Awhile back I posted about my Kohlar generator leaking when I switched to syn oil and asked how to stop the leak. The leak was bad and dripped onto the hot exhaust causing a lot of smoke as well as puddles in the driveway. I thought about using a stop leak product like Lucas but decided to go back to regular oil first to see if there was any improvement. I went back to reg oil and leak slowed somewhat. After 3 oil changes I ran my genset for 5 hrs straight, last week recharging a friends camper next to me as well as my own and did not see any leakage. Had never run the genset for that long before. My generator is 18 years old and I am glad I did not have to pull it out to fix the leak.

Are you sure you didn't accidentally overfill it when you changed the oil? Not being critical, here, but it is very easy to do. I found when I changed mine that I had to put in about half the oil, then let it stand for a few minutes and level out before I added the rest. That combined with the odd amount of oil it held (1.4 qts was the factory spec) can really mess folks up.

35 years ago when Mobil 1 first came out, we had a Mobil engineer that purchased a Motorhome from us. I asked about the NEW at that time syn oil. He stated that you never install Synthetic oil in a engine that has already been broken in. He said that the Synthetic oil will leak thru extremely small cracks and voids in seals that normal oil would not. He laughed and said, install it and you will then have leaks you never knew you had. Doug

Another probably dumb answer, but now that it's NOT leaking, have you checked to make sure there's oil IN IT..??:h. Not being snarky but had to ask....type of oil should not matter to a leak. A leak is a leak, get it fixed....and as posted above, it's very easy to overfill the genset....Dennis

Ive got 5W-40 Shell in my genset

I had a friend who owned a British MG sports car. He said "If there ain't oil under it there's no oil in it."Like Dennis said....check it for oil.

Syn oil in generator | Good Sam Community

Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Sep 24, 2015
My diesel genset is about 20 (21?) years old with almost 10,000 hours on it. It doesn't leak but it sure burns oil! I add about a gallon every 100 hours or so. Since the oil needs to be changed every 400 hours I can't see any benefit to a syn. oil as I would be still be burning through the more expensive oil and possibly even more than with the standard oil. With a 2 gallon capacity I am replenishing the oil every 200 hours so maybe I never need to change the oil, just change the filters!
Ava
Explorer
Sep 24, 2015
I Have heard that older high mileage cars should not use synthetic because any small leak will turn into a larger leak. I would imagine the older genset could be the same.
My diesel gen is 20 years old now but only has about 90 hours on it and no leaks yet.
MrWizard
Moderator
Sep 24, 2015
spend $1000 or more, to tear it down and replace a "seal"
that doesn't leak when NON-synthetic oil is used

No Thanks..
Sully2
Explorer
Sep 24, 2015
Gjac wrote:
Awhile back I posted about my Kohlar generator leaking when I switched to syn oil and asked how to stop the leak. The leak was bad and dripped onto the hot exhaust causing a lot of smoke as well as puddles in the driveway. I thought about using a stop leak product like Lucas but decided to go back to regular oil first to see if there was any improvement. I went back to reg oil and leak slowed somewhat. After 3 oil changes I ran my genset for 5 hrs straight, last week recharging a friends camper next to me as well as my own and did not see any leakage. Had never run the genset for that long before. My generator is 18 years old and I am glad I did not have to pull it out to fix the leak.

Did it occur to you to just fix the leak????..:S
ArchHoagland
Explorer
Sep 24, 2015
I had a friend who owned a British MG sports car.

He said "If there ain't oil under it there's no oil in it."

Like Dennis said....check it for oil.
Sully2
Explorer
Sep 24, 2015
Ive got 5W-40 Shell in my genset
Executive45
Explorer III
Sep 24, 2015
Another probably dumb answer, but now that it's NOT leaking, have you checked to make sure there's oil IN IT..??:h. Not being snarky but had to ask....type of oil should not matter to a leak. A leak is a leak, get it fixed....and as posted above, it's very easy to overfill the genset....Dennis
dougrainer
Nomad
Sep 24, 2015
35 years ago when Mobil 1 first came out, we had a Mobil engineer that purchased a Motorhome from us. I asked about the NEW at that time syn oil. He stated that you never install Synthetic oil in a engine that has already been broken in. He said that the Synthetic oil will leak thru extremely small cracks and voids in seals that normal oil would not. He laughed and said, install it and you will then have leaks you never knew you had. Doug
conceptumator
Explorer
Sep 24, 2015
Are you sure you didn't accidentally overfill it when you changed the oil? Not being critical, here, but it is very easy to do. I found when I changed mine that I had to put in about half the oil, then let it stand for a few minutes and level out before I added the rest. That combined with the odd amount of oil it held (1.4 qts was the factory spec) can really mess folks up.

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