The manual for my Honda 4 stroke mower contains the usual advice about oil (paraphrased here): You can use oil that meets blah-blah-blah specs, but we recommend Honda oil. When I see stuff like this, I assume they mean "If you visit the mower shop, you might buy something else so we think you should go there for oil". I like supporting local businesses, like the one that sold me the mower, but could there be anything special about Honda oil?
Nothing special about Honda oil. It does make it a little easier to make sure you are getting the right kind of oil, but you can use the oil from the auto parts store just as well.
Honda oil has a special ingredient: profit margin
I knew there was something. Maybe I'll buy the oil at the supermarket, where it's a buck more expensive than at the auto parts store. That should solve the problem.
Yamaha does the same with all their toys such as waverunners and quads etc. They always come out with a line stating something to the affect like this "for best performance and reliability, always use Yamaha products for your engine" It's a ploy to take more money out of you....Jim
It comes from the famous Honda Oil Fields in the northern Honda Province of Japan. It seems that the oil is based on an unusually large number of Honda trees which lived there millions of years ago and became part of the pertroleum after they died. While in some parts of Japan, becoming a Samurai was most highly prized, in Honda Province the greatest accomplishment was to be Honda Rigger.
Hybrid Honda trees are the new thing and might affect the type cars folks drive, thus, hybrid Honda oil. Cuts down on Honda oil to market time.
-- Oren
"I don't have anything against work. I just figure, why deprive somebody who really loves it."
That's where the wild Nauga used to roam, but all were killed for their hides.
A question on oil was posted and to this I say: Harley-Davidson were(and are) masters at separating you from your money when I bought my first H-D in 1969. Instead of using the common SAE designations for oil viscosity they used something called Saybolt Universal Seconds. This caused all kinds of confusion,arguments and bar brawls as no one could agree on what SAE weight corresponded with Harleys obscure formula's. I went against the grain and started using Kendall SAE 50 weight in my bike and I heard from shade tree and pro mechanics that my engine was toast if I didn't change back to original H-D Pre-Lux, at about 3 times the price of the Kendall stuff,. Well, I ran the dog snot out of that bike and kept up with everyone on there Harley oil fed rides and it still runs pretty well for A nearly 70 year old bike! I should rebuild her one of these days. Joe, use auto parts store oil in your engine and save your dough! Hell,I wager you could use synthetic oil from Wally World and still save money compared to Honda's oil.
Good Luck! H.R.
1938 EL Knuck 1976 FLH Baglady 1969 BMW R69S
I bet you remember 'bulk-oil" sold in a glass quart jar; maybe 16 cents a jar?
-- Oren
"I don't have anything against work. I just figure, why deprive somebody who really loves it."
I worked in A real Philips 66 service station( That was when "service" meant filing your car with gas,checking the oil and tires and washing all your glass! Now service is selling lottery tickets and milk) as a pump jockey in the mid 60's and one of my jobs in the morning was to fill those jars and put them in wire racks with the little sign on them telling the other guys if they were detergent or non-detergent, what weight they were and the brand. We sold Philips oil in 4 types and 6 weights and Pennzoil in at least 6 weights. I was glad when we went to all canned oil in the early 70's. I worked there full or part time for 16 years working my way up to mechanic.
Good Luck! H.R.
Nope, nothing special. I use a single weight Castrol picked up at the local auto store.
Back then; cleaning a windshield might mean you could see panties. Hell I might buff the blur off the window. Tell me it ain't so! :-))
-- Oren
"I don't have anything against work. I just figure, why deprive somebody who really loves it."
Where I live (Minnesota) it was so cold back then the only thing you might see while washing the windshield was thermal long johns! and that was in the summer.
H.R.
Man, that goes way back. Never used it myself but I remember as a child, watching my father add oil from a glass jar with a screw-on metal spout, to our 1951 Nash. He bought a new Chevy in 1959, so that was quite a while ago.
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