Winter Service Question

[Casetractorman]

Ok .. all you iron heads out there .. looking for opinions .. have asked my mechanics and get conflicting stories .. so I post the question here ..
Putting machinery up for winter hibernation .. better to change all oils and filters now or leave and change in the spring ??

[stumper120]

i change all my oils both in the fall before hibernation and in the spring before they go back to service. i do have a small case of ocd but my reasoning is this. oil with alot of hours on it may be more likely to sludge up if set for a while and any metal particals will go to the bottom of the engine or hydraulic resivoir and not be picked up by the strainer they will just stay on the bottom. change the fluids when the machine is good and hot. i change the engine oil and gearcase oils in the spring to help get rid of any acumulated moisture. again i am very anal about my equiptment ...oils cheap. parts are not.

[NateV]

Get the dirty oil out before parking them. Atleast thats what dad has always done.

[Cat420]

I know in the atv and motorcycle world, the thinking is to change all fluids before something sits for a while. The reasoning is the some exhaust gases get past the rings during engine run time and start to make the oil turn acidic. You don't want that to happen to the new oil too, so you change it, run it long enough to park it and turn it off. I don't know if the same thinking holds true for diesels though.

[nedly05]

We change oil at 100 hrs and usually end up doing everything late fall, so when it gets put to bed each piece may have around 50 hrs on the oil. It seems we always end up doing something in the winter, usually plowing with the loader and backhoe, so they will end up needing an oil change before we go back to work in the spring.

Any pics of your iron CaseTractorMan?

Our kobelco 70SR came from your town out at Tracey Road. So you must have what 8 feet of snow by now??

[Turbo21835]

This is how the last large dirt company I worked for did things. They preformed equipment oil changes at 250 hours, or as close as they could. A large fleet and two oil change guys make this difficult from time to time. As the machines came back to the yard for winter repairs they all got parked in the yard. When it came time to pull the machine into the shop for its repairs, they performed the repair, and then performed the service based on its hours. If it was 250 hours it would get an oil change. 500, oil, hydraulic, and transmission change. Final drives on dozers, excavators, and track loaders were also changed.1000, oil, hydraulic, transmission, coolant, if it was an excavator it would get the other major components such as swig gear oil changed. It would then be taken back to the yard until needed in the spring. Any equipment that didnt come to the shop needed no repairs, and had a place we could leave them, so they got an oil change when they were headed back to work. Finally we had equipment that worked through the winter, either on dirt jobs that had no cut to fill, or on the pipe crews. That iron continued its 250hr service intervals.

Josh

[Wulf]

We change oil at 100 hrs

Wow that's an extremely short service interval... what kind of equipment are you servicing at those periods nedly05?

[Casetractorman]

Nedly05 .. you were just up the road from me when you went to Tracy .. We dont get anywhere near the snow we used to get .. but cold .. we REALLY get cold .. or .. maybe Im just getting older

As for pics .. the plan is to paint this winter .. bought all my stuff used .. bought big on performance and mechanical condition .. a little shy on cosmetics . By the time I get em painted .. I hope to figure out again how to post pics

Think Im gonna pull oil samples before changing and send them to the lab ( We use Polaris Labs) .. stuff is all running VERY WELL .. I use synthetic .. Senior Techs tellin me that there will be some condensation which will leave residual water in the oil regardless of fresh or used .. the synthetic should coat everything well enough to ward off any problems .. If the lab shows problems I may change before spring ..otherwise will freshen up before I start using heavy again

Please keep sending opinion's .. all good info .. this forum has been a great find

[nedly05]

Wow that's an extremely short service interval... what kind of equipment are you servicing at those periods nedly05?

Excavator, loader, dozer... The Deere guy told us not to change the oil in the new 410G that often.I can't imagine it would be detrimental:beatsme

[Turbo21835]

Most oils are formulated to last a good amount of time. From what Ive been around the 250hr mark is about right. Every 100hrs kind of seems like your throwing money away, but thats just me. One reason the dealer wants you to wait longer than 100hrs is every time you open the cap you open the system to contamination, from dirt, or water.

[Wulf]

Excavator, loader, dozer... The Deere guy told us not to change the oil in the new 410G that often.I can't imagine it would be detrimental:beatsme

I don't think its detrimental if carried out properly but I would recommend complying with manufacturers recommendations. With developments in engine oil technology, fuel quality, sulphur levels, fuel injection technology, engine manufacturers investment in new materials and engineering quality you should be safe to enjoy the reduction in operating costs provided by extended oil intervals.

[DPete]

I go by the hours, if it's close it gets changed. engines 250 hrs. trans, hydraulic systems and final drives @ 1000 if they are half way they get filters only. Fuel filters I usually change every year regardless of hours, never have to change during the season that way.

[EZ TRBO]

We change oil, air, and fuel filters ever 250hrs, or as close as possible. The outer air filter is usually changed with a cleaned one. On the dozers the finals and idlers are checked and added to as needed. During the winter, unless very low hours for the year, all fluids and fliters get changed.
Trbo

[Johnsoils]

It's a good idea to change oil prior to storage as the engine with breath during storage ingesting moisture and oxygen, which will mix with the sulfur in oil and create an acid. If your oil has low hours on it you most likely would be fine. A good maintenance practice would be to pull an oil sample prior to storage to see what the TBN level of the oil is. A TBN or 4 or higher should carry you through a few months of storage. An oil sample will also tell you if you have any issues going on inside the engine. If you have an internal coolant leak, you may want to take advantage of the off-season to get this checked out and repair made before you busy season. I strongly recommend oil analysis, ecspecially on equipment with larger sump capacities. It's a cost effective alternative to changing oil based purely on hours.

At work I perform oil analysis on all of our equipment. We have converted most over to synthetics and have gone four times longer than conventional oil with good oil analysis reports coming back from the lab. On a 50-hp air compressor we were changing oil every 500-hrs on conventional oil. We are now out to nearly 2,000-hrs on synthetic and still going. The conventional oil was costing us the same price as the synthetic oil to purchase. Now with going four-times longer we are saving big money and maintenance. Oil sample kits cost us around $20.00 each and we take a sample every 500-hrs.