Change Oil?

   / Change Oil? #1  

Poncho

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2004
Messages
251
Location
Tallahassee Florida
Tractor
Massey Ferguson 431
Ok, was on hunt lease this past weekend cutting food plots and shooting lanes. When I 1st got started about 100 ft into cutting a access road, the tractor died. Well after fiddling for about 2 hours, turns out I had a bad electrical connection somewhere in the wiring harness... long story short in the midst of all the help trying to find the issue and stripping pieces off the tractor, the air filter hose was disconnected from the air filter canister. I cut the whole day like that through dog fennel and other 6' high brush. Well when I got home and discovered, it made me sick to my stomach. So I'm going Saturday to get a new filter and oil to change, however was thinking of getting a can of engine flush and extra filter to flush the engine and wanted to see what other peoples thoughts would be. The tractor is still basically new to me buying it 2 years ago with 510 hours on it and I've only got 525 hours on it now. Also, should I make a switch to synthetic at this time? Thoughts?

Thanks
 
   / Change Oil? #2  
none of the dog fennel made it trhu the old filter unless it went into bypass.

me? i'd drain, refill and go, after cleaning out the air delivery line with a vacume cleaner, then a wipe down with a solvent laden rag to capture dust.

will it hurt if you dump a quart of diesel into the oil and run for a minute to thin it to drain it? no...

I might even add in a quart of diesel and a quart of atf - f or dex III fluid.. again.. run a minute.. then drain....

needed? probably not.. hurt? probably not.

if it makes ya fell better / sleep better. invest the 6$ and do it.

the most important part is the NEW oil, NEW oil filter, NEW air filter and the cleaning of the air induction system all the way that you can...
 
   / Change Oil? #3  
.....the air filter hose was disconnected from the air filter canister. I cut the whole day like that through dog fennel and other 6' high brush.....

It ran with NO air filter. I wouldn't think any significant harm was done. Dust/dirt can be abrasive, but weed seeds/fluff is probably not so much. Should have just burned along with the fuel and blown out the exhaust. There might be a slight issue if much of it carbonized inside the engine but that would almost all be in the cylinder head/combustion chamber and not down in the oil. I'd change the oil and forget about it.

Synthetic or not is a WHOLE 'nother topic!! Just take a look in the "Oil and Lubricants" forum! I've run synthetic in my Kubota since the first change just because I think it provides a little more "depth" of protection.
 
   / Change Oil? #4  
i bet if he pulled a UOA his silica number would be high.. but the change will get that.. :)
 
   / Change Oil?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Thanks guys... I will probably flush and switch over to synthetic. I switched my Duramax over when I bought it. All this was the down side to having 2 many hands in the soup... it was irritating, but I appreciated folks wanting to help
 
   / Change Oil? #6  
JMHO.. if you change to syn.. don't do it on this change. Do a flush chane first.. THEN do a synthetic change out.

with the (small) contamination you have introduced tot he system, a drain and refill will get most of it out.

me?

I'd do a walmart oil cahnge and run it 20 hours and then go for the $ynthetic..e tc.
 
   / Change Oil? #7  
Dejuvu on this one. A few weeks ago, my brother in law told me about a mechanic that left off the hose from back of the air cleaner to the intake manifold after doing some service on one of the big articulated tractors. It ran 5 hours in dust pulling a disc harrow and the driver noticed the oil light on. They put in 5 gallons of oil to fill it up and immediately became worried that something drastic had happened since it was checked before starting that morning. Then they found the missing hose. It is at the dealer now for repair and its going to take a new engine to fix it. Lucky for the owner his insurance will cover it. I dont know what an engine cost for those 300+ HP tractors but it wont be cheap for sure.

Keep your oil checked frequently during the period between the next oil change and watch for any blue smoke in the exhaust which will indicate worn rings. If it doesnt use oil excessively, then you might have missed the bullet on that one but it surely put several hundred hours of wear on the engine.
 
   / Change Oil? #8  
One of our mechanics had to replace a failed alternator on a prototype. He needed clearance and removed the hose from the air cleaner to the turbo. Forgot to re-attach it. The next test driver had not finished his shift when the oil pressure light came on. Trashed engine went into the recycle bin. Hope the stuff you were working in was not as abrasive. Only time will tell. To get to the oil the dirt needs to get past the rings and this is where I have had the bad experience with dusted engines, that plus the aluminum compressor on turbo engines being worn off and of course valve guides.
 
   / Change Oil? #9  
One of our mechanics had to replace a failed alternator on a prototype. He needed clearance and removed the hose from the air cleaner to the turbo. Forgot to re-attach it. The next test driver had not finished his shift when the oil pressure light came on. Trashed engine went into the recycle bin. Hope the stuff you were working in was not as abrasive. Only time will tell. To get to the oil the dirt needs to get past the rings and this is where I have had the bad experience with dusted engines, that plus the aluminum compressor on turbo engines being worn off and of course valve guides.


May have little to do with this thread but I have noticed several times on cars we have owned (or those of my in-laws which I check) most times when they are taken to a shop or quick change oil place the staff who work there will take apart the air cleaner intake plenum in order to check the air filter in the hopes of selling you a new one. And just about every time that has happened, the cars end up with loose plenums or clamps because the shop are too hurried to reinstall them properly. Wife took our Lesabre to Mr. Monkeywrench 3 years ago, they sold her a new air filter and when she got home all the clamps on the plenum were loose and it was just butted up against the filter box.
 
   / Change Oil? #10  
saw that on my dodge ram 1500 the single time I ever let anybody other than me service it. from then on i serviced it. that ram with the 5.9 had a funny retainer ring holdingthe a/c housing to the TB...
 
 
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