Outdoor Power Equipment (Lawn Mowers, Snow Blowers, Chain Saws and more) Discussions

Want to say HI to everyone This my first post here. I just came over from W.T.B.L.Mower.com

I just bought a nwe Ariens 926 dle. Does Ariens / Tecumesh use a break in oil ? Is that why the want to have it changed after 2 hr.

Whats your thought on runing Synthetic oil.

I'm against synthetic oil in power equipment. I would probably use it in a snow thrower if I lived in a really cooold climate for easier starting. I do use synthetic in my wife's chipped turbo Audi (car) for the high temperature characteristics of a synthetic oil. Everything else in my garage gets Castrol GTX and I change it often. I certainly don't see any use in putting synthetic in a machine that only gets a few hours use per year. Money down the drain IMHO.

John

That's one way to look at it. But what is it, another 5 whole bucks to keep you're OPE you spent hundreds or thousands on in good shape? Not too much for protection, IMO.

JohnEDavies wrote:
John,
It is cheap insurance. I ran an engine out of coolant without realizing it. I feel very confident synthetic oil saved the engine. I notice a big differece in ease of starting, rolling and shifting in everything I use it in. By the way, it's in everything I own.
Just don't mix grease without good information from both manufacturers.

Synthetic? ABSOLUTELY for snow blowers. These engines use a "slinger " to distribute the oil within the engine. The synthetic oil flows much better at cold temperatures than does dino. The net result is better lubrication when the engine is cold which equates to less wear. The engine also spins over faster because the crank is not trying to churn through oil that approaches the consistancy of yogurt. This equates to easier starting. 

Marc 

mml4 wrote:
I agree - if the oil is super cold at startup, synthetic is the way to go. My machine is kept in the garage at above freezing temperatures and the "yogurt viscosity" is simply not a factor. 5W30 dino oil flows just fine at that temp. OTH a machine stored in an unheated shed at 0 deg F needs synthetic.

Keep in mind that not everyone lives in arctic conditions.

John

I have just taken delivery of a Simplicity 8560.  I really want to take care of this great machine.

This thread is great and full of helpful info for the newbie like me.

I think I will combine the routines of Marshall - when changing oil, flush engine with fresh regular oil before adding synthetic - and TheKneebiter (as well as Jubol) - change the oil at the end of the season and after sitting for the summer, at the start of the season in the fall.

Marshall: "...change the oil while the engine is warm, doing so will let more impurities run out.  I also would immediately refill it with cheap 5W-30 oil, warm it up again and repeat. Now you have effectively flushed the engine out and can proceed to fill it with Mobil 1 full synthetic"

TheKneebiter: "I change my oil in my snowblower right before i store it for the summer. then when i take it out for winter use i change it again before i use it. "

Both of these procedures seems like great advice.  Therefore I am planning the following routine:

In spring, drain out oil (with warm engine), refill with cheap 5W-30, rewarm engine, drain oil and fill with synthetic.

In fall, warm engine, drain out the synthetic that has gotten impurities from sitting all summer, fill with cheap 5w-30, rewarm engine, drain oil and fill with synthetic.

Any comments are welcome, I really want to take proper care of this machine and make sure I am doing everything right.  By the way hi everybody. One thing I am wondering is maybe I should drain the summer oil and fill with fresh syn before starting engine to warm it up.  Runing the engine with the summer oil might be a bad plan given the summer impurities in there.  Then I'd warm up the fresh syn and drain, flush with regular as above, and fill with syn for the season.

Freddy

You guys running full synethic or semi?

I run a cheaper quaker state semi synth in my 4 stroke honda.