Synthetic Diesel Oil...

cowboydoc · Sep 13, 2002

When I was in college I dated a girl that had gotten a Ford Mustang for her 16th birthday. She was now 22. Her car had 72,000 miles on it. She came over one day and I was changing the oil on my pickup and she asked why I was doing that. I told her and she said oh you have to change the oil? I said yes you should change it every 3000 miles. She never had!!! I drained the oil and it was pretty much like you described. She drove the car the next year and then we parted ways so I don't know how long it actually lasted.

bgott · Sep 13, 2002

I've dealt with quite a few like that. Down here in Houston we don't change our oil, we just lie about it loudly when the mechanic shows us the blocked drainback holes in the head and the oil pan that has to be removed to drain the oil. Yours could have gone another 10 or 20,000 miles, after all, it still drained when it was hot. It's not just cars, either. Years ago one of the first things I had to do on a new job was change the oil in a couple of Fiat- Allis loaders. That was the first time I'd ever had to pull the engines, stand 'em on end with the pans and rocker covers off and steam clean the guts to change the oil on heavy equipment.

geneP · Sep 13, 2002

i know a slightly different version.... Back in the early '70s I worked with a man who purchased a low mileage Pontiac from the estate of a well known physician. My co worker had just been told that "Oil never wears out, it just gets dirty". He proceeded to tell us how he was going to change the filter every X miles and add the loss of oil back, thus replentishing the additives. Needless to say, 2-3 years later it was in the repair shop for a new engine. The mechanics said it was one of the most filthy engines they had seen.

upgw · Sep 15, 2002

In 1976 a neighbor gave us a 1970 Valiant with the smaller "Slant 6". It had 100K miles on it, and was smoking badly. By his own admission, he NEVER changed the oil. These engines were tough, but clearly this was too much. We took it apart, I still remember the valve cover, completly full of hardened sludge with divots where the rockers were moving. We didn't rebuild the engine, we got a junk yard motor to replace it with.

- Patrick W.

Ozarker · Sep 15, 2002

You have to wonder how some of these engines keep running as badly as they are abused sometimes.

heehaw · Sep 17, 2002

the company i work for has had 2 vehicles that i know of, that the engine went out on, because of never changing the oil..one went at @ 27,000 miles, the other made it a little over 30,000. no one ever changed, added or even checked the oil from day one of use..they all just jumped in an went on their merry way, till the motors locked up..i thought that was pretty amazing till i read some of these experiences...
heehaw

BHarrison · Sep 20, 2002

FWIW, RotellaT Synthetic also is sold by the quart. ($3.xx/qt) I still cannot believe it is sold for 12.82 a gallon. What a deal.

I see alot of oil manufacturers offering oil by the gallon now. I think it's a good idea. It's much cheaper than by the quart. I purchased a 5 quart bottle of Mobile1 Synthetic at Wal-Mart for $17.80 last week. Mobile1 by the quart is about $5.00. I like this plan. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

k8ny · Sep 21, 2002

<font color=blue>The BX manual recommends 15W-40 for my S. Louisiana climate and 5W-40 only for the very coldest arctic winters</font color=blue>
Well RET, I don't know if we're using the same Kubota Manual. In my BX manual under the LUBRICATION section and for item #3, Engine Crankcase and the Lubricant column, it states the following:
<font color=red>Engine oil: API Service Classification CC or CD
Above 25C(77F) SAE30, SAE 10W-30 or 10W-40
0 to 25C (32 to 77F) SAE20, SAE 10W-30 or 10W-40
Below 0C(32F) SAE10, SAE 10W-30 or 10W-40
</font color=red>
I'm not finding any mention of either 15W-40 or 5W-40.

Can you point me to where you found this in your BX manual nor might we be using different dated manuals? Mine is a 2001 BX 2200 with a Kubota manual PN F-11475.

Thanks,

Bob

RET · Sep 22, 2002

Bob,
After seeing your post this morning, I went back to my BX manual, positive that I would find references to 5-40 and 15-40 oil. Guess what? I'm an idiot. My manual says the same thing that yours does. I must be getting my equipment mixed up. Maybe it was my JD lawntractor that recommends 5-40 and 15-40 depending on the outside temp.???
Thanks for setting me straight.
I'm still trying to figure out one thing though....when at operating temp., which oil has a higher viscosity...5w-40 or 15w-40?
thx
ret

k8ny · Sep 22, 2002

Thanks for the reply RET. Glad we got to the bottom of this one. One point I would like to get clarified, however, I would like to use 15W-40 in my machine and would this be detrimental to the engine in a semi cool climate (not very cold winters)? I think oils like Delo and Rotella are excellent (trucking fleets utilize them for million of miles of transport duty) and it would be nice if we could got the 15W option as opposed to 10w (the lower the number the lower the viscosity, so 15W is more viscous than 10W which may present a problem to a small diesel). As of yet, I have not heard any authoritive response on this question.
Anyone out there with any knowledgeable input on this one?
Bob