Best Oil Weight?

npaden · Mar 28, 2006

Okay, I don't want to start a war on oil brands or anything and have searched trying to find the answer, but on the Kubota website it has this blurb for recommended engine oil for my L4200:

 "Engine Oil (Below 32°F use SAE10W or SAE10W-30 or 10W-40) (32°F to 77°F use SAE20 or 10W-30 OR 10W-40) (77°F and above use SAE30 or 10W-30 OR 10W-40)" 

Based on that it looks like I could use 10-30 or 10-40 for all conditions.

My natural instinct would be to use 10-40 in the summer and 10-30 in the winter or just use 10-40 year round.

What do you guys think?

Thanks, Nathan

sneaky_pete · Mar 28, 2006

In Lubbock you will fine with 10W-40 all year 'round.

KennyV · Mar 28, 2006

Hi Nathan:
I always have ran full synthetic, Mobil1 Delvac. Recently Mobil has repackaged Mobil1 Delvac as ‘Truck and SUV’ you can find it at Walmart in 5 quart containers and a good price.
But like sneaky pete said “In Lubbock you will be fine with 10W-40 all year 'round.” KennyV.

ob1canola · Mar 28, 2006

the mobil 1 truck and suv or delvac or rotella t
is all 5w- 40. It is a highly respected oil for light to heavy duty diesel engines. I run it exclusivly in my vw tdi.
vw says i can go 10,000 miles between oil changes with this stuff.
I just can't bring myself to even try this once so i do them every 5k.
The oil designed for diesels is ci and ch4 rated for high
compression "shearing" as they call it. regular dino 10w40
is not designed to run in diesels.It will break down quickly.
just my 2 cents
Guess i should have asked...Is your bota a diesel?

flusher · Mar 28, 2006

Can't find any 10W30 or 10W40 diesel-rated engine oil around here. Everybody (TSC, WallyWorld, NAPA, etc) sells 15W40. So I use Rotella 15W40 in my B7510HST. I checked the TBN forums and that Rotella oil is apparently OK.

Lockport · Mar 28, 2006

I switched to Mobil1 Synthetic 10W-30 at 50 hours. I run everything on it.

KennyV · Mar 28, 2006

OB1…
Yes you are right… I also don’t go extreme miles or hours. I change engine oil in my Kubota (diesel) L4200 once a year… Wix filter and mobil1 Delvac/suv /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif… KennyV.

CT_Tree_Guy · Mar 28, 2006

npaden -

My 2 cents worth - as others have said, conventional 10W-30 in a diesel formulation doesn't seem to exist (I guess Kubota doesn't realize this?). To me, 15W-40 seems a little thick for winter use, and 5W-anything just seems a little thin for the summer. I went with (Amsoil) synthetic 10W-30 for year-round use, and I'm not lookin' back. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

There are plenty of other good synthetics out there; I just went with Amsoil because I think it's darn good and my local NAPA carries it. Some say Royal Purple and Redline are even better, but I doubt it's by much, and they're even more $$$.

As I've said many times before, I think the most compelling reason to use synthetics is for their superior cold-weather characteristics, and extra measure of protection in the event of a cooling failure.

There have been quite a few threads lately where the subject of synthetics has come up, and it's been very civil, which is nice. I think a consensus has been arrived at that synthetics are better than conventional oils at just about everything, but that the added cost might or might not be worth it to any particular person. Hope that sounds reasonable.

Good luck with whatever route you go,

John

ob1canola · Mar 28, 2006

If you use your tractor every day cost is indeed a factor.
Mine gets changed once a year so no problems spending the money for synthetic..

Sully2 · Mar 29, 2006

( npaden -

My 2 cents worth - as others have said, conventional 10W-30 in a diesel formulation doesn't seem to exist (I guess Kubota doesn't realize this?). To me, 15W-40 seems a little thick for winter use, and 5W-anything just seems a little thin for the summer. I went with (Amsoil) synthetic 10W-30 for year-round use, and I'm not lookin' back. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

)

Well..the 10W-30 oild..DIESEL RATED.."does exist"...but NO ONE CARRYS IT?? Most wont even bother to special order it in??? And after buying one single qt of Kubota 10W-30..at $3.10 a qt... /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif...I went on the hunt myself.

Only thing I found that was "readily available"...which to me is very important...was Rotella 5W-40 SYN oil...at $18.95 a gallon. Im SURE its a better oil that whatever Kubota is selling..and I'll do my oil changes at the prescribed times..regardless..Syn oil or not.

It was the "principal" of the whole thing that got me.