Farmall 726: R-T 15W40 @ 45 hrs/1yr & 98 hrs/2yrs

[Jim Allen]

Well, here's a study to allay some fears of about the time interval on an OCI.

These are tests of the Rotella-T 15W40 CJ-4 installed into my Farmall 826 tractor on 11/11/07 at 8153 hours. Wix filter. I ran the oil a bit over a year and 45 hours and took a sample. Then I ran it a second year and took another at 98 hours time on the oil. Here are the results, which would seem to speak fro themselves.

Tests were done by OilCheck.
Add Oil- 2 qts (capacity 12 qts) Second quart was added within about 8 hours of taking second sample.

45 hours, 1-year/ 98 hours, 2-years

water %- 0.070/0.078
soot %- 0.680/0.814
Oxidation- 19.7/21.9
Nitration- 8.40/10.3
TBN- 10.10/11.24
Fuel DIlution %- 1.5/0.9
Viscosity (cSt@100C)- 15.7/15.72

Metals, mg/l (caution amt.)
Iron-13/18 (70)
Chrome- 1.3/2.0 (10)
Lead- 1/1 (25)
copper- 1/2 (25)
tin- 1/1 (35)
aluminum- 3/3 ((20)
silicon- 4/1 (15)
sodium- 5/7 (30)
Boron- 30/28
Calcium- 2170/2350
Zinc- 1209/1272
Phos- 935/971
Magn-7/7
Sulphur- 3800/3842

 

[Johnny]

Nice reports but I'm more impressed someone still has a Farmall tractor

 

[REDDOG]

Very interesting Jim, thanks for posting!

REDDOG

 

[Jim Allen]

Yeah and it's an 826. No such thing as a 726. Neuss D358 diesel.

No comments about the 2 year interval? The upcoming three year? Anyone?

 

[Johnny]

I don't particularly agree with it, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. There are still acids in there that a simple UOA will not pick up.

 

[dnewton3]

Nice report!

If you're getting it good and warm, the condenstaion will be low, and acids will not be much of a factor; there will be some however, as Johnny suggests.

Still - that does not dissuade me from running Rotella 10w-30 in my 1966 Mustang for 3 year intervals. I drive that thing so little, that I just can't justify the OCIs every year. It gets a good heat soaking, what little I do drive it. I would think that your diesel Farmall gets a decent workout, being a farm unit.

I guess the root question becomes this: what test might find out the level of acids? Would a TAN pick it up?

 

[Jim Allen]

Johnny: The report shows oxidation and nitration... isn't that enough?

Dave: Did you notice the moisture numbers? That's something you don't often see on reports and the percentages seem low, but I don't have much of a frame of reference. In any case, when that tractor runs, it runs for no less than four hours at a time and usually at a 75 percent load, or more. The Neuss diesels are notorious slobberers, so I never let it sit around and idle much. Just a short cooldown after hard pulls, then off.

Johnny and Dave: Plus TBN and TAN are inverse. When TBN goes down, TAN goes up. TAN starts getting serious on diesels by the time TBN drops to 50 percent and you can usually safely run it until the TBN is as low as 35 percent of new. In the case of this CJ-4 Rotella, it started around 10.1, so even with the hours and time (there were two quarts of makeup oil), it hasn't dropped at all... indicating to me that the oil is yet copacetic. One easily accessible source for info on TBN vs TAN in an article from Polaris Labs, found it their technical bulletins download section. Somebody at Noria wrote about it too.

I'm still amazed at how low the wear metals are for an engine that old and with that many hours. This spring, I will be install a bypass filter on it (with this same oil) so we'll see how things shape up then

 

[Johnny]

Well, they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks, but I'm learning. Carry on. What you're doing seems to be working.

 

[dnewton3]

I'd say, given the low moisture and good heat soaking it gets, that acids may not be as problematic in your tractor as they are in short operational patterns.

No one want to experience a failure, especially with a piece of equipment that is so useful. But I often like to see people push the envelope just to find that feathery edge.

A bit sideways on the oil topic:
I have a 5hp B&S oil-slinger side-valve engine on my little roto-tiller. I put in some 10w-30 HDEO many years ago, and haven't done anything to it yet in more than 6 years now? I look at it as a sacrificial experiment. I do check oil level, but it never seems to change. I am purposefully seeing what horrific damage might occur, but that little thing just keeps running and running. It does not get much use, but when it does, it gets a good 1/2 hour of heavy loading, twice per year (spring/fall). I'm tempted to pull a UOA, but that expense probably represents 25% of the value of the 'tiller!

As I have mentioned, I also do multi-year OCIs with my Mustang, although not to near that extreme.

I will say that oil changes can be (to some people) optional. I know a person where I used to work that NEVER changed his oil. He only changed his filter every 3k miles, and topped off as necessary. It was a 1994? Aerostar van with the 3.0L v-6; great little engine. When I left there, it had many, many, many miles of this treatment, still ran fine, and shuttled his wife/kids every day; YIKES. Sometimes we BITOGers represent the opposite extreme, and common sense may lay in the middle.

Generally, I believe that oil has no idea how old it is. A UOA can tell you if oil is contaminated, or depleted. I would never leave an oil in use in a crankcase for 15 or 20 years in a piece of equipment that has value to me. But I also do not subscribe to the " ... or one year" OCI mentality.

Heck, even Amsoil will limit their products to a time frame; I do understand, as they want/need some legal liability limitation. But I find it pleasantly ironic that Amsoil can claim 3x an OCI, or more with UOA verification, but then add " ... or one year." So, my oil is good for 75k miles (no theorhetical limit if you use UOAs) if I do it all in 12 months, but if I only use it for 10k miles, it won't last 13 months? ? ?

 

[sdan27]

We still run a Farmall 560 with an IH D282 on our farm. It doesn't do much so it doesn't get many hours on it. Hasn't had an oil change in at least 2 or 3 years. I'll be sure to post a UOA once it gets a few more hours on it.

 

[Mokanic]

I have a 20hp Honda generator I bought new 6yrs ago. Have not had a power outage since I got the thing so it has not had a workout yet. I do start it up and run it about once a quarter. The oil was just some old pre-deposit shield Havoline. It looks new with no signs of moisture so I don't think moisture or rust is an issue if th equipmet is run up to operating temps on a regular basis. Then again, for what I paid for the thing,maybe I should get out there and change it.(after this subartic weather moves on)