Engine Oil Change Frequency

[frank_f15]

i agree, change the oil at 100 hrs. even that seems like a waste, as i don't think 100 hhrs on a machine used like most of us use it is a lot of wear.but i will change the oils and filter once a year. usually in the spring.

 

[popeye]

I learned a couple of things about oil in diesel engines from the one that was in my pickup. Oil in diesel engines picks up more contaminants than oil in gas (higher compresson ratios means more blow by). It needs to be changed more often than gas engines. But the most important message I learned from it was that water in injectors and injector pumps is a really bad thing! I change oil with manuals recommendations on diesels I might go a little longer on the gas engine in the truck I have now (it gets Mobil 1). Just my .02
Mike

 

[JohnMiller3]

<font color=blue>... oil every 100 hours and oil & filter every 200 hours...</font color=blue>

/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Heck, changing the oil without the filter sounds like taking a nice clean shower and putting back on dirty underwear... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[art]

I don't often varing from what the manufacturer says. But this one does warrant some special considerations. The Tractor is a 97 with 75 hours on it, thats 5 years with three oil changes? Even the cars say once a year if you don't put on many miles. With the thoughts of condensation, the fact the engine never was run enough to even break it in yet and all the partially burnt fuel in the base from the cold starts and lack of warm up time, yes he should have changed it when he did at a minimum. I would hope that you will be putting on more continuous hours and than go to the 100 hour oil change.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I change the oil/filter pretty frequently - I just look at it as cheap insurance. Since the changes are very regular, I use dino based oil rather than synthetic for economy and I think it's a must to change the filter at each oil change. If I lived in a cold climate I would probably use synthetic for its cold temp stable visocity.

Oil not only lubricates, it cools and carries contaminants/particles away from the internal engine components. The particular additive packages that the mfg's put in are designed to supplement these functions. As the oil does its job it deals with an increasing amount of contaminants, including mild acids from the combustion cycles - at the same time the additive packages as well as the shear and viscosity indexes are slowly breaking down. Generally the higher the difference between the viscosity index (ex: 10w-40 vs straight 30w) the more tendency there is for the oil to eventually de-stabilize so to speak and lose some of the viscosity index. This is usually a more extreme situation of long hard miles and no oil changes - bottom line is the oil thins out and begins to lose its shear index. This can do bad things to bearings since they ride on a very thin film of oil. For my thinking, I like to maintain a reasonable supply of fresh oil in the engine.

One other bit of info and I'll get off the soapbox - here's a good automobile oil filter evaluation that was done pretty objectively and I think was well organized. Might surprise some of you!

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.frankhunt.com/FRANK/corvette/articles/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html>http://www.frankhunt.com/FRANK/corvette/articles/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html</A>

 

[JohnMiller3]

Hi Nick,

I agree wholeheartedly…

Religiously, changing the oil and filter is the best and cheapest insurance your money can buy for your tractor, automobile, lawnmower, atv, etc.

1) Obey the owner’s manual recommended timely schedule.,.. who knows better than the company that made the machine…?

2) A lot of people don’t put enough hours on a machine on an annual basis to keep up with the suggested schedule… so guess what… change your oil/filter anyways at least once a year… preferably before long periods of idleness…

With a polluted oil pan sitting idle… condensation starts, a number of chemical reactions occur making “acid”, (and we all know what acid does to surfaces…), little “critters” start multiplying like bacteria… and “growth” springs up from nowhere… making slim and gunk and chunks appear… (for some reason these little critters thrive on “dino” products like oil and diesel fuel…/w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif)…

Changing your oil/filter regularly gives you this clean bill of health for your equipment and the dollars you spend will pay you back many fold in engine longevity and helps keep it reliable and smooth running for a long long time… /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Turfman]

<font color=blue> John Milller III wrote:
and “growth” springs up from nowhere… making slim and gunk and chunks appear… (for some reason these little critters thrive on “dino” products like oil and diesel fuel</font color=blue>

Is there less chance of this using synthetic?

 

[JohnMiller3]

<font color=blue>...Is there less chance of this using synthetic?...</font color=blue>

The synthetic engineers promote something similar... but you still have the "water or moisture" aspect that accumulates from condensation whether it's dino or synthetic... /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

 

[wdn]

The BX only takes (nominal) 2.6 quarts of oil so maybe that is why they want the oil changed more often? It has less oil than some so the oil gets dirty before the oil filter is used up?


Interesting the Kubota maintenance web page says change oil AND filter but every 200 hours (but the manual says change the filter every other oil change).

 

[JohnMiller3]

My little Satoh is a hair under 3 qts as well, I believe the owners manual says basically the same thing as alternating the filter every other change...... but the cost of the filter is minuscule ~~$4.

It just doesn't make sense not to change it everytime... /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif