Bad Oil New Tractor

[scott_vt]

I don't think so - not getting hosed by paying twice as much for name-brand oil is not the problem. The lesson here is simply when you open a 5 gallon pail of oil, and there's antifreeze in there, don't just dump it into you machine anyway. Filling factorys do make errors on occasion - that's why fluids are color-coded.

My condolences to the original poster - I don't think there is any recourse for you.

JayC

Good Mornin JayC,
Well yes and no ! I do see your point... but, getting hosed paying twice as much ? The first billable hour at $500 for an attorney to even open the manilla folder ! Lots of name brand fluid can be bought for $500 !

"The lesson here is simply when you open a 5 gallon pail of oil, and there's antifreeze in there, don't just dump it into you machine anyway."

If you bought the approved fluid and had receipt in hand, even if the fluid was red, you have recourse, whether you used bad judgement or not by dumping it into the tractor, your not backing yourself into a corner on future repairs JMO !

BTW, I do agree that if it didnt look right, or smell right, I wouldnt have dumped it in the tractor either !

 

[Hematite]

I'm sticking with OEM parts even after warranty expires
because I still don't want to pay repair bills even after the warranty expires!

Yes, it's amazing to the point of being ludicrous that someone will buy a $20K to $40K or more machine, then use an aftermarket fluid to save money. Even if the pretext for using aftermarket is that it "tested" better than OE, that does NOT mean that it will be better in your brand of tractor. Every brand of tractor has different specs, clearances and operating parameters. If there is one thing that I learned about this mess is that I'm going to use the factory fluids and preferably dealer service,as well.

Everyone that is "saving" money doing your own changes, do you know that when you have your tractor serviced at the dealer any TSB's or silent recalls are applied to your machine? Frankly, if I can't afford to have the dealer service the machine, at least while under warranty, I don't need to buy it. Life is WAAY too short for this kind of aggravation!

 

[greenmule]

It has nothing to do with using"factory" fluids,I used napa brand last time.

It has to do with the fact he poured gals of bright green oil followed by brown oil of some shade into his hydro system,all of same off the wall brand. How do I know that,he said it.

 

[arrow]

Well indicting the guy for poor judgement is of no use and water under the bridge. We've all made, shall I say, less than perfect choices in hindsight. If it were I in this case, I'd go first the path of least resistance. First, I would either double change hyd. oils and add mobilsol A to my changes or go right to a company that power flushes hyd equipment. At any rate, get the entire system clean. You may have some plugged orifices rather than outright wear or too much residual left of the wrong stuff. I agree about using any oil but lets humor Kubota and use their stuff. Starting with a totally cleaned out system, run the tractor with the Kubota oil in it and see if everything is cured.
Good luck and I hope you get an easy fix and your out of pocket stays minimized.

 

[newbury]

How the heck do some of you posters get off calling the green stuff "antifreeze"?
OP "It seemed to me the viscosity of the oil was a little thick."
I've never seen thick antifreeze.
However if you read my earlier post I did find two links to GREEN HYDRAULIC fluid
Enviro-Green Hydraulic Fluid 55 Gallon

Enviro-Green Hydraulic Fluid 55 Gallon
ENVIRO-GREEN-IIｮ glycol base is derived as a byproduct of making biodiesel. The fluid is green in color

,

And as far as cost - What I mind is paying twice as much for a brand name as it's identical generic counterpart. But first you have to determine that the generic IS IDENTICAL.

Does the tractor in question require UDT or SUDT?

 

[broker than broke]

Well, I think a lot of people do what I do and scan through these things and don't read them carefully or they simply don't read well.

I did NOT put unapproved oil in the machine. I put oil that was approved by the dealer, the manufacturer of the oil states PLAINLY on the pail that it matches specs for Kubota. I have been using that oil for years. I have probably a dozen empty pails I use around here for "buckets". What has happened the oil was not packaged correctly. That can happen with ANY manufacturer, EVEN Kubota.

