Engine Oils

[salesrep]

How many hours do you run your equipment and why?

[will_gurt]

I try to get the motor oil changed no more than 250 hours apart. The other oils(hyd,finals,etc) No more than 1000 hours. Usually the engine oil is changed at or near 150 hours, per my employers wishes. This may seem excessive, but this is how they had a case skidloader with over 5000 hours without any major repairs. Believe me when I say that there are a bunch of (can't :cussing here) idiots that run the stuff too. Digger242j can back that statement up for me!

[salesrep]

Will What type of equipment? Do you use oil analysis to determine intervals?

[will_gurt]

Three Kobelco ecavators,various makes of skidloaders,few different makes trucks(Tandem,single axle, one ton dump). The mobile prevenative maintenance service, that we use, does the oil analylisis as part of the service. As for intervals, I go by the service intervals recommended from the manufacturer. Most have the engine oil set at 250 hours. My employer wants them changed at 150 hours/3000 to 5000 miles for the trucks. Call it analy retentive, but like in a previous posting, this is why they were able to get over 5000 hours on a skidloader with too many operators treating them like a toy. Most manufacturers also recommend hydralic filter changes in the 1000 hour range, they want them done at no more than 600 hours. It is cheaper to use say $500 dollars in oil to change everything than it is to have to replace an entire engine assembly or have a pump or valve fail because you are to frugal to spend the money. One saying I have heard is "Pay me now or pay me more later".

[salesrep]

There is a lot of companies that are this diligent and the machines are better for it.
Many of these type of co.s are beginning to realize that they can have as good as or better results using higher quality oil and doubling or tripling intervals.

[will_gurt]

Exactly his thoughts. He was tired of only getting what maybe 4000 hours out of an engine because it was needed too much on the job to MAINTAIN it. This is why I sometime let the interval go to maximum the manufacturer has. Otherwise when the time is up the machine is pulled out of service to have a fresh filter and oil change.

[salesrep]

Man for changing oil that often 4k to 5k that seems like a short life span.

[Steve Frazier]

I voted 500 hours, it's the recommended interval for my machine by the manufacturer. It sounds like that might be too long by what I'm reading here.

salesrep, do you handle synthetics at all?

[will_gurt]

Man for changing oil that often 4k to 5k that seems like a short life span.


Salerep, it may be a short life span for oils but what is cheaper $400 or $500 of oil or a engine that could lead into the multi thousands to repair or replace just because you want to get an extra thousand out of the fluid? one thing that made my employer change thier minds on this interval thing was when they were hit with a $9000 rebuild on a cat engine. ever since they have wanted them changed at the intervals I mentioned above.

[salesrep]

Will, I think you're misunderstanding me. For the frequency that you are changing your oil, your machines should be holding up better. You're changing a lot and still not getting longevity.

Steve, 500 hours is not necessarily too long. The oem recommendation is the single best STARTING point when considering drain intervals. An oem oci (oil change interval) is based on the testing and averaging the most popular and api MIN. spec oils. If you are using a "good oil" you should be fine certainly thru any warranty period. 1000 hours in this example with premium oil would not be a stretch.

Yes I offer %100 petroleum, Semi-syn Blends, and %100 synthetics in Engine oils, Hydraulic oils, and Tranany fluids. http://www.specializedlubricants.net/

[Gene Nolen]

Just my opinion here....
I ran a shop with a fairly large fleet. We had a wide range of trucks and equipment. I found it was best to let the machine or truck give me insight to service intervals. I usually tried to get to the equipment around 200 hrs or so but not every machine is the same as the next. Oil samples tell a lot. We sampled every service. Every machine comes back with different results because every machine had its own conditions. Some machines will do more idling, some run in very dusty conditions etc. On site trucks compared to highway. I would have to change my service intervals accordingly to keep within a safe zone. 200 hrs all in all was pretty safe but once in a while I would get a sample with lets say high iron. I would ask a few question track down the machine and usually find very arid conditions. (kinda looks like a big cloud of dirt pushing more dirt.) I would have to change air filters and take a sample. Some stuff was pretty old so it might get some internal leakage. Would have to wait for winter if possible so we would have to make interval adjustments again. I might be way off here but we had very few failures so it seemed to work for us.

