I have seen neglected push mowers where the oil is like tar. I change it and the first thing that happens is the rod comes through the block. I suspect that these really worn engines need an oil as thick as tar to keep the worn tolerances from causing failure.
Either way, maybe B&S figured that into their design. If you change it after the first 12 years, beware!
I personally run a diesel rated synthetic and change it once per year. The oil doesn’t even look that broken down most of the time and I put it through some pretty heavy use.
Let’s face it. We live in a throw away society. People my age who grew up in homes where money was tight took care of equipment and read the instruction manual that came with it. The LawnBoy mower my dad bought in 1955 showed how to rebuilt the engine with complete pictoral diagrams of the engine block, carburetor, magneto, etc. All that comes in the manual today is the list of authorized repair stations. The electric motors on our well pump, sump pump, furnace blower motor all had provisions for oiling the bearings as did a $10 electric fan. There is no provision to oil my furnace motor today. There was even a place to oil the generator and starter motor on our car. Nobody has to think about oiling things today. I would bet that with this new B & S engine, few people will even bother to.check the oil. I he mower will be scrapped when the blade gets dull.
12 Years Life Span? My Simplicity Lawn Mower Is A 1970 And Going Strong.
My 13/33 Snowblower’s just getting broken-in after 16 grueling winters.
I have a weed trimmer that came over on the Mayflower, I believe.
12 years…What the…
Reminds me of a small appliance manufacturer, sounds like Proctology Solex (name tweaked a bit for identity reasons) that advertised that their products never need servicing!
Sounded terrific until I figured out they had No parts. They were made so that they didn’t come apart and no spare parts were available. Bravo, genius marketing!
If B & S feels strongly about their never needs an oil change mower with a 12 year lifespan then provide a 12 years/no questions asked warranty.
This sounds like the failed GM “never needs an oil change” car from about 15-20 years ago that was allegedly designed to have a service life of 100k miles with no need to raise the hood which was secured by a dealer only key.
None of the test mules made it anywhere near 100k miles as the engines all failed in them long before their projected service life was up.
I don’t think we are that far away from battery powered mowers that will easily keep up with a gas powered mower, even riding mowers.
I bought a 40V chainsaw last year and I will never use a gas chain saw again. I’ve probably put 10x as many hours and cut 10x as much wood with it than I have with the 2 gas chain saws I have owned for many years.
The previous recommendation was to chNge oil every 25 hours. For most of us, that is every 25 weeks, or once each year. If the mower is expected to last 12 years, then that translates to 300 hours of use. What would you think if an auto manufacturer recommended changing the oil every 25 hours? For me, that would work out to about 1000 miles, and that is unacceptable. To me, that means there is. Lot of room for improvement in oil change intervals in the lawn mower industry. 300 hours would be more like 12,000 miles for my car, and more auto manufacturers are approaching or exceeding that mileage for oil changes. It is not necessarily out of the question in that light.
Planned obsolescence makes the bean counters happy. My snowblower had it’s 25th birthday last year, and my probably 30 year old lawnmower would be going strong I think if I had not hit a stump during a charity mow for neighbor with health issues. Next step cars no oil change needed? Sure I hate tilting the mower to drain the oil, what was the expense for a under deck drain plug anyway? Profit over rules common sense, and the consumer pays. BOO!
Frankly tilting the mower to drain the oil does not seem to be a big deal. I drain into an oil pan and scrap the bottom of the housing ( disconnect plug of course ) set it back ,add oil , replace cap and pour the old oil in the empty bottle and take to recycle place. No wrenches required and no dropped drain plug. Besides if my neighbor had a drain plug he would manage to cross thread it.
I think we’ll begin to see cars that never need an oil change very soon… because the technology for EVs is making such great strides. The barriers to EVs becoming commonplace have always been range (usability as a daily driver), rechargability (including availability of recharge outlets), and cost. Tesla has clearly solved the usability as a daily driver challenge, they’ve installed over 15,000 recharging stations (I believe that gas stations will begin adding them and charging by the kw), and they’ve begun to change the selling model in a way that should fundamentally change the cost structure. I believe there will evolve an entire “EV industry” totally separate and different from the car selling/buying/servicing model we now know.
