Oil & Fuel Neglected fluid changes - recommendations?

[djefferis]

Sorry about the original post - yes, IPad and the forum have the character issues it seems. Mostly readable, but a few "?"s in there.

Appreciate the advice. Hoses already did a good inspection on the hydraulics on one unit and looked fine. Must have been replaced shortly before dad bought it - probably so by the seller to make everything look good for potential buyers.

I get Seafoam is $$ - but $5.50 a can locally at the big box hardware store...not horrible and it seems to work good on my gas engines. Looking into alternatives for diesel. So many different types of snake oil out there it seems and some of them ain't cheap. Do I think its a magical cure all - no, but it does not hurt and seems good at cleaning gunk that can build up. Used it in small engines before and no problems to date.

After thinking about it - think I am going to go with the advice of doing all fluids in everything, and then on the machines I am not sure of - running a can of Seafoam through them with a few weeks of moderate use and then changing the oil again. Reality of it is - oil and a filter are cheap and minimal work. Worst I do is waste 6 quarts of good oil and a new filter...best case it clean up any build up and free floating crap in there and it saves me a ton of headache in the short term - the gamble seems worth it to me.

I've used Rotella in the past and plan on continuing with it - always seems to be available and priced right and noticed it seems to be used around alot of heavy equipment operations. If people who rely on their tools deem it good enough, I'll take that as a positive endorsement. Looking around appears T5 is around $14 a gallon for Diesel.

 

[Texasmark]

There is no alcohol in Sea Foam. Its made with petroleum products but it is a great product which we use in all our year-around seasonal fuels to keep them from going stale.

Read the MSDS!

 

[DJ54]

Seafoam made a believer out of me too, but seems the price varies a lot, as to where you buy it. Most auto parts stores here, it's $8.99 per can, but at one of the big box stores here, Menards, it's $6.49. Go figure. It's also $6.49 at Rural King also. However, at Rural King, they sell their store brand version of Seafoam for $4.99. I use it as a fuel additive, not so much a motor flush. Harvest King Motor Treatment HK-1

I also use Sta-Bil in mostly my small 4 cycle engines on my garden tractors. I was adding both to my fuel cans when I fill them, so I know it's in there. Last summer, I ran out of Sta-Bil, so next stop at TSC I was going to purchase more. On the shelf, they had the regular Sta-Bil on sale,and beside it a new Sta-Bil 360, which seems to be basically a mix of Sta-Bil, and Seafoam mix. STA-BIL 36deg Performance Ethanol Fuel Treatment 32 oz. 22275.

 

[bmaverick]

Motor-Medic Motor Flush by Gunk is a mere $4.47 at Wally World. It comes in the regular formula for regular oils and a version for synthetic oil cleaning too. No alcohol in it's MSDS report either.

Like seafoam, both products are acceptable for oil recycling to make synthetic oils that cost more money.

 

[bmaverick]

STA-BIL 36deg Performance Ethanol Fuel Treatment 32 oz. 22275.

Unless your tractor has a fuel pre-heater for the fuel each and every time prior to start up, don't use ethanol in a diesel fuel system. It needs a heat exchanger to preheat the ethanol to a temperature of 50-80°C to improve fuel vaporization in the intake port. In the US, there are no guidelines that regulate the amount of ethanol in diesel additives, so, watch out for the low-flash point issues. It could cause injector problems due to this unknown ethanol percentages in the additives. Some additives have 15% or more ethanol. That's a warning sign to be aware of.

Another issue with ethanol additives is the reduction of lubricity in the fuel system. That's one area diesel engines need the lubricity, not the other way around. For regular gas engines, except 2-stroke types, the additive may be alright.

 

[arlen4720]

Unless your tractor has a fuel pre-heater for the fuel each and every time prior to start up, don't use ethanol in a diesel fuel system. It needs a heat exchanger to preheat the ethanol to a temperature of 50-80°C to improve fuel vaporization in the intake port. In the US, there are no guidelines that regulate the amount of ethanol in diesel additives, so, watch out for the low-flash point issues. It could cause injector problems due to this unknown ethanol percentages in the additives. Some additives have 15% or more ethanol. That's a warning sign to be aware of.

Another issue with ethanol additives is the reduction of lubricity in the fuel system. That's one area diesel engines need the lubricity, not the other way around. For regular gas engines, except 2-stroke types, the additive may be alright.

The stabile product does not contain ethanol...it’s made to stabilize ethanol fuel

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I also use Sta-Bil in mostly my small 4 cycle engines on my garden tractors. I was adding both to my fuel cans when I fill them, so I know it's in there. Last summer, I ran out of Sta-Bil, so next stop at TSC I was going to purchase more. On the shelf, they had the regular Sta-Bil on sale,and beside it a new Sta-Bil 360, which seems to be basically a mix of Sta-Bil, and Seafoam mix. STA-BIL 36deg Performance Ethanol Fuel Treatment 32 oz. 22275.

Not sure about Seafoam in the Stabil part. I switched to 360 and then 360 Marine shortly after hey were introduced. The marine handles the water collected by the ethanol a lot better. Have not had a small engine fuel system problem since.

Ron