Time for a new mower.

[iikhod]

Fat Charlies story reminded my of my riding mower experiences, mainly repairs. It's a husqvarna 850-10, maybe 15-20 years old. I'm using it with a "pay with keeping it running"-lease. Every single time i call the local parts store and ask for spare parts/belts etc, i get the "whoa, THAT sure is an old model, hang on a minute"
It is what it is, still, gets the grass cut.

[oil pan 4]

I have a riding mower like that. I got it and it needed new blades, a blade spindle, actuator cable for the blade engagement, carb rebuild after I ran it for a season.
It's go the good Kohler 18.5hp V-twin that is lubed with pressurized and filtered oil and air filtered with an actual paper filter.
I will probably sell it when the plandemic is over next spring to buy an even more powerful 60 inch.
But I'm taking my special laser edge dot com blades off it.

[101Volts]

Any chance you'll be using Amsoil Smal Engine 10w30 Oil in a new mower? I've been using that in my push mower since April 2018, when I got the mower new, though I did try breaking the engine in (if that's a thing anymore) with the oil that came with the mower. I'll change the Amsoil oil once a year, but it should extend the mower's life considerably. It costs about $10 per quart, but if it means that I don't have to buy a new mower within 20 years' time, a $5 oil change is really no big deal to me.

https://www.amsoil.com/p/10w-30-synt...A#pills-home_0

[oil pan 4]

With the riding mower I use any synthetic "air cooled motorcycle" I can get a hold of on clearance at Walmart.
The push mower gets cheap Dino juice since it only runs 10 to 20 hours per year if I'm lucky.

[Fat Charlie]

Outside of commercial use, any motor oil at all should keep a mower happy forever. I use El-Cheapo 5w30 once a year whether it needs it or not.

[2016 Versa]

Originally Posted by 101Volts

Any chance you'll be using Amsoil Smal Engine 10w30 Oil in a new mower? I've been using that in my push mower since April 2018, when I got the mower new, though I did try breaking the engine in (if that's a thing anymore) with the oil that came with the mower. I'll change the Amsoil oil once a year, but it should extend the mower's life considerably. It costs about $10 per quart, but if it means that I don't have to buy a new mower within 20 years' time, a $5 oil change is really no big deal to me.

I just retired either a 1994 or 95 model riding mower with a Kohler 20HP engine about 3 years ago. I used regular old conventional 30w and changed it and the filter every 50 hours. When the rest of the mower was worn out the engine used maybe 4-6 oz. of oil in 50 hours. $5. oil changes for a lawn mower? I'm still using oil and filters I bought for my Escort's years ago when oil was $ .79/qt and I ran up on a couple stores that were discontinuing some of their oil filters so, I bought all they had for my cars for about $ .25-$1/ea. The oil I'm currently using in the Versa was bought at a store grand opening back in late 90's-early '00's at 2/$1. When I bought the Versa before the first oil change I ordered a dozen filters from Rock Auto at a final cost of $2. each including shipping. I think an oil change in the Escort's are costing $3.60-$4.35 each depending on which filter I pick up and in the Versa $3.70. The Escort uses 4 quarts of oil and the Versa 3.2 quarts per change. Yes, the oil is old and not the latest specs but I've been using it in all my vehicles for 25-30 yrs without a single problem. Back when I was driving the '88 Escort as my daily driver I was at a flea market one time I guess back in the mid '00's where they had about 10 cases of 20w20 Pennzoil that was probably early 80's era oil. I asked what they'd take for all of it. They quoted me a price that came to about $ .65/qt. I bought it and ran it in the '88, the engine had 518K miles on it and was still running when I parked it. Two of the cars I have now that I've been using 20+ year old oil in have over 200K miles, both use about half a quart between 5K mile changes.

[oil pan 4]

As long as you never start it below 50 or 60 degrees imperial the multi viscosity oils don't give you any benefit.
That "old oil" you have is likely SJ rated and is packed with additives compared to modern SN rated oil and is perfect for engines that don't have roller everything internals.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Fat Charlie

Outside of commercial use, any motor oil at all should keep a mower happy forever. I use El-Cheapo 5w30 once a year whether it needs it or not.

I operated an old Sears riding mower that leaked oil. I'd know when it was time to add oil because the motor would seize and die. I'd add oil and continue cutting with no noticeable loss of performance. Did it hundreds of times.

Lawn mowers can be horribly neglected and just keep on working.

[2016 Versa]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

That "old oil" you have is likely SJ rated and is packed with additives compared to modern SN rated oil and is perfect for engines that don't have roller everything internals.

I think you're right about the SJ rating. The oil I'm using in the Versa is what I got 2/$1 at a Dollar General grand opening. It's Citgo Supergard 10w40. I know very little about oil other than what the weight means and that it's supposed to lubricate moving parts. The Citgo was touted as a very good oil on bobistheoilguy.com back in the day. Last oil change in the Versa I kept a pretty close eye on how the oil looked in it. I ended up letting it go 7500 miles and the oil was just a dark honey color on the dipstick when I changed it. I was also doing a blot test about every 500-1000 miles and it looked really good at 7500. Truth be know I think this oil would easily make 10K mile intervals and still have good lubricating properties but I'm not planning to extend it beyond 7500 which is 2500 miles over Nissan recommendation. With what I paid for the oil I could do several oil changes for the cost of an oil analysis so that too is out of the question, I'll just change it. I don't drive hard at all anymore and most of my trips are 15 miles or more so I shouldn't have any problems with moisture. I saw an oil analysis report on a Versa on BITOG a few months ago. I don't remember the brand but it was just conventional oil and I think they'd been something like 6000-6500 miles and Blackstone had recommended them extend their OCI so, apparently the 1.6L Nissan engine isn't too hard on oil.

[oil pan 4]

Oils are rated SH, SJ, SK maybe they skipped K, SL, SM, SN.
SH was back in the 1980s, SJ was 1990s through 2000ish, SL by mid 2000s and so on.
SH oil has the most antiwear additives and detergents.
The current standard SN has the least. By a factor or a lot.
SH oils can have 3 times the antiwear additives and up to around 4x the detergents than an SN oil.