Kubota L3130 : First oil change : Shell Rotella T5 doesn't meet spec?

[Robin Veerman]

Yep, synthetic blend could be 10/90, 50/50, 90/10 no standard to achieve. Use full synthetic and maybe do a quick change the first time as a good synthetic will remove a lot sludge and possibly plug the filter. I’d recommend something from the Amsoil Heavy Duty line like the 5w40. Order it one day an usually get it on your porch a day or two later. Pm me for a link, Dutchy

 

[mudking]

Full-time Professional Captains of multi-million dollar offshore boats run Rotella T4 for the first 500-1000 hours even in 2000hp V12 Cat Diesels because it's a more trusted and time-proven oil than any other. Then they'll maybe switch to T6, because it's cheaper in the long run and entails less labor if you're changing 50 gallons of oil at a time on a twin screw 120 footer and can get three to four times the hours between changes with synthetic. So, under heavy high-hour use, a high quality synthetic makes sense. However, these guys don't trust "just as good as" type oils, so it's Rotella T4 or T6. They know there could be as good or maybe even better oils out there but Rotella is known 100% as reliable quality oil, and that goes double in diesels that may be far out to sea.

I run T4 in all my tractors, and I also think it's not cost-effective, necessary, or even beneficial to run synthetic in any tractor that's being used <300 hours a year.

 

[MossyDell]

Very old or abused diesels and vehicles may spring leaks, I understand, because they were already leaking or their seals would have leaked had they not been so dirty.

I switched my first tractor, a little Kubota B6100E my father had used in his nursery business for 10 years, to synthetic with no problems. It had been run on Kubota branded oil and I used Mobil 1.