Engine Synthetic Oil Use

[Carscw]

How much air does everyone run in their tires?

 

[Exracer]

How much air does everyone run in their tires?

THANK YOU GEESE GIVE IT A REST.

 

[northsouth1967]

I prefer synthetic... But I'll share with everyone a piece of wisdom that a member of iboats.com (a boating forum) has in his signature line: "Cheap NEW oil is better than the most expensive DIRTY OLD OIL."

The most important thing is... Change your oil and filter... Often.

 

[northsouth1967]

How much air does everyone run in their tires?

Enough to fill them:laughing:

If that doesn't help, try the manufacturers suggested PSI.:smile:

 

[northsouth1967]

Sure, if that's what you want to pay for. Synthetic oil is very good and you can forget about the old wives tales about it causing oil leaks. However, synthetic is best suited for high stress applications and a waste of money for a humble lawn mower engine. I use whatever is handy or left over or the cheapest motor oil from Walmart.

You're right. It does not cause leaks; but because its thinner than conventional oil, if you already have a leak, it will leak more with synthetic. If you have a minor leak that went unnoticed with conventional oil and you switch to synthetic; it may leak enough to notice now... giving the impression that synthetic oil caused the leak. This is what caused the "old wives tale."

 

[oldyellr]

You're right. It does not cause leaks; but because its thinner than conventional oil, if you already have a leak, it will leak more with synthetic. If you have a minor leak that went unnoticed with conventional oil and you switch to synthetic; it may leak enough to notice now... giving the impression that synthetic oil caused the leak. This is what caused the "old wives tale."

Synthetic oil is not thinner than the same viscosity conventional oil. Where did you get that?

However, early synthetic oils did have the reputation of causing leaks, either because they dissolved buildup on seals or didn't swell the seals the same as conventional oil. That's no longer true.

 

[Raw Dodge]

The important thing about synthetic oil I don't hear anyone mentioning is the fact that typical lawnmowers are air cooled, if you use your mower in extreme conditions especially very hot weather or very heavy loads very tall grass or both the synthetic oil will make a very big difference in the service life you get from your engine.If you are a homeowner just mowing your lawn and you're done in 20 minutes to an hour you probably will not see these benefits as being worth it . I have worked 25 years at a golf course as a superintendent and mechanic,for the equipment we run daily,they work hard,and no breaks,this is equipment that is not that cheap and even the cheaper things like golf carts and small mowers the synthetic oil more than pays for itself in service life and protection from over heating.As for synthetic oil being so expensive yes it is expensive ordinarily,but my local Napa dealer has a sale every May and last year I was able to buy about 10 cases of full synthetic Napa oil for 3.49 a quart,The year before it was 329 year before that it was 299 you just need to keep your eyes open and buy stuff when it's on sale,I stock up and buy a seasons worth of oil or more. I have to change the oil on 35 golf carts,several vehicles,and over two dozen piece of equipment some of which holds several gallons of oil so getting the stuff on sale for us being a small business is very important.The main oil I use is Schaeffers X 7000 in 15w40,it comes in 6 gallon jugs per case. It costs me about 120 a case,and with my five hundred dollar order I get three oil samples and free shipping. I usually use the Napa 10w30 synthetic in the golf carts,and small air cooled engines that are not very expensive.in my larger diesels and liquid cooled gassers I use Schaeffers for the most part.If you have a turbocharger on your diesel tractor or mower,both which I have,synthetic oil protects the turbo against idiot operators who shut down a hot engine before idling it a minute. People don't believe me when I tell him I can get 4 to 5000 hours out of the kohler command 25,but I do and it's because of the oil and because I keep things clean like the air fins,shrouds,and air filter.The last Kohler I had to rebuild was using about 6 to 8 ounces of oil every week if I didn't care I probably could've ran the engine another couple years like that,when I tore it down I discovered the reason it was consuming oil is because it had been so hot so many times,just from running 8hrs a day on 95 degree plus days over the last 13 yrs,that the tension in the rings was gone,the ring gap was fine,the cylinder walls were out only .004 ,for that many hours it was amazing.I did bore to +.025,and new gaskets,intake valve seals,and grind the valves,and that's it,I've put another trouble free 300 hrs on it,and The beauty of running synthetic oil is you can run it for the full recommended interval and not cut your interval and a half for extreme conditions like a high temperature.In my opinion anyone running a liquid cooled diesel or gas engine,you run it hard,and your weather is extremely hot or cold and plans on keeping it for more than five years,it's well worth synthetic oil.For anyone running an air cooled engine twin cylinder,these engines are between 1200 and $3000 now,and most only hold 2 to 3 quarts of oil and all of them have a 100 Hr oil change interval or longer ,exc vanguards which is 50,for the small money difference I think it's worth the money if you plan on keeping it awhile. That's my 2 cents and I'm sticking to it ?

