it’s a machine dear to your heart and pocketbook though, do whatever the manufacturer recommends.

 

[7394]

One place I would not scrimp, would be the mower hydros'... There I add the best oil.

 

[Dieselbob]

When I bought my new Kohler engine for my Grasshopper two years ago, I contacted Kohler and told them after spending 2K on a new engine, I wanted to use the BEST possible engine oil. Partially due to hard use and partially because the Grasshopper grass collector box sits right over the engine and holds in heat, I had always suffered from diminishing oil pressure in warm weather. ( I always install oil pressure gauges on any engine possible). Kohler set me up with their 10W50 synthetic, and man what a difference! Now I have ZERO oil pressure degradation, and even though I only run it about 110 hours hours, I have eliminated any in season oil changes, plus now no need to change to a lighter oil for winter snow blowing and then back to heavier oil again for mowing season, so I'm actually SAVING money. If most of you guys actually saw what your hot oil pressure was with conventional oil, you would ALL be changing to synthetic.

 

[Craiger]

I've been using synthetic oil in my cars since 1988. It lubricates better than conventional. Several have gone over 200,000 mi. One big point. Using a synthetic blend makes about as much sense as blending cheap generec local store brand whiskey with super expensive top shelf like Pappy Van Winkle. I've used synthetic oil in all my small engines for many years with success. The additional cost is negated because you don't need to change oil as often. It's a no brainer.

 

[GrumpyL5030]

My TORO zero turn mower has Kawasaki 23 hp engine. 270 hours on it. 10 Years old. Been using CASTROL 10w30 or 20w50 in it, conventional oil. I've been thinking about maybe running synthetic in it this spring. Heck, everything else seems to be running ir. Got any thoughts on that anyone? I don't think I'd want to go down to 5w30 and don't know if synthetic comes in 10w30 or some such.

I had this question years ago for an old car I had. The answer I got kinda made sense, so I followed that advice:
An older engine with high miles/hours is better off running traditional (non synthetic oil) to prevent loss of compression due to synthetic oil cleaning the cylinder of old, baked on oil products that form with age and miles. The synthetics stand up to heat remarkably and can reduce oil change intervals. The traditional oils might need to be changed more frequent but are less expensive. I'd stick with what you've been doing. Good luck JC.