Honda Lawn Mower GCV160 Oil Change 

someone is a little lazy

So you are bragging about not doing maintenance for 10 yrs? Ok, to each their own....🤷‍♂

I just replaced it. Lol easier for me it's earned it's keep.

@@LarryB-inFL Well he's not bragging, but just saying that the motor is very durable even without maintenance for 10 years. I've had mine for 5 years and I haven't done any maintenance whatsoever, I also live in Canada where winters get super cold and this thing runs great. Again, this is no brag but just a testament to a great engine. I'm about to do my first oil change right now, change the air filter, clean it up as recommended, hoping to do this more regularly from now on.

​@@1983Jackoditto although my engine is on my pressure washer. I am finally getting around to doing it this year

You are welcome, David. Thanks for the compliment.

Agreed

Yep good video clip end not music. Perfect.

That's a great idea. Thank you for taking the time to comment. It's contributions like yours that improve the value of videos.

@@Know-How-Now You're welcome. Glad to help. I looked at a few of your other videos. Well done. I hope your channel continues to grow.

I do a lot of research to ensure that videos contain accurate information and best practice methods. Of course I am not infallible, occasionally there is an error or someone from the community like you has something valuable to add. Thanks for watching the videos and taking the time to contribute.

or just wipe it down with a rag when you're done

Hey Know How - remember, NearlyNormal, from above, means not quite normal. If you do it his way, you will likely get oil all over your hand when you pull the dipstick out while the mower is tilted all the way over. I agree with Nemo - just wipe the little bit off the deck top when you're done - your way is probably better!

You are welcome, Tristan.

I’m on 4 years on mine, going to change it this year, guess I’m not the only one

You are welcome, Travis.

A friend gave me one for free. Changed the spark plug and replaced the carburetor (very cheap) and it started right up. Got me a drag behind mower now. Changing the oil next.

You are welcome, Ron. Happy mowing, lol.

I was wondering about this too. After I read in the manual that the engine oil tank was 0.58 quarts, I was trying to confirm the amount to refill. Your numbers match what I found in the manual, 12.0 ~ 13.5 oz (0.35 ~ 0.41 l). I went by the dipstick when I refilled mine, but it appeared I was only putting in about 1/4 of a quart, so I was trying to confirm. This video helped, thanks.

You are welcome, it's my pleasure to help.

You are welcome, David. Check out the comment by one of the viewers. He suggests tipping the mower, then cracking open the oil cap... that will make it less messy.

@@Know-How-Now Thank you for that, it should indeed make things less messy before the mower is in the correct position to expel the oil. It was good of you to take the time and very much appreciated ☺️

You are welcome!

You are welcome, Bob. Have a great day.

Thanks for the compliment, Lee.

You are welcome. I do my best to make quality videos.

You are welcome, Ronnie! Thanks for the compliment.

You are welcome, Marilin.

You are welcome, Andrew. Thanks for watching the video.

Thanks for the compliment. I do my best to make brief, but good quality videos.

You are welcome, it's my pleasure to help.

You are welcome.

Thanks for the compliment, Roy. Sorry you no longer have an excuse not to change to oil. lol. One tip that a viewer added, you can keep the cap on, tip the mower, the open the cap to drain the oil. I tried this way and it was less messy. I love that RU-vid allows public collaboration.

You are welcome, Karen. It's my pleasure to help.

Thanks for passing it along. I just sent a link to a neighbor who is working up the courage to give it a try.

The tag on my new Honda gcv 160 says that the oil should be at the top of those lines....

You are welcome, Devin!

You're welcome!

You are welcome.

You are welcome!

You are welcome.

You are welcome, Randy. Have a great day.

You are welcome.

I did a lot of research before I made the video about the rags being combustible. I later found out the it's only certain kinds of oils that are combustible. Motor oil does not oxidize. My brother is a machinist, every shop except the present one he works at treated oily rags as if they could spontaneously combust. I know that linseed oil does oxidize, it used to be used in paints. Unless you are sure of what kind of oil you are using, I would bag it in plastic as a precaution.

Better to be safe :)

Linseed oil used with turpentine , rags used for clean up should be opened up to air dry otherwise spontaneous combustion will happen if they remain wadded up !!!!!!!

