Thread: Oil type
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Old 07-02-2009   #7 (permalink)
Hot Cruiser
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Join Date: May 2008
Location: South Coastal Oregon
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Originally Posted by 07Ninja250 View Post
Sometimes the consumption slows and stops after the switch, sometimes it continues on to the end of time. My 2004 Troybilt mower with a 6.5 Briggs consumed no oil on straight 30 conventional, but consumed an alarming amount of 5W-30 and 10W-30 synthetic. 10W-40 syn slowed it, and 20W-50 syn stopped it. It depends on how well your rings have stood the test of time.
Yep, interesting situation with B & S air cooled engines. I've always run straight 30 conventional Castrol car oil in mine, even in my 20 HP 2-cyl. lawn tractor and they never use a measurable drop. A neighbor asked me to check her lawnmower oil level, with the instructions pasted by the filler saying to use 10-30. The dipstick showed oil right at the very bottom. I put in 10-30 since that's what she had and after she ran the mower for half an hour the oil level again was at the very bottom of the dipstick. Changed the oil and put in straight conventional 30 - now doesn't use any oil. But my last air-cooled motorcycles have used multigrade - 10-40 or 20-50 and don't use any oil between changes, and I use Castrol GTX. Maybe there's something about B & S engines - ring clearances or something similar - which causes them to burn lighter multi-viscosity oils, whether regular or synthetic.
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Last edited by Hot Cruiser : 07-02-2009 at 11:36 PM. Reason: Add
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