Mower Cool Down Time...

[Brieldo]

Guys,
I have a JD 445 tractor with a 22 HP Kawasaki Liquid Cooled EFI engine...I'm wondering if it would be necessary or beneficial to let it cool down for say 2 or 3 minutes after I'm done mowing at an idle speed. Is there any reason to do this, or would it just be a waste of time/gas? Also, I'm running Mobil 1 for engine oil...How much can i extend my oil changes beyond 100 hrs/annual now that I'm running this oil compared with just regular 10-30??

Ben

[TLS]

As for cool down, yes, I do it for about 1 min as its being strapped down to the trailer and the gate is raised. It will let the coolant circulate and remove more heat. As for the oil, if your a homeowner, once a season is probably OK. I would not go over 50 hrs on a homeowner used machine. Too much time for condensation to form. 50 hrs or yearly, oil is cheap!

[racerdave]

My machines are all air cooled. My next ones will be liquid cooled. As far as cool down time, I don't usually cool them down for long. I do run the choke enriched for few seconds to cool down the heads then shut it down.
This will cool an aircooled engine fairly quickly without the run-on problems many people experience.
As far as oil changes go, always change your oil at the recommended intervals spelled out in your users manual.
David

[Brieldo]

First of all, this isnt a residential used machine....thank you for your replys though!!


Ben

[TLS]

If your going 100hrs or annual with your oil changes, then this unit doesn't get used that much. I was just assuming that it was residential for the low annual hours. I know guys that put 1300hrs a year on mowers.

Anyway, 50hrs is safe insurance especially in dusty dirty conditions. I used to go 100hrs in my F935 but that had a couple of quarts more capacity than the Kawi. but boy was it dirty. Diesels are just like that. 10hrs into the oil and its already turning black.

[Brieldo]

The mower gets used alot, but the manual says...100 hrs or annual. It's like...either or...i stick with 100 hrs because i operate in pretty horrific conditions. 80% of my work is for this huge ass construction company, maintaining all their land, grass adjacent to quarry roads etc...so the amount of dust and dirt and crap these mowers see is high. I was just wondering, thank you again!

Ben

[Eric ELM]

Using it in the conditions you described, I would change it at least every 50 hours. The old saying is, it's cheaper to change the oil than it is the engine.

[carl28]

Sounds like we have some of the same problems with working in harsh enviroments. My largest client owns 1500 acers of gravel parkinglot and roads at last guess we mow 55-60 acers monthly in those conditions as well as another 40 of sodded quality lawn weekly. We run all but 2 liquid cooled machines and idle them for 2-3 minutes before shuting them down in addition we change all of our oil at 50 hour intervales which equates to about bi=weekly for us.

[Vibe Ray]

Guys, when they say either every 100 hours or annually, they mean whichever comes first. meaning if you only use it 20 hours a year, then a year would pass before you hit the 100 hour mark, so you would change the oil simply because it has been one year since it was last changed, despite the fact it was only run for 20 hours.