You are welcome, Antonio.

You are welcome, Casey.

You're welcome! Love your RU-vid name... that's great.

You are welcome, Ron.

You are welcome.

You're welcome.

You are welcome.

You are welcome.

My ride on lawn mower does have it!!! A self-propelled does not need it otherwise it would cost you and additional $100 or more to buy it. LOL

Thanks for commenting, James, that's a great suggestion.

You are welcome, Tony.

Thanks!

You are welcome, Bradley!

I've tipped the mower on it's side and the oil drained out of the fill/check level tube. I should have shown a picture of the oil draining out.... though it's nice to talk to you.

You are welcome.

Thanks for the compliment, Ivan. Happy mowing, lol.

I agree. How hard would it be for Honda to put a drain plug under the engine to allow the oil to drain without having to tip the whole mower over?

I am sorry that the video no longer shows tipping the mower and letting the oil drain out of the fill tube. Somehow, there is a glitch with the RU-vid playback and that segment of the video is no longer being shown. Hopefully RU-vid fixes the problem, that segment of the video used to play, you will notice that until just recently (video has been posted for years), people are commenting about how to drain the oil. Agh. Sorry.

@@Know-How-Now hmm... ok

I found a way to fix the video so that it now includes showing how to drain the oil. Thanks to everyone who mentioned it. I never would have known that some RU-vid quirk removed that section of the video.

@@Know-How-Now no problem, thank you for fixing it.

I just used a different online converter and this one is telling me that 0.58 quarts = 18.56 us fluid ounces...🤔

Hi Jeff, I double checked the Honda manual it says capacity is 17 oz or .5 liters. I agree .58 quarts = 18.56 fluid ounces. The difference between the two capacities is a head scratcher, perhaps an error in Husqvarna or Hondas manuals?

@@Know-How-Now I haven't filled it with oil yet but when I do I'm going to just be conservative and add so much at a time until the dipstick reads full and then run it for a few minutes, let it rest a minute and then check it again and figure out exactly how much this engine holds then.

I like the glug glug pour, lol. Thanks for the tip.

The owners manual says to use SAE 10W-30 oil. I'd stick with Honda's recommendation. Also, you might void the warranty.

If you run synthetic you get less engine wear and don't have to run it to burn yourself because it flows at greater temperature range.

Nope. Just dump the old out and add new.

Hi Charlie, you don't have to run the gas out first.

It's not just these, most push mowers sized engines don't use oil filters. They don't really have an oil flow system, like a car does, so there isn't a pump to push it through a filter. It essentially is just splashed on the moving components in the engine using an oil slinger. These are pretty simple engines, and the small amount of oil they use is ideally changed frequently enough to make a filter unnecessary.

Yes

Yes.

Hi George, constructive criticism is always welcome. I tell you the capacity of the oil and the range of oil needed to refill and show you the oil on the cross hatches. I assume that the viewers are intelligent enough/have common sense to figure out the final level of oil to add. If I went on and on about getting the level perfect people as you suggest, people would be complaining... I stick to the topic of the title and assume a reasonable level of common sense. Perhaps the style/level of information on this channel does not meet your needs and maybe I am missing a potential audience. You can capitalize on my weakness and post your own video on how to change the oil on a Honda Mower with more detail.

Well, that's weird. I just watched my original mp4 video and it shows the mower being tipped and the oil dumping into the container. I'll have to see if I can do something about that.... not sure why it is missing from the youtube playback.

I don't see anything I can do about the oil dump shot disappearing from the video. Maybe RU-vid will correct it and the full video will reappear again. Thanks for telling me. A comment 9 days ago also asked about dumping the oil too, which I thought was odd. The video has been published 4 years - you and Kelly York are the only ones asking about how to actually drain the oil. It must be a relatively new "glitch".

@@Know-How-Now no worries. Just tip it over and it will drain Thanks for your video

In the 1970's there was a failed attempt to convert to metric. www.unitconverters.net/volume/ounces-to-liter.htm

Many recommend doing that, but I don't see the point and chose not to put it in the instructions. You have to hold the safety bar and pull the cord to start the mower. Maybe I'm missing something, but how could the mower spontaneously start while changing the oil?

