Hey there folks. Thanks for having me!
I recently acquired a Lister LPA3 aircooled diesel engine powered generator. It will be doing stand by duty for my home, and therefor never reach it's hourly OCIs, but instead get timed out and changed yearly. I live near Chicago, so my annual temperature extremes are somewhere from -10 or -20F in the winter, all the way up to 90 or 100F in the summer. I'd like one fill that will handle all of this, and keep my diesel safe and happy no matter when I need it.
I'm looking for the ideal oil to run in this genny, particularly with regards to weight. Please see the attached image, from Lister's workshop manual Re: oil viscosity & temperature correlations. That manual does not even mention 5W40 diesel oil, which I think would be ideal.
I wish I could run 15w40, because it's cheap and available, but will not handle our winter conditions here.
10W40 looks like it should just about cover us here in Chicago, but is not very available. (and expensive!)
10W30 has the note about intermittent running only, which really I would meet, but that tells me that it does not protect as well.
So what say you oil Gurus? Should I spend the coin on good quality 'correct grade' 10W40, Settle for good quality but much less expensive 10W30, or figure the manual states that 5W is OK, and 40 Weight is OK, so seeing as 5W40s are generally regarded as robust oils, they are also easily available, although still expensive. Should I ignore the manual, and use that (which I *think* would be best?)
Also, The generator currently has 2 hours on it, if that effects things. Should I be using some special run-in oil / additives??? How should I deal with that, Lister states that the engine is dispatched with run-in oil, and should be changed at 100 hours. There is no indication of whether the 'run-in fill' is special because it picks up wear & junk form the running in process only, or if it is special in it's add pack, as well as it's shorter service life due to run-in. It's going to take me 4 years or more to get through that break in period!
This oil is OLD and needs to be changed, the generator is basically new old stock that was never broken in, beyond an hour of demo time a decade+ ago.
Thank you for any time & attention you have to devote.
Max
I recently acquired a Lister LPA3 aircooled diesel engine powered generator. It will be doing stand by duty for my home, and therefor never reach it's hourly OCIs, but instead get timed out and changed yearly. I live near Chicago, so my annual temperature extremes are somewhere from -10 or -20F in the winter, all the way up to 90 or 100F in the summer. I'd like one fill that will handle all of this, and keep my diesel safe and happy no matter when I need it.
I'm looking for the ideal oil to run in this genny, particularly with regards to weight. Please see the attached image, from Lister's workshop manual Re: oil viscosity & temperature correlations. That manual does not even mention 5W40 diesel oil, which I think would be ideal.
I wish I could run 15w40, because it's cheap and available, but will not handle our winter conditions here.
10W40 looks like it should just about cover us here in Chicago, but is not very available. (and expensive!)
10W30 has the note about intermittent running only, which really I would meet, but that tells me that it does not protect as well.
So what say you oil Gurus? Should I spend the coin on good quality 'correct grade' 10W40, Settle for good quality but much less expensive 10W30, or figure the manual states that 5W is OK, and 40 Weight is OK, so seeing as 5W40s are generally regarded as robust oils, they are also easily available, although still expensive. Should I ignore the manual, and use that (which I *think* would be best?)
Also, The generator currently has 2 hours on it, if that effects things. Should I be using some special run-in oil / additives??? How should I deal with that, Lister states that the engine is dispatched with run-in oil, and should be changed at 100 hours. There is no indication of whether the 'run-in fill' is special because it picks up wear & junk form the running in process only, or if it is special in it's add pack, as well as it's shorter service life due to run-in. It's going to take me 4 years or more to get through that break in period!
This oil is OLD and needs to be changed, the generator is basically new old stock that was never broken in, beyond an hour of demo time a decade+ ago.
Thank you for any time & attention you have to devote.
Max