How ofen do you change the oil on your small engines, splitter, lawn mowers? Is there a way to drain the oil out of the plug hole.
Changing moter oil on small engines
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ohlongarm
Minister of Fire
I change the oil on my splitter every 40 hours of usage ,a 9 HP Honda perhaps overkill but at 3 Grand plus I can't afford not to. Amsoil the best money can buy,most honda engines have the drain hole on the bottom real simple and convenient,takes all of 10 minutes for me and I have zero mechanical abilities.Takes 1 quart.
DMZX
Member
Mower, tiller, - Yearly. Honda generator every 50 hours, and like ohlongarm, use high quality oil.
Ashful
Minister of Fire
Yearly, whether they need it or not. Things that get a lot of use (my tractor) get changed seasonally. Most small engines have a change interval of 30 - 50 hours, or yearly, whatever comes first.
Guys who run synthetic probably have a different change cycle, but I run regular SAE 30 or standard mutliweight oil.
What plug hole?
Spark plug: no.
Oil plug: yes.
Royal Purple on everything. Done at least once a year (on tiller, pushmower for front ditch).
Things that have more usage. Get it more often. They should all have a drain plug. Pr at least a rubber hose to drain it from.
Things that have more usage. Get it more often. They should all have a drain plug. Pr at least a rubber hose to drain it from.
Small, splash lubed engines with no oil filter the interval is usually 25-50 hours and most with oil filters are 50-100 hours.
Highly recommend/encourage the use of synthetic oil in anything that goes suck-squish-bang-blow.
Most engines drain from a plug located low on the block. With most walk-behind mowers the plug is accessed from underneath the deck. Many walk-behinds are designed to drain by tipping the unit on it's side and allow it to drain via the dipstick tube, sometimes with an extension hose wedged in place.
The easiest and fastest way I know to change oil in these engines is with a fluid evacuator like this one.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...19?cm_sp=Upsells-_-Top Sellers-_-Product Page
Highly recommend/encourage the use of synthetic oil in anything that goes suck-squish-bang-blow.
Most engines drain from a plug located low on the block. With most walk-behind mowers the plug is accessed from underneath the deck. Many walk-behinds are designed to drain by tipping the unit on it's side and allow it to drain via the dipstick tube, sometimes with an extension hose wedged in place.
The easiest and fastest way I know to change oil in these engines is with a fluid evacuator like this one.
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...19?cm_sp=Upsells-_-Top Sellers-_-Product Page
Ashful
Minister of Fire
I had inquired about changing my fleet of small engines over to synthetic a few years back, and was told that I would need to pull the oil pan and scrape out the "inevitable sludge" from each, before converting any older engine run for years on oil over to synthetic. Somehting about the synethic breaking down years of sludge build-up in short order, and fouling everything up if you don't take this precautionary step. I never did the research on this myself, but the person telling me seemed to know their stuff, so I just stuck with oil for the time being. Can someone speak with some authority on this?
muncybob
Minister of Fire
I was told basically the same thing. Was told you also risk leaks around certain seals that have benefited from a bit of sludge build up to keep them sealed. I use synthetic in engines that saw reg oil during break in period only, otherwise I play it safe.
I use Amsoil on every vehicle that I own including the lawn mower. It works really well. A buddy of mine sells it at a great discount.
If the crap is already at the bottom of the pan already then it most likely isn't going anywhere, Never have I seen a reason to open an engine for switching to synthetic oil. There is truth to the fact that synthetics "clean" deposits left behind by conventional oils. But for there to be enough crud to cause an issue, that engine most likely isn't cared about enough to get synthetic oil. A mechinc buddy of mine had the intake off of an Oldsmobile V6 (3.1L) it didn't look like that engine had EVER seen an oil change in it's 100,000 mile plus lifetime. We're talking 1/2" of sludge buildup. Probably the worst either of us have seen in a car engine. He used engine flush to clean that mess and didn't kill that engine. If that didn't kill it, a little clean-up via synthetic oil certainly ain't gonna hurt anything either.
BTW: Pulled the oil pan off my '89 Chevy 454 recently and there was only a wee bit of crud on the very bottom of the pan. Engine has been run on conv. oil for 75K+ miles. Piston skirts, lifter valley and rocker covers all looked fantastic.
These things were only true for certain engines back in the early days of synthetic oil. (mid 70's). I have no reservations about running both my little truck and wifes SUV on synthetic right from the start. In fact, many cars now come factory filled with synthetics.
Very little difference between conv. dino oil and "synthetic blend". Only have to have 5% synthetic in it to call it a synthetic blend.
As a general note, synthetics in air-cooled engines are a great idea, one the engine OEMs are beginning to warm up to. Small engines in OPE are exposed to the absolute worst conditions you can put engines through. Air-cooled's run hot to begin with and there aren't very many pieces of OPE that don't operate in far dustier conditions than most autos ever see.
golfandwoodnut
Minister of Fire
I like to change oil once per year but some items it just seems like overkill. For example I have a leaf blower that probably runs 2 hours per year, do I really need to change that? Even my boat only goes through one 20 gallon tank of gas a year, I changed it this year but one tank of gas to an oil change seems like overkill. It took me two years to put 100 hours on the Bobcat, your are supposed to change oil every 200 hours but I figured I better change it after 2 years. I have one push mower that rarely ever had the oil changed and it lasted for 30 years and the mower fell apart and the engine still ran great. I know changing oil is a good thing, but we probably over do it. I think 3,000 miles on a car is way to soon. Never had engine trouble changing them at 6,000 miles.
Not uncommon for cars to have factory recommended change intervals of 10,000 miles or more on dino oil.
Even if the equipment is used infrequently, the oil should be changed to removed any corrosive contaminants in the oil. If something was extremely low hour usage then it's prob ok to skip it. Really depends on the application/engine.
I too have seen machinery go for years without an oil change and be ok.
Even if the equipment is used infrequently, the oil should be changed to removed any corrosive contaminants in the oil. If something was extremely low hour usage then it's prob ok to skip it. Really depends on the application/engine.
I too have seen machinery go for years without an oil change and be ok.
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