# What Oil Do You Use?



## Polyalphaolefin (May 11, 2020)

Oil and lubrication is my passion so I'm curious. What oil do you use in your mower?

Here's what I have in mine currently.


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## driver_7 (Jun 28, 2018)

JD brand Turf-Gard 10W-30 in my 220A, Sale rack STP 10W-30 in the 42" rider.

Now if we're talking cars, then it's a different story... Only the best for those, I'm an Amsoil fan now.


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

John deere small engine oil in lawn tractor
Stp 5-30 synthetic oil in my stander


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## AZChemist (Nov 7, 2018)

Rotella T6 5W40 for everything


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## ScottW (Sep 16, 2019)

Lawn Boy 2-stroke oil in the mower. If no cans of that on hand, whatever 2-stroke oil is cheap at Wally World when I'm looking.
Vehicles get Rotella T6 or Penn Plat or QSUD or M1 depending on which vehicle.


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## greencare (Sep 14, 2019)

Used SAE 30 weight so far. I am going to switch to Mobil 1 5W-30 in a month and see how that goes. I had no oil burn-off in the mower with straight 30 weight, but did have oil burning off in the blower. Hoping to see improvement in burning issues with the synthetic oil and better starting on the blower.


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## JRS 9572 (May 28, 2018)

the briggs and stratton brand


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## Polyalphaolefin (May 11, 2020)

greencare said:


> Used SAE 30 weight so far. I am going to switch to Mobil 1 5W-30 in a month and see how that goes. I had no oil burn-off in the mower with straight 30 weight, but did have oil burning off in the blower. Hoping to see improvement in burning issues with the synthetic oil and better starting on the blower.


Give Red Line HP 5w-30 a try. It's pricey but the high ester content and low volatility will help with the oil burning. It also has high solvency so it'll provide a lot of heavy cleaning action as well.


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## greencare (Sep 14, 2019)

Polyalphaolefin said:


> greencare said:
> 
> 
> > Used SAE 30 weight so far. I am going to switch to Mobil 1 5W-30 in a month and see how that goes. I had no oil burn-off in the mower with straight 30 weight, but did have oil burning off in the blower. Hoping to see improvement in burning issues with the synthetic oil and better starting on the blower.
> ...


Already have Mobil 1 ready to go, but will keep that in mind. Thank you.


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## ThickLawnThickWife (Jul 23, 2018)

Royal Purple 5w-30 in my Toro Timemaster


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## Mightyquinn (Jan 31, 2017)

I'm currently using Castrol EDGE 10W30 in both my Baroness' but will probably switch back to Mobil 1 after I have used up what I have. I think any quality motor oil is fine to use in your small engines especially if you change it once a year like most of us here do.


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## DFW_Zoysia (May 31, 2019)

I am normally an Amsoil guy. But I saw a test by Project Farm on Youtube on oils and I now use Penzoil Platinum Synthetic (finished among best) and pay like $6/quart at Walmart for it.


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## Polyalphaolefin (May 11, 2020)

DFW_Zoysia said:


> I am normally an Amsoil guy. But I saw a test by Project Farm on Youtube on oils and I now use Penzoil Platinum Synthetic (finished among best) and pay like $6/quart at Walmart for it.


Take the videos by Project Farm with as entertainment only. The scar test rig he uses doesn't test any parameter of engine oils. It was designed for industrial greases, but was abandoned by SAE decades ago due to inconsistent / unrepeatable results. Testing engine oils in it is like testing which color of Prius can tow easier. The results are meaningless. Whether one oil performs better in that rig is no more valid than a coin toss. If you were to compare all of the results he's gotten with that rig to the old SAE standards, every engine oil he's run has failed miserably (as expected).

The pour test is also misleading as cold starts are determined by pumpability, not pourability. One oil could pour out twice as fast as another, but they both pump at about the same rate. This is why cold start performance is measured in dynamic viscosity (under pressure) using an MRV. The evaporation rate is also not measured at the right temperature nor under the right conditions.

Sadly, people are hurting engines from following his videos. I've seen 2 engines so far that have excessive valvetrain wear because "Project Farm proved SuperTech is as good as Red Line." One of them was an engine I built. The guy was mad that I wouldn't honor the warranty on the wiped cam lobe and handed him a $1,600 bill instead (the price of just parts). The warranty I put on it included a list of oils that must be used. I told him if he didn't like it, he can take his engine to PF since he trusts him more than his engine builder. He still bad mouths me.


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## TNTurf (Mar 20, 2019)

I've had Honda mowers so long that I just use the Honda oil in my small engines. I use it in my Toro and my Honda, standard oil. No need for synthetic I dont think unless maybe you're commercial and dont swap your equipment every two years like most do. The only thing I'm really picky about is using ethanol free fuel. The non-eth seems to sit around longer without going bad. No science to back that up just feels like I have less carb issues season to season.


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## DFW_Zoysia (May 31, 2019)

Polyalphaolefin said:


> DFW_Zoysia said:
> 
> 
> > I am normally an Amsoil guy. But I saw a test by Project Farm on Youtube on oils and I now use Penzoil Platinum Synthetic (finished among best) and pay like $6/quart at Walmart for it.
> ...


Totally agree. I was looking to find a less expensive locally available synthetic vs. Amsoil and simply looked at the tests from that point of view. I believe any of the Penzoil / Castrol / Valvoline types will be similar and fine. I would never use Super Tech or anything like that. They may be fine but it's just not worth it to save a $1 a quart in my mind.

I will say decades ago when I started using Amsoil, I had used Mobil 1 first, and I could notice a difference of night and day in my car engine. That made me a believer in Amsoil and I have never used Mobil 1 since.


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## greencare (Sep 14, 2019)

DFW_Zoysia said:


> Polyalphaolefin said:
> 
> 
> > DFW_Zoysia said:
> ...


What's wrong with Mobil 1? I haven't used it yet, but do have a bottle ready to go.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Nothing wrong with it per se but the formulations have changed over the years and all varieties are not created equal. And they don't make that obvious in the marketing.


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## MasterMech (Sep 24, 2017)

Also an AMSOIL fan here. They aren't the only answer, but they're a darned good one!


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## Polyalphaolefin (May 11, 2020)

Mobil 1 was a little late to the group III synthetic scene (see: Mobil 1 vs Castrol lawsuit). They struggled with it at first, but nowadays have a good handle on it. They are better than Castrol today, IMO.

The common API rated oils (Pennzoil, Castrol, Mobil 1, Valvoline, etc...) tend to all be within the same box with just small differences between each other. They are limited by competition in a vast market, and are forced into meeting API restrictions while also having to cover a broad range of applications. This results in the oils being a bit anemic. They can't throw a lot of anti-wear and friction modifier at the formula because they are limited on sulfur and phosphorus. They can't use the more expensive additives due to the need to be priced competitively in their market. Sadly, the API standards hurt as much as they help because of this. The "boutique" oils (Amsoil, Red Line, HPL, LAT, Driven, etc...) couldn't care less about API standards or being competitive on the shelves at Autozone. They aim to produce the best product possible for specific applications regardless of the cost. That HPL Bad *** oil in the first post contains 25x more friction modifier than Mobil 1 and Castrol, for example. It's designed around engines that make >3 hp/ci all motor and turn >10,000 rpm so it has excellent foaming/aeration control. That's why I chose it for the splash lubrication environment of the lawnmower engine.


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