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

Hey Guys,
At the risk of starting another heated oil  thread, I just have a simple question, that should not be a a problem.

For my new snowblower, the Tecumseh manual says this.......

Above 32 degrees............straight 30 SAE
0 to 32 degrees..................multigrade SAE 5W30
Below 0 degrees.................Synthetic 0W30

Now for my question...........most of the time, I think I blow snow in that 0-32 degree range. Sometimes we could get a snow at night, and blow snow the next day with the sun out, and it may be above 32 degrees.  Sometimes, it can get so cold here that it is below 0 for days, and you are blowing snow........(although usually when it is that cold, it does not snow.)

Does 0W30 mean it has almost no lubracation in the coldest weather?  I either plan on using synthetic 5W30 or 0W30, but am not sure which I should really use.  Perhaps I am over thinking this, because I know guys who always use just regular straight 30 with no problems.

Synthetic 5W30 has to be better then that, and I'd say that it is in that range (0-32 degrees) that most of the blowing occurs. Does using 0W30 just give me a wider range of protection, or could it be too thin sometimes since it is sometimes zero weight..( a concept I cannot grasp....how can a oil be zero weight, it would be like water.....??)

What do you guys suggest......??

Hard to believe we have gotten so little snow that until this week, I am still on the break-in oil..........well, off to work.

thanks,

Frank D.

hi frank,

this may not be the suggestion you're looking for but i just use straight 30 because of storing the equipment in a heated garage................

i think that for me thats fine as the start-up isnt harming the engine..................

if a machine would be kept in the cold or an unheated space i would definetly use synthetic...................

just my 2 cents,

bill

faithfulFrank wrote:
Just run the 5W 30 full synthetic and you'll be fine.

Frank-
   I use 5w30 in mine, semi synth(synth base).  My machine is stored in an attched, semi finished(inulation and drywall) garage that is not actively heated.  I would suggest you use at least 5w30 if not 0w30.  Becaue you are in warranty, i would use esactly what the OM says, that way if(god forbid) something happens to the engine they don't get cranky with you on the oil used, not that they'd have a leg to stand on, but ive heard of stranger.

5w30 Synthetic. 

Marc

Frank, I like you looked at the Tecumseh oil spec chart. As I have been hearing good things about synthetic I decided to go that route. For synthetic, the chart only specifies 0W-30 or a Tecumseh oil which is also 0W-30, for temperatures ranging from about –30F to +40F. I have about 8 hours with Mobil 1 0W-30 with no problems so far. I’m keeping close tabs on the oil level. I keep the blower in a garage which has some minimal heat-ranges from 35-40 F. Jonathan

5w30 Mobile 1 here. Has run fine even at zero. You can even run this in warm weather, I do, you just have to watch oil consumption in the warm weather.

based upon info from this site went w/ the synthetic 5w 30.

i had bought the oil. put it in and then  lookesdat the chart in the engine book.  almost drained it out (as it was not wehat was recommended),,,,,but hell tecumseh is requiring (recommending) synthetic at the lower temp range so i deducted that the synthetic in the higher tem range would  not be bad.

Hi Frank,

0W (read zero "dub ya") and 5W (read five "dub ya") are the cold flow ratings for two different grades of a SAE 30 multi-viscosity oil.  The "W" actually stands for Winter and this rating is necessary, due to the property of an oil getting thicker with colder temperatures.

A  0W oil meets a max cold flow rating of 6200 centipoise at -35C (-29F) per the SAE J300 guidelines.

A 5W oil meets a max cold flow rating of 6600 centipoise at -30C ( -20F).

So a 0W -30 rated oil is going to have better cold flow characteristics than a 5W-30 at extreme, below zero, temperatures.

However, to be practical, M1 0W-30 & M1 5W-30 have very similar viscosities from normal engine operating temps down to about 0 degrees F , where the 5W starts to get thicker at a faster rate.

And Frank, as far as the warm weather, I run 5 or 10W-30 even in the summer in my Kohlers. Maybe your Tecumseh Snow engine is different in needing strait 30W, as the manual says but the point is, when are you going to using it much when the temperature is more than few degrees above freezing? I would not use strait 30W in a winter machine. Take your pick of the other two.

I use regular Valvoline 5W-30.  Sometime I'll switch to synthetic.

Blue9R, I really enjoy reading your posts about oil.