Oil preference in air cooled engines

Bob in SD

Member
My preference is Castrol, SAE 30, but I'm unable to find that in the 5-quart containers
locally/economically (that is Walmart no longer stocks it in our mid-size town.)

I'm leery of Runnings or Walmart brand. What's a reasonable alternative for straight 30? (Hopefully I'm
not starting a holy war)
 
The farm and fleet stores like TSC, Rural King etc all stock 30W detergent oil in several brands. As long as the oil meets the rating requirements it is vastly more important to keep the oil changed than to worry about the brand name IMO. We have been using Rural King house brand 30W in our small engines for close to 10 years now with zero issues.
 
What the engine manufacturers tell us at service school is that the small engine oils are formulated for air cooled engines that run hotter than most water cooled engines do. Use Kohler, Briggs and Stratton and Kawasaki.

Now if you have to get it in bulk containers, I don't know how you will come by it.
 
(quoted from post at 04:42:54 05/26/19) My preference is Castrol, SAE 30, but I'm unable to find that in the 5-quart containers
locally/economically (that is Walmart no longer stocks it in our mid-size town.)

I'm leery of Runnings or Walmart brand. What's a reasonable alternative for straight 30? (Hopefully I'm
not starting a holy war)

I've been using the walmart house brand since Ames went out of business. Never a problem.
 
I've been using Walmart Super Tech oil in all my vehicles & machines for a couple decades now with no issues.
I'm now a firm believer that oil is oil ..... period. Used to waste a lot of money using Mobil 1 thinking it was better for the engines but decided it was just another advertising scheme.
 
(quoted from post at 16:16:36 05/26/19) I've been using Walmart Super Tech oil in all my vehicles & machines for a couple decades now with no issues.
I'm now a firm believer that oil is oil ..... period. Used to waste a lot of money using Mobil 1 thinking it was better for the engines but decided it was just another advertising scheme.
Our opinions vary just a little bit in that I believe the expensive oil is better, but almost nobody needs it.
 
I used to use dino 10w-30 regardless of what was in the owner's manual. I was changing oil 2-3 times per year due to dirty oil. I went to WW 10w-30 full synthetic and now I may go 2 years before changing as the oil just doesn't get that dirty. Soooo figuring that the machine is the same, the usage is the same, both oil types are high detergent. The only difference is the fact that the syn doesn't breakdown like the dino does so I use it. It's not necessarily the temp of the air cooled device as I have deliberately come off a hard run and measured temps and the hottest I have seen on any machine measured anywhere on the machine was around 210 F and oils are supposed to remain good up to about 240F which is where dino oils can start breaking down.....as I read!
 
I switched all of my air cooled engines to Mobil 1 Extended Range 10w-30. My cub cadet has a 20hp Kohler twin with close to 500 hours on it and I have no engine issues. I settled on the extended range after reading the Mobil 1 website that covers oil for air cooled engines. I buy it from Walmart in the 5 quart jugs for around $30.00.

On the Walmart oil topic I used their Super Tech brand oil in a Ford Taurus that I put 140,000 miles on and I never had any issues at all. I trusted the fact that it carries the same certifications as the higher priced brands without the advertising costs.
 
Agreed. I use a QULAITY 30W in the summer and 10W30 in the winter on the few engines that see winter usage. But then again most my stuff is old enough that it started out using 30W nondetergent as recommended oil. Keeping it clean and filled is probably the most important thing you can do with a splash lubed engine.
 
There might be some differences - but as posted below if you change it as often as recommended (or with even shorter intervals) and keep the oil somewhat clean SUPER TECH will be just fine. The high heat of the air cooled engines will break down oil faster but using straight 30W helps prevent breakdown. Changing it more often is CHEAP preventive measures - we are talking less than a quart to a quart and a half for most engines - while replacing and air cooled engine can cost a few hundred to over a thousand dollars.
 
Depends on the engine. My 20 year old Briggs (I have several) I use Mobile 15-40. My Kolher 15-50 or what ever the book says. My brand new toro has 10-30 full synthetic.
 
I have older (25+years old) garden tractors with B&S and Kohler engines with flat tappets and I use Rotella T which still contains Zinc.
 
True test of detergent oil but what crud are we talking about, especially with todays clean fuels.....oil breakdown/decomposition byproducts?
 
Oil is not just oil. Many oils have way too much detergent. Cheap Penzoil cost me 1200$ in my Ford diesel.Use only best diesel
oils.
 

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