motor oil

tiverton · Oct 1, 2005

I recently acquired a 1944 farmall bn. It had not been used sinced the mid 50s. What would one suggest for motor oil, a non detergent or detergent 30 weight?

cp1969 · Oct 1, 2005

If you could find a manual for this tractor, it would probably tell you to use non-detergent oil, which for all I know, was all that was available when this tractor came to life and so you could expect that for many years, that's what it got.

The questions is, should you continue using an inferior oil? The engine will probably have a lot of crud in it that detergent oil will dissolve and break loose which is undesireable. But if you continue to use non-detergent oil, the crud continues to accumulate. It's almost a no-win situation.

Short of tearing down the engine and giving it a thorough cleaning and rebuild and THEN putting it on a diet of detergent oil, anything else has the above quandary. Maybe the next best thing would be to start using detergent oil, but use extremely short change intervals at first, gradually lengthening them as time goes on. That way you would be letting the detergent oil clean the engine for you? An old, old engine cleaning technique that I have used in the past is to drain the oil and refill the crankcase with diesel fuel. Start the engine and run for about a minute, then drain this mess out. I have no idea how effective this was, but the diesel sure came out a lot dirtier than when it went in. The caution would be that you've got a crankcase full of FUEL oil, not lube oil, so not only are the lubricating qualities poor, you've got a much greater fire hazard than normal.

Good luck.

thcri · Oct 1, 2005

I have never done this nor would I ever tell anyone to do it. But I was told once that if you mix in kerosene you would clean it up pretty fast. So if anyone has heard of this and has done it maybe you could chime in here. Again this is something I only heard and it was many moons ago.

murph

midlf · Oct 1, 2005

What I heard was use to use1 qt of ATF for the high detergent content. Put in the ATF. Drive around for a short time, drain and refill with regular oil. The oil sure gets dirty faster than normal with the ATF. The Last car I had to do this with was a 1965 L6 Rambler. But those engines were based on the old Hudson engine and were indestructible.

HGM · Oct 2, 2005

I would highly recomend you didnt use the diesel, or any fuel for that matter, to clean the crankcase. A diesel engine has a tendancy to run on whatever it has available. If you have a fuel source in the crankcase it could VERY easily run away with no way to shut it off.

I didnt notice if this was a gas or diesel engine we were talking about, but diesel is so much thinner than oil that I wouldnt use it in a gas burner either. The ATF works though, but before I used anything, I would pull the valve cover or oil pan to see what was there. If it isnt sludged, just use the proper viscosity as it is much better quality than the engine was designed to runon.

BobG_in_VA · Oct 2, 2005

Pull the center part of the hood off (you'll have to take off the muffler) and check the condition of the valve train. If the top part of the engine has crud, then the bottom will too. Your best bet would be to pull the pan and clean it up as well. Then when you get it started you know its clean. If it was running when it was put away, it will run again. These old Farmall's are virtually indestructable. I've got a few now from the early 50's and they fire up on the first crank. Be sure and have the gas tank cleaned!!! you have 50 years of crap in there as well. Good luck! Bobg in VA

ericbx1500 · Oct 2, 2005

We had a run-away diesel in our shop two weeks ago. What an ugly sight /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

cp1969 · Oct 2, 2005

( I would highly recomend you didnt use the diesel, or any fuel for that matter, to clean the crankcase. A diesel engine has a tendancy to run on whatever it has available. If you have a fuel source in the crankcase it could VERY easily run away with no way to shut it off.

I didnt notice if this was a gas or diesel engine we were talking about, but diesel is so much thinner than oil that I wouldnt use it in a gas burner either. The ATF works though, but before I used anything, I would pull the valve cover or oil pan to see what was there. If it isnt sludged, just use the proper viscosity as it is much better quality than the engine was designed to runon. )

I doubt that IHC made any BN's with diesel power, but as far as runaways go, it really doesn't matter what's in the crankcase. Diesels can and do run away on motor oil and they always have an ample supply of that in the pan...

Anyway, the point is moot. The BN, I am nearly certain, is a gas engine. As I was saying, I'm not advocating the practice, only throwing it out as information that it can, and has, been used to try to clean gunk out of engines, with some apparent success. It in no way compares to disassembly and cleaning, nor do any of the other suggested methods.

HGM · Oct 2, 2005

True, I realized that it was likely a gas burner as I was typing. But regardless, I would never recomend filling the crankcase with fuel of any type.

I do understand you were just telling a story about what you had seen, but without knowing who was on the other end listening it could be dangerous, and thought I would add a disclaimer /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

As for a diesel runaway, it is highly unlikely for one to runaway on engine oil alone. Every diesel running a breather system would run away every time you started it.

cp1969 · Oct 2, 2005

( As for a diesel runaway, it is highly unlikely for one to runaway on engine oil alone. Every diesel running a breather system would run away every time you started it. )

Do some research. Not only is is possible, motor oil is THE most common runaway fuel. It takes a lot of vapor to make a single drop of oil.