Oil & Fuel John Deere 3320, when do I change the oil?

[careyprice]

Hey there guys and girls,

I am new to this site and still making my way through it. I own a John Deere 3320 with E-hydro. It has 70hrs on it now. The book says change the oil every 200hrs. The dealership I purchased it from said that they should be dumping all of the fluids at 50hrs. Another dealership said 100hrs but only the engine oil and filter not any other fluids. This dealership also mentioned that there is a breakin period for the tractor and it is in the manual. I have read the manual from front to back and there is nothing relating to a breakin period for service. I am really confused and wondering if anyone has any knowledge on this. I also wanted to put full synthetic in it. The one dealership said not till it has 500hrs and is broken in by that time. The one that says dump it at 50hrs said it was fine to put full synthetic in. The other dealership said the oil is thinner and you wouldn't want to put it in till 500hrs because the engine is still being worked in. I have no idea what to do. Any feedback is much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Willl]

I'd do as your manual says, 200hrs.

 

[sunnyside360]

Welcome to TBN. This subject has come up a number of times in the past with the same confusion factors you mentioned. My 3720 is 2 yrs old and I decided to change all fluids and filters at 50 hrs just to be on the safe side which included front axle, ehydro, and engine. The JD service manager who I respect very much advised putting breakin oil in the engine until the 100 hr mark so I did that. Some owners reported finding small metal filings/shavings from the manufacturing process in the hydraulic filters and screens. I did not find any in mine. That's my $0.02 along with my experience of just playing it safe.

 

[WH401]

At the first 50 hours, change the engine oil and filter, and the hydraulic oil (transmission including filter, and front axle), so that you can get any kind of wear metals or shavings out of the system. I changed my hydraulic oil at 50 hrs and found that the front axle oil had a nice sparkly, silver patina to the oil, as well as a few metal shavings. I also had that slight same patina from the oil that came out of the transmission. This is normal so it shouldn't worry you, but you want to get this stuff out of the system so that it isn't running around in there for the next 150 hrs.

When I changed the engine oil at 50 hrs, I refilled the crankcase with a regular dino 15w-40. Synthetic oil is much slipperier than regular dino oil and will cause the rings to not seat properly if it is run too early. I'll run this regular dino oil until 100 hrs, and at that time I will change to a full synthetic. Depending on how you run your tractor you may want to wait longer. My tractors spends 90% of it's time running at PTO speed cutting grass, so I'm confident in the fact that it has had ample time to break in.

After this full change at 50 hrs, you can go to the intervals that are listed in the manual, i.e. 200 hrs for the engine oil, 400 hrs for the hydraulic oil and so on.

 

[radman1]

The manual will say every 200 hours. However, there is a chart under the hood when you open it. The chart will say change oil at 50 hours then every 200 hours.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

I took the "play it safe road" as I was brought up with the "Proper Break In will give you years of good service" mentality... It really boils down to just dollars & cents because IMO there is no such thing as changing the oil "too often"

What I did...
@50 Hours - Changed Engine oil & filter, used the Deere "Break In Oil"
@100 Hours - Changed Engine Oil & Filter, Used Deere Synthetic Plus-50 0w40
I now have 112 hours and will be changing the Trans Oil & Front End oil as soon as we get a rainy weekend...will use HyGard low-vis in the trans, and regular vis in the front end.

 

[bp fick]

The manuals sometimes get "out of date" because they are a high cost item to print. Adding a sticker is easier and often updates the manual.

Either way, changing the crankcase oil and filter at the 70 hr mark you have now hit is a no brainer. How much did you pay for that tractor? hmmm..

 

[jimgerken]

Depending on the service duty your tractor has seen, consider changing the engine oil and using breakin oil again. For instance, if you've putted around moving materials and maybe some mowing, you havn't really used the full power of your engine to give it enough stress to get it broken in completly. In that case, use breakin oil again, and in the next hundred hours try to give it more of a load doing some ground-engaging work for instance. If your 3320 is like my 3720, the hourmeter is simple ignition-on hours, not related to cranking speed (true tach hours). Because of this, a lot of indicated hours is not necessarily a lot of work. In my opinion, the simple hourmeter we have is not the correct way to gauge service intervals. Oil analysis would be the best way to do it, if you cared enough to pay for that route.

 

[Willl]

Anybody keeping track of how many different answers we get ?

 

[careyprice]

Thanks for all of you replies. I appreciate all of you experiences and advice.