Which Oil Are You Running?

[DonCT]

My mower and snowblower both run G-Oil 10w-30 bio synthetic. Mower gets changed once a year, blower every other year.

 

[gabowman]

Today I checked every brand of oil that Walmart carries (including the synthetics) looking at the API rating and the ONLY brand of oil that fit the catagory was Rotella oil, and that is recommended for deisel motors. So, after that, I went to the lawn mower dealership where I bought my Hustler and picked up two qts of Kawasaki brand SAE 30 weight oil. EVERYTHING in walmart was "SN"....which isnt in the list of the preferred API ratings.

 

[DonCT]

So, after that, I went to the lawn mower dealership where I bought my Hustler and picked up two qts of Kawasaki brand SAE 30 weight oil. EVERYTHING in walmart was "SN"....which isnt in the list of the preferred API ratings.

Your lawnmower shop sells magazines? Cool.

 

[exotion]

Your lawnmower shop sells magazines? Cool.

lol took me a second

 

[TaskForceLawnCare]

I run Rotila in all my mowers, I've never had an issue. I've been doing it for a few years, i was just tired of buying one kind of oil for the trucks 15 qts per truck and another for the mowers. So i just buy it by the 5 gal bucket, and use it for both.

 

[djdicetn]

Hi LMF,
I've never seen Kawasaki 30, or 10W30, just motorcycle oil.
Mad Mackie in CT

Here's a link...Kawasaki indeed recommends their 4-cycle oil for their mower engines:

K-Tech

 

[djdicetn]

Kawasaki does have their own small engine oil, but I've never seen it at any of the dealers that I frequent. I have no problem with Briggs engine oil other than the price which is $8.69/quart at local dealers and Walmart doesn't stock it any more and they were a little less expensive.
Lot of difference between Vanguards and Inteks/ELS engines. I repowered my Scag Tiger Cub this spring from a failing Briggs ELS to Commercial Turf Series and time will tell if it has more life than the Intek/ELS series engines. My Hustler has a Kawi FX730V and I had considered buying one of these engines to repower with but the cost to repower with the Kawi was $2,300 and the Briggs was $845 as I could use the same muffler, controls and battery cables from the ELS engine.
I'm going to check on line if I can buy case lots of the Briggs 30 engine oil, otherwise it will be Valvoline 30.
Mad Mackie in CT

Oops...saw where Mad Mackie noted later he knew Kawasaki had 4-cycle oil....but, the B & S SAE30 I use can be purchased at Lowes for $7.68 for a 48 ounce container. I still consider that reasonably priced oil. Did you ever find out if it could be gotten cheaper online by the case??????

 

[afoulk]

I'm using Chevron Delo 15w-40 in the 7hp Intek on my newer snapper and Pennzoil SAE40 in the 3.5hp Briggs on my old snapper. The 3.5hp has been getting a lot of aluminum particals after only 4 or 5 hrs of run time and I've been changing it pretty frequently all summer to see if maybe it was neglected before I bought it and it might clear up once I changed oil a few times and cleaned it out, or if it was an issue with the rod or piston. Hasn't really cleared up, so I'm assuming its the worst. I'll hopefully get a chance to pull it apart this coming winter or spring and see for sure whats going on.

 

[jakewells]

Rotella T6 5W40 full syn in all my 4 strokes including my truck. the 2 strokes get echo red armor oil at 50:1

 

[MBDiagMan]

The Kohler manual specifies 10W30 or 30W for my climate and says that synthetic is okay. Since I have an air cooled version, I use synthetic 10W30 to provide better lubrication if the oil temperature gets high. It's only two quarts and even at $6 or so a quart, oil is CHEAP compared to a new Kohler Command Pro at over $2,000.

My $0.02,
Larry