Oil & Fuel JD 955 burning engine oil

[art]

That is not many hours on the engine and your problem might go away with longer operation at operating temperature. You should check to see if it is as it will cause cylinder glazing the same as your other diesels if the thermostat goes bad.. The oil change from deere to rotella will not gain anything as they are both close in spec's and additives and I don't believe that is a problem. A change to 30 fixed weight might slow the use of oil for you.

 

[SuperGlideSport]

I purchased a 1990 JD 955 with 963 hrs back in January. I changed all the oils, filters and fluids before using. In 10 hours of full throttle medium duty work the engine oil on dipstick went from the full mark to the add mark. Is this normal or is it time for an engine overhaul?

I'd run it for a while and continue to check levels and usage. If it continues to use some oil and / or the exhaust continues to smell "oily" you may have some cracked valve seals. After all, they're almost 25 years old. The valve seals can be replaced fairly easily without removing the head.