Not another oil thread!

dannydan3 · Sep 24, 2007

I am sure it's buried in previous mention here somewhere, but do those of you who use synthetic engine oil still adhere to the required change intervals?

I am on synthetic for the first time and nearing the 50hr change mark, wondering if it is cheap insurance to keep changing it at 50 hours, or just a silly waste of resources?

Thanks

Double 00 Soul · Sep 25, 2007

I don't consider oil changes a waste of resources, I consider them cheap insurance. My first oil change came at about 12-15 hours. It was summer and the temp. was getting into the triple digits. I put 15W-40 oil in the tractor. Winter came at about 45 hours and the tractor got syn. 10W-30 oil.
Late this spring the 15W-40 went back in. Have no idea where you're located but in MN the winter temps. can get downright nasty so syn. is the only way to go IMO. Next weekend the syn. 10W-30 gets it's turn again. So at 100 hours my tractor will have had four oil changes. If memory serves correct, my owner's manual states that the maintenance intervals specified are the "minimum" amount of maintenance to be done and I couldn't agree more. Even if I didn't need to change the oil for the change of seasons, I would never let the tractor go 50 hours between oil changes, I like the tractor too much and again, it's simply cheap insurance.

_RaT_ · Sep 25, 2007

dannydan3 said:
I am sure it's buried in previous mention here somewhere, but do those of you who use synthetic engine oil still adhere to the required change intervals?

I am on synthetic for the first time and nearing the 50hr change mark, wondering if it is cheap insurance to keep changing it at 50 hours, or just a silly waste of resources?

Thanks

Follow the manual. The manufactuer would have you changing it every hour if they felt it would benefit the engine and thus them never seeing a warranty issue. Some could call it cheap insurance, others like myself call it throwing away good oil. Some of us would be changing oil once a week if we used the "cheap insurance" mantra so often heard. 50 hours is nothing.

Skyco · Sep 25, 2007

There you have the gist of oil threads in your first two responses- and we haven't even gotten into the brand wars yet

I say do what makes you feel good.... Me? I always change oil earlier than recommended on anything I intend to keep

But I gotta say I've run 150k miles plus over the last 20 years on each of 6 company owned vehicles managed by a fleet company and they stick to the OEM recommended schedule and have never had an internal engine problem on any of them either..Dodge,Chevy and Ford.

DieselPower · Sep 25, 2007

Like _RaT_ said, throwing away good oil. If there is nothing wrong with it, why change it. As long as there is no contamination, the additive package and base oil is ok and wear metal's are within limits there's really no reason to change it. Get a UOA (used oil analysis) performed and use it as a guide to your change intervals.

Marcussen · Sep 25, 2007

I would change my oil as required by the owners manual, I don't use the Kubota website maintenance table because it does not match my owners manual. One exception is that I would change oil and filter at least once a year. On my Ford truck's engine hour meter 100 hours equals 3500 miles.

big bubba · Sep 25, 2007

I agree wil more frequent oil changes than the manual suggests, esp. with short/ cold runs. At 150 hrs I am also considering a 5/40 synthetic. But I would be careful about changing from synthetic to dyno back to synthetic as the seasons change. Mixing oil types may not be recommended. bb

Skyco · Sep 25, 2007

DieselPower said:
Get a UOA (used oil analysis) performed and use it as a guide to your change intervals.

The problem with routine oil analysis is it costs more than an oil change for many vehicles! IOW a $20 analysis to show if $10 worth of oil is still good

I do perform an oil analysis every 50,000 miles or so on my truck..have done 3 and so far so good.

dieselmadman · Sep 25, 2007

More than recommended oil changes is NOT a good idea. Every time you change the oil the next time you start the engine it is subjected to a lack of oil for a few seconds until the pump can meet the output required to reach everywhere. Even if you put oil in the oil filter prior to start up (which most people don't do because of the mess), there is still a vulnerable time. It is simply not necessary, unless, of course, weather conditions are so extreme that differing viscosities are even to just turn the engine over...

Taiser · Sep 25, 2007

Follow the manual, synthetic or not, and I would not start using it until at LEAST 100 hours on the machine or you may not have the engine parts seated properly.

Captinjack · Sep 25, 2007

I think you guys all think toooooo much about what is probably an insignificant act of changing the oil.

I have an old IH scout that I ran on the property with chains on all four wheels. I always checked the oil and it always showed full although dirty. I only run the truck about 3 miles at a time.

After 3 years of use, I changed the oil to find that there was no oil in it! The filter was solid tar. Putting 4 quarts in, the dip stick showed way too full. Drained the oil and it came out like snot and measured 4 quarts. The dipstick was incorrect. After adding another 4 quarts, it now started to smoke out the exhaust which continued.

The long and short of this issssssssssssssssssssss...........No need to get **** retentive on a subject of oil changes when I had a truck run for 3 years with NO oil! Yes I agree that engines need oil, however, as long as we have oil in the engine, they're gonna work just fine for what we do with them.

