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Oil in a 23 Horse power Kawasaki zero turn

A

andy r

Member
I just purchased a zero turn mower with about 200 hours powered by a Kawasaki 23 house power engine. I have had such good luck with synthetic oil in my vehicles I wondered if I could use it in this 23 horse power engine? I would probably try to find 30 wt. if possible. Any one else using synthetic oil in lawn and garden equipment? Thanks.
 
Do in several of mine. I prefer a synthetic blend. Maybe 5w 20 or such. The synthetic part helps with carbon build up and doesn't gunk stuff up. Had a Briggs with several hundred hours hard use. Took the valve cover off to adjust the valves and everything looked like the engine was maybe five hours old. Spotless!
 
I've used full synthetic in all my mowers for years. I replaced the valve seals in my 900 hour B & S Intek, and the insides of that engine looked spotless! Now I don't get a big puff of smoke every time I start it after sitting a while...
 
I used to run dino oil in my lawn mowing equipment which required at least one oil change during the season. For the last half dozen years or so, only thing the mowers get is wally world full syn 10w-30 and a new filter, once per season and sometimes I go 2 years because of little use and clear oil. Running Kohler, Honda, BS, some Chinese from 26 V twin Vanguard to 5 hp.

What you CAN do for your machine as Jeffcat mentioned several years ago, is to run premium gas and get some iridium spark plugs. My engines, especially 2 strokers (with 2 stroke full syn oil) scream with premium fuel. On the Iridium plugs, I have a 2011 Silverado that comes with them and they are 100k mile replaceable items. Just bought a 2009 Honda Element for trips to the doctor and other tight parking go to town trips. Was at 108k miles. Changed the fluids and popped the plugs for a check. OEM original plugs, also scheduled at 100k replacement intervals (but wasn't done by PO) were "clean as a whistle" (the insulators were still bright white) and very slight pointing of iridium tip but still within gap spec. Replaced them but didn't need to.
 
OT slightly, but oil related anyway. I had a 1988 Ford 5.0 I bought new. Changed oil regularly using 10-30 "dino" oil and Motorcraft Fl-1A filters. Always filled the new filter prior to installing. Taking a warm engine, driven daily as a commute vehicle, doing an oil change with filter primed as mentioned, I always....always got a split second of valve rattle before the oil coated the metal and quieted things down to normal. Changed to "full syn "10-30 and never had that problem again and oil stayed a lot cleaner longer.

Only things I use dino oil in any more are my 3 Ford tractors, a '63. '65, and '88.....and I'll die before I wear them out. The new ones, Branson '07 and '16 get full syn Rot. T6 full syn 5w-40.....why.....because they are new.
 

I agree, most small engines suffer from knock, ping and detonation when operated on 87 octane .
If a person can’t afford to use 91 octane in small engines . They should not own or operate small engines .
 
yes you can we always just used 30wt or 10w30 here in shop. as long as you service the oil and air filter on regular basis any good oil will be fine. the synthetic is just thinner base oil.
 
When I bought a new Kawasaki 4010 mule, dealer recommend 10w40. I have 17 hp Kawasaki on John Deere's garden tractor. I use 10w40 in it. I recommend changing oil when there's a hint of the oil turning black.

Don't think synthetic oil will help or hurt that much. Just change oil often.

I have 2000 hours on a 20 hp Kohler command, change oil every 50 hours. I only run engine about 2500 rpms. Good chance engine might last another 2000 hours.
 
Synthetic is good for air cooled lawn equipment, either 10-30 or 10-40, but I attended a lubrication seminar put on my Mobil once. The engineer speaking said he used synthetic during the summer when in use, but changed to conventional for winter storage, and then back again. the reason is synthetic has less cling, so it drains off the metal over winter and you start up a dry engine in the spring. It's just a theory, but it makes sense. We use conventional in our lawn equipment but it doesn't get as hot up here, rarely 100 and we certainly don't mow lawn if it does!
 

Yes, I do. My ZTR has a 26 HP water cooled Kawasaki engine. I use the same oil in it that I do in my motorcycles. Amsoil 10W-40. I've had great luck with it. One of my bikes is 19 years old and still going strong on the original engine and transmission, using this stuff.
 
I?ve ran ethanol 87 in 80 or so single and twin gas engines on all
kinds of mowers here-Kawasaki, Kohler and Briggs for 30-40 years. I
don?t think 91 is always necessary. I also use conventional 10w-30 in
all of them with 50 hour oil changes. For me, clean air filters are the
savior to an engine for someone in my kind of work.
 
yep AMSOIL 10W30/30 small engine oil> they have a very good hydrostat oil as well>

email if you need some
 
Russ, I've never heard that about synthetic being more inclined to drain back.

Could it be the engineer gets all the free oil he wants...

Could it be the seminar was aimed at increasing sales...
 
My experience is like your comment. One of the main reasons for using it....no more dry starts, with oil changes or sitting up. Butttt just check out the length of the OIL shelveS at WW. WW only stocks what sells.....must sell a lot of varieties of oil or it wouldn't be like it is.....to each his own...his money, his equipment, his mindset..........
 

I have been using re-refined motor oil for years. It is API certified and complies fully with vehicle manufacturers' warranty requirements. It is subject to the same refining and performance standards applied to virgin oil products. It passes the same cold-start, rust-corrosion, engine-wear, and high-temperature viscosity tests that virgin oils does. You can just check the label for the EOLCS certification.
 
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