I also believe that as the emerging “EV industry” explodes, driving prices down, and with conventional automotive technology having to comply with emissions and mileage mandates that are becoming unachievable (thus driving costs up), we’ll reach a point soon where it just won’t make a lot of sense for people simply looking for a reliable and affordable family car to buy a gas vehicle. I believe it’s happening faster than we think.
ICEs (in automobiles) that don’t ever need an oil change won’t happen. Unless, of course, they’re a minor component of a hybrid powertrain. They might happen that way. Maybe.
I am sure there is room for improvement in extending mower oil changes. Yes, what we have now is like changing the oil every 1000 miles in a car. Now when cars had that type of change interval, some were splash lube and there was no oil filter with non-detergent oils.
Part of the issue with mowers is that they are air-cooled and run hot which destroys oil. They are also run in extreme duty conditions with regards to dirt and dust. Imagine mudding and off-roading with your car all the time. Not just gravel roads but always in dust clouds. That is how a mower operates.
Pressure lube in riding mowers extends the interval because of the oil filter but it is probably like going 2000 or 2500 miles in a car. That is a much better interval. Honestly splash lube is fine for something most treat as disposable.
I work on computers and use the analogy of small appliances often when dealing with cheap throwaway big box store models. I tell the customer their unit is basically like a coffee pot or toaster. It is not meant to be repaired and the best thing is to buy a new one and not the one you just had.
Give it time. The complaints will accrue no matter what kind of smiley face the director of marketing at B & S places on it.
What I expect will happen is that the engines will develop a severe oil consumption problem and the"will have to add oil" part of it will not get done. The only thing the mower owner will remember is that it never needs an oil change; nothing more.
Many car makers have recommended 10-15k miles oil change intervals and look how well that’s worked out. Trashed engines, oil consuming engines with owners being told that a quart per (fill in the blank) is normal, etc, etc.
Same goes for valve lash issues, “lifetime” transmission fluid, and so on.
The manual for the Briggs OHV engine in my lawn tractor states oil changes every 30 hours. That ain’t gonna happen simply because the oil is downright nasty by the 6 hours mark when I do change it.
Same goes for air filters. Briggs states 25 hours on the pre-cleaner and 25 hours on the cartridge. Both are absolutely filthy after 4 or 5 hours.
Both of my push mowers have drain plugs on the bottom of the engine. I have a big five gallon container that has a sloped side and a drain cap at the bottom of the slope. I used it when I did my own oil changes on my vehicles. At the end of the mowing season, I tip the mower on the side, remove the blade and remove the drain plug. I then set the mower on the oil container and let the oil drain while I sharpen and balance the blade. I then tip the mower and clean the underside, reinstall the blade and drain plug and then set the mower on its wheels. I then put in new oil, a new air filter, squirt a little oil in the cylinder and turn the engine over a couple times to spread the oil and install a new spark plug. I finish off by filling the gas tank and add some SraBil to the gas. This takes about half an hour. When spring comes, I pull the starter cord and I am mowing. One mower is a,1988 Toro with a Tecumseh engine and the other is a_1992 Homelite Jacobsen with a B & S Quantum engine. I didn’t realize that new mowers don’t have drain plugs for the oil. This is one more reason to keep my present equipment going as,long as possible.
A mower is a splash-lubed system, without oil filter, in an incredibly dusty environment. A car isn’t. It is not hard to see why OCI intervals are very different.
Sure, you could improve mower OCI–but why? A household mower does not see near the hours of use that a car does. The benefits are minimal; the expenses are close to the same–the bane of OPE technological advancement. You could turbocharge a mower, and fix up GDI for it, too…if you happened to hate money, but loved an extra 2HP.
I wonder if B+S’s system amounts to “controlled leak” oiling: the oil doesn’t stay in place long enough to get old.
