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Many of you followed my thread on my 20 HP V-Twin B&S using oil. So I bought a new mower with a 22HP Briggs. You can't imagine how my blood pressure went up when I cut the yard for the first time with the new one and the oil level was down to the "Add" mark. There are 2.6 hours on this engine. This is supposed to be good for 100 hours between changes (according to the manual - I would never let it go that long). Has anyone heard of new engines using oil for some reason. I topped it off and plan on waiting till 5 hours and am going to change the oil to get whatever initial break in contaminants out. The good news is it is obviously under warranty, but DAMN!!!!!!

And yes I checked the level at the dealer before loading it on the trailer.

hopefully when the rings seat, oil consumption will stop. I agree that would be irritating...

john higginbotham said:

hopefully when the rings seat, oil consumption will stop. I agree that would be irritating...

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I just got back in from cutting the grass again and it stayed at the full mark so hopefully it was just that.

An ounce an hour is considered normal by the small engine manufacturers. Do with it what you want, but until oil use exceeds that amount it is not considered excessive.

ILENGINE said:

An ounce an hour is considered normal by the small engine manufacturers. Do with it what you want, but until oil use exceeds that amount it is not considered excessive.

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It was more like 6 ounces or so (whatever gets them down to the "add" mark) in under 3 hours, but hopefully it was just a break in thing since it held the level with todays cut.

Best thing to do is just keep an eye on it, and see what happens. If it continues to use oil at that level then it needs to go to the dealer for evaluation.

What did you use for oil in a new engine???
Did you ever figure out what was ailing the engine in your older machine?
Mad Mackie in CT

Mad Mackie said:

What did you use for oil in a new engine???
Did you ever figure out what was ailing the engine in your older machine?
Mad Mackie in CT

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I topped it off with some 30 weight.
No I never figured it out on the old machine. I let the new owner know of the oil using issue and even he was confused b/c it started and ran without a bit of smoke. I imagine it has a lot of life left.

Read the B&S engine operators manual regarding oil changes on a new engine. If synthetic oil is listed as an option put 50 hours on the engine using dino oil before switching to synthetic should you decide to use it. I use Mobil 1 5W-30 synthetic in my four B&S engines but only after a good breakin period with dino oil.
Mad Mackie in CT

Mad Mackie said:

Read the B&S engine operators manual regarding oil changes on a new engine. If synthetic oil is listed as an option put 50 hours on the engine using dino oil before switching to synthetic should you decide to use it. I use Mobil 1 5W-30 synthetic in my four B&S engines but only after a good breakin period with dino oil.
Mad Mackie in CT

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MM How did you come up with the 50 hr. time? If the rings are bedded in is that enough? Even if it is 10 hrs. or 20hrs.? What would you expect to see if changed in 10hrs. instead of 50hrs?

Ken

Every new or correctly rebuilt engine needs some breakin time. Most engine manufacturers recommend only short time at full throttle for the first ten hours. When I repowered my Ingersoll GTs with new Onan engines it took 40-50 hours for oil and fuel consumption to stabilize. The Ingersoll GT that I still have has been repowered for the 3rd time with a B&S Vanguard 18, and it took 30-40 hours before settling in and then I switched it to synthetic oil. Bear in mind that I have been a commercial operator and when an engine starts giving me problems I replace it. I usually get 2,000 hours or more from my engines. Most generator engines run at 3,600-3,700 RPM at starting and suffer from this which usually causes higher than normal oil consumption.
Synthetic engine oil has a relentless detergent quality to it and because of this is not recommended for engine breakin.
Having been an aircraft mech, when we ran in a new or freshly overhauled aircraft engines for the first 50 hours using non detergent engine oil so the rings could seat normally and the engine could "coke" up which seals the small leaks.
Mad Mackie in CT