TSC Oil Life ???????????

   / TSC Oil Life ??????????? #1  

JimR

Elite Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2004
Messages
3,540
Location
Central Ma.
Tractor
Kioti NX4510HST
I changed my oil and filter when my Cub had 2350 hours on it. The filter was changed again at 2450. I now have 2500 hours on the Cub. This morning I was plowing snow and splitting some wood. I idled down the tractor and the oil light started blinking. My idle is 100 rpm's below what it should be according to the manual, 850 rpm's versus 950 rpm's. I shut it off and checked the oil. The oil was full but ran like water. I changed the oil and got the motor back up to operating temperature. I then idled it down again and no oil light. I did more splitting and tried a few more times to get the light to come on. No more oil light. This leads me to believe that my oil was contaminated with ??? to thin it out. The tractor runs fine and has plenty of power. I do abuse it and not one to baby a machine. The antifreeze is full and I get great mileage out of the deisel fuel. The oil I used was 15w-40w Deisel oil from TSC. I did let the oil cool down before changing it. I wanted to see if it would be thicker. The oil flowed like a normal cold oil. Of course it was black as dirt and smelled like the usual deisel does. I can't have the oil analyzed as I dumped it into a very dirty pan with antifreeze and grit in it. The reccommended oil change time is 200 hours. I'm just surprised that mine crapped out with only 150 hours on it. Any thoughts or experience like this would be greatly appreciated.
 
   / TSC Oil Life ??????????? #2  
I've been using the TSC oil for about 5 years now. That includes the 15-40 diesel oil that I was putting in my NH 1920 ( traded for a NH 7610s ).

Never used oil, never had oil light come on. I use their sae 30w and 40w in my antiques.. no problems yet.

My guess is you are getting diesel contamination.. more than 'normal'.

I think I'd chip for an oil anylisis about 50 hours into that oil.

Soundguy
 
   / TSC Oil Life ??????????? #3  
There could be some diesel getting past the rings diluting the oil and also the crankcase oil has the ability to get past the rings in the other direction. Possibly the cross contamination balances out itself, although not likely, but a possibility. Also, the oil pressure switch might not be the correct one and have a lower setting that will trigger the light. There are a lot of possibilities, but I would keep an eye on it for a while. When an engine block is extremely cold, there is a lot more blow by than when it warms up.
 
   / TSC Oil Life ???????????
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Thanks guys, The oil analysis will be in order in about 50 hours. That should tell me if there is deisel fuel getting into the oil. I will also increase the rpm's to what the book calls for. Plus I will check to see what the oil pressure really is. I hope the oil pressure is fine. If not, the oil pan is easily accessable. I can put in a new set of bearings if I have to.
 
   / TSC Oil Life ??????????? #5  
If your test come back with over 2% fuel in oil, something is up.

ALso you should have slight more wear in ppm if comparing to old oil tests.
 
   / TSC Oil Life ???????????
  • Thread Starter
#6  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If your test come back with over 2% fuel in oil, something is up.

ALso you should have slight more wear in ppm if comparing to old oil tests. )</font>

Thanks Mike, I knew you would have some advice as to what to look for. Now I just need to put a few hours on the tractor. Where's a good place to send the oil?
 
   / TSC Oil Life ??????????? #7  
Depends what what areas you wanted tested. I personally would use Blackstone or OAI. The problem with blackstone is the more things you want tested, the more $$$$
 
   / TSC Oil Life ??????????? #8  
Well I can say one thing about Blackstone, I just got off the phone with them checking on a sample I sent with delivery confirmation on Feb. 15,2005.

Blackstone nor the Postal Service has a record of it being delivered after one week. And the the Postal Service tells You after the fact that it is not uncommon to take up to two weeks,

Pony Express is faster than that /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

So if You send samples send them at the very least as Priority Mail.

True enough this is the first sample I have sent them but first class Parcel does not seem too expedient. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
   / TSC Oil Life ??????????? #9  
First off 200 hours seems quite high to me. In my last truck with an hour meter I averaged 38mph. In 200 hours that is 7600 miles. A tractor sees more severe duty than my truck. I change mine at 100 hrs or less. Having said that, if your owners manual says it's safe, it should be safe. If it were me and I was going that long I would use a sythetic blend as a min, perfer full syn.

I don't think there is a problem with the oil pressure light comming on at idle. Its pressure should be set for max rpm. I don't know about tractors but the rule of thumb for hi-pro gassers is 10 psi per 1000 rpm. Using that same ratio means the light is set at 27psi. That is plenty of pressure unloaded at idle.

You don't idle your tractor for long do ya? My owners manual says to not idle below 1500rpm for prolonged periods of time to prevent wet stacking. In other words, low rpm idling will let fuel past rings.
 
   / TSC Oil Life ???????????
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Well it seems that I really screwed up here. I may be dyslectic or something. I just put my GLASSES on and read my manual again. The oil change is supposed to be at 100 hours and the filter 200. Ooops, I really screwed that one up. No wonder my oil was so thin and poluted. This was a self-inflicted problem.

Charlie,
I usually do not let my engine idle very long periods of time. I do know of a few 10-15 minutes when it did. Now I let it idle at 1200.
 
 
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