Lawn mower oil

[Flash]

Does some brand oils keep the engine cooler than others? A mower dealer told me that I should use the Kawaski brand oil in the Kawaski engine cause of that reason.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Oooooooo

An oil thread.



Your dealer is blowing smoke. Different brands of oil make so little difference as to not matter.

I use what I put in my daily driver.

5w-30 full synthetic

Right? Wrong? Who has two thumbs and doesn’t care?

 

[Lilly001]

The engine manufacturer will tell you the rating and weight of oil to use.
It matters not who’s name is on the label.
Some people are partial to certain brands. Pick yours and be happy that your engine will be ok.

 

[Redbow]

I always use Diesel oil in my mowers never had a problem with that and the engines last a long time.

 

[Railroader]

Does some brand oils keep the engine cooler than others? A mower dealer told me that I should use the Kawaski brand oil in the Kawaski engine cause of that reason.

Dealer is a liar...

 

[livinoutdoors]

No

 

[Jim Baker]

Doesn't matter what brand unless there is a warranty requirement.

We use to get shipments of different brands from the same packaging plant in Tampa

 

[GA native]

I use Quaker State 10w30 in all of my small engines. Generally the second cheapest on the shelf, after store brand. My JD 120 lawn tractor has 700 hours on it. Still runs strong.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

Does some brand oils keep the engine cooler than others? A mower dealer told me that I should use the Kawaski brand oil in the Kawaski engine cause of that reason.

Ask him where the Kawasaki oil refinery is located, and where the blending and packaging is done.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

Doesn't matter what brand unless there is a warranty requirement.

We use to get shipments of different brands from the same packaging plant in Tampa

Moss-Robertson Act is your friend. Simply stated, if the manufacturer requires a specific brand of merchandise is required to maintain a warranty, they must supply those items at no charge to you

 

[Ruger#3]

One of my early jobs was at a filter plant. We would run the same oil filter for retail stores, change paint and run for auto stores. On air filters it was some colored rubber and package change, same paper in all products. If it was some high end stuff we’d put that foam rubber around the outside and a sporty box with specail labeling.

I run Pennzoil 30W in my equipment and have never had a problem.

 

[Robert28]

I’ve always been of the mindset that it’s best to use the manufacturer oil filters and then use a good quality oil. Doesn’t have to be Kawasaki oil but I would buy a name brand of the weight you wanted to use. Make sure to use Kawasaki oil filters or whatever mower you have. For instance I only use Exmark filters on my zero turn with a Kawasaki engine, they’re cheap enough and ain’t gonna break the bank. Only time I’ll use something like a Wix filter is on something I can’t get oem parts for anymore, like a Ford 3600 tractor I have. I just use Napa or Wix filters.

 

[gacowboy]

Castrol 30w usually works well

 

[Baroque Brass]

Castrol 10w-30 dino oil in my JD mower with a Briggs v twin. Coming up on 500 hours, runs like a champ and doesn’t use oil.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I probably wouldn't buy the Dollar General store brand, but pretty much, oil is oil. I have a fleet of about 15 mowers with various engines, a dozen side-by-sides, several tractors, backhoes, excavators, skidsteers, and trucks, etc. that I'm in charge of at work. They all get run like rented mules. Our mechanic buys big barrels of oil and uses the same in most of them. Keeping it changed is a lot more important than the name on it.

 

[Flash]

Castrol 10w-30 dino oil in my JD mower with a Briggs v twin. Coming up on 500 hours, runs like a champ and doesn’t use oil.

That's what I've been using for yrs

 

[NE GA Pappy]

Look on the bottle at the rating of the oil. For a gasoline engine it will have a S rating, like SF, SG or so. For diesel engines, it will have a C rating. Some oils will carry both, and be labeled SG/CD or such.

The engine manufacturer will tell you what rating oil you should run. If it says something like SF, then buy an oil with an SF or higher rating. The higher the letter, the higher the rating. You can run a higher rated oil, but I wouldn't run any lower. If you run at least what the manufacturer says, you will be fine. I would worry more about time between oil changes rather than brand of oil

 

[Baroque Brass]

My mower gets about 3 hours per week of use during mowing season, which is March to October here. I change the oil and filter annually. Mower engines also suffer from dirt particles getting through the air filter and causing ring wear so keeping the air filter serviced is also important.

 

[transfixer]

For small engines I generally try to run straight 30w, we're not using them in cold weather usually, at least not mowers anyway, they generally are air cooled, so they will run hotter than an engine that is water cooled, or at least the temperature will tend to run hotter on a hot day, cooler on a day not so hot, instead of being the same all the time,

Biggest difference in oil brands are the various additives some use, some of the higher priced brands might have more additives than some of the lower priced ones, many of those additives might be beneficial to a car or truck engine, but not necessarily to a small engine used on a mower. From my experience air and oil filters and regular oil changes are more important than the brand of oil

 

[Flash]

For small engines I generally try to run straight 30w, we're not using them in cold weather usually, at least not mowers anyway, they generally are air cooled, so they will run hotter than an engine that is water cooled, or at least the temperature will tend to run hotter on a hot day, cooler on a day not so hot, instead of being the same all the time,

Biggest difference in oil brands are the various additives some use, some of the higher priced brands might have more additives than some of the lower priced ones, many of those additives might be beneficial to a car or truck engine, but not necessarily to a small engine used on a mower. From my experience air and oil filters and regular oil changes are more important than the brand of oil

That was the way I understood the guy say Kawalski earl. Something was added to make it run cooler