Lawn mower oil
 

Nothing to do with an SV, but most of the technical stuff gets posted in TT&T and most of the mechanics lurk in here, mods please feel free to move if you want to.....

I use Silkolene 4T Ride 10w/40 Synthetic in the bike, but one long trip up in Scotland and my bike seemed to have burned a load of oil, so I had to go into a local bike shop and the only had some other brand of 10w/40 bike oil. Now I've done an oil change with the Silkolene and will use this for top up's unless in an emergency it's not available. This leaves me with the best part of a litre of the other brand which I will probably never use.

The lawn mower is well overdue an oil change and in the past I've just used a straight non-multigrade SAE30 garden machinery oil. Could I use the spare 10w/40 in the mower?

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

SAE30 is the usual for mowers.
Not sure about 10W/40, but would just buy lawnmover oil.
Usual is £5 for a oil change.

What type of engine?

Briggs?

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

Yep

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

Get briggs SAE30 oil, enough oil will only cost you a fiver.

Should change oil every 50 hours or so.

Keep the engines serviced like you're bike, they will last at least 10 years. Is it a push mower or a ride-on?

Type of mower?

This is what I work as, or used to after tomorrow :)

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

OK, I will just buy the oil, I was just being a tight ****. It's a Mountfield, self propelled push mower, 5.5hp Briggs with galvanized steel chassis, not sure exactly which model though. I think it's B&Q own brand now? Did they buy Mountfield?

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

Mountfields are sold by B&Q, i bought one from there.
Not sure if they just brand them with their own labels as well now.
I used to work for a company that makes the control cables for these and many others, im sure mountfield are owned by a bigger mower manufacturer cant remember who though.
Useless info, but there you go.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

http://www.ggp-group.com/

Google knows all! Looks like these guys own Mountfield, but mine came with B&Q branding on the cardboard box and on the instructions, they must have a retail brand licensing agreement in place.

If that's the case are Mountfield actually making the B&Q mowers, or are B&Q having them made elsewhere and have the license to use the Mountfield name on them, we assume with some quality control from Mountfield, or are Mountfield just packaging their mowers with some B&Q branding on them as B&Q are buying so many?

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

Google'd Mountfield B&Q and got this on a blog. Had mine 5 years and it's been great, oh well.

EX B&Q Warranty Repairer says:
December 23, 2008 at 12:20 pm
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, READ THIS!
There is nothing wrong with Mountfield mowers, HOWEVER! The models that are sold in B&Q stores are NOT the same as Mountfield sell themselves.

Look on Mountfield.co.uk and you will see. They might look similar but are not the same!

Many of the models that are made exclusively for B&Q, are made in SLOVAKIA or POLAND and not in italy where the rest of the Mountfield mowers are manufactured.

The quality control of the B&Q machines is virtually non exsisitent and the reason that they are told not to accept returns, is because the spares for these machines are different from the normal UK Mountfield machines.

Also they NEVER order spares when they import the machines to save money!

I Left a year ago and was disgusted with the way they treated their customers! It was always left to engineers like me to bear the brunt of very rightly peed of members of the public!

If you do have a problem don’t waste your time and money with the helpline numbers they give you!
Just phone B&Qs Head office and complain!
Trust me your new mower will be with you so quickly, you’ll be amazed!

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

8-[
Haven't serviced my Mountfield Empress Since my Dad gave me it over 10 years ago other than once 7 or 8 years ago and he had it 10 years.

Do you think I should change the oil? - they're probably old friends by now the engine & that oil, oh, and the spark plug, air filter :smt102

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

10W40, 20W50, whatever bike oil will do absoluletely no harm to a Briggs. SAE30 is just a minimum spec.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

Bike oils are absolutely fine in mowers, they are very tolerant (in fact they are very well engineered to be as tolerant of abuse and neglect as they are). I've serviced mowers for people to find about a tablespoon of thick black treacle in it, still running OK.

Bike oils have relatively high levels of ZDDP anti-wear type additives (for the gearboxes) so will give extra protection compared to a modern car type oil.

To be honest I use any spare oil in my mower, it gets all sorts, but I do change the oil at the end of the season every year before winter. I bought mine from the local tip (in need of slight repair) about ten years ago and it's fine.

