Which Oil Are You Running?

[gabowman]

Per chance have you read the oil recommendations in the Kawasaki owners manual?
Any quality engine oil SF or later as in SG, SH, SJ, SL------on.
SAE 30 is the best for outside temp ranges 32-95 degrees.
I personally prefer Valvoline products and they are readily available in my area.
75 hours on my new Hustler X-ONE and no oil consumption noticed on the Kawi FX730V, sweet running engine!!!
I strongly recommend using Kawi engine oil filters!!
Mad Mackie in CT:laughing::biggrin::smile:

I have checked all of the engine oils for standard vehicles in my local Walmart and nothing meets the standard requirement you have stated (and my manual states) that meets the API ratings. I should mention that everything in my local store is multi weight oils. Looks like I will have to drive the 45 miles to buy a few quarts of Kawasaki 30 wt oil.

 

[bertsmobile1]

In season when the mower is being used a lot it matters not a rinkled rats rectum what oil you run.
Air cooled mower or motorcycle oil would be better but almost any oil will be fine.

It is when you bed it down for winter that the extra moisture protection & corrocion inhibitors found in specialist mower oils becomes important.
Brand is unimportant to your mower it can not see the can so put in whatever makes you feel good, just chane it before you put the mower away, not just before the season starts.
By then any damage that is going to happen has happened.

 

[DK35vince]

I use Rotella t-6 5w-40 synthetic in my zero turn, push mowers, pressure washer, generator, diesel tractor, atv and motorcycle.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Oils aint oils and that goes for all oils, crude oil included.
Cheap oils are built up on cheap crude ( or splits from cheap crude or bad splits from good crude ).
This stuff which would normally become waste & go on for further reprocessing into fertiliser gets diveted to make cheap oil.
Most of it have next to no natural lubrication, or so many impurities ( sulphur in particular ) that they are useless for most applications without a lot of expensive reprocessing.
So they get a lot of additives to bring them up to minimum permissible standards and sold to big box stores for house brand oil

 

[Ric]

The manual doesn't say anything about brand of oil to use but does recommend changing it at 8 hrs. (new machine). So....which Brand and weight oil are you guys running in your Kawasaki motors? BTW, mine is the FX730V motor.

I run the FX 651 and the FS 541 and run the Mobil Super 5000 10w30 in both and have for years, You don't need Kawasaki oil. Brand of oil doesn't really have anything to do with it. The manual will tell you OIL TYPE Detergent oil ( API service SF, SG, SH, SJ, SL or higher ) I actually wouldn't run the SF, SG, or SH because there obsolete for the newer engines according to the current ratings which are SL, SM or SN. Kawasaki like Kohler and the rest need to upgrade there manuals.

 

[AnthemBassMan]

I use synthetic 10w30 in my two push mowers. One is a 2008 Poulan rear bagger with the 500 Series Briggs, and the other one is a 1992 Craftsman II with a 3.5hp Tecumseh it. The Tecumseh still fires up on the first pull with no smoking. The Poulan smokes a little at first, but it was beat on a little before I got it from my Brother-in-law. I use Rural King full synthetic oil now because I can get it for $2.79/qt there. I might try Royal Purple for the next change to see if there's any difference. L8R, Matt

 

[exotion]

I'm actually thinking about using synthetic in my Toro with kawi 180 it has a filter and so I only change the oil 3 times a year wonder if it'll pull a little extra power out of it

 

[rarebear]

Mobil 1 Synthetic 10-30w from Walmart
Here in GA you can buy 5 qts for just over twenty bucks, I checked most places online and they had the best prices..

I have been reading some oil forums and while I never believed in synthetics on my 20 year old 10 hp Tecumseh, that I changed the oil once a year,, I used any quality 30w oil and it's still running fine.. With my new Intek my plan is to change in twice a year with synthetic.. I read most wear happens at startup and 10-30w helps lube better at starts..

 

[cmw]

I run the Rotella T6 5W40 full synthetic with good results. I used to run 10W30 conventional as specified by Kohler. It would consume oil and I would get significant smoking during heavy loading of the mower, especially in hot weather. Then I switched to the Rotella T6 based on some things I had read and I never add oil between changes and the smoke issue is no more. This says a lot to me about the oil's ability to handle stress and high heat in an air-cooled engine.

Conor

 

[MowerMark]

The manual doesnt say anything about brand of oil to use but does recommend changing it at 8 hrs. (new machine). So....which Brand and weight oil are you guys running in your Kawasaki motors? BTW, mine is the FX730V motor.

After a one year break-in with standard motor oil, I always use AMSoil, 100% synthetic in my Honda Lawnmower. Use only AMSoil products in my car, now at 240,000 miles.