Oil Change Questions WD45

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I have used 10w30 in the past now I use 15w40 it gives me a little better oil pressure in the summer.

I use 10W30 in my WD45 because I use it in the winter and the summer. I don't know what had been run in it before I got it but I was told it had been OH not too long before so I wasn't concerned about any old crud being dissolved by the detergent and messing something up. If you only plan on summer use, use a straight 30 weight non detergent if you can find it. 

Thanks for the info- It's my Dad's tractor, so who know's the last time the oil was changed!  I think I'm leaning toward 10w30, but I can see why you might go with non-detergent if that's all that's ever been used.  I'm assuming that it probably has 10w30 in it now, but that's just a guess.

i use valvoline 40 wt.racing oil in my gas tractors on the ranch,good oil and the oil pressure is always good .and the oil consumption is very mininal...

j.w.freck wrote: i use valvoline 40 wt.racing oil in my gas tractors on the ranch,good oil and the oil pressure is always good .and the oil consumption is very mininal...

That might work in Texas, but not in Wisconsin in the fall or winter.

use rotella engine oil, seems to be the best for all the stuff we got

Any diesel grade oil is better than gas to take the extra abuse.

Dave...

Probably some ultra over priced synthetic, 'cause 'they' say 'it's the greatest oil that's ever come along' and 'you've got a lot invested in the car , why take chances with inferior products ?'.

I agree you should use what the manufacturer recommends, but after 40,50,60 + years of undocumented oil changes WHO knows what went through the engine??? I've seen some ,filter their old engine oil to reclaim it to save a few coins,and honestly after 10 years of doing it, never saw the engine get 'upset' over it.

Seems more important to always change filters twice a year, or every xxx hours of use.

Realize that when old engines were built, there was no filtration system, and the oiling systems may not have been in the same realm of today.  The Model A Ford, for example- had splash-oiled lower end.  Air filtration and oil filtration didn't exist.  Not uncommon for early engines, but other manufacturers rapidly saw benefit of partial, and later, full pressure lubrication.  Then, manufacturers realized the benefit of filtration... added air filters and bypass (partial flow) filtration, later went to full oil filtration.

Early engines managed heavy crud, by using the bottom of the oilpan as a 'catch', knowing that heavy sludge would fall to the bottom, and simply not be light enough to get picked up and fed back into the engine.  Obviously, loosening up crud and sending it through the bearings a few times isn't a good idea, particularly when you use poured babbit (like a Model A Ford), and start loosening up old gunk and splashing it on the lower end of the piston walls... or on a partial flow, pumping it up to the valve cover, and having it plug up an elbow, or the filter... etc.

So as odd as it may seem, the ramifications may have merit.

Center of a crank... the pilot bushing... not unusual on some old motors to have a passageway that brings engine oil through a drilling in the crank, into the pilot bushing cavity.  Typically, flow through here was minimized by something SHOVED in there... and covered by a piece of wick (felt, etc).  Sometimes that plug... was porous wood (balsa, cork, etc)... when that plug fell apart, you'd end up sending oil out the bushing, and into the clutch.  Ever been there?  I have.  (sigh).

Non-detergent oils burn better than detergent types... pretty important when you're working on an engine that was not manufactured to tolerances as tight as modern engines.  Run a non-det in an old flathead, you'll see less frequency of valve guides sticking to stems.  Flathead guys, as a result, swear by putting additives in (Marvel Mystery Oil is one of 'em) to help rinse the gum out.  Understandable, and my experience seems to follow that.

Back when old engines were new, a 3000 mile oil-change would've been considered insane... think the MAF was what... 20hrs or 200 miles?  Probably wrong, but the magnitude ain't too far from truth.

There's nothing wrong with revisiting things like this, but always realize that there's ramifications to everything- make sure you either look at every possiblity, or be prepared to accept consequence.  If you dig into the specific forums, you'll probably find guys that've figured out the sensitive issues, and made slight modifications to 'go modern', which is one of the biggest benefits of forums like this.

Reminds me of the so-called 'experts' these days that say you do NOT have to let a car warm up in the dead of Winter.Oh, you only need a minute or so, that's fine...'they' say.

The "experts" who say a minute is long enough warm up are mostly worried about air pollution and fuel consumption, not engine wear. A cold and idling engine is a more serious polluter than a working engine that's warming up fast. And likely the catalytic converter is doing nothing because its cold, the engine is running rich and so puts out more unburned fuel and carbon monoxide while the fuel efficiency is exactly zero. No miles per gallon.

Gerald J.

Well, if you have a vane-type hydraulic pump in the car's power-steering system, and it's -25F, you might get quite a pucker-factor when you go to back up and turn, and find out that... you've got no power-assist...  when fluids are that cold, vane-style pumps don't extend quite when they should, and if it doesn't, no hydraulic power.

My Clark IT60 is getting a completely new hydrostatic full-time 4wd system, with closed-center hydraulic steering, all disengageable via engine-clutch, so that I can START it in -20F (with no parasitic drag), then, once warm enough to take a slight load, let out the clutch and get the hydraulic system pumping slow, warm it up to the point where it'll actually work.  The old system used a big vane-type pump, and if the fluid was really cold, you could start and rev that thing all you wanted, you'd have no steering, no mast controls, and if you revved it really hard and beat on it, the vanes would extend for a moment, and rip the coupler right in two.

But I like Mobil 1 synthetic... my zero-turn's 27hp Kohler V loves it too...

Bill,that's what the Shell Guy said to use in my 7060,runs cooler.

My 45 has been overhauled twice since we've owned (it was a year old when Dad bought it) and it's been on detergent diesel oil since Dad bought the D17D around 1960. One drum of oil for all the tractors. Now I use 15w 40 diesel in WC's through 8070 with no problems.