I do use decent oil in the expensive equipment with fancy OHV/OHC Honda engines.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

They run with camshaft in the sump practically and lower compression ratios than almost anything, they are ridiculously understressed. Chip fat would probably work so bike oil will be right.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

My old company used to supply Stiga and Castel garden as well as mountfield, but they moved to hungary.
The bigger companys buy up the smaller independants but still keep the brands.
Interesting about the mountfields though, i still talk every now and then to one of the old sales guys, i bet he'd know all about the situation with B&Q.
Have B&Q own brand stuff got briggs and stratton engines?
Some of these cheaper engines can be crap.
Phil

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

It's not "own brand" as such. It's branded Mountfield, with a Briggs & Stratton engine, but the box it comes in and the user manual etc all carry both Mountfield AND the B&Q branding.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

:D In the circumstances I think it ought to stay!

And as I'm mod in here it's going to :p.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

I have probably got one of their crap ones then lol.
i have had mine about 4-5 years now, still going strong.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

I agree that you'll be fine using your motorcycle oil in your brigs engine. The different branding of oils is a way to get people to spend MORE money by making them think there is a difference. If anything, the motorcycle oil is better. More than likely, they were made in the same plant with the same detergents. Both engines run on exactly the same methodology.

I ran my last bike, a Yamaha air cooled 750 for 45,000 miles on regular car oil (generic from walmart, but with the correct viscosity) and never had a problem. No clutch issues, no burning oil..nothing. Ran fine when i sold it and got the sv.

As a matter of fact, car oils are better for your bike engine (worse for the clutch) because they have additional lubricants in them the bike ones don't have. The extra lube COULD make the clutch (wet clutch) slip..maybe...if you are super hard it, and cause it to wear faster....possibly.

I digress. The point is, a brigs, while a nice mower motor isn't anything near the precision of your bike engine. If the oil is good for the bike, it will be good for the brigs (i would not say the opposite is true. I wouldn't put lawn mower oil in a bike though..my opinion is the mower oil is probably WORSE oil...the dregs so to speak). Besides, you'll run it for a couple months, and you'll change it again in the spring. You'll run it for a total of 8 - 12 hours before you stow it for the winter? Hardly enough time to damage it even if it wasn't as good for the mower.

No point in wasting the oil. It's bad for the environment, not just bad for the wallet.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

The other issue is with the ZDDP (usually expressed as phosphorus content) additives used to prevent wear at high contact pressure points such as the valve train, and specifically the transmission gears in the majority of bike engines. The phosphorus content of car oils has been progressively reduced in the interests of catalyst life, to the point where typical car engine oil has half the content of a typical bike oil. Modern car engines are designed with contact stresses in the valve train such that the materials will survive with the lower ZDDP levels. I don't know what wear rates result in bike transmissions with the reduction in ZDDP, personally I prefer not to go that route but it's your choice.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

You're right, of course. The issue here is that your transmission is being lubricated with your engine oil, not a seperate oil (auto trans or gear oil) that can be tailor made for the gears. Further this (gear/trans oil) is an oil that generally doesn't burn (never in the combustion chamber) so it can have different makeup than an oil that may burn (engine oil).

I had forgotten this detail as it is something i decided was (for me) not going to be a big deal, I would never fault anyone for considering this a deal breaker. Good call.

This detail about motorcycle oil would not derail a suggestion to use it in a small engine used for landscaping....although it appears my credibility may have just taken a hit.

For what it's worth anyway....

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

You both went over the top of my head, but thanks for the advice anyway. I've figured that you know what you are talking about and that the bike oil will be fine in my lawn mower :cool:

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

sae30 oil is what they use in vespas so very simular to a lawn mower but most premix 2 stroke oil is the same sae30 ?

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

That's simply the viscosity, doesn't say much about its performance.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

I'd be careful with that. Many SAE30 oils are formulated for four strokes, large diesels, blah blah and are not necessarily suitable for two strokes.

Cheers

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

I wouldn't put normal engine oil anywhere near any of my 2 stroke bikes.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

Those old GM screaming diesel two strokes love the stuff. Straight run low ash, low detergent, SAE30 or 40. Wouldn't want to put it in a performance bike though.

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

Lawn mowers are for posh people who like stripes:rolleyes:

My grasscutter is a MTD - German I think - with a 3.5bhp Briggs engine, I bought it new in 1996. It has never been serviced, never had a plug/filter change, never had an oil change, and it starts on the first pull of the cord. Engine doesn't smoke and I can't remember the last time I put any oil in it. Talk about neglect:D

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

So unless it has a roller, it's not called a lawn mower? How do you remember that it was 1996?

Re: Lawn mower oil
 

Yes, something like that!! 1996 - year we moved into our old house.