Oil Change - Spring or Fall?

[cold1313]

I have my own opinions on when it is best to change the oil on my equipment, but I'm curious to see what everyone else does. I can see both sides....seems to boil down to "at least you're changing the oil!"

For example, my diesel Kubota mower (F3990) - Oil changed this Spring. Put less than 50 hours on it (this is a full blown commercial unit that I use for my home only). If it were my truck, I wouldn't change the oil. But some people always change in the fall before store...I understand why.

Anybody have a rule of thumb or reasoning that they go by? Or just whatever works out to be the most convenient?

 

[Shaneard]

I do mine in the spring. Kinda like you here, commercial mower less than 50 hours a year etc. It sits after getting leaves up in the fall with the trac-vac and I would rather know I have the condensation out from sitting all winter by changing it in spring.

 

[Gunny]

Same here, I do all the oil changes on equipment first thing in the spring.

 

[KennyG]

I change mine in the spring. I figure between mowing and snow removal, the mowing is the most severe service. However, for equipment I store over winter (cyclone rake, lawnmower, etc) I change in the fall. For the same reason, I change oil in the little walk behind snowblower in the spring. I worry less about condensation in the oil than I do about letting something sit with used oil and contaminants.

However, with modern oils and engines, it's probably not an issue either way.

 

[BlackRaptor]

I've also always do mine in the spring. I like the idea of fresh oil when I go into mowing season. For the bigger tractors I normally change then whenever as I don't think old iron is as picky as my zturn or gets worked nearly as long or hard so they get changed once a year when I find time.

 

[Texasmark]

It's a toss up for me. I really do it when I have the materials on hand and have nothing else to do, with it being time. This year it was fall and part of the reason was that I did a lot of running on these engines this year and the oil is dirty. Other thing is that any contaminants that may have built up, like sulphur causing sulphuric acid (yes I know sulphur is not what it used to be in petroleum products) damage would be minimized by changing in the fall.

 

[Deere Dude]

I change mine in the fall, if I remember it. I work the tractor all summer from March to October but it sits a lot in the winter. My view is to change it when most of the contaminants are in it and not let it sit and corrode with old oil in it all winter.

 

[namesray]

I change all my seasonal equipment (mowers, etc..) in the fall. Reason is I don't want the old oil sitting in engine all winter long. I figure it could cause corrosion just sitting in their for 4 months or so. I don't worry about condensation over winter much as I figure if their is any, "new" oil can handle it and a little condensation is not as bad as acidic oil causing corrosion all winter.

My main equipment (tractors, trucks, woodsplitters) gets the engine oil changed per hours/miles as they get used heavily year round. As for hydraulic oil in equipment, I change once a year in fall irregardless of hours to eliminate any water so I don't get ice in hyd during winter.

 

[Sodo]

I see both sides but....

Do well-maintained engines ACTUALLY corrode inside, over the course of 4 months due to old oil? I think not. If they did, someone would have posted pics by now ( its 2016 ! ). Proof can be found. I know we get all tied up by fake news, ya know Obama's been putting ethanol in your gasoline since Bush Sr. made the deal with the corn lobby back in the '80s :laughing::laughing::laughing:

I change oil by the hour meter not by the calendar. If you have quality eqpt you can't fail it by following the service intervals in the owners manual ( most cases). BUT back on-topic ,,,,,, IMHO it's 51/49% better to change in the spring because the eqpt will have the freshest oil in it for doing its work.

 

[oldballs]

I'm a "fall" oil change guy. But with the synthetics in most of my engines (except the Kubota) I'm starting to get around to longer interval changes. Being retired/widower versus those with jobs, travels and families it seems wasteful and unproductive to do otherwise.

I kinda like Sodo's thinking on this matter. With Kubota labeled dino 10W30, and only 100 hrs on the Kubota this past 12 months, I'll probably get'er done yet this fall. But the OE manual recommends 200 hr change interval, so even that (100 hrs) seems wasteful.

Cheers,
Mike