Yes , I've heard of it ..... from mower shops ..... the only problem is that I've been running a Victa Commando mower with a 5 HP Tecumseh engine (has a separate oil tank and pumps the oil thru) on valvoline XLD since 1994 when I bought the mower brand new ....... I have mowed thousands of BIG lawns with that mower for the past 14 years , gone thru hundreds of blade changes , and it's still running to this day having had zero mechanical repairs .... She's starting to get a bit rattly and puffs out a bit of smoke since I recently started using Castrol 4T 4 stroke mower engine oil but starts first pull and runs for hours on end without a problem .... I've only ever had to replace 1 air filter (paper cartridge up on the handle bar) and 1 spark plug ....
I know people who bought Rovers with Briggs and Stratton motors and ran them on mower oil and my step dads B&S spat the rod thru the cases after about 1 year ..... I've also ran worked XR75's on car oil , Valvoline XLD and Castrol GTX and the crank , head , cam and Yoshimura 5 speed tranny are still in great shape after 32 years ....... the only part that shows signs of trauma is the primary drive crank gear which has teeth hat are polished like chrome ....... but that's pretty good going for a 1974 model part that spins at 12,000 + rpm crank revs .......
I know the guy who started the thread means well .... but does he really think that mower shops want peoples mowers to last as long as mine has without needing to spend unnessary money on repairs , tune ups or even a new mower ?????
I've got some really good advice for him if he genuinely wants to help people out ..... STOP selling people mowers that have the air filter down on the motor ....... the oiled sponge blocks up really quickly making the engine run super rich and lose heaps of power ...... the excess fuel washes oil off the cylinder causing rapid cylinder , piston and ring wear plus contaminates and thins out the oil in the sump and can easily result in the seizures he's referring to ........ Also , when the air filter is blocked , oil gets sucked up past the rings and contaminates the fuel plus oils up the spark plug .... It also makes the mowers a bitch to start and makes them chew thru fuel like there's no tomorrow ..... I've helped stacks of people out by simply letting the know what the problem is .... I've even seen people buy new mowers because they thought theirs was stuffed when it was just a dirty air filter ....
People who reckon 2 stroke mowers have more power make me laugh big time ..... you buy mowers going off the HP rating .... a 5 HP four stroke has the exact same power as a 5 HP two stroke .... the only difference is that the 5 HP four stroke will last a hell of a lot longer ...... where most people get the idea that 2 strokes are more reliable and powerful lies in the fact that most manufacturers only sell them with high up fitted air filters .... way out of the dust and fast block up zone ..... a choked up 4 stroke might only be putting out 1 HP .......
Any mower manufacturer who fits air filters on the motor and any mower shop who sells them without recommending to the customer to fit a snorkel kit are nothing more than scammers ......
Maybe even the mono grade oil shortens engine life since it contains NO friction modifiers ...... and is most likely another scam of the mower industry .... LOL .....
If consumers want to think like sheeple , they'll be welcomed by the "shepherds" at their local mower or bike shop ..... like lambs to the slaughter ........
