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[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by Stewie

I purchased a new riding mower this year. I went through the manual/specs etc. and found my engine has "break-in" oil. I haven't bought a small engine product for years and didn't know about this.


Anyway, I used my mower for about 5 hours and changed the oil per Briggs engine manual.



Holy moly! What is in the engine, as shipped, is nothing like normal oil. It's very low viscosity and was grayish/blue.


The oil from the factory is supposed to create more friction so it sets the piston/rings/cylinder for long term use and better compression.


I must say I'm glad I drained the original oil and fill with good 30 weight.


I wonder how many people ignore the 5 hour oil change and run the "thin" oil and wonder why things went wrong?


Just an observation if you're curious about new small engine equipment.

Everything used to take break in oil. Now the specs are tighter and its not necessary in a lot of applications, but yeah, break in oil is deliberately shit oil.

If you had drained it from the start it would burn oil forever.