What is the best oil for a Kawasaki FR691V 23 hp?
Engine oil
4 reading
Macanic
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Used 10/40. Got 300 hours and it went south.
On 1 oil change? No wonder "it went south"
Need to change it a little more often
No I service it often, just thought 300 hrs was a little low.
Not sure. Should not have been. Checked before every start, serviced regularly, Pennsylvania 10w40. Dropped a valve. O/H engine but still not happy with it. Looking to replace with 27 hp Briggs. Just thought 300 hrs was a little low for failure.
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102 Posts
I can only show you what the manufacturer publishes. Oil specifications dictate the level of performance the lubricant is going to deliver. As for the Briggs & Stratton 27 HP engine, this is what is shown for their vertical shaft 400000 series air-cooled V-twin:
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824 Posts
What is this Pennsylvania 10w40? Small engine oil has added zinc
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Op.What mower was the 691v on?
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Thank you for posting the correct kawi recommendations. In fact as mentioned, kawi now recommends 20w50 for anything above freezing. The caveat is that 20w50 will reduce oil consumption, the reason kawi went to this is because they were seeing oil consumption with 10w40 and similar oils. You're going to be fine with 10w40 or 20w50, but it's worth being clear that Kawi has made this new note about going to 20w50 to reduce oil consumption.
I've got 4 kawi's and they've all run either 10w40 or 20w50. I'm switched exclusively to 20w50 and i see zero consumption and the engines hold up.
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102 Posts
I use a monograde SAE30 in my water cooled Kawasaki FD440V and it performs much better than a multi-grade oil. Where I see the difference is when the engine has sat for any extended period of time and oil has been allowed to seep past the rings and into the combustion chamber (engine is a vertical placement V-twin). With a 5W-xx it smokes like a tire fire on start-up. I have used 10W-30 and it was an improvement but not a solution. The SAE30 resolves the problem completely. I have never tried 10W-40 nor 20W-50 but the base fluids for the 10W and 20W part of the formulation is going to be lower viscosity and heavily modified with plasticizers, viscosity index improvers and elastomers added to get the thin oil to perform under heat.
I ran my mower yesterday here in Atlanta just to get it out and burn some fuel. The temperature was 38ÂşF and the engine was not happy about being started. If I used the mower regularly in these climates I would switch to a 10W-30 synthetic product. But given the application and time of year I just leave things as they are. I change the oil every two years but I am fanatical about keeping the air filter clean.
I ran my mower yesterday here in Atlanta just to get it out and burn some fuel. The temperature was 38ÂşF and the engine was not happy about being started. If I used the mower regularly in these climates I would switch to a 10W-30 synthetic product. But given the application and time of year I just leave things as they are. I change the oil every two years but I am fanatical about keeping the air filter clean.
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1,009 Posts
I think I’m gonna run shell rotella this season. I’ve seen and heard nothing but stellar reviews about it.
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