First oil change BEFORE recommended time interval

[jtheise4]

I recently purchased a new Massey Ferguson 1643. The owners manual recommends the first oil change at 50 hours. I don't put a lot of hours on my machine, so I probably won't hit 50 hours until a year from now. To me, that seems like a very long time to have the factory oil lubricating the engine. It has always been my understanding that the first oil change should be done sooner than usual to remove any metal debris from manunfactuing. My question is, is this still a valid thought with modern diesel engines and two, is there any harm in changing the oil out at say 15 or 25 hours? Thanks for the input.

 

[bp fick]

While likely unnecessary, if you are really, really slow to accumulate hours, you can always use the "once a year" schedule that a lot of guys use.

 

[rjkobbeman]

Once a year is probably a good schedule to follow if your hours accumulate slowly.

To your question though, it will not hurt anything to change oil "too often". You could change oil every hour if you wanted to...

If your tractor is sitting for LONG periods of time without use, you probably should work out a schedule to actually start using it. Start it up, warm it up and put a load on it. Get everything up to temp to keep in in good working order.

 

[nebraskasparks]

Just took some Scouts to the local implement dealer and talked to the mechanics about tractor maintenance. The old, gray haired mechanic smiled when he said..." you know in the winter when you see all that frost on your tractor? (Heads nodded) That frost is in your oil and hydraulic lines and any farmer that wants to keep his equipment running without a big repair bill will change that oil/hydraulic fluid every spring. You can either change out the fluid or heat up the fluid on a regular basis to get rid of the moisture. Water will tear down your machine eventually.

Sounded good to everyone there.

 

[jlsmith]

It wont hurt to change it now but remember your first 50 to 100 hrs is your break in point. Dont put around on the tractor work it like a dog and it will last longer. The harder you work it now the better performance you will get later.:thumbsup:

 

[rjkobbeman]

It wont hurt to change it now but remember your first 50 to 100 hrs is your break in point. Dont put around on the tractor work it like a dog and it will last longer. The harder you work it now the better performance you will get later.:thumbsup:

I would also add to change it at 50 hours... even if you changed it earlier than that.

 

[Soundguy]

ditto what the others said.. 50 hrs or a year.. whichever comes first.

inspect drain oil and filter for shavinf=gs and what not. if it has magnetic plugs, observe them and clean them.

soundguy

 

[brokenot]

The manufacturer is well aware of any and all advantages/disadvantages of doing something like *this* or doing something like *that*. I don't see any reliability/longevity issues with any equipment I deal with daily when the end-user uses and maintains the equipment as specified by the manufacturer.

On the other hand, I see all kinds of issues when folks use and maintain their equipment in a manner suggested "by some guy that told me....."

Many people that choose to buy into the word-of-mouth stuff never even open their manuals, and if they do....they call and ask me anyway for some sort of "verification".

"My manual says to use *this* grade of oil. What do you think I should use?"

"My manuals says to service the machine at *this* interval. What do you think I should do?"

I get asked stuff like that all the time, and it really makes me wonder....

I'm just sayin'.

When you ask someone questions like this, you're essentially just flipping a coin. The person(s) you ask may have some useful and appropriate advice, or they may have some opinions to offer up. Opinions are fine, but if you ask several people, you'll wind up with several opinions.

 

[rjkobbeman]

The manufacturer is well aware of any and all advantages/disadvantages of doing something like *this* or doing something like *that*. I don't see any reliability/longevity issues with any equipment I deal with daily when the end-user uses and maintains the equipment as specified by the manufacturer.

On the other hand, I see all kinds of issues when folks use and maintain their equipment in a manner suggested "by some guy that told me....."

Many people that choose to buy into the word-of-mouth stuff never even open their manuals, and if they do....they call and ask me anyway for some sort of "verification".

"My manual says to use *this* grade of oil. What do you think I should use?"

"My manuals says to service the machine at *this* interval. What do you think I should do?"

I get asked stuff like that all the time, and it really makes me wonder....

I'm just sayin'.

When you ask someone questions like this, you're essentially just flipping a coin. The person(s) you ask may have some useful and appropriate advice, or they may have some opinions to offer up. Opinions are fine, but if you ask several people, you'll wind up with several opinions.

So... are you saying that changing your oil at say 25 hours is bad for your tractor?

You're going to have a hard time backing that up. We all pretty much said it still has to be done at 50 hours, but changing it early isn't going to hurt.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I will put my $.01 in here. While changing the oil early definitely wont hurt anything but your pocket book and the remaining world oil reserve, I cant see the advantage or need. The manufacturer sets these maintenance intervals for a reason and that is to protect the equipment and thus their warranty. If they specify 50 hours, you can bet the farm that you dont need to change it any quicker than that. I am sure that they have hedged their bets to the point of overkill. I will relate to you what my truck dealer said regarding oil changes, change it when the manual tells you to and anything more is just wasting money and resources. Now I am sure someone is going to flame me, but the old mindset from the 8N tractor days of 3000 mile oil changes for autos is a thing of the past. The lubricants today are so much superior to then that it is no comparison to the wear rate back then and I would bet that back then we still had a 50 hour oil change. Those who still maintain that they do it to protect their investment are just wasting the valuable resources that we have for no benefit. Time is the most dangerous culprit in wear and tear on anything mechanical. There is a good reason why over the road tractor trucks get 3-4 million miles and it is only partially due to the quality of the engines, the biggest thing is that they are constantly running and rarely setting around to collect moisture and corrosion.
A new engine needs time to wear in the rings and bearings so they properly seat. These fine metallic particles collect in the oil filter and you will get rid of most of them with the first oil/filter change. The poorer the machining of the engine, the more wear particles you will have. I am told that some of the old soviet tank engines would wear up to 10 pounds of metal off in the first 50 hours of operation due to the poor machining. I sure hope our CUT engines and transmissions are much better than that. GO ahead Flame away.