Amsoil vs. Delvac 1

[john_bud]

Hi,

I was curious as to what the mechanic at my local Kubota dealer thought about Sythetic Hydrolic fluid for an HST tractor. He stated in no uncertain terms that at the last factory training session the Kubota factory rep told them to NOT recommend synthetics. Are there any Kubota (or NH or JD) mechanics out there that can explain to me why?

Thanks,
John Bud

 

[JonSpinosa]

The Kubota rep's comment not to use synthetic hydraulic fluid in a HST tractor does not make any sense!!! Why then does Kubota recommend super UDT fluid in their new tractors such as my L35 and BX2200???? Could someone please explain???

 

[Bird]

I doubt that anyone CAN explain, Jon. I've visited two Kubota dealerships and asked about the Kubota Super UDT and neither one had any, nor have they used any. One didn't know what I was talking about and the other said they don't stock it, but would order it if that's what a customer wanted.

Bird

 

[richh]

just though i would chim in on this with one tidbit. IF you bought a new corvet or porche it comes with synthetic in it from the factory, right out of the box. any qust???????

 

[Anonymous Poster]

richh, Since you asked if I had any...just one question. What kind of oil does Mercedes and Lexus come from the factory with? I think they will outlast a Corvette or a Porche. The point being, the type of oil may not be as important as the engine design.

Andy

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Jon, This was discussed in a previous thread, but when I took a hydraulics course we were cautioned not to use oil with extreme pressure additive in a gearbox that has wet brakes. The oil can cause catastrophic failure of the brakes. They said that most synthetic oils have these extreme pressure properties even without the additive and could cause the same type of failure.

As far as I know, it is only speculation that Super UDT is a synthetic.

Andy

 

[GrantMO]

Guys,
I just read this entire thread. Yeah, it took some time. My conclusions are that you should wait about 150 hours if you're changing over to synthetic. The proposed benefits of synthetic are in engine protection and engine life and not necessarily cost. Amsoil is probably better than Mobil synth.
My questions are:
1 What is the actual cost comparison for the oil when changing synth. every 5000 and petro every 3000?
2 Given the cost and less frequent changing would it make more sense in the tractor to at least run synth. hydraulic fluid?
3 Does it matter if you use regular filters with synth oil or do you have to use theirs?
4 Is it true that changing to synth in a very old tractor or car is not a good idea?
5 Bunickas, if I run into a problem with warranties can I borrow your judge to do some low cost legal work? /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
The downside of such legal action is not just cost but time and hassle (see a post by cowboydoc somewhere on the Kubota pages regarding warranties). I realize that strictly following the manufacturers recs won't always keep such situations from happening but I feel safer following them. My experience with dealers and with warranties hasn't been as good as yours Burnickas. They tend to do everything to get out of living up to their end of such things and I figure that following the manufacturer recs. gives me one less thing to argue about, at least most of the time.

 

[putty340]

Hello again, I won't claim to know all the spec's and chemical breakdowns of oil, for me it is as simple as this, regardless of what oil is run in a motor it is a fact that dirt will get in there, you may not see it or feel it, but it's in there. I just can not get it through my thick head to leave dirt in there for that long, and I dont believe that manufacturers or marketing people of synthetic oils are addressing that. It may very well hold up chemically,but you can't keep dirt out. That is the reason it is not worth it for me.

 

[cowboydoc]

Grant,
When I looked into it it was about 5 times the prices to run synthetic over regular oil. I buy Rotella in bulk and it turns out to be about $1 a quart. When I was quoted the Amsoil it was $4-5 a quart. You are recommended to run their filters which are also 3-5 times the price of a regular filter. As far as changing oils I have been told not to change oils in older vehicles no matter what the oil. The reason being that different oils have different detergents and additives which can cause problems with older vehicles. That is just opinions from mechanics I've talked to and others have told me it's no big deal to change oils because then you get the benefit of different oils so who knows for sure there.

Putty,
The way they say they get around that is two fold. One their filters are supposed to be better than any of the other ones out there, and very well may be, and so they catch all the dirt and debris in the oil and keep the oil "clean". You just need to change the filters not the oil. On the extended run you put in a special oil filtration system, very pricey. You then change these filters regularly but don't change the oil. I did a cost analysis on it two years ago for my pickup over a hundred thousand miles. I figured changing my oil every 3000 miles compared to the amsoil setup and their recommendations. I don't remember the exact number but I was about $200 ahead to just use regular oil. That's what made my mind up about it. Not the quality of oil or anything but the price. If you're changing every 3000 miles in a vehicle or every 75-100 hours in a tractor I'm not convinced that your engine will be any the better for sythetic.

 

[cowboydoc]

Grant,
I gave you some wrong information.
The oil from Amsoil is $8.10 A QUART FOR PURE SYNTHETIC and $4-5 for a synthetic blend! The filters now specifically for my use are 8 times the price of what I usually pay! You can look at their website at www.amsoil.com.