First time Mahindra owner

pburd · Jun 2, 2011

Hello all, I am a new TBN member and first time owner of a Mahindra tractor, (5010 Gear). I am also a retired U.S. Coast Guard Chief Machinery Technician with an abnormal affinity for wanting to know every nut and bolt of a piece of equipment and preventative maintenance procedures. This exhaustive introduction is a segway into some concerns I have in regards to maintenance recommendations from the Owners Manual.

1. Idle time. The Owners Manual (OM) stresses the need for what I consider long periods of idling for warm-up and cool-down. I question this for a couple of reasons, a) the OM for my John Deere, (Yanmar engine) recommends minimal idling and doesn't address warm-up or cool down. b) my experience is that abnormal periods of idling causes accumulation of soot on the injector tips, cylinders and in the engine oil. Both are a result of low engine temperatures that prevent optimum combustion. Of course my experience is in a marine environment and diesel technology has advanced over the years.

2. The OM recommends engine oil with an API of CD and CE grades. Both of these grades are obsolete. The currents grades for diesel engines as recommended by the American Petroleum Institute (API) are CF, CG, CH and Cl depending on the engine application.

3. The OM recommends straight weights or 10W-30 depending on ambient temperatures. I am sure these oils are adequate but I have been using a 5W-40 with an API of Cl-4 PLUS which can be used in place of all the current grades, i.e., CF, CG and CH. I personally believe this oil superior in all aspects and believe the OM recommendations to be outdated.

I will add that the engine is manufactured in Korea by Daedong Ind.

There is my rant and would appreciate any cogent and thoughtful comments and/or feedback.

JerryK · Jun 2, 2011

Most diesels will not produce much heat at idle. I like to idle them at about 1200-1300 RPM for awhile, before you try to make it work hard. Probably 5 minutes is fine..most of the year. Likewise, if you are working it hard, you should allow some time for it to cool some, at low idle...especially if you have a turbo. I use 15W40 Rotella or Delo 400 [ whatever is cheaper at the Wally ] in my Cummins and all my diesel tractors. Both are excellent dino oils, among others. I think the standards are backwards compatable, and you can't really go wrong with putting a higher standard in an older motor.

jonyyuma · Jun 2, 2011

I vote for the superior grade of engine oil and the best you can afford in filtering too. I use Delvac in my Kubota, yes it is probably over-kill in protection , but it will take me a very long time to get 50 hours running time. I use the OE oil filter.

grsthegreat · Jun 2, 2011

I have a Kioti (same manufacturer as your engine). My manual says the same thing about the oil grades so i emailed them. They got back to me and told me that the stated grades are the MINIMUM. they recommended any current grade cj4 oils are ok for my engine (2011 year). all you have to do is find a diesel grade BETTER than those listed inthe manual. They also told me i could use a 5-40 if i wanted to, but i ended up using a 10-w30 as per my spec in the manual. just to be safe with the warranty.

I dont idle mine nearly as long as the book says. i am going to add a salamander block and transmission heater for use in the winter to help with preheating HST trany though. Here in Idaho it gets mighty cold

LAWALLSTRACTOR · Jun 2, 2011

I reccomend Schaeffer's Supreme 7000 Synthetic plus micro moly 15W40. Check it out on line.

bindian · Jun 3, 2011

pburd said:
Hello all, I am a new TBN member and first time owner of a Mahindra tractor, (5010 Gear). I am also a retired U.S. Coast Guard Chief Machinery Technician with an abnormal affinity for wanting to know every nut and bolt of a piece of equipment and preventative maintenance procedures. This exhaustive introduction is a segway into some concerns I have in regards to maintenance recommendations from the Owners Manual.

1. Idle time. The Owners Manual (OM) stresses the need for what I consider long periods of idling for warm-up and cool-down. I question this for a couple of reasons, a) the OM for my John Deere, (Yanmar engine) recommends minimal idling and doesn't address warm-up or cool down. b) my experience is that abnormal periods of idling causes accumulation of soot on the injector tips, cylinders and in the engine oil. Both are a result of low engine temperatures that prevent optimum combustion. Of course my experience is in a marine environment and diesel technology has advanced over the years.

2. The OM recommends engine oil with an API of CD and CE grades. Both of these grades are obsolete. The currents grades for diesel engines as recommended by the American Petroleum Institute (API) are CF, CG, CH and Cl depending on the engine application.

3. The OM recommends straight weights or 10W-30 depending on ambient temperatures. I am sure these oils are adequate but I have been using a 5W-40 with an API of Cl-4 PLUS which can be used in place of all the current grades, i.e., CF, CG and CH. I personally believe this oil superior in all aspects and believe the OM recommendations to be outdated.

