Steiner 430 MAX Diesel Oil Change Nightmare!

[Industrial Toys]

I could be wrong in various points but here is my experience.

I crawled around the ground for almost an hour trying to figure out how to do an engine oil change on this thing. I started to take things apart that I did not need to. I finally as a last resort looked in my owners manual. I found nothing! The only clue I had was a parts list mentioning a "cock" on the Kubota VS drain plugs on the other gas models. Yet, that thing is so compact, that I still could not find it.

Finally I had an idea. I have an old burned Steiner (in pieces), and went to inspect that engine. It had a funny drain cock with a kind of locking mechanism on the bottom of the crankcase toward the rear of the machine.

So, I came to the conclusion that one must remove the oil filter, to get ones hand to the drain cock. Then, the oil runs out via a tube to the front of the machine. The tube that I had seen earlier, I mistook as a crankcase vent.

Anyway, it was still not easy to open that valve. I had to go back four times and look at my burned machine and get properly oriented particularly with regard to that locking mechanism. In the end, I realized that I needed my left hand to open the valve and the right to close it as your fingers can't push backwards with much force. My forearms were totally covered in scratches and dirty black DMO!

Of course, I made the stupid mistake of installing the new filter without having closed the cock, first!

I am annoyed with Steiner! I fully appreciate the difficulty in designing such a robust yet compact machine. Yet I curse them for not taking the time and effort to fully outline this proceedure in great detail.

 

[Raw Dodge]

Sounds like a major PITA to change.Only steiners I've had are air cooled, all 4 different engines I've had (Onan 20, and 24hp, Kohler Command 22, and 25) all had easy to access oil drains..we do usually 2-5 oil changes a season on each machine, with 2 machines running, if I had a Kubota 3 Liquid cooled, and had to struggle, I'd have to come up with a better solution....

 

[John Joseph McVeigh]

Sounds like a major PITA to change.Only steiners I've had are air cooled, all 4 different engines I've had (Onan 20, and 24hp, Kohler Command 22, and 25) all had easy to access oil drains..we do usually 2-5 oil changes a season on each machine, with 2 machines running, if I had a kubota 3 Liquid cooled, and had to struggle, I'd have to come up with a better solution....

It does sound very unpleasant.

I have done two oil changes on my Ventrac 4500Y which has the Kubota D902 three-cylinder diesel engine. Each oil change has been child's play. The drain tube and stopcock for the motor oil are very accessible The most difficult part is getting the oil filter off, especially if the gasket has adhered to the side of the engine block. With the proper tool, however, even that is no problem at all.

The only improvement that I would like to see is to mount the filter upside down and parallel to the engine block, rather than perpendicular to it. That would allow one to pre-fill the filter before screwing it onto the block.

 

[BKBrown]

I have the 4231 with the B/D 3 cyl. Liquid Cooled. -- I found out the hard way that you must NOT use a filter that is more than 3" tall. I had drained the oil, put a new filter on that matched in the books (it was 3 1/4" +), added new oil, attached mower, -- lifted the mower and the lift arm creased the top of the filter enough to poke a hole in it. ---- out came oil under pressure. I was glad I always have extra filters and had one that was no more than 3" --- That will NOT happen again !

 

[John Joseph McVeigh]

I have the 4231 with the B/D 3 cyl. Liquid Cooled. -- I found out the hard way that you must NOT use a filter that is more than 3" tall. I had drained the oil, put a new filter on that matched in the books (it was 3 1/4" +), added new oil, attached mower, -- lifted the mower and the lift arm creased the top of the filter enough to poke a hole in it. ---- out came oil under pressure. [....]

Excitement promptly ensued, no doubt.

Ouch.

 

[BKBrown]

I actually had not gone far and did not loose all the oil, but there were a few unpleasant words uttered. It was a mess cleaning up the sprayed oil. I always have extra oil and filters - lucky I had only got 1 of the longer filters.

 

[John Joseph McVeigh]

I actually had not gone far and did not loose all the oil, but there were a few unpleasant words uttered. It was a mess cleaning up the sprayed oil. I always have extra oil and filters - lucky I had only got 1 of the longer filters.

Keeping spare filters around is a good idea. I do that myself.

What was the brand of the too-long filter? Does the same manufacturer make shorter filters (hopefully under a different stock number)?

 

[johara1]

The new Steiner 440 seems to have addressed it, Mine has a hose you pull out and turn the valve at the end and drain it. When drained close the valve and pull the base back in and put it in the holder. simple and easy ?. scary right?? jim

 

[BKBrown]

It was quite a while ago and I don't remember what brand it was. Right now I'm using the CARQUEST filters (made by Mann) they have red (lower quality) and Blue (higher quality and made by Mann) - sometimes on sale they are about 1/2 the price of the Ventrac filter and keep the oil clean. It did tick me off that the cross reference matched and the filter was longer. It was not something I noticed until that happened. That lift arm just misses the top of the 3" filter on my engine.

Keeping spare filters around is a good idea. I do that myself.

What was the brand of the too-long filter? Does the same manufacturer make shorter filters (hopefully under a different stock number)?

 

[Raw Dodge]

I actually had not gone far and did not loose all the oil, but there were a few unpleasant words uttered. It was a mess cleaning up the sprayed oil. I always have extra oil and filters - lucky I had only got 1 of the longer filters.

It's okay anyway..that particular engine, I know will easily last 4-6 hrs mowing without oil before a rod knock developes...thats how long my machine went..I'm sure that yours is perfect. I also know that 4231 950G will run a week without a fan belt..and the temp Guage pinned at 250 before it warps the head so bad it won't hold coolant. .but a new head and it's still running strong and only penalty is it now uses a little oil between changes. .whereas a normal one will go 700 hrs on the oil and not burn a drop. Dont ask..
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