# Oil change



## BBNYC (May 26, 2020)

I am doing end of season maintenance and planned to drain the fuel and do an oil change. After I do the oil change and have new oil in the blower is there any reason to run the blower at all? Or can I just put in the clean oil and let that sit until next season? I ask bc I am planning on draining all of the fuel for the summer and would obviously need fuel to fire it up after the oil change if needed.


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## BazookaJoe (Oct 6, 2019)

You should start the engine and run it with the fresh oil. Running the engine will circulate the new fresh oil on to the important surfaces within the engine.


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## BBNYC (May 26, 2020)

ok so I should do the oil change first. Then run the machine for a few mins and only after that is done, drain all the fuel for the summer. 




BazookaJoe said:


> You should start the engine and run it with the fresh oil. Running the engine will circulate the new fresh oil on to the important surfaces within the engine.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

I disagree, the bottom of the engine is a sump, a holding pen for the oil, all the oil has drained down to the bottom, there's not a drop of oil above the oil line. You put fresh oil in, run it, it splashes around, an hour later, or less, it's all drained to the bottom, there's not a drop of oil on any part internally. What's the difference? What have you accomplished? Other than contaminating fresh oil with combustion, though minimally.


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## BBNYC (May 26, 2020)

Ok so clearly there are differing opinions on whether to run the new oil through the machine before I put it away for the summer months.

regardless of whether I do or don’t is there agreement that doing so isn’t harmful to the machine and leaving the new oil in the machine all summer won’t prevent an easy startup next season the way leaving fuel would?


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

Change it, it won't hurt anything. Where I live in NJ, there are years I've never used my snowblower, however the average is 3x/year, because of this I do not change the oil yearly with only a few hours on it. You'll find others who have posted they disagree and change it yearly regardless because oil is cheap, I agree oil is cheap but don't feel it's necessary to change it.


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## Shovel (Mar 26, 2019)

BBNYC said:


> Ok so clearly there are differing opinions on whether to run the new oil through the machine before I put it away for the summer months.
> 
> regardless of whether I do or don’t is there agreement that doing so isn’t harmful to the machine and leaving the new oil in the machine all summer won’t prevent an easy startup next season the way leaving fuel would?


It doesn't matter either way..I would just fill it and not worry about it.

I would start the machine once in a while off season though...some people have carb problems others dont when a machine has been sitting.


Sent from my SM-A115U1 using Tapatalk


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## tuffnell (Dec 1, 2011)

Even tho I use a gasoline stabilizer I try to start the blower every month.


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## carguy20 (Feb 8, 2021)

I would agree with JLawrence on this one. You do not need to start it and run it after changing the oil. I would say though, that before you fire it up for the first time after letting it sit over the summer, leave the ignition off and do not prime it, but just pull the cord once or twice to make sure everything moves like it should, and maybe get a little oil on some of the engine parts.

I do not change the oil in my blower every year. As another fellow resident of NJ, I can attest to the fact that snow totals can vary. In 2019-2020, we got about 6 inches over the entire winter, in 2017-2018, we got about 36 inches. This year we has a few big ones as well. I write down on the side of my snowblower when I change the oil. I changed it in April 2018 after the few big storms when it ran often, and did not change it again until April 2021. At the start and end of each season, I will check it and see how it looks. If it looks purple (I used Royal Purple up until switching to Mobile 1 at this last change), I know it is good. If it looked dark brown, its time to change it.


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## BazookaJoe (Oct 6, 2019)

JLawrence08648 said:


> I disagree, the bottom of the engine is a sump, a holding pen for the oil, all the oil has drained down to the bottom, there's not a drop of oil above the oil line. You put fresh oil in, run it, it splashes around, an hour later, or less, it's all drained to the bottom, there's not a drop of oil on any part internally. What's the difference? What have you accomplished? Other than contaminating fresh oil with combustion, though minimally.


All of the oil does not drain to the bottom of the sump. Instead, a light coating of oil will remain on the surfaces of the interior components. Without a coating of oil, the interior parts would become rusted. The reason to start your engine, is to have new fresh oil splashed around the engine which will result in a coating of new fresh oil on these interior components. However, if you prefer to store your engine with old oil coating the internal components, yeah, go for it.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

Interesting thoughts from carguy20 and BazookaJoe, my thoughts again, gives you something to think about.

The summary, engines last a heck of a long time. I think pulling the cord a few times to distribute the oil on the moving parts is a good idea, the engine will last longer. But if you don't, the engine will still last a heck of a long time. How much longer, a scientific comparison in the lab with an electron microscope to look at wear would need to be done with intensive oil analysis. Screw it. Then one wonders if this is a second or third pull+ engine, you've just accomplished distributing the oil, then when you pull, there is a lag time to starting, does this splash enough to accomplish distributing the oil? Again, engines last a heck of a long time for me to worry about.

Regarding a remaining oil film, enough to prevent rust but enough for the initial start to prevent or slow wear? Need a lab and Heck, engines last a long time for me to be concerned about this.

Then one wonders, if the engine sits for a long enough time, does the film ever leave? Heck, .........


