synthetic

[jreedpw]

Did the searches and read everything it found. My question is: does it pay to use synthetic over regular 30 wt. The last post I seen from this question was 2001?

 

[Benjamin]

On the engine? Pump? Gear Box?

 

[Zap It Wash]

A really good mechanic told me once it does help in his opinion. He said that heat is the biggest enemy of oil, and air cooled engines use the oil to help cool them, thus synthetic helps.

 

[flanbo]

My small engine experience is little. But for my motorcycles I can definitely say synthetic made a huge improvement. My first bike a Yamaha fzr600 20 years ago seen the most noticeable gain. 4+mph top end wide open. Engine tapping much lower which is common on older bikes. Smooth shifting, lower engine temps. The lower temps would mostly match our pw engines being air cooled like my bikes were. So years go for it. I run synthetic in my f250 DSL and our VW Passat. Next oil change I'm switching my gx690 and a 1day old new user ztr mower 27hp Kohler over to synthetic. I ran Yamaha in my bikes. A local mechanic said run Grasshopper oil in my mower and pw engine. Not sure if they make synthetic thou. If they don't I'll use Yamaha or Lucas

 

[BrooksPW]

I have been using mobile one is all my Honda's and I have not had any problems. I have a gx390 from 07 that runs better than the new ones.

 

[tomtucson]

Synthetic Rules! I really do believe it is superior, and it can go longer between changes, lowering the price difference. 5-quart bottles at Walmart.

 

[Ralph Q]

Is there a process to switch over to synthetic? Trying to remove all the old oil? Or do you just change oil as normal and after a few changes all the regular oil is gone?

 

[Mighty Soft-Wash]

Change oil as normal ,But don't go back and forth with synthetic or regular oils .Stay with one or the other .
I use syn in all my equipment .

 

[Curb Appeal Pros]

Yup, change oil as normal, maybe get an extra quart of synthetic for the initial change to use to flush out the the old conventional regular oil and you should be good to go from there with synthetic.

 

[JWBris]

Don't forget to change the oil filter as well, as they can hold a bit of the old oil as well, which will then mix in with the synthetic if it's not changed.
Also don't use synthetic on brand new engines as they need to bed the rings in and synthetic is too good and generally won't allow the ring to break in properly!
Run them for 50 hours on mineral and then change over.

 

[JWBris]

Is there a process to switch over to synthetic? Trying to remove all the old oil? Or do you just change oil as normal and after a few changes all the regular oil is gone?

Don't forget you need to change the oil warm as well, so the engine has had a chance to warm up and circulate the sludge that accumulates at the bottom of the sump. Otherwise you put nice new oil in the engine and the first time you run the engine, all the dirty sludge from the previous old oil now mixes in with the brand new oil.
I hope that helps.

 

[Zap It Wash]

Great info