Oil for a Ford 2120 Compact Diesel ?

[greg16891]

My father has a '93 Ford 2120 that her purchased new that has been used rather gently (1000hrs). The tractor is stored and used in Central Pa. Apparently he did not realize taht Diesel oils had different specs than gas engines, so he has primarily been running traditional gas engine oil.

Be/c he does not change the oil frequently and be/c I'd like to clean out anythign left behind with his extended change intervals, I want to change the oil to a synthetic. Is there any good reason not to go with Syntehtic at this point ? Would M1 5W-40 be a good bet for light year round use in Central Pennsylvania ?

 

[EdwardC]

I think the M1 (for diesels I assume, http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_1_Turbo_Diesel_Truck_5W-40.aspx ) would be fine, Rotella T6 might be another option, a little cheaper as well, no reason I can think of not to go with a synthetic.

 

[dnewton3]

The use of syns for "cleaning" is over-rated and misunderstood. Any good quality conventional HDEO is going to have plenty of detergent agents in it. The OCI should drive your decision for the use of premium products, not marketing hype and rhetoric. If you plan long OCIs, then perhaps syns would be a good idea. If not, then they are a waste.

Look this over:
http://www.pqiamerica.com/March2013PCMO/HDEO SUMMARYrev2.html
As you can see, most any brand of oil here has about 2000 - 2400 ppm of Ca and Mg combined. These are detergent additives that aid in cleaning and base alkali. While any one brand man have a bit more of "this" and a tad less of "that", they all do the same basic job. There is PLENTY of "cleaning" ability potential in conventional lubes. The duration you choose to use them will have bearing to their effectiveness, but that is also true of a syn. Any product can be over or under utilized. (Read my signature line).

Couple of suggestions to see what kind of shape the engine is in. First, get a UOA. Second, if you can with relative ease, pop off the valve cover and examine the top end. Sometimes, the oil pan is actually easy to get off from a small tractor; consider that, too. If heavy sludge is present, then some major decisions have to be made. If it looks OK, then there would be no need for excessive action.

Rather than act first and question second, why not take the logical approach? First investigate, and then determine a course of action. In short, think this through and don't "feel" it through. What you want and what the engine needs may be two totally different things.

 

[Black_Thunder]

in my NH TC30 with the 1.5 Shibaura diesel I started running Rotella 10w30 and recently switched to T5 10w30 synthetic blend.



I would say T5 or T6 would be your best bet, its priced decent.

 

[ac_tc]

If it runs good and he has been doing atleast a couple of changes
id just take a peek down the oil fill and if it aint "burnt solidified" oil down there just change to rotella or one its friends and call i a day. Id also do another change after 50 hours or so.