Full Synthetic oil to use

porkchop · May 20, 2013

Cow said:
Porkchop , thanks for the reply on Kohler engs. & syn. oil , i certainly do appreciacate all the thoughts & answers from others , no kidding when i first relized i had this Kohler Courage i was one unhappy Kubota owner , i could not understand why a Manf. of such a good Mower would put a inferior eng in a quality name product, i have read, studied ,talked , emailed , so many people on this matter
i feel i have worn the subject out.
With the encouraging news like your reply maybe i can see some light at the end of the tunnel , I have spoken to a couple local small eng. repair fellows in my general area , and found out most the complaints are on the single cyl. Courage eng . and yes i have seen with my eyes the complete broken ( busted ) Crankcase Courage eng have . Providing Kohler has gotten the bugs from this eng. i can only imagine the lost sales because of so many complaints and repairs they have made.
I have learned my lesson for sure before i step out & purchase another product that has served me well for many yrs. i`ll do my homework before i make the plunge, just because a product has served you well in past , does not mean that it will always be that way
in this time of every manf. cutting back to save money just to be able to compete with world wide trade , BUYER BEWARE, for sure the "Ole Gray Mare Ain`t what she use to be "
I`m sticking with manf. suggestions on all mantaince on this mower or at least untill Warranty expires. then i`ll put my judgement to work with past experince , i have had excellent results with Sync. oil in past even on other lawn mowers ( their manuels did not call for it either ) for example the old Kubota now 16 yrs old with the 14hp Kaw. eng. runs Great today , my garden tiller, even the 2011 Camry car uses Syn. oil ( Manuel calls for it though ).
About all i can add to the Oil debate is my personal experience , i have NO problem using Syn. oil in any my motors Air or liquid Cooled.
Providing the Warranty states otherwise. Thanks again to everyone that has made replys to my Question`s on Kohler Courage, Command eng. & others.

Well seems like you got your answer or mind made up on the path you want to take. I am glad. I use Pennzoil Platinum in my Chevy Colorado truck. Never had a problem with it. Again to me whats important is not taking a chance on voiding any warranties and servicing your machinery when your supposed to. Sounds like you do that and it shows. Take care bud!

tankdriver · May 20, 2013

Ric said:
Ask yourself some questions, because Briggs makes there own synthetic oil is it better? Kohler makes there own oil and to my knowledge it's not synthetic. What purpose does running synthetic accomplish? Does your manual call for you to use synthetic oil, probably not. Thing is most people who run synthetic oil don't actually know why they run it, they do because like the videos say it makes them feel better. Your manual will tell you to use regular motor oil for the first 50 hours to break your engine in and seat the rings properly. As far as I am concerned if the synthetic oil isn't good enough to break my engine in then I have no reason to believe it's better to run the stuff after break in. The oil guru's on these forums will say if they use synthetic they can extend there oil changes from the 50hrs to 100hrs on there mowers ( BS )
Preform a little test and drive your car down the road with a new air filter for a day and see how much dirt and dust is in the air filter at the end of that day then do the same with your mower, mow lawns for the same period of time and check the air filter in it, big difference and when you see all the dirt and dust in your mower filter you'll say man this thing needs to be cleaned daily cause its full of crap just stop and think if this filter caught all this I wonder how much it didn't catch and is now in my oil. A lawn mower engine runs in extreme conditions and needs to be maintained daily as well as its oil needs to be checked daily or before every use and watched and changed frequently. If you wish to use synthetic by all means use it but I learned my lesson using the stuff and I'm not going there again.

Some of the reasons I use it.

I do not care if I can run it a longer time, more worried about the wear on engine.

It is more stable at all temperatures
It also handle high temperatures better than conventional lubricants
It is better at transferring heat, meaning synthetic oils can actually help a vehicle逞ｴ engine run cooler
It is more resistant to breakdown or 驛ｽhearing, synthetics are much more robust than conventional lubricants
It can save money is through improved fuel economy....around 2 to 3 percent
They豎*e pure from the get-go, containing no undesirable contaminants

No matter what you do, 逕ｰonventional oils have a level of insolubles paraffin, waxes, silicon, dirt natural contaminants. Under certain conditions these substances can form deposits inside an engine.

The problem with conventional oil is that those short, lightweight hydrocarbons tend to burn off when they get hot. This causes the oil to thicken the longer it逞ｴ in an engine.

These are a few reasons from ONE article from a NON Synthetic Oil Producer, AtuoGuide.com

Should You Use Synthetic Oil in Your Vehicle? | AutoGuide.com News

I am a Service Tech and have set through many sessions, and read more service bulletins on this than I care to think about.