[salesrep]

Oil samples tell a lot. We sampled every service. Every machine comes back with different results because every machine had its own conditions. Some machines will do more idling, some run in very dusty conditions etc. I am a big advocate of sampling.
I would have to change my service intervals accordingly to keep within a safe zone. 200 hrs all in all was pretty safe .
The 200 hour oil change is where most otc oils will fall.I am a big advocate of sampling. Gene you are right on with the fact that different machines and conditions will vary from one to the next. Another reason for doing uoa's (used oil analysis) is being able to find problems before they become fatal thus saving big dollars.

[ForsytheBros.]

Guys, i may be off base here, but i seem to remember reading in our JD 310 manual that our maintenance interval for oil changes on the Deere needed to be cut by 50% for low sulfer diesel fuel use. I need to double chk the manual to make sure i'm not misreading something, but is this a variable affecting service interval? I'm not very literate on the effects of diesel recipes on these engines?


PS-
by the way, Steve, most excellent web forum. The amount of knowledge and sharing of info on the site is awesome.

[Wulf]

In my experience the HIGHER the sulphur level, the more frequent the oil change should become. Standard value in North America is under 0.5% I think which enables oil to be changed at standard interval depending on manufacturer. I haven't heard of reduced interval for low-sulphur fuel yet.

[unimog]

Schaeffer's 9000 is about the best oil you could use IMO. Hey salesrep I'm using the #254 HTC in my power steering and hydraulic system on my unimog, do you think that's okay or should I use something else. I was thinking #315 simplex supreme might be better? What would you use for a hydraulic fluid where it's not combined with a transmission, say an excavator?

[salesrep]

unimog.
What specifically does the manual call for?

[unimog]

I think it calls for a 10 weight motor oil.

[salesrep]

239s 10 weight
http://www.schaefferoil.com/datapdf/239S.pdf

[unimog]

Thanks for the info salesrep, also enjoy your posts on BITOG.

[headwrench]

fluids are cheap parts are exspensive

[John C.]

I've maintained a few fleets and run my oil selection by price, manufacturer's recomendations and the SAE ratings on the product. I've seen companies spend extra money for higher priced oil and then try to extend change intervals. I have never seen the economics pan out.

The statements made about who's oil is better or worse I've found to be pure fluff and puffery. I haven't seen a pure lubrication failure in thirty five years in the construction industry plus growing up with my father's machines. I have also not seen that anyone was able to successfully sue an oil manufacturer because their product caused a failure.

I agree with Mr. Nolan's post in that you have to manage a fleet down to each individual machine to achieve best practices. I have been successful using oil sampling on new machines until they are out of drive train warranties but consider it a waste of money there after. I've found out from personal experience that it cost a lot of money and time, gave incomplete or inconsistant results and caused lots of sleepless nights.

I used to use sampling before purchase of used machinery but have found most all sellers change all the oils before I do an inspection. So unless I see something obvious I skip that process.

I don't begrudge anyone who wants to spend extra money on anyone's oil, nor do I think oil sampling is a bad idea. I do think either program should be looked at very carefully for the actual economic benefit.

[Legdoc]

Any openions on Chevron Delo motor oil?

[Kgmz]

Any openions on Chevron Delo motor oil?



We used Chevron Delo for years and never had a problems, now we use Shell Rotella.


Why did we change. Because we have owned a convenience store for 24 years that used to sell Chevron gas and switched to Shell a couple of years ago. So we get a wholesale price on our oil through the distributer.

[thejdman04]

we run usually 500 hours, jsut depends on the application

[tuney443]

In my experience the HIGHER the sulphur level, the more frequent the oil change should become. Standard value in North America is under 0.5% I think which enables oil to be changed at standard interval depending on manufacturer. I haven't heard of reduced interval for low-sulphur fuel yet.

That's what every manual I've read says to do regarding high sulphur and changeouts.I change my 410G and 450 D Schaeffer 15/40 200X every 200 hours.

[Paystar]

I change my engine oil and filter (and fuel filters) every 250 hours and do a Cat S.O.S. This is on my dump truck (2005 Cat Acert motor). I go by the hours instead of miles as I have lots of pto and idle time. Sometimes due to being in the bush, I've gone to 400 hours:( and the analysis still comes back O.K. but the zinc is low showing the oil is losing it's ability to keep the acidity in check. It is the sacrificial wear metal added to the oil for the acids to attack. I use Shell Rotella T 15W40 and only Cat filters. That way if I ever have a warranty problem they can't say I use inferior filters;)