Just curious if there is any consensus or rule of thumb concerning hours of use on air-cooled engines. On larger water cooled engines in Tractors I have used the formula that 1 hour = 50 miles and that seems to be a fairly good conversion rate but I don't think this will apply to aircooled mowers.
How many hours of dependable service can you expect to get out of a base, mid and high level Mower engine?
Just curious if there is any consensus or rule of thumb concerning hours of use on air-cooled engines. On larger water cooled engines in Tractors I have used the formula that 1 hour = 50 miles and that seems to be a fairly good conversion rate but I don't think this will apply to aircooled mowers.
About how many hours of dependable service can you expect to get out of a base, mid and high level Mower engine that hasn't been abused and serviced seasonally?
#3
cpurvis
Re: General Question about Engine Hours
It depends on how you use it. The fewer thermal cycles the better. Avoiding maximum power output for extended periods helps.
A rough ballpark would be 400-750 for base engines 750-1500 for mid engines, and 1500+ for high end commercial engines. But those numbers can vary by operator,
#5
cpurvis
I merged the two threads.
#6
tom3
The mower in my avatar is from 1980, roughly 25 hrs/year. Oil changes at end and halfway through the season, figure about 1000 hrs. Untouched internals. Runs fine, uses no oil, base aluminum bore Briggs, no plastic camshaft. Getting some noisy, clearances I guess. Figure most of the air cooled motors run 3000 to 3500 rpm, 70 to 80 mph in a car so that's about 80 thousand miles. About right I guess if not abused.
A rough ballpark would be 400-750 for base engines 750-1500 for mid engines, and 1500+ for high end commercial engines. But those numbers can vary by operator,
Thanks, that's exactly what I'm looking for. Getting the history on a used small engine is almost impossible in most cases so all you can do is go with averages. Most people change the oil in them once a year and run them pretty much wide open when mowing. If they have an hour meter you can at least get some idea of the life expectancy going forward
