Old oil trick

[deerefan]

I know an old farmer who used older tractors on his farm, such as 8 and 9Ns, Jubilees and some older JDs. I have two tractors I use, a 8N and JD5103. Dad and I rebuilt the engine in the 8N about 9 years ago and have probably put around 500-600 hrs on it. It still runs strong, but I notice it smokes some, especially under a load. The above mentioned fellow said when his 8N and 9N started to smoke some, he went with a heavier weight oil, maybe a 40wt. I run 10w-30 in my 8N and wondered if he was on to something. Anyone ever try this to see if they can get by longer before a rebuild? It seems to me the heavier weight oil will rob the engine of some power, not help it. Thoughts?

 

[sweettractors]

I run straight 30W in all my tractors. Always have. Ken Sweet

 

[bp fick]

Have to remember that when that tractor was built, mainly from pieces and parts from Henry Ford's Model T concepts, that there was really bad (by today's standards) oil. :laughing:

There was no idea of a multi-grade oil in those days.

30w was standard for summer and 10w in the dead of winter to turn 'er over.

Yes, as Ken said. If it was mine, it would be 30w for most of year, except if I used it to plow snow in the dead of winter, I'd drop down to 10w, 20w or that 10w-30.

 

[deerefan]

I change the oil in both every spring, as I only put about 50 hrs a year on both. I run rotella 15-40 in the JD, but I will change to a straight 30w for the 8N and see how it does. Heck, can't hurt anything.

 

[clemsonfor]

It will help a little as its thicker, but it also wont flow as well to the top end of your worn out motor esp on cold startup unless you use that 10-40. The thicker oil isnt as thin so it dosent "blow by" as easily. The 40 wt will increase your oil pressure as its resistance to flow is higher but this may not help lubricate the top end as well as it may not push the same volume of 40 up there as 30. I would still use 30 wt and just add it more often. Your still lubing just blowing it by. But if the 40 wt has less blow by you may be creating more compression and thus more power as it thicker. I would still run 30 wt.

 

[zmoz]

Yes, that is a great way to stop/reduce oil consumption and is a common trick with old leaky cars. 10w40, or 15w40 won't hurt that old motor, and will likely slow down the consumption some. You have nothing to lose, that old engine will never know you put thicker oil in it.

Also, modern "car oil" probably isn't very good for that tractor due to what the EPA has done to it. Something diesel rated would be much, much, much better for it and likely offer better wear protection.

As engines wear the tolerances get larger and the oil needs to provide a thicker cushion on the parts than it did when the engine was new. Also, older technology like that generally likes thicker oil too, because the tolerances weren't that great from the factory. That's why a new Ford, made by a computerized robot, can run 5w20 oil, but that would probably kill your old tractor.

 

[Eagleview]

20W 50 is the go , the oil should be thin enough for winter and when it gets hot the Polymer chains will straighten out and make it thicker when it gets hot .

 

[ToadHill]

Yep. When my 8n started to smoke several years ago I switched to 20w50 oil and it really helped for almost 10 years. The engine's out of the old girl now getting rings.

I couldn't believe when I took her down the bearings looked brand new, I had been concerned that the heaver weight oil may have been a problem at startup in cold weather but that hasn't been the case.

 

[deerefan]

I was talking about this with dad last night and he told me grandpa had an early 60 chevy crib truck they used on the farm until the early eighties, the truck was a 2 ton if I remember correctly. It had a 4 spd and straight 6. In the mid 70s, it started to smoke some. He used to run 30w but switched to 40w and added a quart of gear oil (80 or 90w) every oil change in place of a quart of the 40w. He did this for over 6 years with no problems and dad said it helped with the smoking problem. Unfortunately, that truck is sitting in a pasture now. I would love to get it and restore it. Just need to find the time!!

 

[clemsonfor]

I was talking about this with dad last night and he told me grandpa had an early 60 chevy crib truck they used on the farm until the early eighties, the truck was a 2 ton if I remember correctly. It had a 4 spd and straight 6. In the mid 70s, it started to smoke some. He used to run 30w but switched to 40w and added a quart of gear oil (80 or 90w) every oil change in place of a quart of the 40w. He did this for over 6 years with no problems and dad said it helped with the smoking problem. Unfortunately, that truck is sitting in a pasture now. I would love to get it and restore it. Just need to find the time!!

Essentually he made 50 wt. Not sure if they had 20w-50 , i think they did (im only 28) back then but i think this would have been easier to pour in it.