I take about $700 dollars per month of medications. I take generics al the time, every chance I get. Sometimes I will pick up a prescription and the color of the pill has changed. The size of the pill changes, I ask the pharmacist "is this the same?' and I get an explanation and take the medicine. The pharmacist substitutes the generics for the very expensive medicine IF they are the same chemical composition.

It is the same with oil. If the chemical compsosition is the same the there is NO DIFFERENCE except the NAME and the PRICE.

Kubota does NOT make oil. The license their name to a manufacturer. It is the same or it used to be the same with Hesston hay cutters and IHC. Made by the same people.

Does anybody use Motorcraft oil in their Ford truck or car, or Delco in their GM? I don't and never will. I'm sure SOMEBODY does because they still sell it. I run RPM DELO 400 in my Ford power stroke. Ford "recommends" Motorcraft, WHY?? BECAUSE THEY SELL IT, that's all.

The dealers all use Kubota oil because they can pass the cost on to the purchaser.

What has happened is some body put the wrong stuff in the right container.

It is the same way with drugs. I have been prescribed a drug called Loped. However a drug called Gemfibrizol is the same chemical composition and is MUCH cheaper so that is what I take.

This is America and anybody can pay for a name if they want to but when somebody else makes the same thing and it is a lower price that is where I go.

Once again it is ILLEGAL for a manufacturer of ANYTHING to DEMAND you only use their brand. Even the government recognizes the issue. If you can come up with the same SPECIFICATIONS with another maker of the product they CANNOT demand you use ONLY their oil. It is a violation of Fair Trade Laws and is a form or "price fixing". A dealer will tell you that. Ask one. The courts settled that one YEARS AGO.

I would not be afraid to use the same oil AGAIN IF and ONLY if the people that made the mistake poney up the damages. If they would make it right I would use their product and recommend it to anyone. I have never had this happen before and I have NEVER heard of it happening to anyone else. That was my original intent of posting on this thing, to find out if anyone else has had this happen.

If you want to pay DOUBLE for a "name" on a product that is no differnt or no better than the other guys, that is fine with me. Obviously I am not as wealthy as some of you folks.

The guy that sells the stuff is in the same position as a pharmacist that puts the WRONG medicaine in a pill bottle, it is EXACTLY the same thing.

I will bet if you bought some medicine and it poisoned you or somebody in your family you would see this differently.

Doesn't anybody remember the Tylenol scare about 20 or 25 years ago?? Some crazy guy put poison in a bottle of Tylenol and killed some people and that's when the government made them go to those sealed packages that show tampering if it occurs.

I haven't had the time to read all the replys, but as far as I know, so far, no one else has had this problem.

One more thing, a tractor with 48 hours on it is equivalent to a car with 2,400 miles on it. If you bought a Ford truck and at 2,400 miles you put some Exxon oil in it and it was mispackaged and ruined the engine you would see this differently. That is unless you buy MOTORCRAFT oil. I do not use Motorcraft in my Ford trucks and never have. In the 80's I owned a fence and welding business and I had a fleet of them. I ran Delo 400 15W-40 in every single one of them and never had a problem. I bought that oil by the 55 gallon drum. If THAT oil was mispackaged and ruined an engine I would feel the same way.

You are entitled to your opinion. Right now this is where I am, I bought an oil that was held out to be the equivalent of the Kubota OIL. I still believe it to be and would use it again IF the people make it right. I believe this is one of those one in a million things, but the person that made the mistake was not me. One drug I take, I am supposed to take 60 millagrams per day. When the pharmacy has run out of the 60 millagram pills they give me the 30 millagram pills and I simply take twice as many. These pills are DIFFERENT in color but THEY are the same chemical composition. The differnce in color is to tell the user that it is the samne but different. Two 30 ml. pills equal one 60. Different colors but the same thing.

Fuel is differnt colors depending on the manufacturer. They do that for a multitude of reasons.

