I wonder if B & S came up with this “no oil change” engine is that many people,don’t know how to dispose of used oil.
I know a guy who repairs mowers. He says he gets tons of them in for “warranty work” that are brand new and the engine is locked up. The tag on the starter rope and gas cap is still there that says you MUST add oil before using the mower. They even include a measured out can of oil with the mower. You can’t fix stupid.
And the 15 pages of government and legal dept. mandated operator warnings.
All that comes in the manual today is the list of authorized repair stations.
There’s good humor in the mandated warnings. Years ago I bought a professional level mountainbike frame and it had a sticker on it that said “Warning - riding mountainbikes can be dangerous”. Gee, you’d think anybody building their own pro-level bike would already know that!
On my snow blower, Briggs has increased the change interval to 50 hours if using synthetic, or seasonal. Of course you only get 10-15 hours a year so doesn’t make much difference and no way I would go that long anyway.
“10-15 hours a year”
10-15 hours a year ? I wish! I probably average 10-15 hours a week with my 13/33 Ariens, seriously. Following my too short early spring vacation in Florida, I’m looking at real estate.
CSA
Yeah we didn’t get much snow this year. I had a new engine put on under warranty and barely was able to get the five hours needed for the first oil change before spring. Florida was cold and wet though so choose wisely.
“Florida was cold and wet though so choose wisely.”
I’ll take cold and wet over frozen and drifting! We hit the beach of St. Petersburg at the end of February / beginning of March. It was sunny, warm, and wonderful. We started out at St. Augustine, but left after the first day for a little better temperature, so I hear you. I’m still learning and gathering information.
CSA
I wish! I probably average 10-15 hours a week with my 13/33 Ariens, seriously.
I have a sister and uncle who live North of Syracuse where they average OVER 250" snow a year…each have a 200’+ long driveway…and they don’t use their snow blowers that much. My sisters husband has a 8/24 Ariens. Not sure what my uncle has…At 80 he still snow blows his own driveway,
@Triedaq I doubt that proper oil was the least of their concerns. At 12 years it is overdue for maintenance of some sort or another, probably the average lawnmower buyer can live with calling it a disposable item.
I bought a new mower with an OHV Briggs,why the complication of OHV?no matter what you do,its probaly not going to match the quality of a Honda or Subaru.this new mower runs terrible.has a miniscule plastic gas tank and constantly hunts for rpms,plus it has no throttle
@keith,when do you think they will make the switchover?I’m ready and you say the 40v saw works pretty well ?
I’ve seen a number of small engines struggle with metering fuel. I suspect that there’s some factor of the ethanol fuels that small engine technology has not yet caught up with. II never saw that problem in the '70s, 80s, or even 90s.
I’ve been unable to put my finger on exactly why that is (haven’t put that much effort into it to be honest), but it just might be a factor in buyers’ decisions to purchase electric mowers etc. rather than gas.
^The engine mfrs deliberately jetted their engines way lean to comply with “meet emissions; functionality be damned” dictates from the EPA.
The good news is that many of the carbs are identical to the pre-compliant ones, except for the jet orifices. I’ve already fixed my 2-stroke Lawnboy; it no longer surges. If there is any corresponding increase in pollution, you couldn’t prove it by me: exhaust smells/looks as it always has.
And of the few who can/will change their lawn mowers oil where do they dispose of the oil? (Don't trust your neighbor)
Well, seeing as you can get cash money for WMO these days, I’m not overly worried about compliance. You can’t trust people to “do the right thing,” yes…but you CAN trust innate human greed!
Maybe Iffy Lube could branch out into lawnmower oil changes. They could either have you bring the mower to them, or, for a service charge, send a kid out and do it at the customer’s location. They couldn’t mess up doing this.
It’s not that big a change since half the mowers never get their oil changed anyway…They are lucky if the oil level is ever checked…
Maybe Iffy Lube could branch out into lawnmower oil changes. They could either have you bring the mower to them, or, for a service charge, send a kid out and do it at the customer's location. They couldn't mess up doing this.
If that doesn’t sound like a challenge…I don’t know what does!
GM already tried the never needs an oil change thing several decades ago. As I said previously, none of their test mules survived as the engines failed long before their expiration date…
An air-cooled mower is going to take a much more severe beating than a water-cooled automotive engine.
That’s why air-cooled VWs, motorcycles, and aircraft engines require more frequent oil changes.
@meanjoe75fan How much do they pay for drain oil? I’m not aware of a program here, I think I saw an offer of 25 cents a gallon once. If they paid $10 a gallon here people would still pour a quart of lawn mower oil on the ground or down the sewer. It would make sense to save the drain oil until a person has a gallon or more but people aren’t going to save oil for 4 years.
People here throw their cans and bottles on the ground for someone else to pick up. It takes me 18 months to fill a 30 gallon trash can with crushed aluminum cans. I fell like a stooge when I take them in, I get $14 for them and it cost me $2 in gas to deliver them.
This is a very interesting thread and I know Carolyn is about to cry foul,so lets move the thread a little closer to cars,the lawnmower engines for decades followed the car related L-head design,how come they dont run as good and are as economical as car engines now?
Somebody is going to jump me for this,but would E85 or pure alcohol work better for lawnmower and small engine fuel,till we make the switch over to electric?Maybe a different fuel from what we know works good in cars,would help?
@Nevada,people wont stoop to pick up a penny now,I take my used oil to these shops that use waste oil heaters,they are glad to get it.I love to recycle,but I also realize that most recycling programs are a joke and a feel good thing(heavily subsidized)most products are made to simply discard, not repurpose.People could make a difference,but if it requires effort,most will not.Till we decide what to do with this plastic fiasco(thermosetting plastics in particular) the waste stream is not going to shrink much.And I would love to be able to buy a good push mower with a plastic deck,but havent found any in this area.
I have a mower that I bought used that has a B&S engine. It is about 12 years old and has been used enough I had to replace the wheels because all the tread was gone and they were getting wobbly. Push the primer 3 times and it starts on the first pull, even after sitting all winter. I change the oil at the beginning or end of each season depending on how lazy I am and have been using 10W30 synthetic. It seems happy. It makes plenty of power but does rev up and down a bit for the first 30 seconds or so after you start it. Since it runs fine after that, I’ve never bothered to mess with the mixture. The previous mower was a Toro with a Tecumseh engine that was anemic and often hard to start. If it was a cool day I often would just use starting fluid to get it going and avoid the hassle. All the easiest to live with power equipment I’ve owned or operated have had B&S engines.
Re. stupid warnings, my favorite is: “Caution: Contents will be hot after heating.” --Really?