Engine oil and filter once a year?

[RalphVa]

I change once/year on my 4010 with Mobil 1, 5w30. I put about 100 hours/yr on it. The manual says every 200 hours. So, I'm being very conservative.

I change the Mobil 1 in all 3 of my on-road vehicles. We put anywhere from 4,500 to 6,500 miles on each of them. One's a diesel. The other 2 are gas. Think Mobil says you can go up to 15k miles on Mobil 1 in a gas engine.

Changed the Mobil 1 recently on my generator engine. It hadn't been changed for 3 years. Kinda forgot about it. One reason why I went to Mobil 1 on everything.

Ralph

 

[Sully2]

So you won't change oil and filter yearly on a $3,000+ engine, but you'll grease a $2 bushing prematurely? I don't get it.

I'm glad to see that service managers, most of which wouldn't know a metric adjustable wrench from a 2 foot yard stick, know more about the equipment than the engineers that designed it.

Am I being a wisenheimer here? Yes I am. I have found the best way to illustrate absurdity is with absurdity.

I dont just automatically change oil and filter(s) on a $12K engine...but if my motorhome gets used at all it gets a full grease job.

The lubrication "system" on my FEL isnt a "forced pressure" type of system..or maybe you didnt notice that??

And Im sure "we all" share your opinon of various service managers...since its apparent that you know a lot more than they do?...

My next engine oil and filter service is SUPPOSE TO be at the 200 total hour mark. Tranny fluid and filters at the 300 TOTAL hour mark.
If ( heaven forbid) I CANT get any more work done here than to add JUST another 25 hrs on it this year then by fall of 2009 I would have approx 100 hours total on it and WOULD HAVE already done TWO full engine oil and filter changes and TWO full tranny fluid and filter changes. MUCH MORE that is recommended by Kubota BUT..not to their TIME SCHEDULE!

SHOULD that "$3000 engine" "blow"...Id sell this orange ball of fire for chump change and get out of it whatever funds I could and turn right around and buy a tractor that WOULD take this percieved "abuse".

And as far as being "absurd"...you are!

 

[cp1969]

My little tractore gets new oil and filters every spring just before I start mowing again. It doesn't cost very much and it's my ritual for going over everything. I mostly use that tractor for mowing, so it doesn't get allot of hours per year. Maybe twenty hours a month.

Eddie

I do it slightly different. I still go over them in the spring, but I change the oil at the end of the mowing season, like about right now. Maybe a foolish thing to do, but that way it's setting with fairly acid and water free oil in it over the winter. I will put a few hours on pushing snow, maybe 4 or 5, hopefully less over the winter months. Then I do the spring go-over, minus the oil change.

 

[Sully2]

I change once/year on my 4010 with Mobil 1, 5w30. I put about 100 hours/yr on it. The manual says every 200 hours. So, I'm being very conservative.

I change the Mobil 1 in all 3 of my on-road vehicles. We put anywhere from 4,500 to 6,500 miles on each of them. One's a diesel. The other 2 are gas. Think Mobil says you can go up to 15k miles on Mobil 1 in a gas engine.

Changed the Mobil 1 recently on my generator engine. It hadn't been changed for 3 years. Kinda forgot about it. One reason why I went to Mobil 1 on everything.

Ralph

If I could get more hours each year on my Kubota I most probably would change it yearly. I bought it for landscaping the yard. First year...MONSOON! Ever tried working on clay with 2-5 inches of rain weekly? This year...DROUGHT! At the 3rd week of september we were more that 12 inches LOW on rainfall. Ive got my fingers crossed for 2008.

I DID get the backyard done though. I have one bare spot where the grass didnt do anything ( all DEEP SHADE also!!) but that spot can be cured. Rain finally came back "a little" and luckily the shade fescue much have gotten a toehold prior to the drought because it popped right up and is doing fine now

 

[Sully2]

I do it slightly different. I still go over them in the spring, but I change the oil at the end of the mowing season, like about right now. Maybe a foolish thing to do, but that way it's setting with fairly acid and water free oil in it over the winter. I will put a few hours on pushing snow, maybe 4 or 5, hopefully less over the winter months. Then I do the spring go-over, minus the oil change.

Thats the way Ive always been told to do. "Let it sit all winter" with fresh oil in it instead of old used oil

 

[California]

[annually] I change the Mobil 1 in all 3 of my on-road vehicles. We put anywhere from 4,500 to 6,500 miles on each of them. One's a diesel. The other 2 are gas.

Does the conversion to ULSD bring diesels up to the longer drain intervals specified for gas engines?

 

[wmgeorge]

Thats the way Ive always been told to do. "Let it sit all winter" with fresh oil in it instead of old used oil

My thought on this is; where is the oil sitting all winter? Its in the crankcase, the water and acid will be under the oil. So next spring I start it up, let it get nice and hot and then change the oil. If my oil was really, really dirty from summer work I might change in it in the fall. I've been doing this for over 50 years, and never had an engine fail yet, from the oil related cause. I had a $49 lawn mower, the engine outlasted the deck and wheels. Service was oil changes every year, air filter cleaned or replaced and a new spark plug when it was needed.
Car and truck, oil-filter changes every 3,000 - 5,000 miles, never an engine related problem.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Does the conversion to ULSD bring diesels up to the longer drain intervals specified for gas engines?

I haven't seen anything indicating a change for ULSD. Only thing I've seen is that the newest CJ spec for diesel oil apparently doesn't tolerate high sulfur levels well. This isn't an issue if you run exclusively ULSD, as is required for all 2007+ engines that would be requiring the CJ rated oil. If you have pre-07 diesel engine and are still using LSD, this shouldn't be an issue if you're running the still common CI-4+ diesel oils.

From what I've seen diesel change intervals are based on the same thing as gasoline change intervals - operating environment and oil capacity. Many diesels have much larger oil capacity than comparable gas engines. Some also operate in much cleaner environments (highway trucks) while others operate in extremely dirty environments (mining, construction equipment). I own a 2006 Ram/Cummins (5.9L) which indicates a 7500 mile OCI for "severe service" (i.e. real world use) and had a 2005 Jeep Liberty diesel (2.8L) which indicated 6,250 OCI for severe service. The Ram has a 12 quart sump and the Jeep had 6.4 quarts; for comparison, the 5.3L V8 in my Suburban only takes 6 quarts, and has an OCI based on an oil life monitor, but is looking like it will be 8000 miles or so in my driving.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

And Im sure "we all" share your opinon of various service managers...since its apparent that you know a lot more than they do?...

I never said I know more than service managers. I would take the opinion of the people that designed the equipment rather than a guy sitting behind the desk at Pigsknuckle Tractor Repair.

 

[ccsial]

Thats the way Ive always been told to do. "Let it sit all winter" with fresh oil in it instead of old used oil

Even more important if you don't use synthetic.