Fully synthetic engine oil?

[john432]

As a bit of an experiment, I did an oil change on my Tier3 Perkins powered MF 6475. the oil is 10w40 and E9-12 spec, bit extravagant, but from Midlands Lubricants wasnt any more expensive than a super universal from local dealers. My biggest supprise is how fast the tractor cranks and starts on a frosty morning compared to previously. Is there any problem from using a high spec synthetic oil?

 

[yellow belly]

Long drain oil changes may not protect engines as well due to contaminants
Land rovers disco engine problems may be because the oil runs out of steam before it is changed

Will some tractors last as long as the should with 600 hour change especially on stop start jobs

 

[ACEngineering]

As a bit of an experiment, I did an oil change on my Tier3 Perkins powered MF 6475. the oil is 10w40 and E9-12 spec, bit extravagant, but from Midlands Lubricants wasnt any more expensive than a super universal from local dealers. My biggest supprise is how fast the tractor cranks and starts on a frosty morning compared to previously. Is there any problem from using a high spec synthetic oil?

Not sure super universal was good enough in first place? Thought tier3 was an e5 spec?

 

[spanners and hammers]

my old mechanic use to say oil cheaper than bearings changed the bloody stuff

 

[john432]

No I would never use the super universal in that engine, but stating that the fully synthetic was bought at a price often lower than suto.

 

[Pluto]

Have to confess I use some supposedly super-dupa fully synthetic oil with other additives in my Discovery 4, mainly because I don't trust garages to put the right stuff in. Whether or not it makes any difference or not I don't know.
One oil supplier said don't trust cheap oil, because although it might be the right spec on the can, there is no guarantee it won't slip out of spec in hard running conditions. Again I don't know if that is true or not. Conversely two people who used to work in the oil industry told me you never need to change the oil if you use a high spec oil. It is far more important to change the filter than the oil.
As a general rule I find the more you read about oils, the more confused you get!!
Sorry, this isn't much help!

 

[Lincsman]

As i understand it, a lot of modern engines need the thin synthetic oil to keep emissions down... ie run "freer" when cold, hence your easy starting, That said you need to be wary, remember the castrol liquid engineering advert years ago? it coincided with Ford CVH petrol engines, it could wreck them, due to blocking oilways I think.

 

[Cowabunga]

10W/40 isn't thin oil. When cold its slightly thinner than 15W/40 [the usual tractor engine viscosity] but when hot its just as viscous as 15w/40.

Light 'thin' cold viscosity oils such as 0W/20 or 5W/30 are used in cars for a couple of reasons. The first is that oil pressure rises faster and flow reaches overhead cams faster. The second is to reduce drag to achieve better fuel economy, often combined with variable displacement oil pumps.

High quality synthetic oil is usually at least double or thrice the price of super universal, so I'm suspicious about the provenance of this particular oil. It might be great but if its a funny off-brand I'd be careful.

 

[ollie989898]

Fully synthetic is fine but dont try to run to extended changes, change at the normal intervals in my book.

 

[john432]

Fully synthetic is fine but dont try to run to extended changes, change at the normal intervals in my book.

l
Yes I fully agree, and at a price of £2 per litre, I'll be quite happy to change it at around 300hours
Quite un scientific, but doing a finger and thumb test of a drop of oil off the cold dipstick this morning, the fully synthetic felt a lot thinner than the 15w 40 mineral oil in the other tractor.

 

[Cowabunga]

I've used fully synthetic 10w/40 in the Land Cruiser for many many years, changed at twice the recommended interval when the cruiser was built. It was recommended to change every 4500 miles but I've changed it every 10,000 miles with no problem. However the oil stays remarkably clean in this engine and it consumes zero oil between changes.

In general I would not recommend extending intervals due to contaminants and the filtration systems but many engines today are meant to use long drain oils from new for, well, long drain intervals.

 

[Renaultman]

I've said it before but our service contract trucks used to get their oils changed every 100000k or 60000 miles, which was basically 6 months 0r approx 1000 hours, hard graft.

 

[Cowabunga]

I've said it before but our service contract trucks used to get their oils changed every 100000k or 60000 miles, which was basically 6 months 0r approx 1000 hours, hard graft.

They have rather large sumps and bi-pass oil filtration though, in all probability. They are built for it.

 

[Renaultman]

They have rather large sumps and bi-pass oil filtration though, in all probability. They are built for it.

Must have been, never had a problem.

 

[nick...]

When I was in Australia about 1980 there was an engine oil filter system that was available that was basically several toilet rolls in a cylindrical canister.was supposed to run lots of hour without changing.was quite popular from what I remember.maybe our Australian members can shine some light on this.on the subject of fully synthetic oils I have a friend who specialises on Ducati motorbikes and also builds race bike engines.he told me a few years ago that synthetic oil was so good it was never used in new engines as it was not possible to run in the engines and they generally run mineral or semi synthetic oil till engines bed in
Nick...

 

[seedman stains]

By pass filters https://www.kleenoil.co.uk/

 

[nick...]

That’s the one.never seen it in the uk
Nick...

 

[Campbell]

That’s the one.never seen it in the uk
Nick...

I helped fit some on some quarry shovels, some years ago now. Was a big idea at the time to save money on oil.

 

[Lincsman]

Does oil actually wear out? i was thinking it just gets contaminated and additives lose there effectiveness.

 

[Cowabunga]

Does oil actually wear out? i was thinking it just gets contaminated and additives lose there effectiveness.

Yes it does. Apart from becoming saturated with contamination so that the contaminants fall out of suspension an form sludge and thicker oil, combined heat and shear forces will cause the viscosity to break down so that it becomes as thin as water and the film thickness that protects surfaces by keeping them apart and frictionless totally loses its effectiveness. Which happens first depends on the engine and type of use to which it is put.