Conventional or synthetic oil

[bmg88201]

I was just wondering if using synthetic motor oil in my JD riding mower would be of any benefit. Either now or long term. Currently using Valvoline 10/30 conventional which I change every winter.

 

[ArlyA]

no. Its benefit is in extreme conditions.

 

[GeneV]

They do better in the cold, and they don't degrade with time like conventionals do. I run synthetics in my tractors and cars.

 

[RalphVa]

I use them in every engine I have. Used to change oil in lawn mowers a couple times/yr with dino oils. With synthetic, I went to once/yr. Now, I have no mowers with engines, only battery motors.

 

[Rebeldad1]

I use it in everything. Better performance and mileage in my vehicles.
I also use it for in the future if anything happens. Like a overheating or lack of oil accident.

 

[Richard001]

I was just wondering if using synthetic motor oil in my JD riding mower would be of any benefit. Either now or long term. Currently using Valvoline 10/30 conventional which I change every winter.

There was a big discussion about motor oil on one of these forms. Someone also pointed out that air cooled motors should be using 30 weight oil in the summer time.

Dose your user manual suggest 10/30 motor oil?

Richard

 

[Midniteoyl]

At operating temps, 10w30 is the same viscosity (range. It's always a range) as straight 30.

 

[hube2]

There was a big discussion about motor oil on one of these forms. Someone also pointed out that air cooled motors should be using 30 weight oil in the summer time.

Dose your user manual suggest 10/30 motor oil?

Richard

I was going to say, my owners manual for my old JD lawn tractor said 30, not 10w30. No need to run anything with a w in it when it's only used in the summer. On the other hand, if you use it in the winter it might help, but I never did in mine and I used it more in the winter than in the summer. Used conventional oil and changed the oil every year. It is now 12 years old and still running like it did when it was new. Actually my father in law has it now.

Other than that there are many many threads on TBN debating conventional vs. synthetic oil.

 

[5030]

Follow the manual. The designers know better than anyone on this forum or any forum for that matter.

 

[RalphVa]

There was a big discussion about motor oil on one of these forms. Someone also pointed out that air cooled motors should be using 30 weight oil in the summer time.

Dose your user manual suggest 10/30 motor oil?

Richard

Yeah. I had really detailed records on our 1983 240D Benz. It's fuel mileage picked up 2 or 3% when I switched it to synthetic.

Big thing with a 0w30 or 5w30 that's better than a typical 10w30 or certainly a 15w40 is the amount of time it takes for the oil pump to start pumping and to get oil to the top end. I once had a VW Cabrio with hydraulic valves. At one point, 1 or more of the 8 valves would drain some of their oil back to the sump. This resulted in "pounding" until the hydraulics refilled with oil. The only oil that I tried that stopped the pounding was 0w30 (should have even gone to 0w20, but it wasn't around that much back then). Even 5w30 resulted in a couple seconds of pounding. Cannot get 0wxx in dino oils and probably hard to get 5wxx.