OCI500 hour oil change intervals

[callbay]

We have a Cat backhoe with 8 quart capacity, a Case trackloader with about 9 quart capacity, and a John Deere 550J dozer with 12 quart capacity. I believe they all specify a 500 hour OCI's. That seems way too long to me. Just for comparison we have a 07 Chevy Tahoe with about 1,000 hours on it and 47,000 miles or 23,500 miles every 500 hours. We use Shell Rotella 5-40 synthetic and oem filters in the heavy equipment. What do you think about 500 hour OCI's??

 

[RedOak]

500 hours on a good diesel oil like SRT could be ok, you need to get a uoa and evaluate the soot levels, and look at the particle count and tbn retention. The oci for our log loaders is 250 to 300 max on mobil 1300 mx 15-40. Your smaller sumps may make it harder to go that far. Our oil capacity is in the 6 gallon range.

 

[Jim 5]

Sounds about right. They say that 1 hour is about the equivalent of 40 miles on the odo.

 

[callbay]

If one hour equals 40 miles that would equal 20,000 miles for a 500 hour OCI. That seems like a long time for dino oil.

When we rent equipment (usually Cat brand) the oil is black as coal and usually has close to 500 hours on it or this week a mini excavator had about 525 hours on it. The oil that old feels gritty, not like oil at all.

I just feel that these 500 hour OCI's are just to sell equipment so the companies can advertise low maintanence costs.

I have looked for oil tests with 500 hours and can't find any. Does any of you guys have any?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Steve S]

I would have to guess a uoa would tell the condition.

 

[CJWink]

I have worked with Deere since 1988, and my family ownes a large construction company. 500 hour oil changes are the norm, and tend to be adjusted by things like when it rains you can't move dirt so you fix stuff and change oil. Sometimes oil will get changed before 500, sometimes after 500.

When using John Deere, Mobil, Cat (Mobil as well), or Chevron HDEOs, and GOOD filters, I have never seen an engine fail due to 500 hour oil changes so long as it was designed for 500 hour oil changes. I have not used or been around any Shell oil that I liked other than the OLD Rimula formulation of the 1990s, it could do 500 hours as well. Deere equipment with Yanmar engines shouldn't do 500 hour oil changes.