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

For every new engine I ever purchase, whether in a new car or a lawnmower I change the oil after just a few hours of use.  I learned to do this because a new  engine wears in and creates small metal particles that cause excess wear if they are not removed from the engine, and even in new cars with oil filters the filter is limited in how small the particles it can trap.  In the case of my New Honda GX 270 engine that powers my Honda Snowblower, I ran the machine for about 2 hours, then drained and refilled the engine with 100% synthetic oil.  When the oil was visible in the drain pan it was grey in color from the large quantity of metal wear particles suspended in the oil.   I will probably wait another 4 to 6 hours of operation before doing another oil change.   Considering that the expensive new engine only requires a little more than 1 quart of oil, and it has no oil filter, it seems a prudent investment to add these very early oil changes to the maintenance regimen of a new engine.   Incidentally, Honda suggests the first change after 20 hours.  Based on the evidence of the metal in the oil, I would suggest that is far too long to wait for that initial oil change.  

I'm curious how others feel about this.

" the engine in my Honda snowblower is worth about a thousand dollars,"

In your mind maybe.  Here's a link to help you with a bit of a reality check:

http://www.smallenginewarehouse.com/product.asp?PN=GX240-Pulley&desc=Honda%20Engine%20%208hp%20Horizontal%20Shaft%20with%20Pulley,%20Muffler,%20Recoil%20Start,%20Fuel%20Tank

borat wrote:

Borat,

But that one is just a plain old honda GX engine,  not the Jet Powered GX version

I am stuck on a plane in TO, so I am posting this message with phone. If you google 'synthetic oil and small engines' you will find several links to sites and pdfs regarding oils in small engines! Quick summary: Most engine manufacture do state that you can use synthetic oil in there engines, however some do recommend that you break to motor in with conventional oil first! Manufactures do warn of increased oil leaks with synthetic, and recommend changing synthetic oil at same intervals, because of dirt and contaminates. Most sites and forums confirm plug fouling, caused by synthetic oil getting past rings, but not burning off as easily as dino oil. The recommended time to break in a small engine with dino oil in 50 hours, this was writen by a professor and engineer. My conclusions! Yes, you can use synthetic oil, but break the engine in first with dino oil!! Since you have to change at the same frequency, and there are other risks than can arise from synthetic use (I like my oil to stay in the engine) I do not see any value in using synthetic oil for the application of a snow blower! Please excuse typos, I am using a phone, very hard to read the tiny print!!!

carlb wrote:
Pardon my ignorance, but I didn't know that Rolls Royce or General Electric had snow blower engine divisions.  

Wouldn't that be something to see?  An Airbus 380 with a series of Honda snow blower engines hanging from the wings.....  Maybe New Yorker has a picture of one for us to see!


Sometimes, we have to read between the lines and come to the conclusion that some participants in this forum aren't playing with a full deck. 

That's the problem with this type of communication.  If we were sitting in the same room with a certain individual, we'd have addition sensory input to quickly conclude that we're wasting our time trying to carry on a meaningful discussion.  

borat wrote:

I can assure you that you will never see a pic from New_Yorker of anything that he took himself.

Still it would be cool if someone could photoshop some snowblowers to the wings of an Airbus or even a 747.

Man all this jibber jabber about changing the oil!!
Now you guys are going to make me go outside and change mine!!

But I can tell you this!! I will be using the GOOD OL    DINOSAUR OIL!
haha!!! I hate change dinosaur oil  has done me right!

carlb wrote:

Well if a Ferrari was in your sights it surely must be a dream since you respectfully would not be concerning yourself with brainfart blogs to discuss snowblower maintinance.

You would be calling on your lawncare shop and simply writing the check. It sounds more to me like there is a Kia Coors Can in your bluestone driveway rather than a Ferrari.

Hee Hee Hee

Starwarrior

 

Based on the heated discussion ensued, I decided to change my oil out at 2.5 hours (2 hrs recommended by the manual) on my new Toro 421QE.  I did notice some silvery metal particles in the oil, not a whole lot, but there is some.

When new, I filled the engine with Mobil 1 synthetic.  After 2.5 hours run time, I've changed it to 5W-30 dino oil.  I would continue with dino oil from here on.  Not that the cost of synthetic was a major issue, but a small consideration.  My decision was based on conventional wisdom of folks on this forum.

aa335 wrote:

I am positive your Toro engine will run for many many years!! My MTD is 14 years old, and up here, esp the last 2 years in Lumsden, it works damn hard.

I estimate I put about 40 hours on it, before Christmas, so I changed the Oil over the holidays. When the New Yamaha comes in, I will be giving it to my Dad and I am sure he will get many more years out of it!

On almost all the OPE forums that I subscribe to, the general concensus is that one should use convemtional oil for the first 50 hours before switching to a full synthetic. The reason is the same as has been posted on this thread earlier in that the rings need a chance to seat properly. I'm no expert by any means but this advice sounds plausible to me. Conventional oil has been used for quite a long time and broken in many engines with no adverse results. I'm not inferring that synthetic oil is not capable of this but I'm not prepared to be the guinea pig with my barely used (about 10 hours) GX270 engine. I'll run conventional oil for a few years before or if I decide to switch to synthetic which I did on my old HS624WA at about the 7 year mark (estimated 175 - 200 hours of use). I just changed my oil yesterday (the second time doing so) and used Mobil 5W-30 conventional oil. Oil, whether it be conventional or synthetic, is much less expensive than a replacement engine.