I really do change my oil once a year and use synthetic, but that's to make me feel better. I don't think it is a big deal whether you change at 50 or 500 hrs as long as you keep oil in it and the filter is good. The motors will not be the reason that we get rid of a piece of equipment.........something else will happen first!

Change the oil every 20 hrs if it makes you feel good. Heck, I even know a guy who changes oil very often and always drains the new oil after a few hours and then puts in new oil AGAIN! Talk about obsessive compulsive.

Just my $.02 which is not worth a dang thing. It's just been my experience with motor vehicles.

_RaT_ · Sep 25, 2007

Don't forget to change out the air in your tires. Most dealers put in the cheapest air they can find. I've had good luck with air that has been destratified and then filtered. I try to change my air every 6 months. Was wondering if anyone has tried the new synthetic airs available? Are there test labs that will test your air for you?

ccsial · Sep 25, 2007

_RaT_ said:
Don't forget to change out the air in your tires. Most dealers put in the cheapest air they can find. I've had good luck with air that has been destratified and then filtered. I try to change my air every 6 months. Was wondering if anyone has tried the new synthetic airs available? Are there test labs that will test your air for you?

I'm using the synthetic air and extened my chages to one year. It smells better when I change it too.

Lockport · Sep 25, 2007

Taiser said:
Follow the manual, synthetic or not, and I would not start using it until at LEAST 100 hours on the machine or you may not have the engine parts seated properly.

I'm with Taiser on this one. If you're nearing the 50hrs and already on synthetic you haven't let the engine seat properly and I think that is critical. That being said, I use Mobil1 Sythetic and change oil and filter every fall and spring.

_RaT_ · Sep 25, 2007

ccsial said:
I'm using the synthetic air and extened my chages to one year. It smells better when I change it too.

How do you get rid of the old air?

Harry c · Sep 25, 2007

_RaT_ said:
How do you get rid of the old air?

Lately, I've seen shops advertising filling tires with Nitrogen for a nominal fee. We're laughing about this but they're laughing on their way to the bank! To quote P.T. Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute!"

Hmmm, I wonder if this reflects on the motor oil companies' 3,000 mile oil change??? My take on the oil changes FWIW: GM, Toyota, Kubota, et al, have some of the best engineers in the world working on their engines. If they say 7,500 miles, 100 hours or 2 partridges in a pear tree, why would I presume to know more than they do about the engine they created? They don't pay for the oil change so why would they make the interval longer than it needs to be? I'm an engineer myself. I won't argue if Quaker State or Pennzoil can grab a few more bucks by convincing someone they should take better care of my product than they really need to. I may change the oil in my tractor more often than spec'd, but it's probably out of boredom and just wanting to play with the tractor than from any feel of need or benefit. Shucks, If it makes you happy, change it every day!

Rebel · Sep 25, 2007

BX2230_Lockport said:
That being said, I use Mobil1 Sythetic and change oil and filter every fall and spring.

I didn't think Mobil1 was Diesel rated???

DieselPower · Sep 25, 2007

Harry c said:
Lately, I've seen shops advertising filling tires with Nitrogen for a nominal fee. We're laughing about this but they're laughing on their way to the bank! To quote P.T. Barnum, "There's a sucker born every minute!"

Filling with Nitrogen is actually a very good idea on over the road vehicles. I have been doing it for a couple of years. I had no need for a Nitrogen generator so I just got one of my old Oxygen torch tanks filled with Nitrogen and use that to fill my truck and car tires. It's amazing how little I have to top them off now. The Nitrogen molecules are considerably larger than the mixed gas you get from regular air (a good portion of which is Nitrogen). Simply put, much less air leaks out of the tires, tires stay properly inflated and you prevent odd tire wear and keep your fuel mileage up. Many large trucking fleets are buying Nitrogen generators these days to fill their tires. The machines pay for themselves in fuel savings.

_RaT_ · Sep 25, 2007

DieselPower said:
Filling with Nitrogen is actually a very good idea on over the road vehicles. I have been doing it for a couple of years. I had no need for a Nitrogen generator so I just got one of my old Oxygen torch tanks filled with Nitrogen and use that to fill my truck and car tires. It's amazing how little I have to top them off now. The Nitrogen molecules are considerably larger than the mixed gas you get from regular air (a good portion of which is Nitrogen). Simply put, much less air leaks out of the tires, tires stay properly inflated and you prevent odd tire wear and keep your fuel mileage up. Many large trucking fleets are buying Nitrogen generators these days to fill their tires. The machines pay for themselves in fuel savings.

Ahhh yes, but what about nitrogen narcosis? Yeaaaah baby, big problem there.

crazyal · Sep 25, 2007

When I use to race I used Nitrogen. You use it because air has all sorts of things in it while Nitrogen makes predicting how much the pressure will increase as the tire gets hot easier. Of course if your loose in turn three then try switching over to nitrogen. As for not leaking out as fast? Not sure about that but I've never had a problem with tires just going flat. Since air is approx 20% O2 and 80% N2 and O2 and N2 are side by side on the periodic chart I don't see how N2 would be too large to escape out of a hole that O2 could.