Kohler Oil?

Rickcin

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I bought a new CC lawn tractor with a Kohler V Twin. Should I use Kohler oil when saving the engine or another high quality 10-30 motor oil?
 

ILENGINE

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Everybody will argue over what is the best oil. The truth is find a good quality oil and use it. Kohler oil is good but any name brand oil is to.
 

TonyPrin

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There is a basis for using small engine motor oil versus motor oil designed for vehicles. That said, I don't believe it's decisive and millions of people use vehicle motor oil in their small engines without issue. Beyond that, if you go for a small engine oil there still is no substantive reason to use Kohler versus another brand. All that said, if you go for small engine oil my suggestion is to go for a synthetic small engine oil like Amsoil because synthetics provide measurable benefits.
 

Rickcin

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There is a basis for using small engine motor oil versus motor oil designed for vehicles. That said, I don't believe it's decisive and millions of people use vehicle motor oil in their small engines without issue. Beyond that, if you go for a small engine oil there still is no substantive reason to use Kohler versus another brand. All that said, if you go for small engine oil my suggestion is to go for a synthetic small engine oil like Amsoil because synthetics provide measurable benefits.

I use and have been using synthetic oil for years in all of my cars, however on this site, I have read all kinds of controversy regarding synthetic oil in small engines! The bottom line seems to be the synthetics are thinner and small engines are not designed to use them otherwise it would be stated in their maintenance recommendations.
Several manufacturers mechanics have stated this and there are even a few you tube videos that attest to this.

This may be true or not, the debate goes on forever while I just want to play it safe. I know Kohler most likely does not make their own oil and it is a little more inconvenient to purchase it since it's not sold at many retail locations but I can get it at Amazon.

Bottom line in my mind is if I use convention oil, instead of synthetic and change the oil slightly sooner then recommend, my engine is then getting the best care it can.
Also, for a lawn mower that gets used only in warm weather, 30 W oil is recommended but not easy to find even in the Kohler brand, what is up with that? Synthetics as well, they usually have a more varied viscosity and don't think there is one with a straight 30w but I could be wrong. Thanks for your input!
 

ILENGINE

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I have heard that the Kohler oil was made by Quaker State. The only Kohler engines that are recommended using 30w are the K and M series. All others recommend 10w30 except the big block 38-40 hp which require 20w50. The small engine makers are just now starting to warm up to synthetic oil. Briggs has synthetic blend in 5w30 and full synthetic in 20w50. Kohler hasn't came out with their own version yet, but I am sure they will in time.

And using dino oil for break in is kind of out of date. When synthetics started becoming popular, at first the small engine makers didn't recommend it, then said that you could use it but use dino oil for the first 50 hours because synthetic may not allow proper seating of parts, but that is now gone from all the owners manuals, and Briggs is actually pushing the use of synthetics now.
 

cashman

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Kohler did a very indepth study of oils before they came out with their own brand of oils. Synthetic oil while able to withstand the higher crankcase temps in air cooled engines didn't offer any more wear resistance than a good quality carbon based oil due to the cost according to their study. Also their study revealed that regular automotive oils didn't offer the wear resistance that an oil refined to operate at the crankcase temps that were typically found in operation of air cooled engines. Typical automotive oils their study revealed remained stable up to about 230 degrees then started breaking down. They found that crankcase temps on an air cooled engine could reach upwards of 280 degrees in some conditions. Air cooled engine oil is refined from a higher grade base stock than typical automotive oils thus the higher cost. All of the full synthetic oils they tested easily handled 300 degree crankcase temps but again didn't offer any more wear resistance than the carbon based oils refined with additives to withstand the 280 degree crankcase temps. All of this data was based on routine maintenance intervals. Interestingly, all of the lubricating oil brands are refined from just a few refiners in the world. Conoco Phillips and Pennsoil Quaker State being among the largest. Kohler did put out a bulletin that listed all this data back in the mid 1990's.
 

NorthBama

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I have used Mobil 1 10-30 synthetic oil for ten years in my Toro with a Kawasaki engines with not issues. Just saying
 

TonyPrin

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I use and have been using synthetic oil for years in all of my cars, however on this site, I have read all kinds of controversy regarding synthetic oil in small engines! The bottom line seems to be the synthetics are thinner and small engines are not designed to use them otherwise it would be stated in their maintenance recommendations.
Several manufacturers mechanics have stated this and there are even a few you tube videos that attest to this.

This may be true or not, the debate goes on forever while I just want to play it safe. I know Kohler most likely does not make their own oil and it is a little more inconvenient to purchase it since it's not sold at many retail locations but I can get it at Amazon.

Bottom line in my mind is if I use convention oil, instead of synthetic and change the oil slightly sooner then recommend, my engine is then getting the best care it can.
Also, for a lawn mower that gets used only in warm weather, 30 W oil is recommended but not easy to find even in the Kohler brand, what is up with that? Synthetics as well, they usually have a more varied viscosity and don't think there is one with a straight 30w but I could be wrong. Thanks for your input!

Clearly there is debate about using synthetic oil in small engines. In terms of their use in Kohler engines, though, I agree with much of what you say but not all. The Kohler website on FAG says:
Synthetic oils meeting the classifications listed in your owner's manual may be used; however, you should still perform oil changes at the recommended intervals. To allow the piston rings to seat properly, we recommend operating a new or rebuilt engine for at least 50 hours on standard oil before switching to synthetic oil.
 

Rickcin

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Interesting regarding Kohler new take on synthetics however I am thinking I will stay with conventional oil since my lawn is only 1/2 acre so my tractor runs for approximately 35 minutes per week. I don't really think the higher heat capacity of the synthetic oil would be a real benefit in my situation so I will use traditional oil and change it as recommended or sooner.

My manual recommends the first oil and filter change to occur after 5 hrs if my memory is correct?
 

ILENGINE

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Clearly there is debate about using synthetic oil in small engines. In terms of their use in Kohler engines, though, I agree with much of what you say but not all. The Kohler website on FAG says:

Synthetic oils meeting the classifications listed in your owner's manual may be used; however, you should still perform oil changes at the recommended intervals. To allow the piston rings to seat properly, we recommend operating a new or rebuilt engine for at least 50 hours on standard oil before switching to synthetic oil.

This information not included in the owners manuals or service manuals for at least the newer engines. I know it was there at one time, but searching the manuals for the word synthetic only appears once in the manuals under oil recommendations.
 
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