Posted: 12/9/2007 3:45:47 PM EDT
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I've got an ice storm heading my way. While checking my preps I discovered something I overlooked. My generator (troy-bilt 5550, briggs engine) has SAE 30 oil in it. The manual says if operating below 40F I should run 5w or 10w 30. Should the power go out tonite, do I really need to change the oil before firing up the gen.? Anticipated temp tonite is 25F. I understand I am asking someone to tell me it's ok to do something I've been warned against, but typically there's a pretty wide margin of error built into engineering warnings. BTW I plan on changing to an all temp synthetic when things warm up. Thanks. |
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I'd go ahead and change the oil. If that's not possible and you have to have your genny running, bring it in the heated part of your house (don't run it inside your house!) and let it warm up to ambient in the house. Then, if power fails, drag it outside and start it up before it cools back down. Still, I'd change the oil. If you've got a couple of quarts of 10w-30 sitting on the shelf it won't take you 20 minutes to do. |
This won't hurt but is definately overkill. |
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Not two minutes after I posted my question the power went out. It was pretty warm in the garage were the generator was stored, so I went ahead ran the generator. I appreciate your replies and I'll change over to synthetic first chance I get. The power is back on for now. I'll post a what went right and what went wrong analysis in a while. It was only two hours, but I learned a few things. |
MY gennie is a Generac. There are TWO sets of instructions. One for the engine, and one for the generator as a whole. THe oil recommendations are different  .I looked at the recommendations and noted that the 'summer' oil was fine for 40 degrees and up, but a winter oil (fully synthetic) was listed as below freezing to something like 60 degrees. I kind of figure its something like this: I don;t use my gennie much. Its emergency power. Odds are I loos power more in winter and shitty weather than during summer. Changing oil in the dark at -20 would be a bitch. Changing oil at 75 degrees in the summer would not be a big deal. Therefore, I store my in its winter configuration... |
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Just make sure that you don't add synthetic until AFTER the break in period is passed. Add it too early and the rings and such never will seat right (too slick with the synthetic lube), a certain amount of wear is beneficial. c0 There are some things in life that you just can't fix, stupidity is the highest one on the list. falloutshelter653.org |
| I checked the mobil website information "faq", and according to them, you don't need a break in period with their newest oils. They tell you that you can start out brand new equipment with their synthetic oils, and that "yes, you used to have to break in an engine first". FWIW - MournSword |
They may say that, but I'd be leery of breaking-in any new engine on synthetic or even high quality dino oil. I use the $0.99/qt generic oils you can buy at drug stores, groceries, gas stations, etc. for break-in purposes. We've never had an oil-related failure and we've never had trouble with the rings seating properly. You really don't want the best protection available for the break-in period because you do want the rings to be able to wear a little and seat themselves against the cylinder walls. |
| You should change it to 10W-30 if you have some handy. If you are going to the store to buy some, try to get the better fleet oils (like Chevron DELO 400 or Shell Rotella T) in that grade. It will keep your engine cleaner. After 50 hours or so, change it again, and after 100 hours it should be run in fine and you can change to a fully synthetic fleet oil (Shell Rotella synthetic 5W-40 works fine) and that will pump down to -40 or below. |
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When I had a pull start gen set, and I couldn't get it started, I rolled it out and stuck it by the exhaust of my truck for 30 or 40 minutes. I even covered 3/4 of it with a blanket to keep the warmth in. Keep the side to the exhaust open. It always started right up after that. I have also use one of those cheap pie pans, and stuck a couple charcoal briquettes in it and lite them up. Once the flame died down, I raised the gen set and slid them under the engine. That warmed up the oil and the engine pretty fast to. You only need a couple for an average gen set. |
I knew a Russian who grew up in Siberia. Some parts of the year his day began with building a fire under his truck's fuel tank to melt the deisel so it would start. |
In Siberia, it used to be common practice for folks to pile branches and leaves under their vehicles, set them on fire, and wait for the oil, diesel and brakes to thaw out!  (EDIT: D'oh! trwoprod beat me to it!)My Generac manual mentions building a partial "dog house" to help keep the engine warm in extremely cold weather. Keeping a can or two of starting fluid on hand probably wouldn't be a bad idea, either. |
And WD-40 works fine as starting fluid. |
I used charcoal because it is hot, and there is no flame. I also do not put a blanket over the engine when I am using charcoal as I have always wondered about gas fumes building up under the blanket. I really doubt anything like that would happen, but all the same, do it outside of your garage if you do decide to do something like that. If you can wrap the engine and leave the fuel tank outside the blanket, great, do it. Anything to warm up and keep warm that engine. A little common sense goes a long way here people. Again, this is for when you are in a SURVIVAL MODE as this is the survival forum, not because you don't feel like pulling a cord a few times. I say this for the couple of people who need to be told the coffee is hot.  |
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Interesting how the topic has drifted. Right after I built my garage, and before I insulated or permanently heated it, I had an old used 1971 150,000 BTU house furnace sitting in one corner that I would run for a while when I went out to work on things. If it was really cold when I went out to start the furnace, the oil in the blower motor bearings would be so stiff that the electric breaker feeding the furnace would trip when the blower would try to kick on. When that happened, I had to open up the blower housing and face an old kerosene heater at the blower area for 15 minutes to pre-heat everything so it would spin easily. |
Yeah, these things always seem to take on a life of their own. So, I'll ask another question. How long should the brushes in the power generating system last? I called troy-bilt and asked. The tech guy I talked to couldn't give me a specific answer. His response was thousands of hours. Anybody got a better idea of how long they should last and what are the symtoms of needing needing the power generation system serviced? |
I guess I am the one who took it off topic to some degree. I am sorry as that was not my intention at all, and it won't happen again. I was just trying to point out a quick and easy way to still use your gen set in an emergency with heavy summer oil in it without hurting it. The only reason I did this was because it sounded like you had bad weather coming, and no time to replace the oil. Sometimes I talk to much, as quite a few of you know, because we have spoke on the phone or at least I have.
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I know this is to late for a reply but the primary reason for using light weight oil in the cold temperature is for ease of starting by hand. Thick oil is a real mother when pull starting any engine. The thin weight oil makes it feel like it's summer. The best advice is to use a good multi-weight oil. Maybe 5w-40 or better yet a good synthetic! |
| I use Mobil 1 5-30 in all my small engines and they seem to last alot longer. The little air cooled jobbers work hard and anything you can do to reduce friction and heat buildup is a good thing in terms of longevity in my mind. In the small quantities used in most mowers, gennys etc....it's well worth the extra money. |
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I have a Honda EX-4500 and two Honda EU2000i's. I only use Mobil 1 full synthetic 0W-40. This might be a little overkill but I view it as cheap insurance. The EX-4500 sits outside 12 months a year and it hard wired to my house. It has never failed to start ever. The two EU20001's are used for my BOL camper. As recently as last week, they were operating in 5 degree weather. Never a problem there either. Although the manual recommends 100 hour oil changes (after break in), I change it every 50 hours. My thinking: do I want to change $5.00 oil or a $800 engine? Good luck. |
| All of y'all using a synthetic might want to consider one of the synthetic fleet (i.e., heavy duty deisel) synthetics from Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Texaco, etc. They are usually 5W-40 and designed for long term hot use at constant rpms, and they will keep your engine very, very clean as well as really cutting drag. And as they are typically a 40 weight, they will lube better in the bearings and rings. |