Why you should change your oil

[deerefan]

i wish i would have taken pics or video of my JD-B when i got it.

it was running.. purring fine for a pop-pop. changed the oil... it was MOSTLY water with some oil in it.. oil filter was so expanded and gummed I had to pry it apart and peel it out of the bottom.

I put in new oil and some diesel,, and in the end, changed the oil on that machine 5 times that day before it came out clear... I'd change it, then run the tractor around the pasture for 15 miutes.. I'd add a lil diesel or mineral spirits and some atf yo the oil... MAN ws it dirty....

Do you use marvel mystery oil in these type of situations? Wouldnt it be safer to use than diesel or mineral spirits? Does it clean as well?

 

[deerefan]

So three days ago we were at the in-laws for Christmas. We drove over our BMW 335I and while out getting some last minute items some A-Hole hit our car and then left in a Hobby Lobby parking lot.

Long story short our car is now in a body shop in Cincinnati. My BIL offered us his 2009 F-150 FX4 with a 5.4L to drive homr so we did not have to rent a car.

Everything was fine for the 120 miles home but backing into the garage I hear some stange sounds. I check the oil and am horrified. Metal. The truck has 68,000 miles on it and I now realize according to the sticker its been 13 months and 18,136 miles since it was last changed.

I drain it and here is what I find. The pan was clean and all them specs are metal. This is just the pan for the filter in the attached pic. The air filter is probably the original and the worst I have ever seen.

I have never taken oil out of a running engine that was this nasty. Remember, I do axpox 100 oil changes per year and have been doing so for about 20 years.

A few hundred dollars in preventative maintenance is now going to cost him a new motor. Maybe $5000. Just stupid.

Chris

One thing I remembered about the 4.6/5.4 mod motors was they had very tight tolerances and changing oil regularly was crucial iirc. I go 5k on my 97 F150 on dino castrol. 95% of the driving is highway, very little towing or stop and go.

 

[crazyal]

Since this thread has sort of kind of got back on track I figure I'll tell my "oil change" story. Years ago I worked for a glass company. One of the company trucks was a mid 80's 3/4 ton GMC. The owner's son had taken over the duties of doing scheduled maintenance. He had this nice chalk board with all the trucks except one, you guessed it he forgot to put the GMC on it. All of us had been trained to check the oil each time we filled up so it was always being topped off but never changed. Our best guess is 60k to 80k miles. We someone finally realized we had the oil changed. What came out was as black as coal and stained the guys hands, took about 2 weeks before it wore off. The engine made it about another 5k before it spun a bearing. Our guess was that the new oil was too thin.

That was about the time I decided to always buy new or very low mileage vehicles.

 

[Diamondpilot]

It would be nice is if a limit could be put on the number of "my neighbor's GM/BMW/Dodge, (or other non-Ford of course) vehicle blew up at XXXX miles" stories by the same member. The offending member may not know it, but everytime he/she posts that same story over and over and over, it's not only boring to read, but insults many other members who own GM's that worked very hard for them and actually like them and also, more importantly, encourages retribution against other brands. It just perpetuates a cycle of negativity........... You insult my truck, I insult yours.......A big improvement would be to place a moratorium on any second hand "my neighbors......blew up" stories. Would be nice if we share our experiences based mostly on actual experience rather than the "excessive literary exaggeration" that comes with the "My neighbors........" stories.
YMMV

Give it a break Duane. It relevant because I maintain these vehicle's. I maintain over 75 pieces of machinery as a part time job but they are mostly boats.

Chris

 

[the old grind]

Not to digress from engine oil, but a friend asked why I'd think his JD 500C's B-H stinger was losing lift power. I asked what he saw in the hydro reservoir. "Right up there," he said. After finally pulling the drain plug and draining several gallons of water from the res (source yet unknown), a filter change, and a top-up, he was back in biz.
Moral of the story: A first look can be deceiving (Sometimes ya gotta go deep) Glenn's lucky the lesson didn't cost him a pump ...

 

[clemsonfor]

It would be nice is if a limit could be put on the number of "my neighbor's GM/BMW/Dodge, (or other non-Ford of course) vehicle blew up at XXXX miles" stories by the same member. The offending member may not know it, but everytime he/she posts that same story over and over and over, it's not only boring to read, but insults many other members who own GM's that worked very hard for them and actually like them and also, more importantly, encourages retribution against other brands. It just perpetuates a cycle of negativity........... You insult my truck, I insult yours.......A big improvement would be to place a moratorium on any second hand "my neighbors......blew up" stories. Would be nice if we share our experiences based mostly on actual experience rather than the "excessive literary exaggeration" that comes with the "My neighbors........" stories.
YMMV

Unless something went wrong here in recent history, DP owns a BMW??? I know he had some quarrles with it but did not know it fell into the GM territory in his book?

 

[Diamondpilot]

Unless something went wrong here in recent history, DP owns a BMW??? I know he had some quarrles with it but did not know it fell into the GM territory in his book?

I have had a 335I for about a year and a half now. While its a fun car I don't think I will keep it out of warranty. Its very maintenance intensive and the few things that have gone wrong with it, all covered under warranty, have been crazy expensive. Like the head lights that were nearly $3000 and the WW fluid reservoir that was up there also.

I got it when we sold our 2004 F250 4x4 diesel. That truck was never in the shop once but the experts would say it should not have made it out of the drive with the dreaded 6.0L

Chris

 

[Soundguy]

Do you use marvel mystery oil in these type of situations? Wouldnt it be safer to use than diesel or mineral spirits? Does it clean as well?

i used to use MMO, butr switched to ATF.. it's cheaper, and as far as I can tell.. as effective.

as for diesel / mineral spirits.. um.. they are a better solvent than mmo or atf.. though atf will likely have detergents in it..

I don't fill the case with diesel.. I just add a lil to thin the oil. pretty common. they used to sell oil chenge preps that was basically a can of mineral spirits you added to your oil.. etc.

for rear sumps the JD manual actuall reccomends adding some kerosene to the rear oil in the winter..

I've never had an issue using mineral spirits or diese; / kerosene to clean a sump.. i would not use gas..e tc.

I also have used alcohol.. however not in a crankcase sump.. ony in trans, hyds, and diffy.

 

[Soundguy]

Like the head lights that were nearly $3000

are those the HID/LEd assy?

 

[Diamondpilot]

are those the HID/LEd assy?

Not sure. They were the blue type but turned red. Had to replace bulbs and ballast units.

Chris