 

[gfp55]

The important thing about synthetic oil I don't hear anyone mentioning is the fact that typical lawnmowers are air cooled, if you use your mower in extreme conditions especially very hot weather or very heavy loads very tall grass or both the synthetic oil will make a very big difference in the service life you get from your engine.If you are a homeowner just mowing your lawn and you're done in 20 minutes to an hour you probably will not see these benefits as being worth it . I have worked 25 years at a golf course as a superintendent and mechanic,for the equipment we run daily,they work hard,and no breaks,this is equipment that is not that cheap and even the cheaper things like golf carts and small mowers the synthetic oil more than pays for itself in service life and protection from over heating.As for synthetic oil being so expensive yes it is expensive ordinarily,but my local Napa dealer has a sale every May and last year I was able to buy about 10 cases of full synthetic Napa oil for 3.49 a quart,The year before it was 329 year before that it was 299 you just need to keep your eyes open and buy stuff when it's on sale,I stock up and buy a seasons worth of oil or more. I have to change the oil on 35 golf carts,several vehicles,and over two dozen piece of equipment some of which holds several gallons of oil so getting the stuff on sale for us being a small business is very important.The main oil I use is Schaeffers X 7000 in 15w40,it comes in 6 gallon jugs per case. It costs me about 120 a case,and with my five hundred dollar order I get three oil samples and free shipping. I usually use the Napa 10w30 synthetic in the golf carts,and small air cooled engines that are not very expensive.in my larger diesels and liquid cooled gassers I use Schaeffers for the most part.If you have a turbocharger on your diesel tractor or mower,both which I have,synthetic oil protects the turbo against idiot operators who shut down a hot engine before idling it a minute. People don't believe me when I tell him I can get 4 to 5000 hours out of the kohler command 25,but I do and it's because of the oil and because I keep things clean like the air fins,shrouds,and air filter.The last Kohler I had to rebuild was using about 6 to 8 ounces of oil every week if I didn't care I probably could've ran the engine another couple years like that,when I tore it down I discovered the reason it was consuming oil is because it had been so hot so many times,just from running 8hrs a day on 95 degree plus days over the last 13 yrs,that the tension in the rings was gone,the ring gap was fine,the cylinder walls were out only .004 ,for that many hours it was amazing.I did bore to +.025,and new gaskets,intake valve seals,and grind the valves,and that's it,I've put another trouble free 300 hrs on it,and The beauty of running synthetic oil is you can run it for the full recommended interval and not cut your interval and a half for extreme conditions like a high temperature.In my opinion anyone running a liquid cooled diesel or gas engine,you run it hard,and your weather is extremely hot or cold and plans on keeping it for more than five years,it's well worth synthetic oil.For anyone running an air cooled engine twin cylinder,these engines are between 1200 and $3000 now,and most only hold 2 to 3 quarts of oil and all of them have a 100 Hr oil change interval or longer ,exc vanguards which is 50,for the small money difference I think it's worth the money if you plan on keeping it awhile. That's my 2 cents and I'm sticking to it 

I hear what you are saying and I agree with you, I have used Mobil 1 full synthetic oil since the 70s and I have seen how it reduces engine wear, helps with cold weather starts, etc, but you can't convince some of these guys because they do not have experience or they think they do and are closed minded to new ideas and they are cheap so they come up with reasons to not spend any money.

 

[Carscw]

I just did a oil change today.
My toro does not like to turn over when it's cold out.

I went with a full synthetic oil. Will see if if cranks any better the next few days.

 

[Ric]

I hear what you are saying and I agree with you, I have used Mobil 1 full synthetic oil since the 70s and I have seen how it reduces engine wear, helps with cold weather starts, etc, but you can't convince some of these guys because they do not have experience or they think they do and are closed minded to new ideas and they are cheap so they come up with reasons to not spend any money.

I don't think it has anything to do with not having experience using the synthetic because I have used it so being closed minded about it I'm not and new Ideas or being cheap. For me using synthetic is a waste of money because for one I live in Florida and my mowers are kept inside when not in use, so cold weather starting doesn't play a part, Two Oil is dirty at fifty hours in a mower regardless if it conventional or synthetic and I've always changed my oil and filter at or every 50hrs so again there's no benefit to synthetic or extending oil changes. I use the oil recommendations from the manufacturers and there's nothing in the manuals that say anything about using synthetic oil and until there is I'll continue using Mobil Super 5000 10w30 like I have for years without any. problems.