I just changed my oil after hunting, and noticed that I have put Honda's 20w50 in my Rancher 420. It is stored in an insulated garage, and will be doing plowing this winter, but did I put the wrong oil in it or should I be ok?

I run amsoil 20w50 in my harley, but that's a totally different engine.

Just wondering if I made a $18 mistake....

 

Your Honda owner's manual does not recommend 20W50, not even for the very hottest weather. The recommended oils for warmer weather are 10W40 and 10W30, and for cold weather 5W30 and 0W30. See your owner's manual for the appropriate temperature range you are operating at, but you probably should be running something like 5W30 in winter. (If you want a really slick oil that will improve your performance, try Maxima 530MX.)

Honda in particular, had gotten away from the use of the very heavy oils! Modern engines have tighter tolerances than the old school ones from the past....this isn't a Harley! You no longer need the very thick oils to bridge the sloppy gaps in the bearings, etc.

In addition, the worst engine wear happens at a cold startup, before the oil can get pumping. So, the thicker the oil the longer it is going to be before it gets moving, and the worse it is going to be for your engine!!!

 

Thanks- that's what I was afraid of. I take responsibility for grabbing the wrong bottle at the dealer- but I'm definitely going to let them know my displeasure at not catching me buying the wrong oil, especially when they got me the filter and knew what it was being put into....

 

It depends on where you live and how cold it gets there.

A 20W oil will go down to 32 degrees F.
A 10W 50 oil will go down to -10 degrees F.
A 5W 30 oil will go down to colder than you want to be riding in (or at least me).

 

Simplest thing is to always just run what your owner's manual recommends, and try to stay in the middle of the recommended temperature range! Remember, different engines can be radically different (for example, 420 vs Harley!).

Honda, has gotten away from thick oils, on all the recent models. If you look at your Rancher 420 manual, they are even specing 0W30 as a possible year round, all season oil! I don't think I want to be running 0W30 on a 100+ degree summer day, myself. If one runs the thinner oils year round, it better darn well be a very high quality ester synthetic!