Engine oil and filter once a year?

[RalphVa]

I change once/year on my 4010 with Mobil 1, 5w30. I put about 100 hours/yr on it. The manual says every 200 hours. So, I'm being very conservative.

I change the Mobil 1 in all 3 of my on-road vehicles. We put anywhere from 4,500 to 6,500 miles on each of them. One's a diesel. The other 2 are gas. Think Mobil says you can go up to 15k miles on Mobil 1 in a gas engine.

Changed the Mobil 1 recently on my generator engine. It hadn't been changed for 3 years. Kinda forgot about it. One reason why I went to Mobil 1 on everything.

Ralph

 

[Sully2]

So you won't change oil and filter yearly on a $3,000+ engine, but you'll grease a $2 bushing prematurely? I don't get it.

I'm glad to see that service managers, most of which wouldn't know a metric adjustable wrench from a 2 foot yard stick, know more about the equipment than the engineers that designed it.

Am I being a wisenheimer here? Yes I am. I have found the best way to illustrate absurdity is with absurdity.

I dont just automatically change oil and filter(s) on a $12K engine...but if my motorhome gets used at all it gets a full grease job.

The lubrication "system" on my FEL isnt a "forced pressure" type of system..or maybe you didnt notice that??

And Im sure "we all" share your opinon of various service managers...since its apparent that you know a lot more than they do?...

My next engine oil and filter service is SUPPOSE TO be at the 200 total hour mark. Tranny fluid and filters at the 300 TOTAL hour mark.
If ( heaven forbid) I CANT get any more work done here than to add JUST another 25 hrs on it this year then by fall of 2009 I would have approx 100 hours total on it and WOULD HAVE already done TWO full engine oil and filter changes and TWO full tranny fluid and filter changes. MUCH MORE that is recommended by Kubota BUT..not to their TIME SCHEDULE!

SHOULD that "$3000 engine" "blow"...Id sell this orange ball of fire for chump change and get out of it whatever funds I could and turn right around and buy a tractor that WOULD take this percieved "abuse".

And as far as being "absurd"...you are!

 

[cp1969]

My little tractore gets new oil and filters every spring just before I start mowing again. It doesn't cost very much and it's my ritual for going over everything. I mostly use that tractor for mowing, so it doesn't get allot of hours per year. Maybe twenty hours a month.

Eddie

I do it slightly different. I still go over them in the spring, but I change the oil at the end of the mowing season, like about right now. Maybe a foolish thing to do, but that way it's setting with fairly acid and water free oil in it over the winter. I will put a few hours on pushing snow, maybe 4 or 5, hopefully less over the winter months. Then I do the spring go-over, minus the oil change.

 

[Sully2]

I change once/year on my 4010 with Mobil 1, 5w30. I put about 100 hours/yr on it. The manual says every 200 hours. So, I'm being very conservative.

I change the Mobil 1 in all 3 of my on-road vehicles. We put anywhere from 4,500 to 6,500 miles on each of them. One's a diesel. The other 2 are gas. Think Mobil says you can go up to 15k miles on Mobil 1 in a gas engine.

Changed the Mobil 1 recently on my generator engine. It hadn't been changed for 3 years. Kinda forgot about it. One reason why I went to Mobil 1 on everything.

Ralph

If I could get more hours each year on my Kubota I most probably would change it yearly. I bought it for landscaping the yard. First year...MONSOON! Ever tried working on clay with 2-5 inches of rain weekly? This year...DROUGHT! At the 3rd week of september we were more that 12 inches LOW on rainfall. Ive got my fingers crossed for 2008.

I DID get the backyard done though. I have one bare spot where the grass didnt do anything ( all DEEP SHADE also!!) but that spot can be cured. Rain finally came back "a little" and luckily the shade fescue much have gotten a toehold prior to the drought because it popped right up and is doing fine now

 

[Sully2]

I do it slightly different. I still go over them in the spring, but I change the oil at the end of the mowing season, like about right now. Maybe a foolish thing to do, but that way it's setting with fairly acid and water free oil in it over the winter. I will put a few hours on pushing snow, maybe 4 or 5, hopefully less over the winter months. Then I do the spring go-over, minus the oil change.

Thats the way Ive always been told to do. "Let it sit all winter" with fresh oil in it instead of old used oil

 

[California]

[annually] I change the Mobil 1 in all 3 of my on-road vehicles. We put anywhere from 4,500 to 6,500 miles on each of them. One's a diesel. The other 2 are gas.

