Oil Color

[MChalkley]

Yes. /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[W5FL]

Hmmmmm.....

My Kubota says to change the oil every 200 hours and the filter every 400 hours. I realize that this is specific to the engine that it has, but wonder what makes the difference in factory recommended oil changes.

One word replies will not be accepted. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[PaulB]

Damn it Mark, I think the smile counts as 1000 words. You blew it.
wen - interesting. What tractor do you have?

 

[PaulB]

By the way Mark, thanks.

 

[MChalkley]

PaulB - I'm sorry, I know I blew it. It's just so difficult...

 

[PaulB]

There there Mark, we understand, and we are here to help you. Together we can work through your verbage (and nounage and adjectivage and pronounage and conjunctionage, and....) problems. I am still wrestling with my own demons, which is to leave oil, ANY oil, in my motor for...gulp...2 years. Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up to think about it.

 

[MChalkley]

PaulB, try taking a drop or two of new oil and comparing it to a drop or two from the dipstick. If there's much difference (other than color if it's a diesel), change it. This way, the hairs on the back of your neck will hopefully undergo less stress.

(I don't know if you can help me with my posts or not - I got lost just reading all those 'ages' you listed there. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif)

 

[PaulB]

Much difference? You mean, like texture, odor, or what? I am not sure I could tell good oil from worn out.

 

[MChalkley]

Yes, definitely you'd want to change it if you noticed a difference in smell, but you won't, with synthetic. What you might notice when it's time to change is a change in viscosity. For example, the oil in my VW diesel is now almost two years old with right at 76,000 miles on it. I can see a difference in the viscosity of it. If I put a drop of it and fresh oil on my fingertips, the fresh oil spreads out sooner and is pretty obviously thinner. It's time to change it. If I had bypass filtration on it, it would change more slowly - I've left the oil in my Dodge quite a bit longer with no evidence of thickening. Of course, it also has the benefit of almost three times the capacity, too.