Best Summer Weight Oil

[EuropaChris]

After reading this thread (and others) about "hot" running engines, I measured my oil temp today after mowing for an hour in mid 80 degree temps and pretty heavy grass. The subject is my 200 hour 2005 2544 running 10W30 synth blend.

I used a thermocouple bead probe and Fluke thermocouple meter and stuck it right down the dipstick tube immediately after shutting down. I got an EASY 240F.:shocked: That is 10 to 20 degrees hotter than I'd like to see. I have always been impressed by how clean the oil stays during the 40 or 50 hours I put on it during the summer, but running that hot can't be good for it.

This made me wonder if the air inlet screening is too restrictive to let the engine flow enough cooling air? It does a good job keeping most of the grass out of the engine, but maybe the cure is worse than the disease?

Chris

 

[SHUNKSTER]

I'm not sure what oil temp Kohler recomends as acceptable but if you go to their accessory catalog they have 2 different Oil Temp Sensors for that engine. They are a Part # 24 418 01-S (opens at 310F closes at 350F) or a 24 418 02-S (opens at 255F closes at 310F). I'm looking at the 310F for my 2554.

 

[GTSRider]

Where can you get theses... and do you recommend their cooler ?

 

[SHUNKSTER]

The manual is to large to post here but if you go to Kohlers web site you can download it. It's called Kohler Accessories 2008 Form E-1963-L and their # is 1-800-544-2444 or it says call 388-652-3990 for ordering. It's my understanding that oil cooler is about $125.00 What I did was order a 100mm oil filter Heat Sink from Eagle Day , PORSCHE, BMW, APPAREL, ACCESSORIES, PERFORMANCE, MEMORABILIA for about $30 and removed some of the fins to make it fit. I also went to the larger size filter for more oil capacity. It must work because the Heat sink is hotter than ****.

 

[EuropaChris]

You can also buy the oil filter adapter plates and oil coolers separately from other (Summit, Jegs, etc) sources - the plate Kohler uses is a common item that's about $30. Then you just need some hoses and the cooler, for which a power steering cooler would work well as long as it's rated for enough pressure. Just placing the cooler where it can get a bit of cool air flow would be enough to lower temps quite a bit without having to rig it up into the shrouding like the OEM design.

 

[JSharp]

I installed the Kohler factor oil cooler kit on my 2554. The cooler is just the right size, the adapter fits properly, and it comes with the proper length hoses and the correct fasteners to attach it to the shroud. As mentioned it was around $125 and worth it IMO.

Unless you've sourced all the parts before I'd just get the kit from Kohler. By the time you find the right size cooler, find the right adapter, get the proper hose and fittings etc. you'll have spent almost as much $ and it won't work any better than what's in the kit.

I say this as someone who's pieced together cooler setups on many many engines over the years...