-20 and did I hurt my 2210?

[megotatractor]

Here a couple weeks back we had a minor blizzard (first in 20 years) and it was 20 below zero F and I had a foot deep drift in front of the garage. so whilst I was bundled up like an eskimo decided to plow quick but forgot to plug in the tractor in advance. So I burn the glow plugs for 15 seconds and she starts up instantly.... but stupid me didn't notice the idiot light.... and while I ran back in the house to let the tractor warm up a minute she dies.... she "siezed" because the idiot light that was on was the oil pressure light and it was so blinking cold the oil wouldn't pump!!! so I go back to square one and plug in the block heater AND place a magnetic heater on the oil pan and (would have started the KNipco too but it wouldn't start!!) and an hour later I start her up and she runs fine, sounds fine. but did I shorten her life or do I trade her in quick? She has 320 hours on her.

 

[tomd999]

Hiya,

Well, first off I don't think you seized your green friend. If you had truly seized it, you would in most likely not have been able to crank the engine later to start it. Most likely the engine stalled because of lack of heat to support combustion in the low temp and the load of the thick oil placed on the moving parts.

I would get the spec for oil pressure from the service manual and do a reading as speced. If it's out of spec, which I think you will find it just fine, base your actions on that. Other than ripping the sump off and taking a look see or doing a leak test, the oil pressure @ RPM spec is the way to go.

My 2 cents,

Tom

 

[bjcsc]

If it had truly seized, it would never start again. Chances are it shut itself off due to low oil flow or just shut down in protest of the horrible climate you choose to live in. What viscosity oil are you running? I'm guessing based on your experience it's not the right viscosity for your conditions. I would correct that and move forward...

 

[RalphVa]

Doubt you did any serious damage, if it started again and sounds okay.

I'd switch to synthetic, 0 to 5wxx oil, even xx = 40 would be okay, but I think your manual probably approves year round use of 5w30. Mobil 1 5w30 is what I use. Actually, I happened to have some 5w40 Mobil 1 last time I changed it. That what it has in it now.

Bet you have 15w40 like a lot of the TBNers say they use. Don't know why. 5w40 is better for both summer and winter. 0w40 would be better yet.

Ralph

 

[Egon]

The joys of running vehicles/tractors in cold weather.

You didn't do any damage that will be noted in the life of your tractor.

 

[jdbower]

My 2520 has a special feature to prevent problems like that, at those temperatures the operator stops working and grabs some cocoa!

 

[megotatractor]

My 2520 has a special feature to prevent problems like that, at those temperatures the operator stops working and grabs some cocoa!

That's probably the best solution.
Normally I would have had er plugged in. And yes, duh, dum me, shoulda changed to winter oil!

FYI I'm using bio-diesel!

Thanks guys!

 

[RalphVa]

What bio are you using? B100 is 100%, for instance.

No such thing as winter oil. I change once/year in all my vehicles. Use 5w30 in most of them year round. The old Benz uses 5w40 or 10w40.

Ralph

 

[bjcsc]

No such thing as winter oil. I change once/year in all my vehicles. Use 5w30 in most of them year round. The old Benz uses 5w40 or 10w40.

Ralph

Maybe not in VA, but in places where it gets cold it is common to run lower viscosity oil in the winter time. Your 10W is good to about -25 and the 5W to about -30. While you could run 0W and hit the whole temp range, many people operating equipment in climates with a large temperature range run different engine oils in the summer and winter. They may not technically be classified as "winter oil", but their existence is a matter of semantics.

 

[Egon]

With multi viscosity engine oils very few people make changes for winter operation.

Hydraulics and hydro transmissions are another thing though.