I have been using Pennzoil Platinum synthetic oil for in all my cars for about 25 years and to me is the best of the affordable oils and way better than Mobil 1.

Initially, I thought it was kind of dumb not to have drain plug. Though, in some ways maybe not so bad. You don't have to have to fight to get a drain plug loose. It's easier to dump it.

@@Know-How-Now What about upsetting the carb? Gas going into the cylinder. Hard restarting etc. You dont overturn your car to drain the oil.

If it had a drain plug, it would be on the underside of the mower, you would have to tip it to remove it. If you clean the deck you would have to tip it on it's side to do that too. I just changed the oil in mine. After tipping it, it started on the first pull. I mowed the lawn. No problems.

@@Know-How-Now 8 keep my d4ck clean and change my oil and never had to tip the mower over.

@@Know-How-Now 8 keep my d4ck clean and change my oil and never had to tip the mower over.

Could you please add to the comment and tell what you don't like about it? People considering buying this mower will know what you don't like about it. I'm not trying to be confrontational, we just need to know why you think it is a bad design.

It’s so simple. It’s actually a great design. My dads Honda mower is 35 years old. Mine is 15. I let mine drain for hours because I want all the old oil out. How hard is it to tilt the mower to its side? It’s not. I use synthetic here in Minnesota because fall can get cold fast here.

Are you sure you are not the Grinch? lol.

@@Know-How-Now Ha!! No - I've just traveled a lot. Lived an several countries. :-)

@@Know-How-Now Oh - I should probably add - (just a fun "fyi"): Albert Einstein, Ben Franklin, George Eastman (from Eastman/Kodak), Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell (and MANY others) - all of whom *refused* to use imperial - at that time in an "all imperial" America. Ben Franklin was such a "Grinch" that he stood on a soap box - trying to tell people and convince them to get RID of this British system (that the USA *still* uses!!) and ue the new SCIENCE system. He failed (as did Einstein, Edison, Bell, etc. Americans don't realize that the USA signed a treaty that they would be COMPLETELY metric - by 1976 (!!!!) In a world where you're not supposed to "hate", Americans *hate* metric, ... ... although they use metric in their daily lives: - Prescriptions and nutritional content are all in mg (milligrams). Can you imagine someone saying "I need 22/1,000 of an ounce tablets of Thiamine." Or "This label states that it has 1/300 of an ounce of protein." - All vehicle engines are all in liters (intentionally mis-spelled from the correct "litres"). People don't say "I have a 302 in my car!!" any more - they say "I've got a 5.0!" - The tires on your car are [example]: 205/75 R15 (205 is Millimetres!) the 75 is profile % and the 15 is inches). - Bolt patterns (for USA cars!) for rims: Ford: 5x114.3 mm, 4x108 mm, GM: 5x115 mm, 5x120.7 mm, Dodge: 5x100 mm, 5x114.3 mm. (all MILLIMETRES!) - When a pregnant woman is dilated, the cervix is measured in cm (centimetres) - Wine is sold in litres. - Booze is sold in mL (millilitres = 1,000 of a liter) - Sodas are sold in 2 litre bottles. - All spectacles (glasses and sunglasses) are in mm (MILLIMETRES). They are measured by the Tech and manufactured in mm. - Motorcycles (and all small engines: lawn mowers, go-cart, snow blowers...) are all in CC. - Carburetors are all measured in mm. - Skis are all in cm (centimetres). One doesn't go to buy a "Rossignol 5'10" ski - one buys a "Rossignol 175" ski. And yes, a proper ski size is typically one's height: 175cm, etc. - Orthopedic balls ("Swiss ball") are all in cm. - All runs and walks in the USA (like the "walk for cancer") are all in k (kilometres) - That 9mm Pistol? That's 9 Millimetres. - A hectare is 10,000 square METERS. I have 272 other examples, but I'll let it rest there. Also, my kung Fu Sifu taught me: "Man who think he too insignificant to make a change - never been in bed with a mosquito."

Comment brought to you by an angry mower shop owner.

You are welcome, Tim.