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