Frankly, I’m not interested in anything more technologically advanced than a flatty Quantum. OHC is just more stuff to break IMO…a 150ish cc engine governed to 3000RPM doesn’t really need to breathe all that well. Anything better than poppet valves can keep up.
P.S. Did you know that–with the EPA regulating OPE emissions and putting 2-strokers out of business–that NEW mowers and NEW replacement engines are affected…but short blocks AREN’T? Especially seeing as a 2-stroke/flathead cylinder head is a finned slab of aluminum, everything else can be replaced, legally, indefinitely (or as long as somebody cares to make short blocks).
This is the perfect lawnmower engine for me! I’ve never changed the oil or air filter in a lawnmower, edger, pressure washer, or other gas powered yard tool that I’ve had. In fact, it appears I’ve already invented this engine for Briggs and Stratton.
I think I replaced the spark plug in a weedeater once or twice.
Sure there are people who keep a lawnmower for 25 years, but realistically that’s a small percentage of the people. I’ve found that after 8 years or so the thing is just worn out. The pull-cord frays or breaks, the wheels are loose and worn, the bag is torn or used up, muffler rusted, handles loose. It’s just time for a new one. Now I don’t buy the fancy lawnmowers. They’re not electric start or self-propelled and don’t have blade clutches. They’re not guaranteed to start on the first pull and don’t have ergonomic handles. They’re just plain lawnmowers. I’ll throw a new blade on every couple of years but that’s it.
I buy one for $300 ($169 if I remember 20 years ago), use it for several years until it’s worn out, and then go buy another one. Why bother changing the oil? I have yet to have an engine fail or start to smoke. It’s the rest of the machine that wears out.
Now cars…every car in my fleet gets an oil change every 5000 miles or 6 months, no matter what.
Correction: 20+ years ago I lived in a house with a large manicured yard I had to maintain, I used a California Trimmer reel mower. I changed the oil and hand-sharpened the blade on that, but that was a $2500 mower at that time.
Makes you wonder how long it will be before they offer a car engine that can go 50,000 miles without an oil change…I suspect the reciprocating piston internal combustion engine is nearing the end of it’s amazing lifespan…
Yep, the plug on the bottom of the engines is a little hard to see and you need to use a 3/8" ratchet extension on it instead of it being a square or hex plug. I’ll bet its there if you brush the grass away and take a good look. Now my generator requires tipping it upside down because the generator windings themselves are mounted under the engine.
I wouldn’t reject an engine that is capable of lasting 12 years without an oil change. How long will it last if I change the oil every three years? Seems like less maintenance and less waste.
The manufactures must be aware of the number of failures that occur due to no oil changes and that has driven the interest in designing an engine that requires no oil changes.
In the late 1970’s my friend’s father took his less than two year old mower in for repair because it wouldn’t start. He was informed there was no oil in the engine. He was unaware lawn mowers required oil. This man had the money to buy a new mower every month and I doubt he ever got into the practice of lawn mower maintenance.
The question is how many lawn mowers go to the land fill at less than X number of years compared to the new no oil change engine?
And of the few who can/will change their lawn mowers oil where do they dispose of the oil? (Don’t trust your neighbor)
I made a cheap mower last 11 seasons. There isn’t much to wear out on a push type rotary mower except the engine. There are universal parts available at big box stores. I’ve replaced wheels, mufflers, stater cords and spark plugs on a cheap mower for much less than a cheap new mower cost.
I won’t own a mower with a splash oil system. I have a steep back yard and a pressurized oil system allows me to use a mower for more than just a few short years.
I just wanted to put oil changes in perspective with automobiles. If Briggs and Stratton increases the oil sump size as BMW did and is the case for buses and many large trucks, the change interval can be longer for just that alone. I don’t think Briggs and Stratton would do anything that would tank their business, and I’m sure they will still sell engines where the oil should be changed at regular intervals. Certainly commercial users could benefit from oil changes longer than 25 hours, which would mean weekly oil changes during mowing season.