Hi Ron, I can’t figure out what a Craftsman 800 is. Would you please reply with the model number off of the tag on the back of the snow blower.

Hi Michael. Ok, two answers then 🙂

Small gas engines do run at hotter temperatures than a car engine. Push lawn mower engines are particularly susceptible to blowing up when using regular car oil. Most people don’t know or care so they blame the engine…. So if you use regular oil in your air-cooled engine, you always want to use a heavy-duty oil. Rotella Diesel Truck oil, Harley Davidson, and Briggs & Stratton oil are a few examples. These oils won’t break down as quickly under high temperatures as car oil. There is another set of codes on the oil container that tell you the rating of the oil. i.e., SB, SC, SD, SE, SF, SG, SH. You can Google that if you want to learn more.

Good synthetic oils like Mobil One and Amzoil have a much higher flashpoint so they won’t break down in your small engine. In addition, synthetics like Mobile One never lose their lubricating qualities. As an example, Mobile One had a semi running around the country that last I heard had 3 million miles on the same Mobil One oil. (They did take the oil out of the truck every 10,000 miles and filtered the dirt out of it,) The engine shows no appreciable wear.

I’ve run Mobil One in all my gas engines for over 25 years now and I have never had an engine failure. I’ve run Dodge Caravans over 400,000 miles without them using more than a quart of oil every 6000 miles. I ran Mobil One of all my commercial mowers and hydro units. I never had a failure with them. I change the weight 5W or 10W for the season temperature.

5W-30 is the viscosity, meaning it is thinner when cold which will make the snow blower easier to pull start. You can use a heavier weight synthetic oil but the engine may be harder to start when it’s -20 outside.

Just so you know. Most Sears stores now only carry 5W-30 synthetic.

I have a simple question regarding engine oil. I live in central NJ about 10 minutes from Pennsylvania and I have a Craftsman 88173 I bought in March this year that has been used once for about an hour. After a couple more uses (wishing for snow this season) it will be ready for it’s first oil change. My question is: I would like to use synthetic oil for all the obvious reasons, do I need to use a 5W-30 that specifically states for snow blowers? Or can any 4 cycle synthetic 5W-30 do. Even those that only list warm weather machines like lawn mowers/tractors.

Also I always thought I should use small engine oil in my small engines, that it is engineered differently than automotive engine oil. Or is there little to no difference and all that matters is the weight (5W-30 is 5W-30) and any will do.

Ok, that was two questions.

Thank you for your experience and insight.
Mike