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## BBNYC (May 26, 2020)

I ended up changing oil and briefly running machine after changing it.

I planned to drain the fuel completely before putting it away for the summer until next season. Seems like some suggest draining completely of fuel and letting it sit all off season and others suggest leaving treated fuel in and starting once a month.

I guess like most questions raised on this board lots of different approaches. I’m stillrelatively new to ownership so happy to get all the different opinions to help me make a decision


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## Ziggy65 (Jan 18, 2020)

For long term storage many small engine manuals (4 and 2 cycle) recommend adding 1 oz of oil through the spark plug hole, pull engine over a couple of times and then replace spark plug. This will help lubricate the piston for first start up. 

Storage longer than 3 to 6 months is usually considered long term storage.


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## Oneacer (Jan 3, 2011)

@BBNYC,

Yeah, ... like a Ford, Chevy or Dodge, etc. ... they all get you from point A to point B ... just depends how you want to get there.


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## BBNYC (May 26, 2020)

Surprised though that so many differing opinions on leaving treated fuel and starting regularly in offseason vs just draining all the fuel and letting it sit for off-season.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

I'm a believer adding 2 cycle oil to the gas at a ratio of 1:500 to lubricate the piston walls above the piston. At that rate there's no smoke, no hard start up, no fouling. This was a discussion on BITOG.


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## carguy20 (Feb 8, 2021)

JLawrence- I think that for most of us, we all have our ways that we have either come by through experience or being taught. We all have different ways that usually end up working alright. 

I know when I started up my grandfather's Troy Bilt Chipper/Vac last month that has sat for over 15 years, I pulled the plug and dripped some MMO in the cylinder before turning it. Luckily it spun free, and I was able to get it to start. 

Also, I assume that you had a little typo above, meaning 1:50 instead of 1:500.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

MMO I do not use but it's gotten a lot of solid reviews by a few on here and other sites. I'm a proponent of it.

No, 1:500 is not a typo, 1 oz/5 gal, 1 1/2 tsp/gallon. I use old 2 cycle oil that I have as an additive to the gas can for 4 cycle equipment. This was a long discussion on BITOG. I never did it prior but feel it will help with engine longevity but Heck, engines last a long time anyway! In a summer gas can I put 2 cycle oil and a fuel cleaner, in a Winter gas can I put 2 cycle oil, fuel cleaner, and a fuel stabilizer.


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## BBNYC (May 26, 2020)

This has gone way beyond my expertise hahaha. All of this started by trying to get a sense if it’s better to leave treated fuel in and keep starting once a month or just drain all the gas and don’t put new gas in until next season


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

This is the way of this site, things just morph in to something else, go stand in the corner and be ashame of what you started Post #19!


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## LouC (Dec 5, 2016)

Well....
Remember that most small 4 stroke engines are splash lubricated so there is some benefit to at least pulling the recoil if not starting it to coat all internal parts in oil. 
I “change” the oil in my Toro 2 stroke every time I mix up a batch of 2 stroke fuel lol.
I will admit if I don’t use the generator (which I run for a half hr every month just to make sure it works) I usually change the oil every other year; I put a piece of tape on the side and write down when it was changed. 12 months x 1/2 hr run time = 6 hrs on the oil per year, so going a couple of years won’t hurt anything. Now if I actually have to use it in an outage I change it right after the power comes on. 
As far as running 1x per month vs draining, I do the run 1x per month but it gets tiresome with 9 different engines!


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## carguy20 (Feb 8, 2021)

JLawrence08648 said:


> MMO I do not use but it's gotten a lot of solid reviews by a few on here and other sites. I'm a proponent of it.
> 
> No, 1:500 is not a typo, 1 oz/5 gal, 1 1/2 tsp/gallon. I use old 2 cycle oil that I have as an additive to the gas can for 4 cycle equipment. This was a long discussion on BITOG. I never did it prior but feel it will help with engine longevity but Heck, engines last a long time anyway! In a summer gas can I put 2 cycle oil and a fuel cleaner, in a Winter gas can I put 2 cycle oil, fuel cleaner, and a fuel stabilizer.


My apologies, I thought you were discussing mixing gas for a 2 cycle engine at 500-1 instead of 50-1. I did not realize you were putting it in gas for a 4 cycle. I actually might consider doing that for my blower.


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## JLawrence08648 (Jan 15, 2017)

You won't notice any difference in performance, starting, or exhaust smoke, I feel it will add to the longevity of the engine.


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## jrom (Jan 10, 2014)

I agree JL. I do a variation on your theme by adding some of my unused 50:1 (or 40:1) 2 stroke chainsaw mix (zero ethanol, name brand 2-stroke oil) when and/or if it gets older than a month or 2 into my lawnmower and lawn tractor. Haven't seen either smoke and I do believe it prolongs the engine life too. 12 year old Honda lawnmower and 21 year old 15hp Briggs engined tractor.

So far, so good.


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## jrom (Jan 10, 2014)

I haven't added any 2 stroke mix into either of my snow blowers, but I'm thinking about it.


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