First post with a few questions

[Mr Grasshopper]

Hello everybody this is my first post here. Be gentle with me .
I have never owned a ride on mower (or a diesel for that matter) before and have recently got myself a second hand JD X595 with 900 hrs on the clock.
Today while giving it a clean up and general inspection I removed the air box assembly to give it a clean and noticed that the rubber pipe that leads to the plenum chamber had heaps of black sooty deposits inside it kinda freaked me out . Just wanted to know is this normal for diesel engines and what is the best way to clean that gunk out.
I will also be changing all the fluids on it soon and was thinking of using Mobil 1 5w-50 in the engine would this be OK or what type of oil do you use in your machine ?
Any other tips you may have about these machines would be great . Thanks .

 

[daugen]

you don't know if the prior owner had stale fuel in there, so I'd give your new JD a big slug of diesel fuel cleaner.

As far as oil, synthetics are good, your machine is still relatively low hour, but you need to be careful with your oil; what does your manual state?
Many small diesels run on 15/40 but you are always safer, particularly with a machine new to you, to put in what JD recommends.

A lot of black soot could mean the engine was run with a constricted air filter for awhile. or maybe run at too slow a speed for too long a period.

:welcome:

 

[Baby Grand]

Welcome aboard Mr Grasshopper - that's a fine mower you have..

Make sure it's diesel rated oil (CF-4, AH-4, C-4, CF, C-4 PLUS, CJ-4).
SJ, Sl, SM, SN oils are for gas engines.

http://www.upmpg.com/motor_oil_rate_gas.htm

I remember it as C for compression ignition, S for spark ignition.
Your manual will be more specific - if you don't have a manual, get one, as there's lots of information about your specific machine in it.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have never ran 50 W oil in any engine even if it is multiviscosity. 10w-40 or 10W-30 is most recommended weights. I run Shell Rotella T6 10W-40 in my diesel equipment which is better than spec calls for, but I don't put a lot of hours on them and yearly oil changes are the normal so I figure the synthetic will do a bit better than Dino oil but who knows, it all should work fine as long as it meets the diesel oil rating of CF-4 or CJ-4

 

[k0ua]

This can help until you get a paper one, or they are available on CD at your JD dealer. Or On line see below.

OMM151820_I4


James K0UA

 

[murphy1244]

:welcome: To TBN

 

[Mr Grasshopper]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys .... I will look into the diesel rated oils.
I'm still worried about all the deposits inside the intake. On closer inspection I have found that the air intake pipe has a small crack in the plastic where the air filter change indicator meets the main air intake pipe to the engine. So I cant work out if it has been sucking in dirt and causing the build up or if its carbon deposits.
I will take the plastic part to a plastic welder to get fixed up ASAP.