I will add that the engine is manufactured in Korea by Daedong Ind.

There is my rant and would appreciate any cogent and thoughtful comments and/or feedback.

Pburd,
Welcome to TBN and THANKS for your years of service!
My 6520's owner's manual says keep RPM below 1500 until the temp guage is is in the operating band, which starts at 140. This works fine for me. Except for heavy backhoe use, which I crank to full rpm after hitting 140 degrees. Any turbo equipped engine needs cool down time. My owner's manual says nothing on this.

I run Rotella T 15w-40 in all my diesels, which has included two Dodge Cummins, my 6520, my Ford 3055 (which I wished I hadn't sold) and my diesel generator. The generator has synthetic Rotella in it, since it only gets ran during extended power failures. But now I wanna check out what Galen mentioned above.......Schaeffer's Supreme 7000 Synthetic plus micro moly 15W40.
hugs, Brandi

pburd · Jun 4, 2011

JerryK said:
Most diesels will not produce much heat at idle. I like to idle them at about 1200-1300 RPM for awhile, before you try to make it work hard. Probably 5 minutes is fine..most of the year. Likewise, if you are working it hard, you should allow some time for it to cool some, at low idle...especially if you have a turbo. I use 15W40 Rotella or Delo 400 [ whatever is cheaper at the Wally ] in my Cummins and all my diesel tractors. Both are excellent dino oils, among others. I think the standards are backwards compatable, and you can't really go wrong with putting a higher standard in an older motor.

Thanks for your input Jerry. I also use Rotella or Delo and as soon as I get 50 hours, that is what's going in it.
I have noticed that the coolant temp is consistently low, rarely getting off the cold mark. I called my Dealer (Dave's Tractor in Red Bluff, CA) and he has had one other concern with this issue.
This is a new model for Mahindra and I think the first one made in Korea so there may be a few bugs that need addressing.

pburd · Jun 4, 2011

grsthegreat said:
I have a Kioti (same manufacturer as your engine). My manual says the same thing about the oil grades so i emailed them. They got back to me and told me that the stated grades are the MINIMUM. they recommended any current grade cj4 oils are ok for my engine (2011 year). all you have to do is find a diesel grade BETTER than those listed inthe manual. They also told me i could use a 5-40 if i wanted to, but i ended up using a 10-w30 as per my spec in the manual. just to be safe with the warranty.

I dont idle mine nearly as long as the book says. i am going to add a salamander block and transmission heater for use in the winter to help with preheating HST trany though. Here in Idaho it gets mighty cold

Glad to know someone else is on top of this. I don't know if you can find CD and CE anymore and it would be helpful if they updated the manual to reflect the newer standards.
In regards too adhering to the 10w30 recommendation, my Dealer uses only Delo 15W40 so I don't believe you would void your warranty by using a 5W40 if you desired and considering the cold winters you have in Northern Idaho, I would certainly use it.
Thanks for your input.

pburd · Jun 4, 2011

bindian said:
Pburd,
Welcome to TBN and THANKS for your years of service!
My 6520's owner's manual says keep RPM below 1500 until the temp guage is is in the operating band, which starts at 140. This works fine for me. Except for heavy backhoe use, which I crank to full rpm after hitting 140 degrees. Any turbo equipped engine needs cool down time. My owner's manual says nothing on this.

I run Rotella T 15w-40 in all my diesels, which has included two Dodge Cummins, my 6520, my Ford 3055 (which I wished I hadn't sold) and my diesel generator. The generator has synthetic Rotella in it, since it only gets ran during extended power failures. But now I wanna check out what Galen mentioned above.......Schaeffer's Supreme 7000 Synthetic plus micro moly 15W40.
hugs, Brandi

Bindian, thank you very much for the welcome and the acknowledgement. I decided to join the forum in hopes of gaining some knowledge that the OM doesn't offer and all the comments have been very helpful.
The 5010 is naturally aspirated so I don't have to be concerned with turbo seals, just the opposite, I am concerned that the engine temp is too low.
Considering all the equipment you have I hope you have stock in Shell Oil.

pburd · Jun 4, 2011

jonyyuma said:
I vote for the superior grade of engine oil and the best you can afford in filtering too. I use Delvac in my Kubota, yes it is probably over-kill in protection , but it will take me a very long time to get 50 hours running time. I use the OE oil filter.

I agree, oil is cheap relative to what you're putting it in.