What kind of oil type should i use for a craftsman lt1000 with a Kohler Pro 17 hp OHV engine?

i have a Craftsman lt1000 with a Kohler Pro 17 hp OHV engine. I want to know what kind of oil i should use in my lawn ower. i dont have the manual . 1 site said to use 30 weight oil. i will be running this mower in the winter a lot to since i have a plow. a friend of mine said if was going to use the mower in the winter to use lighter oil. and which type of oil should i get. i think it is still running on a regular oil.

Well i run Penzoil paltnium full synthetic 10w30 in my tractors and it works great! depending on how cold it gets over there, you may want to put some 5w30 in for the winter. Torque had a problem in the winter where when i would try to crank her over she would barely turn over and i thought it was either the battery or the starter. After talking to a couple people i found out that the oil got too thick and cold so it made it too hard to start. So i threw in some 5w30 and she fired right up.

The old flat heads used 30W. Most had slingers , so thick oil was not that much of a problem in the winter.
The newer OHVs need a multi vis for the lifters and oil pumps.
Synthetics cost a little more but could be worth it in the long run if you over-rev your engine ( more than 3600rpm)

it is an average of 30 degrees fahrenheit . some times it gets around -10 degrees fahrenheit . most people arould town use 5w30 or 10w30 oil. So i should use 5w30 oil ?

Dustin138 wrote:

it is an average of 30 degrees fahrenheit . some times it gets around -10 degrees fahrenheit . most people arould town use 5w30 or 10w30 oil. So i should use 5w30 oil ?

I do 30w in summer and 10w30 in winter.

can i just use 10w30 for all year round. until i empty the oil for maintenance, then put 10w30 in again

yea, i have read tons of stuff and still dont know what oil is best. I guess you have to try to educate yourself, then make your own decision.

I found some info here> http://mcgeerf.tripod.com/americansyntheticoil/id17.html something to add about this chart is pour point. I know for a fact that rotella 15/40 is very very very thick at -18* below. i would say the claimed " pour point" of -25 is at -25* it does NOT flow ( not good). so i think a buffer needs to be used. so a claimed pour point of -25, imo you would not want to use that below say -15* or even -10*. the best thing you can do is get your oil flowing as fast as you can in the winter.

this chart might be bias to amsoil i don't know but it does tell the viscosity index of many types of oil. the VI is important to make sure the oil is and stays what it is supposed to be. cheap oils sometimes dont stay. like a 10w30 will turn into 20 weight after a bit.

more info here> http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

If it were me and the tractor was used in 100* heet and would be cold started a lot in the winter, i'd use straight 30 summer and a synthetic in the winter. the synthetic just flows so easy in cold weather it's rediculous. i bet with a 0w40 synthetic, i bet it would turn over in the winter like a sunday afternoon in the summer.

i just bought 2.5 gal of resolute or mystic ( can't remember from fleet farm) straight 30 diesel oil. the diesel is supposed to be a very high detergant level. imo, the high detergant is good to keep dirt and sludge flowing to be caught in the oil filter. i do use it on my engines that dont have oil filters too. it was like 12$ on sale and thats for 10 quarts so i can change it a couple times a summer if it looks real bad.


i bought some 10w40 for my quad to run. it is supposed to have 10$ per quart 0w40 synthetic. i'm curious how it's going to satrt this winter as it sits outside all winter and needs to be fired up for snow removal. i'm curious to see how slow it cranks over.

all this being said, imo, i would run a straight 30 in the summer because it's supposedly way better and stabil than a mixed weight oil and then some kind of cheeper synthetic in the winter like 10w30 or 5w30
.

ok i will use 30weight in the summer and 5w30 in winter thanks. i dont know much about engines

Rule of thumb is thinner oil in winter and thicker in the summer- most my motors say 10w30/5w20 in the winter and SAE 30 in the summer- me i run whats leftover from the vehicle oil changes - 5w20/5w30 - 10w30/40 - bot a galon of 15w30 and put that in a few tractors for the summer.