when to go to synthetic

[s and s mowing]

my dealer told me to wait till 250 hrs to switch,i have 70 now,and also i was using oil pretty good till about 50 hrs,but im wanting to put some mobil 1 in it as soon as i can.what does exmark reccomend.

[Jackman]

I could be wrong but I think Exmarks come with Mobil 1 in the engine, at least thats what I always thought...

[eXmark]

Guys,

The engine manufactures recommend waiting until after the first oil change. I generally recommend waiting until after the 2nd or 3rd.

We use Mobil 1 standard in the hydro drive system and not the engine. All of your power equipment engines should be ran on petroleum oil for the first 5-10 hour break in period.

Thanks

Terry

[dishboy]

Originally posted by eXmark
Guys,

The engine manufactures recommend waiting until after the first oil change. I generally recommend waiting until after the 2nd or 3rd.

We use Mobil 1 standard in the hydro drive system and not the engine. All of your power equipment engines should be ran on petroleum oil for the first 5-10 hour break in period.

Thanks

Terry

Can you give us the specific reason as to why? What are we waiting to break in?

[eXmark]

Dishboy,

A new enigne but literaly get some wear in it for the bearings, rings and all the moving parts to seat properly. If this doesn't happen these parts many never function properly. Just as an example a brand new engine may not have full compression until the rings seat and thus it won't build full power or it may also consume excessive amounts of oil.

The synthetic oils are too slick for the wear/seating/break in process to occur properly.

Thanks

Terry

[Jackman]

Terry

Is it a bad idea to switch to Mobile 1 after useing regular petroleum based oil, My engine has 1400 hours and runs fine just wish I had used Mobile 1 from the start.

Thanks Jack

[Jackman]

Just bring this thread back to the top, what do you think about going to Mobil 1 after 1400 hrs with Mobil 10/40 oil.

Good idea or to late the damage is done.

Thanks Jack

[eXmark]

Jack,

There is a lot of talk that switching to a synthetic on a high hour machine is a bad thing. I've heard everything from seal/gasket leaks to bearing failures. All this however has been talk. I have not seen any testing/studies etc. to verify this information.

From my own experience I would not recommend it.

Terry

[Keith]

If for no other reason, don't use synthetic in the beginning because you are just wasting money. You should be dumping the factory fill and changing the filter at about 5 to 10 hours. Then at about 50. Some people do the second change even sooner. At that point I would do it again at 100 hours. That's just money down the toilet for no real good reason. Modern conventional oils are perfectly fine for that kind of use. I usually change them to synthetic after the third change if I decide to use synthetic.

Jack, I think the main concern with changing to a synthetic at higher hours is, as Terry mentioned, seal leakage. The only other problem I could see with it would be if there was so much sludge buildup in the engine, the synthetic could possibly break it up and clog an oil passage or pump. Other than that, there is really no risk. But at 1400 hours I would not bother. If you are changing the oil every 50 hours or so, I'm not sure I would bother on any engine, brand new or not.

[burnandreturn]

What experience have you had that makes you not recommend changing to synthetic on a high hour engine?

[Jackman]

Terry,

I guess Ill leave good enough alone. My next Exmark will get a steady diet of Mobil 1

Thanks Jack

[KurtisInIowa]

Dude, 1400 hours is a nice long life for any engine. I would not change to synthetic oil at this point. Just like us, it won't live forever no matter what you do.

[eXmark]

brunandreturn,

I switched an old snow thrower over and I tell ya the thing started great the first time I used it. After that it just didn't seam to run right for a little while and then it didn't run at all. When I tore it down I found that the cylinder was pretty well worn as were most of the bearings. If I had to guess most of these surfaces were either packed full of grunge from the old oil, sludge carbon etc. and the synthetic washed it all out. The other guess would be that the synthetic removed this build up from the crank case and then suspended it in oil which then allowed it into the various componants of the engine causing excessive wear. Both are guesses and like I've said many times I am not an engine guy so I may be wayyyyyyy off base.

Terry

[burnandreturn]

Terry, Your reply was probably the best reply to my question I've ever gotten. Thank you! The fact that you state it's a "guess" gives you credibilty in my mind. There's that old saying,"if it ain't broke, don't fix it." that certainly could apply in an old high hour engine. I am a fanatic when it comes to my machines of any sort. On my main mower I have a pre-lube oil system to pump up the oil pressure before a cold start so I have no dry starts. I also use the pre-luber to change the oil. I hate to change the oil in anything so I assembled this pre-lube system to facilitate a two minute oil and filter change. I put a remote oil filter on so the filter hants straight down and doesn't make a mess when changing and is full of oil. I have temperature gauges on the engine crank case and on the hydraulic oil resivoiur. I have oil pressure gauges on the engine. I have experimented with many brands of oil and it's very interesting how much I've improved my fuel effieciency with different oils and grease on brand new engines and high hour engines. Once again thank you for not trying to blow smoke.

[bracketshark]

Burn,
Sounds like you have much experiance to share on the oil type and maybe which viscosity's to use. How about it? I'm interested to here your sugestions on Kohler motor lubricants, grease types to for that matter. I like that prelube stuff, it sounds trick!