lawnmower oil

Bird · Jul 3, 2006

You know it does make me curious as to why they don't label the bottles of oil to tell you just what you're getting. I have an "Industrial Air" compressor by Coleman PowerMate. The manual says it was pre-filled with synthetic oil and recommends a good quality 10W-30 synthetic oil. The compressor came from Northern Tool and I bought a quart of Coleman PowerMate Air Compressor oil at Northern Tool; Coleman's part number 018-0060CT. The bottle has no labelling to tell which viscosity and whether it's synthetic or not. And everything I find on the Internet, including their own website, only says it's an all weather blend.

Sully2 · Jul 3, 2006

Bird said:
You know it does make me curious as to why they don't label the bottles of oil to tell you just what you're getting. I have an "Industrial Air" compressor by Coleman PowerMate. The manual says it was pre-filled with synthetic oil and recommends a good quality 10W-30 synthetic oil. The compressor came from Northern Tool and I bought a quart of Coleman PowerMate Air Compressor oil at Northern Tool; Coleman's part number 018-0060CT. The bottle has no labelling to tell which viscosity and whether it's synthetic or not. And everything I find on the Internet, including their own website, only says it's an all weather blend.

They dont say because too many people will get buffalo'd into going back and buying THEIR branded oil..that they make a big $$ off of. If the book recommends a "good quality" 10W-30 syn oil...then Id use whatever oil ( assumings its syn) that you run in other "items".

slowrev · Jul 3, 2006

Sully2 said:
Yeah...but, but, but...I can save that 2 qts of $4 a qt syn oil if I stretch the intervals to 250,000 hours!!......LOL

I just use the stuff because it handles higher heat than reg oil. And it only costs 3 more dollars per year to have increased protection.

I can't seem to find a Fram filter to fit it though

Sully2 · Jul 4, 2006

slowrev said:
I just use the stuff because it handles higher heat than reg oil. And it only costs 3 more dollars per year to have increased protection.

I can't seem to find a Fram filter to fit it though

You probably walked right past them at Wally World....they look like "thimbles"....lol

Jay4200 · Jul 7, 2006

Soundguy said:
I just changed the oil in my lawnmower ( murray ) and used the 'brigs' lawnmower oil in the yellow bottle ( my mower's have brigs eng's ).

Changing the oil was your first mistake. That 20oz bottle that came with the mower is good for life. Everybody knows that

Jay

TractorLarry · Aug 22, 2006

What's interesting is Kohler's take on this is completely different.

My tractor manual (and the Kohler manual) states for the Command 18:

40 Deg and higher, 30 wt.
Lower than 40 deg, 5w30 or 10w30.

And now the tricky part...

Synthentic 10w30 UP TO 40 deg.

Does not allow for Synthetic above 40 deg.

At first I thought this was a misprint, but every manual I found from Kohler said the same thing.

I've since learned from several that the command engines should only ever have 10w30 in them, year round. Something about the hydraulic lifters.

So I use Castrol GTX 10w30.

They make this way too hard

-Larry

Bird said:
I'm looking at the manual for my 14hp Briggs in my little Toro ZTR. It recommends using a high quality detergent oil classified "For Service SF, SG, SH, SJ or higher such as Briggs & Stratton 30W, Part Number 100005 (20 oz.) or 100028 (40 oz.) Use no special additives."

It then says to "Choose a viscosity grade of oil from chart." The chart shows using 30W for 40 degrees and warmer, 5W-30, 10W-30, from zero to 40 degrees. And it shows "Synthetic 5W-30, 10W-30" for all temperatures.

Of course, the manual also says "Air cooled engines run hotter than automotive engines. The use of non-synthetic multi-viscosity oils (5W-30, 10W-30, etc.) in temperatures above 40F (4C) will result in higher than normal oil consumption. When using a multi-viscosity oil, check oil level more frequently."

And in bold print "Use of a synthetic oil does not alter required oil change intervals."

Now this engine is only a couple of years old, but I know the manual for a smaller engine (on my DR trimmer/mower) several years ago said basically the same thing.

So now I'm using a straight 30W detergent oil (Pennzoil) in my Toro ZTR. But I used 10W-40 (Quaker State) in the DR trimmer/mower because I always had it on hand and oil consumption has been almost nil in both.

ericbx1500 · Aug 23, 2006

I've since learned from several that the command engines should only ever have 10w30 in them said:
I have a 20hp koller command and on cooler days the lifters would tick for about 10min. A few techs told me this was a common problem with vertical mounted kohler engines because the lifters bleed down. So I decided to switch to synthetic oil and I have never had the problem since. Been using synthetic for 7 years now with no problems.

schmism · Aug 24, 2006

i run 30wt HD in my push mowers and generator.

CDsdad · Aug 25, 2006

I run 30 wt in mower and generators, all Briggs. Never had a problem. And I RAN my generators last year after Katrina, averaged 14 hours a day on one and 8 hours on the other for 16 days straight.