Does the conversion to ULSD bring diesels up to the longer drain intervals specified for gas engines?

 

[wmgeorge]

Thats the way Ive always been told to do. "Let it sit all winter" with fresh oil in it instead of old used oil

My thought on this is; where is the oil sitting all winter? Its in the crankcase, the water and acid will be under the oil. So next spring I start it up, let it get nice and hot and then change the oil. If my oil was really, really dirty from summer work I might change in it in the fall. I've been doing this for over 50 years, and never had an engine fail yet, from the oil related cause. I had a $49 lawn mower, the engine outlasted the deck and wheels. Service was oil changes every year, air filter cleaned or replaced and a new spark plug when it was needed.
Car and truck, oil-filter changes every 3,000 - 5,000 miles, never an engine related problem.

 

[Z-Michigan]

Does the conversion to ULSD bring diesels up to the longer drain intervals specified for gas engines?

I haven't seen anything indicating a change for ULSD. Only thing I've seen is that the newest CJ spec for diesel oil apparently doesn't tolerate high sulfur levels well. This isn't an issue if you run exclusively ULSD, as is required for all 2007+ engines that would be requiring the CJ rated oil. If you have pre-07 diesel engine and are still using LSD, this shouldn't be an issue if you're running the still common CI-4+ diesel oils.

From what I've seen diesel change intervals are based on the same thing as gasoline change intervals - operating environment and oil capacity. Many diesels have much larger oil capacity than comparable gas engines. Some also operate in much cleaner environments (highway trucks) while others operate in extremely dirty environments (mining, construction equipment). I own a 2006 Ram/Cummins (5.9L) which indicates a 7500 mile OCI for "severe service" (i.e. real world use) and had a 2005 Jeep Liberty diesel (2.8L) which indicated 6,250 OCI for severe service. The Ram has a 12 quart sump and the Jeep had 6.4 quarts; for comparison, the 5.3L V8 in my Suburban only takes 6 quarts, and has an OCI based on an oil life monitor, but is looking like it will be 8000 miles or so in my driving.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

And Im sure "we all" share your opinon of various service managers...since its apparent that you know a lot more than they do?...

I never said I know more than service managers. I would take the opinion of the people that designed the equipment rather than a guy sitting behind the desk at Pigsknuckle Tractor Repair.

 

[ccsial]

Thats the way Ive always been told to do. "Let it sit all winter" with fresh oil in it instead of old used oil

Even more important if you don't use synthetic.

 

[Sully2]

I never said I know more than service managers. I would take the opinion of the people that designed the equipment rather than a guy sitting behind the desk at Pigsknuckle Tractor Repair.

99% of the time the people that "designed" equipment ARE NOT the people that write the manuals for it and THOSE are the persons that not only cant speak English...they dont know "hog jowls from horse manure" about most things! My own manual states oils used have to be one of three different API catgaorys ...TWO of wich are totally OBSOLETE and the thirst one is a catagory that was introduced in 1994. AT LEAST they could get with "the program".

I am the one that stated that you knew so much more than any service manager..since you so blatently stated they didnt know their left foot from the elbow.

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Having worked for, at my last count, at least a dozen service managers, I can tell you that I have never seen the most knowledgable mechanic chosen to lead the service department. Not that the most knowledgable mechanic makes the best service manager, but the guy chosen usually is not even a good mechanic. We used to all shake our head and wonder how that idiot got the job. Then we find out why, they're usually the best "yes" man. While I am sure there are some very fine service managers out there, my experience has shown me that it's the biggest b.s.'er that gets the job.

I remember bringing a Chevy service van back to the dealer for a leaky pinion seal. When the service manager was told it had a leaky pinion seal in the rear, he asked "which side?" My co-worker looks dead at me and says, "we're fd." It was hysterical.

 

[3RRL]

I use my tractor year 'round so it never really "sits" all Winter.
I use it slightly less in the Winter though. I change oils and filters every Spring since the Summers are very hot. I feel better about having fresh oil during those severe hot months, perhaps offering better protection when I need it most? However, I don't really know if this is correct or not, but that's why I do it. I too use Mobil 1 synthetic.

 

[Sully2]

I use my tractor year 'round so it never really "sits" all Winter.
I use it slightly less in the Winter though. I change oils and filters every Spring since the Summers are very hot. I feel better about having fresh oil during those severe hot months, perhaps offering better protection when I need it most? However, I don't really know if this is correct or not, but that's why I do it. I too use Mobil 1 synthetic.

