Rotella T6 high oil consumption in small tractors

[perryg115]

Rotella T6 high oil consumption. I have two Kubota tractors and one with a Mitsubishi engine. Kubota never burned a drop using an old formulation of M1 truck and suv. Ran out of it and started using T6 5w40 and now all three burn about half a quart. I have put 5 hrs on the latest one and it has lost 1/2 a quart. I am attributing this to volatile boil off. Anyone else noticed this? The latest change was the 15w40 with no change in consumption rate. No signs of burning oil. All three are indirect injection engines.

 

[Graham Piccinini]

I haven't had that exact issue with Rotella (don't even remember last time I used it), but other oils in the Shell/Pennzoil line-up did show alarmingly increased oil consumption across a variety of engines. My solution is simple - Mobil1 0W40.

 

[twX]

I doubt that you would lose oil that quickly due to volatility. Some or most of the lost oil is probably getting past the rings. Rotella T6 5W-40 has a lot of VII and will thin out a lot in the area of the piston rings where shear rates are very high. A 15W-40 will experience a lot less temporary shear and will be quite a bit thicker at the piston rings.

 

[dlundblad]

I have a 3 cylinder Kubota garden tractor with a Kubota D600 engine with an hour meter that broke at 762 hrs before I bought it. No idea on actual hrs.

I switched to T6 a few years ago before I had my zero turn and didn’t notice a change. It’s always needed topped off once or twice a season. Took me anywhere from 6-8 hrs to mow my yard.

 

[Merek]

Maybe try Mobil Delvac Extreme 15w40 or the Chevron Delo xle 15w40, both are excellent oils.

 

[Redhawk454]

Kubota formulated/made diesels oils are pretty good too..

 

[Redhawk454]

I doubt that you would lose oil that quickly due to volatility. Some or most of the lost oil is probably getting past the rings. Rotella T6 5W-40 has a lot of VII and will thin out a lot in the area of the piston rings where shear rates are very high. A 15W-40 will experience a lot less temporary shear and will be quite a bit thicker at the piston rings.

Then why push OCI's on this oil?

 

[Olympus]

I've been running T6 15w40 in my LS 39hp tractor for 200 hours now and have not experienced any oil consumption. The LS has a Mitsubishi diesel engine as well. I'd try another HDEO and see what it does. I've found certain equipment can sometimes not like a certain oil and be fine with others.