Belive what you will.

But if increased cranking RPM from same set up with only thing changed was the oil, does not show you reduced friction, nothing will.....

But this can go on forever. You make your on choice, and I will also.

tankdriver · May 20, 2013

Ric said:
Ask yourself some questions, because Briggs makes there own synthetic oil is it better? Kohler makes there own oil and to my knowledge it's not synthetic. What purpose does running synthetic accomplish? Does your manual call for you to use synthetic oil, probably not. Thing is most people who run synthetic oil don't actually know why they run it, they do because like the videos say it makes them feel better. Your manual will tell you to use regular motor oil for the first 50 hours to break your engine in and seat the rings properly. As far as I am concerned if the synthetic oil isn't good enough to break my engine in then I have no reason to believe it's better to run the stuff after break in. The oil guru's on these forums will say if they use synthetic they can extend there oil changes from the 50hrs to 100hrs on there mowers ( BS )
Preform a little test and drive your car down the road with a new air filter for a day and see how much dirt and dust is in the air filter at the end of that day then do the same with your mower, mow lawns for the same period of time and check the air filter in it, big difference and when you see all the dirt and dust in your mower filter you'll say man this thing needs to be cleaned daily cause its full of crap just stop and think if this filter caught all this I wonder how much it didn't catch and is now in my oil. A lawn mower engine runs in extreme conditions and needs to be maintained daily as well as its oil needs to be checked daily or before every use and watched and changed frequently. If you wish to use synthetic by all means use it but I learned my lesson using the stuff and I'm not going there again.

Reasons I use it.

I do not care if I can run it a longer time, more worried about the wear on engine.

It is more stable at all temperatures
It also handle high temperatures better than conventional lubricants
It is better at transferring heat, meaning synthetic oils can actually help a vehicleç—´ engine run cooler
It is more resistant to breakdown or shearing, synthetics are much more robust than conventional lubricants
It can save money is through improved fuel economy....around 2 to 3 percent
They are pure from the get-go, containing no undesirable contaminants

No matter what you do, conventional oils have a level of insolubles paraffin, waxes, silicon, dirt natural contaminants. Under certain conditions these substances can form deposits inside an engine.

The problem with conventional oil is that those short, lightweight hydrocarbons tend to burn off when they get hot. This causes the oil to thicken the longer it is in an engine.

These are a few reasons from ONE article from a NON Synthetic Oil Producer, AtuoGuide.com

Should You Use Synthetic Oil in Your Vehicle? | AutoGuide.com News

I am a Service Tech and have set through many sessions on this.

Belive what you will. But increased cranking RPM from same set up with only thing changed was the oil, does not show you reduced friction, nothing will.....

But this can go on forever. You make your on choice, and I will also.

polly · May 30, 2016

KennyV said:
Flat tappet failure using the new automobile gasoline engineoils is a real problem with older engines. I've seen mopar cams destroyed.
The higher zddp is a definite help... and like I said, the oil viscosity is arrived differently with synthetic oils... I never suggested anyone use mineral oil that is out of the 'range' recommended... :smile:KennyV

Have always trusted your opinion. i believe it calls for an oil change on my zeroturn kubota engine every 75 to 150 hrs depending on the terain. If i was to go to rotella t6 and change just the filter every 50 hrs. till i hit 150 or 200 hrs. and than give it a full oil change. Does that not sound like something that would work. I was told the oil does not break down that fast and as long as your changing the filters and topping it up each oil change. This seems like something that would work. your thoughts please. polly

startrite · Oct 27, 2016

Cow said:
Recently i post a Thread on Kubota T series mowers , as most do know Kubota now have Kohler engs. the one i bought 3 wks ago has the Kohler Courage 20 hp , when i get 50 hrs. on this eng. i will be changing oil etc. and i`m going to use Full Synthetic .
I would like to hear which brand Synthetic i should use, also most likely it will be 10W-30 unless someone can tell me info. why i should not .
I have read the Manuel & it calls for SG, SH, SJ or Higher , can someone explain in detail how this would apply to Full Synthetic .
Thanks for your replies .
Kentucky

I have a Kohler Courage 24hp V-twin on my Husqvarna Zero-Turn and the manual calls for 10w30 SG, SH & SJ classification or higher. You can use any full synthetic brand with the same specification as the conventional oils. I've been running full synthetic in mine for several years with no problem at all. Full synthetic takes the higher heat of small engines far better and won't break down like conventional oils.

Full Synthetic oil to use

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porkchop

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tankdriver

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tankdriver

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polly

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startrite

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