Genny oil
Is synthetic oil a good idea for my 5.5.kw generator?
Forum Discussion
This is an interesting thread, but let me throw this in.
I run synthetic lube oils in all my aircooled small engine and the coach. There are two reasons:
1-Synthetics have better temperature resistance than conventional lubricating oils.
2-Synthetics are somewhat better at managing acid formation that is the result of combustion by-products.
In the coach, it is a nolo-contendere there, it is an older gas engine, its duty can be hard and service on expensive and a major PITA. Anything I can do to prolong its life has got to be evaluated.
In the little aircooled engines, they beat up their lube oil something fierce. I put a lot of hours on both the little tractors and the generator in the coach during a year (season). I do have hour meters on most, but it is just too much of a pain to schedule the service during the season, so I just use synthetic and keep the levels at the mark.
The plain old pass cars get regular shelf oils. Those engines aren't so stressed that I worry, and I live in Michigan where a car will frequently die of a corrosion issue before the engine wears out. Besides, I want then in the service bay a couple of times a year for a visual inspection to prevent on coming issues before they cost a lot of money.
I have been an engine professional most of my career. Much of that time was in engine testing and some of that was even specific lubrication testing. I wasn't always big on synthetics, but there were a couple of tests that we did that were real eye openers.
Matt
I run synthetic lube oils in all my aircooled small engine and the coach. There are two reasons:
1-Synthetics have better temperature resistance than conventional lubricating oils.
2-Synthetics are somewhat better at managing acid formation that is the result of combustion by-products.
In the coach, it is a nolo-contendere there, it is an older gas engine, its duty can be hard and service on expensive and a major PITA. Anything I can do to prolong its life has got to be evaluated.
In the little aircooled engines, they beat up their lube oil something fierce. I put a lot of hours on both the little tractors and the generator in the coach during a year (season). I do have hour meters on most, but it is just too much of a pain to schedule the service during the season, so I just use synthetic and keep the levels at the mark.
The plain old pass cars get regular shelf oils. Those engines aren't so stressed that I worry, and I live in Michigan where a car will frequently die of a corrosion issue before the engine wears out. Besides, I want then in the service bay a couple of times a year for a visual inspection to prevent on coming issues before they cost a lot of money.
I have been an engine professional most of my career. Much of that time was in engine testing and some of that was even specific lubrication testing. I wasn't always big on synthetics, but there were a couple of tests that we did that were real eye openers.
Matt