Not sure if fall or spring time changes are even part of the whole equation?? But lets make an assumption here if I may.

You do a full service next spring; next day you fall and break a leg ( lets hope not of course) and the full rest of the year you CANT operate your tractor AT ALL ! Maybe?..Xmas week of 2008 you need to run it for 1 hour to clean the drive of snow (???) Does that mean in the spring of 2009 you do a full oil and filter change AGAIN?

YOU know how its been worked over the years...how its been serviced yearly..etc..etc...so do you dump the oil and pitch the filter with 1 full hours time on it
( see what Im getting at?)

 

[Sully2]

Stating that ANY vehicle ( here we speak of tractors of course) HAS TO HAVE the engine oil and filter changed every 12 calendar months is akin to saying that IF your "200 hour service" is done at 210 hrs...225 hrs..etc...the rig is going to blow up or something. Oh..and make sure you fully grease your FEL every "10 hours of work"...because if you run over to 11 or 12 hours..it will fall completely off!....

 

[Wayne County Hose]

........if the beagle didn't stop to take a dump, he would have caught the rabbit.

 

[KICK]

Having worked for, at my last count, at least a dozen service managers, I can tell you that I have never seen the most knowledgable mechanic chosen to lead the service department. Not that the most knowledgable mechanic makes the best service manager, but the guy chosen usually is not even a good mechanic. We used to all shake our head and wonder how that idiot got the job. Then we find out why, they're usually the best "yes" man. While I am sure there are some very fine service managers out there, my experience has shown me that it's the biggest b.s.'er that gets the job.

a service manager is more of a salesman than a technician, hence the lack of knowledge isn't necessarily a handicap when a person is in that position.

I'd venture that the qualities that make a good mechanic aren't the same as the qualities that cause one to be able to deal with people.

But I wouldn't go to a service manager for advice, other than basic info, they dont deal with the ins and outs of the vehicle, just the customers.

 

[3RRL]

Sully, I see what you mean.
My example is based on what I've been doing, and so far I've managed to get a couple hundred hours a year on the tractor using it year round. Like I said, I'm not sure if what I do is correct, but it makes sense to me. The other reason for a Spring change is that's when I get a week up at the property ... enough time to do it all during Easter vacation.
But if I only had 1 hour on the oil then ... hmmmm? I also wonder when I move up there full time if that will change?

 

[Sully2]

Sully, I see what you mean.
My example is based on what I've been doing, and so far I've managed to get a couple hundred hours a year on the tractor using it year round. Like I said, I'm not sure if what I do is correct, but it makes sense to me. The other reason for a Spring change is that's when I get a week up at the property ... enough time to do it all during Easter vacation.
But if I only had 1 hour on the oil then ... hmmmm? I also wonder when I move up there full time if that will change?

NOW ya see what Im talking about.... IF my oil changes were every..say 200 hrs. And I got say 100 hrs on it each year...YES I'd do an oil change. I mean..geeze..pull the pan plug..let it drain even overnight as I do something else...put the plug back in and fresh oil...No biggie at all.

I have a HUGE walk behind roto-tiller here..that I bought 23 years ago. Used it hard for a few years and then I did a full service on it one fall...everything..and it SAT...in the basement... for 19 years! This summer I pushed it out of the basement...added gas with Tecron carb cleaner to the fuel and pulled the starter till I thought Id flat die!! When it finally did fire up ( just prior to my heart attack...lol) a friend and I used it A LOT this summer doing final tilling of the back yard prior to planting grass seed and also for raised flower beds. It got an oil change ( no filter on it) right before it went into hibernation for this winter. Next year I will again use it for front yard flower beds.

But bottom line is ...if the way you service it makes sense to you...THATS all that matters!!

 

[AlanB]

Follow on question, that has been danced around a bunch (and I think Sully answered his thoughts exactly)

Lets say you are on the "change once a year" schedule.

Speaking in Generalities, you use your tractor more in the summer than in the winter.

Is it better to change it in the spring when taking the machine out of hibrenation so to speak, where there was more chance, time etc for the water to accumulate in the oil, or is it better to do it in the fall after the completion of the most work, so it has relatively "clean" oil to sit through the winter with?

Can anyone reference something other then gut feelings would be the follow on.