Splitter engines

[SawdustSA]

Do you guys run in a new splitter engine? Do you use specific oil for the first couple of hours and then replace with a better oil?

I suppose these engines are bench tested before shipped world wide?

 

[lindnova]

No. I ran my new splitter right away - made sure it was warmed up before pushing too much and while warming up I varied the rpms up and down some. I tried not to bog it down at first, but it is good for them to do some work right away and get the rings seated. The rings actually seat better by varying RPM's, so using it is good. As far as oil mine came with whatever from TSC and I swapped it out after the first 4 hours with synthetic 5w40.

 

[SawdustSA]

I am not sure if the shop will prefill it with oil. Around here, everything is for your pocket. They already warned me that it takes around 9 gallons of hydraulic oil which I must get myself.

If it is up to me, I suppose a cheap SAE30 for the first few hours and then some Fuchs 5W40 which I already have. Change after a month or so and then anually.

 

[Jags]

Simply use the recommended oil weight of any good quality oil. Probably the most important part is draining the oil after a short time (4 hrs is a common number heard). I wouldn't be afraid of changing the oil after an hour or two and then again after a few more hours of run time.

 

[bobdog2o02]

My manual said to run for an hour with no load at half throttle and to change the oil after the 4hr mark........ SAE 30 for me on a 6.5 hp briggs

 

[xman23]

My MTD has a 5 Hp Tecumseh. I can't recall what they recommend for changing the oil, but I do mine once a year. Maybe it runs 5-10 hours a year. I run it about half throttle. Not a lot of strain on the engine. I just did it, 3/4 of a quart of straight 30 weight oil. Beware, most don't have a filter, so more often is better. This is the only thing I have that doesn't have Mobil 1 synthetic in it.


Reminds me of a story. Dad brought home the new lawn mower. He filled the gas, 1 pull it fired up, ran a few minutes. "Dad lets check the oil" I said. I did it, nothing in it. Can't be he said, a film of the oil they tested it with and drained, but no more. Luckily we shut it down before it did any damage.

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

I could be wrong, but if have had numerous BS engines on lawn mowers etc, I have never changed the oil and didn't run into any problems with the engines. I'm only asking, are you guys being over protective?

 

[Beer Belly]

CHANGE THE OIL BEFORE 5 HOURS !!......I didn't, and blew the motor ......for the cost of oil, why chance it

 

[BrotherBart]

Yeah change it. I didn't ever change mine and the Briggs on my splitter had to be replaced after 19 years. When the carb got broken in two when a log rolled into it.

 

[Beer Belly]

Yeah change it. I didn't ever change mine and the Briggs on my splitter had to be replaced after 19 years. When the carb got broken in two when a log rolled into it.

Mine lasted a little over a year.....probably had a hundred or so hours on it

 

[Ram 1500 with an axe...]

Will do, your post BB, not BB's made me check my oil, it was still clean, not blackish at all but thank you BB and BB.....

 

[BrotherBart]

Mine lasted a little over a year.....probably had a hundred or so hours on it

Betting that it would have done it with new oil too. In the fifty some odd years I have been running small to large four strokes in stuff I have never changed oil and if one craps out tomorrow it will be the first one.

 

[Beer Belly]

CHANGE THE OIL BEFORE 5 HOURS !!......I didn't, and blew the motor ......for the cost of oil, why chance it

CLICK ON THE PICS
Here's the Oil.....this is from the new motor after 4 hours
(broken image removed)

Here's the result....if you don't
(broken image removed)

 

[lindnova]

That engine would have gone at 5 hours whether the oil was changed or not.

I only used 5w40 for cold starting in the winter and I had some left over in a jug. Otherwise 30 wt is fine in a Briggs, Honda's and OHV usually spec 10w30 to get the oil up in the head faster.

At work we have many Honda GX engines on compactors, generators, mixers and such and they go forever with minimal maintenance. All get yearly oil changes with SN 10w30 oil unless worked on for some other reason. Two of the generators get run 40 hours a week for 6 months out of the year and get yearly oil changes. They are hard mounted on the trucks and hard to change without spilling all over. They still last 4-5 years!

 

[Beer Belly]

Actually, the Oil in the Vid was from the new motor after 4 hours of run time.....the Vid of the motor (old blown up motor) was from not changing the oil untill 100 hours, versus the recommended 5 hours.....not warrantied.....$500 later, splitter back up and running

 

[TMonter]

I change the oil on a new engine before the 5 hour mark and then approximately every 25-30 hours after that. Being how cheap oil is, it's cheap insurance. A good synthetic oil these days is only $4-5 a quart if you shop around and two quarts will basically do three oil changes. Unless you're buying a Harbor freight replacement a new engine is at least $250 so spending 3-5 bucks a year to protect a 250 dollar engine doesn't seem like a big cost to me.

 

[SawdustSA]

I finally picked up my new splitter on Saturday morning. After refitting all the hoses and filling it with oil, I got cracking at some rounds. I ran it for around 2 hours on some cheap 15W40 oil. I then drained the oil while hot. Although the colour did not change much, the amount of small metal particles were very clear in the sun light. Looked like metallic paint.

Some fresh 5W40 synthetic oil went back in and I'll check that after another few hours.

 

[KD0AXS]

It's a good idea to do a couple short oil change intervals on new small engines, because they don't have an oil filter to catch all those particles from the engine breaking in. Engines with oil filters don't matter so much, because those particles get caught in the filter.