Once again, you can buy the dealer brand if you want to and pay double if you want to, but ask yourself this, if you bought the DEALER brand and IT WAS MISPACKAGED AND RUINED YOUR MACHINE, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL???

 

[medicshawn]

I think there's a difference between what you know and what you can prove. The other question is it worth it in time and money?

I run SUDT because I haven't been able to fing anything aftermarket that says it meets SUDT specs. Plenty of stuff meets UDT but I haven't seen anything that meets SUDT. I have no problem running a high dollar synthetic if it meets or exceeds manufacturer specs. If you were running Kubota fluid and had these issues it would be a much easier fight.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Not to put too fine a point on it but, your lawyer did not SUE anyone for you if all he did was write a few letters over a few days.

He saw an open and shut case and made a demand, maybe some negotitation and accepted a settlement. He probably either charged you by the hour or had a contigency with maybe as much as one half of what Ford paid as his fee. You didn't say which. If it was the contigency then he made a pretty nickle for his fee without much effort. Which is exactly what most lawyers will try to do. That's why I would be surprised if the lawyer he spoke to thought he had a very good case.

It's a sad story and it's bad for 'broke' that it happened to him and you are entirely correct that he should shop around with other lawyers for one that might take it on a contigency.

But I can tell you that if the case were to actually go to trial he or someone would spend more than the tractor is worth just in discovery and expert testimony. Still doesn't mean it's not worth doing, if he's willing to spend the money.

Sorry I thought the sue part was understood. Yes the lawyer did file suit, yes it was an open and shut case, but still he did do the work he did, but no going to court, as they were afraid to let a jury have the case and we all knew they would get toasted.

The deal with him was, I get a new vehicle, I get to not pay a dime on the vehicle I was driving for three years, I get a free five year warranty, the lawyer gets 100% of his fees, we split anything over his fee 50-50, and if we lost I pay nothing.

As far as the deposition etc. on a good case that's money in the bank for the attorney, as it's tantamount to padding the bill.

But like you said if it's a good case lawyers would be chomping at the bit to get it, it was in my case. In fact I had two attorneys fighting for the case to do it for no money on my part

 

[Conservation]

I really think that some are pointing the finger at not using the factory brand, and it may very well be made by the same manufacturer as what you used. In fact, you could have bought from the dealer, and it could have been mislabled just as easily. I think your problem in either case is the tracability. Since you do not have the mislabled stuff with the container, you are at a huge disadvantage. Even if you did, it would be difficult to prove for sure that it was the manufacturer's doing. If you had done this all with the dealer's oil, you may very well be in the same pickle. Hindsight is 20/20, but it is easy to look backwards and wish you had done a few things differently. Maybe you would have a stonger case. Maybe you will be successful with the case as it is.
Some people look at the dealer fluids as the holy grail. Gimme a break! Then we start throwing out comparisons to the original purchase price. If you save $50 on a fluid change for the same spec fluid, isn't that still saving $50? Regardless of the original price of the tractor? Keeping careful records and samples (how many of us really do that) could have helped here. Now, if the dealer did it all, then I guess you could wash your hands of it. You put up with a hosing every time you get fluid changed on the rare, outside chance that something like this happens? That's not my style. I just can't believe that folks take this opportunity to rub someones nose in it because he did it himself. If this makes the "dealer service only" crowd sleep better at night, then goodie for them.

 

[LBrown59]

I am sorry for the OP's troubles but he brought them on himself. If I opened any jug of oil and had any hesitation at all if it was any good the last thing I would do is dump it in.

What I find funny is after he used an aftermarket oil, messed up his tractor using it, blamed everyone but him self, he then states he will never use Motorcraft oil in his ford trucks for what ever reason. It sounds to me like he thinks OEM oils are a conspiracy ran by guys in black suits. OEM fluids really do not cost that much more then cheap generics and you don't* have to worry when you use OEM's

*Yep takes the worry out of wondering.