 

[Soundguy]

question is what color is the smoke.. blue or black?

blue is oil.. black is rich carb.

next. what constitutes a rebuild. can be anything from full rebuild.. new crank, cam, cam inserts.. new valvs, seats, etc.. or alot less. to some a rbuild is a new set of main and rod bearings, new rings, ream the ridge, maybee hand lap the valves and go.

unless you did the full enchalada.. you might have leaky intake seals.. or loose tolerance inthe cyl bores.

what's yer compression like.. dry vs wet?

yes.. a heavier oil can limit consumption.. but also makes for slower to rise oil pressure in cold weather, plus 'less' energy savings. still.. IMHO.. 10w30 is too light an oil for even a rebuilt tight N. i'd go 15w40 minimum..

soundguy

I know an old farmer who used older tractors on his farm, such as 8 and 9Ns, Jubilees and some older JDs. I have two tractors I use, a 8N and JD5103. Dad and I rebuilt the engine in the 8N about 9 years ago and have probably put around 500-600 hrs on it. It still runs strong, but I notice it smokes some, especially under a load. The above mentioned fellow said when his 8N and 9N started to smoke some, he went with a heavier weight oil, maybe a 40wt. I run 10w-30 in my 8N and wondered if he was on to something. Anyone ever try this to see if they can get by longer before a rebuild? It seems to me the heavier weight oil will rob the engine of some power, not help it. Thoughts?

 

[bp fick]

Yeah, we used to use Motor Honey, STP and gear lube to stop the smokers, back in the day. Tractors, cars and trucks. Law of diminishing returns finally catches up though.

At some point, we got them so thick that when the weather took a dive to below 20 degrees, you couldn't start 'em. Parked them on a hill, let them roll and popped the clutch.

 

[timswi]

20W 50 is the go , the oil should be thin enough for winter and when it gets hot the Polymer chains will straighten out and make it thicker when it gets hot .

My thoughts exactly

 

[mmurphy]

question is what color is the smoke.. blue or black?

blue is oil.. black is rich carb.

next. what constitutes a rebuild. can be anything from full rebuild.. new crank, cam, cam inserts.. new valvs, seats, etc.. or alot less. to some a rbuild is a new set of main and rod bearings, new rings, ream the ridge, maybee hand lap the valves and go.

unless you did the full enchalada.. you might have leaky intake seals.. or loose tolerance inthe cyl bores.

what's yer compression like.. dry vs wet?

yes.. a heavier oil can limit consumption.. but also makes for slower to rise oil pressure in cold weather, plus 'less' energy savings. still.. IMHO.. 10w30 is too light an oil for even a rebuilt tight N. i'd go 15w40 minimum..

soundguy

:thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[Rickstir]

When I bought my Jubilee 15 years ago, the guy told me to run nothing but 30W in it. Always have.

 

[deerefan]

question is what color is the smoke.. blue or black?

blue is oil.. black is rich carb.

next. what constitutes a rebuild. can be anything from full rebuild.. new crank, cam, cam inserts.. new valvs, seats, etc.. or alot less. to some a rbuild is a new set of main and rod bearings, new rings, ream the ridge, maybee hand lap the valves and go.

unless you did the full enchalada.. you might have leaky intake seals.. or loose tolerance inthe cyl bores.

what's yer compression like.. dry vs wet?

yes.. a heavier oil can limit consumption.. but also makes for slower to rise oil pressure in cold weather, plus 'less' energy savings. still.. IMHO.. 10w30 is too light an oil for even a rebuilt tight N. i'd go 15w40 minimum..

soundguy

Its bluish. We sent the head off to a local tractor guy who specializes in N series and older ford tractors engines, machining, pump rebuilds etc.. Dad replaced the bearings, sleeves and rings. I have not done a compression test b/c the tractor still has good power, just smokes some esp. under a load and when first cranked. I would say the rebuild has over 500 hrs on it.

 

[Soundguy]

the comp test will tell you a few things.

soundguy

 

[DEWFPO]

I realize this is an old tractor with old school tolerances, but if an engine is used infrequently and for very short periods of time the oil rings can get gummed up in the ring lands. I realize you may not want to use a synthetic oil, but you might want to consider trying something like Auto-RX to clean out the ring lands. It's added to the oil and it cleans out the engine. (caution : you might also find seal leaks this way as well). The reason I say this is because I was able to halve my oil consumption simply by switching to a synthetic oil. The oil apparently cleaned up the oil rings and consumption dropped dramatically.

DEWFPO

 

[Soundguy]

I'd add a can of mmo to the oil and gas before I switched to synthetic in an N..

soundguy

 

[20 20]

question is what color is the smoke.. blue or black?

soundguy

You forgot white = coolant