detergent or non detergent oil?

[zanepetty 117]

I put 30 wt castrol in my k161. The botle says HD on it. Do you guys run regular oil or non detergent? Thanks in Advance,

Zane

[rmaynard 14,888]

I run 30W non-detergent in all of my Kohler engines. I know that we will be   with this thread, because there is clearly more than one school of thought on the subject. However, I tend to agree with Brian Miller (http://gardentractorpullingtips.com/engine.htm) on the use of ND oils.

Edited August 14, 2013 by rmaynard

[kaiser 100]

i use non detergent in motors that i don't know the history on (old vw's, old tractors or any other small engine).  anything i buy new gets detergent at the least or synthetic.

Edited August 14, 2013 by kaiser

[520HC 207]

I have used nothing but Kohler oil in my engines for 35 plus years and it is detergent.

[zanepetty 117]

Ya. Like I said I just got my 753 and I put 30 wt castrol and it says HD. I planned on running it for a few hours and changing it. But I'm really unsure on if I messed up or not :/

[Dual Drive Horse 6]

Detergent oils are designed to hold the dirt in suspension until it reaches the filter, Non detergent oils are designed to allow the dirt to settle into the bottom of the sump and stay there until you change the oil. So the simple rule of thumb is detergent if it has a filter, non detergent if it hasn't.

 

That information was given me many years ago by an engineer from Mobil.

[squonk 38,911]

Kohler says detergent. I use detergent. 30W Rotella year round.

[zanepetty 117]

Such a hard decision! I just don't want to hurt my new to me wheel horse's Kohler motor :(

[zanepetty 117]

I just got off the phone with Kohler and I gave them my model and spec number of my motor and they said use detergent but I realize you can't fully trust an over the phone engine representative. I don't know what I should do. I SUPER particular with my wheel horse:/

[squonk 38,911]

Koehler engine manual says detergent. Can' t get better authority than that!

[Hodge71 663]

Quit your worrying...Thats the first thing. As long as it's oil you're really not hurting anything. You're making  a mountain out of a molehill. My Dad has been using Castrol GTX 30w or 10W-30 depending on the time of year for 40 years and over 4500 hours on his 73 12 automatic doesn't smoke and has never been rebuilt. Its been covered probably close to 100,000 posts on here...    ...You'll be fine Zane. Enjoy your tractor

Edited August 14, 2013 by hodge71

[Kelly 1,028]

Like Hodge said clean oil, keep it changed, who knows what has been in it over the past 50 years. 

[zanepetty 117]

Ya you're right. Im too particular sometimes. I was just worried because I don't know what was in it before I had it you know?