Oil & Fuel What kind of engine oil for a diesel engine?

[guy gagnon]

Hi,

My 1968 MF 135 with a 3 cylinder Perkins diesel engine needs a oil change. I had different advice regarding the oil type and grade. 10 W 30 for winter and 20-40 for summer is the most recommanded. I cannot find anything on MF website. I live in Canada, so cold temparature is my reality.

Thanks....

 

[MFRED]

10w-30 would be my reccomendation. Make sure it's good quality, rated for compression engines.

 

[bp fick]

Stop by ANY tractor shop near you. Forget the brand. Orange, Red or Green. They will be great diesel rated oil.

At WalMart or any top auto parts chain store, look for Rotella T or Dello. Most stores stock those brands. Also, Canadian Tire has Rotella T, Mobil, MotoMaster, and so forth for diesel engines.

 

[thatguy]

Just make sure it is for diesels - it will have a Cx (where x is another letter rating).. Gasoline oil will have a Sx (where x is another letter)

Its pretty hard to beat the Rotella T 15w40 though - its rated for diesels and also has the current gasoline rating (SN).

Brian

 

[Mock1]

I use Rotella T 15-40 in my Massey and Cummins Dodge.

 

[Jerry/MT]

Hi,

My 1968 MF 135 with a 3 cylinder Perkins diesel engine needs a oil change. I had different advice regarding the oil type and grade. 10 W 30 for winter and 20-40 for summer is the most recommanded. I cannot find anything on MF website. I live in Canada, so cold temparature is my reality.

Thanks....

What does the owners manual reommend? That's where I always start from.
If it's diesel,you need a noil with an API classification of CX-Y where X is a letter and Y is a number (example CJ-4). The C indicates an oil for a commercia lengine, J is the service duty and the 4 means four stroke.

Next is the SAE viscosity grade, i.e. SAE 30HD, SAE 15W40, etc. The owners manual will generally specify this as a function of the ambient temperature you'll be operating in. The recommedations with widest range of operating ambient temperatures usually belong to the multivis oils( i.e. 15W40, 10W30, etc).

Your engine was probably speced for SAE 30W HD and API CD-4 back when it was designed but that's most likely an obsolete duty designator. These oils aregenerally backward compatible so you can use the latest API rating C rating.

SAE 30W HD is probably god from about 40 F to 90 F ambient temps. SAE 10W30, is probably good from 0F-90F.
Maybe someone with an MF135 who has a manual can give you the OEM recomendations.

 

[irvingj]

Not to put too fine a point on it, Jerry, but I think the "C" stands for "Compression Ignition" (aka, "diesel"), as opposed to "S" which stands for "Spark Ignition" (gasoline engine with spark plugs).

 

[Jerry/MT]

Not to put too fine a point on it, Jerry, but I think the "C" stands for "Compression Ignition" (aka, "diesel"), as opposed to "S" which stands for "Spark Ignition" (gasoline engine with spark plugs).

I agree with you. S for spark Ignition and C for compression ignition
Actually, that's what I wrote initially but the reference that I used called it "commercial" so I changed it.

 

[joe48]

Stop by ANY tractor shop near you. Forget the brand. Orange, Red or Green. They will be great diesel rated oil.

At WalMart or any top auto parts chain store, look for Rotella T or Dello. Most stores stock those brands.

Tractor Supply also has the Shell Rotella T. I find Wally World has best price usually, just bought 4 qt jug for about $22.

I figure if it's good enough for Cat,Cummins,detroit,JD,CNH, it'll be good for a Kioti.

I run the Full Synthetic 5w40 Diesel since new ,year around, now have 900+ hrs ,doesn't burn a drop in my Kioti CK20HST, and trust me this is not a tractor that gets babied summer or winter, except it garaged 95% of time, except when on a job. I change oil and filter every 100hrs.

 

[TXMF135]

My MF manual mentions if ambient temp in 32* to 86* use 20W-20
If ambient above 86*, use 30W.

Mine is a Perkins AD3.152 1974 model MF135. DIESEL

20W straight was hard to find, but that's what is lubing mine right now.

The recommendations are different for the same engine (Perkins) in a gasoline configuration. good luck.

Many say more modern oils are better. They haven't offered cash for rebuilds yet. :thumbsup: