I have had a Toro Super Recycler with the 6 Horsepower Briggs& Stratton Engine for 11 years now, added about 1 ounce of Auto-Rx last summer and changed the oil at the end of the season, nothing special, added 1 ounce to the oil again of course, decided to change it today and it was black, I have been using Amsoil 4-Stroke Synthetic Oil, I have not added any oil yet and do not plan on using the mower until next Wednesday, with it being so dark would it be a good idea to get a quart of dino oil and rinse the engine out, basically I could add the dino oil and fill the tank and let it run for an hour or so, or do I keep using the synthetic oil with a 1 ounce Maintenance Dose, I stuck my finger inside the engine where the drain plug was and got a little bit of soft black sediment, when I sat that I mean just enough to put on a Q-Tip, I will put off adding oil until I here from everyone, on a side note the mower is running great.
Daryl is our resident lawn mower expert , my guess would be that 2 ounces of Auto-Rx (just like car engines) is the correct ratio for mowers. I would rinse it for what ever hours Daryl says and refill with new oil.
Think title should read AMSOIL SYNTHETIC turns black after cleaning with Auto-Rx. IMO
I knew something was up yesterday when I went to start it a 2nd time and it was hard starting, had me thinking maybe some Auto-Rx was getting to the plug, the mower is also producing a puff of smoke while mowing, this happens once or twice while mowing and it is a small puff of smoke,like I may have said before I did not add any oil or Auto-Rx to the mower yesterday after draining because I wanted to see what everybody said. How long should I run the regular oil, I thought I would go and buy a quart of dino and fill the gas tank up and run it for an hour on the driveway so there would not be much stress on the engine.
Brent try changing your plug I did and it solved the issue I have a NAPA spark plug cleaner and it is no big deal for me just hook it up to the air hose and 5 min. its like new.
My Dad has a compressor so I will get a spark plug cleaner, why did Auto-Rx mess up your spark plug, is this puff of smoke from Auto-Rx cleaning stuff up, I will be going to a CarQuest by my work tommorow and picking up 2 quarts of dino oil and then when I have off on Sunday I will add the dino oil and fill the gas tank up and let it run, of course I will be checking the plug, I think that I have a new 1 in the garage, will let everyone know Sunday evening how things went. I will also be doing a Maintenance Dose on my Dad's Cub Cadet Tractor when he changes the oil at 25 Hours.
After I was done with Auto-Rx in the mower I put in dino 10W-30 and did not add any Auto-Rx, I wanted to rinse everything out, I ran the mower on the driveway for 2 hours and then used it too mow some lawns and put another 4 hours on the oil, decided to change it today and it came out a little dark like liquified black stuff in the oil. I decided not to put in the synthetic and put in another 20 ounces or so of dino oil with NO Auto-Rx in there. I plan to run the dino oil in there for another 10 hours or so to see how much more junk gets rinsed out. I have been using this machine since 1998 to mow my customer's small yards, I figure this engine has about 1000 hours on it at the least, and honestly I cannot ever remember this mower running this good. I always ran synthetic oil and thought since the machine was used a lot there would not be any junk that was built up inside, I was definetly wrong. Since Group IV oil's have an additive package that works against Auto-Rx I will probably go back to a Group III oil. I will keep everyone posted.
It is a 13 HP riding mower and holds right at a quart of 30wt. I use it for my yard and my late grandfather's yard. All together probably about 2 acres every Saturday. Down here in the swamps it never really gets cold enough to stop mowing but I can get away with only mowing once every other week or so from November through the first part of March. It is actually my grandfathers old mower and aside from changing the oil out every spring, I have done little to no maintenance on it over the past 4 or 5 years. I think the mower itself is probably close to 10 years old, maybe a little more.
Once my finances stabilize a bit, I may just have to at an ounce or so of Arx and see what happens.
