In 1988---

[Pedro_The_Swift]

-- Japan Isuzu built lots of domestic buses.. like the Super Cruiser P-LV719R. One ( actually there are 3 in Aus) of these was imported to Australia and converted to a motorhome. It has a V10 19L Na engine.
I would like to start fresh and do an oil change but have no idea what spec oil to use. Mineral? full syn? some "fleet" oil? Most big diesels in Aus run 15w40 grade. I have been told it blows some blue smoke under load.. well,, it is 35 years old.. but its smooth and quiet and starts fine..
Any advice on an oil spec to use?
Thanks Everyone..
Peter

 

[JimPghPA]

Just a little heads up for you, years ago I had an uncle who had a motorhome and he only drove it a couple of times a year. Moisture accumulated in the transmission fluid causing rust inside the transmission which caused the transmission to fail. So, it might not be a bad idea to either get the transmission fluid up to temperature that it could boil off any moisture, or remove the fluid and heat it to those temperatures for a while, or just change it. Another problem is that if it's an automatic which probably is you only get about half the fluid out usually because a lot of it Remains the torque converter and the other hydraulics of the system that cause things to move. So, you might have to drive it for a while after each change and change it multiple times to really get all the moisture out of the fluid if you're going to let it sit for a long time. Probably the easiest thing to do is to just take it on a really good long road trip about every quarter of a year or so to make sure you keep all the moisture out of the transmission fluid. This is actually pretty important because replacing that transmission wouldn't be easy or cheap.

 

[D1sc]

I would get a feel of how loose it is,(blow by ect.) Amsoil makes a diesel oil as high as 10-60 but it still might not be enough to counter excessive wear or neglect

 

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Just a little heads up for you, years ago I had an uncle who had a motorhome and he only drove it a couple of times a year. Moisture accumulated in the transmission fluid causing rust inside the transmission which caused the transmission to fail. So, it might not be a bad idea to either get the transmission fluid up to temperature that it could boil off any moisture, or remove the fluid and heat it to those temperatures for a while, or just change it. Another problem is that if it's an automatic which probably is you only get about half the fluid out usually because a lot of it Remains the torque converter and the other hydraulics of the system that cause things to move. So, you might have to drive it for a while after each change and change it multiple times to really get all the moisture out of the fluid if you're going to let it sit for a long time. Probably the easiest thing to do is to just take it on a really good long road trip about every quarter of a year or so to make sure you keep all the moisture out of the transmission fluid. This is actually pretty important because replacing that transmission wouldn't be easy or cheap.

Thanks Jim,, we will be living in it traveling around Australia so maybe a change of fluid is a good idea.. I wonder if Spicer have a help line???

 

[RAVL]

Don’t overthink it - Rotella 15w40 is fine, unless you have a manual saying something different. If it significantly down compression or you have a burnt valve, there is no magic oil that will fix this. Run it and change the oil more frequently the first few thousand miles in use if it has been sitting. Refresh all the driveline fluids as well, plus coolant and brake fluid. Good luck.

 

[Pedro_The_Swift]

The engine is totally dry, nice red block! no coolant stains either, I dont think its been abused at all..

 

[fantastic]

Just use any name brand or reputable local 15w-40. Nice rig to post in this thread if you can.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/post-your-rv-w-tow-vehicle.376972/

 

[Fabulous50s]

The engine is totally dry, nice red block! no coolant stains either, I dont think its been abused at all..

Show us pictures of that V10!!

 

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Show us pictures of that V10!!

Its difficult in the bus ..
you can see why they used them, only really injector lines above valve cover height...
mine has orange rocker covers??

 

[Jetronic]

Blue smoke is likely an injector issue, shouldn't be too hard to check and if needed rebuild them. If it was an oil consumption issue it would be there on low loads aswell

 

[Pedro_The_Swift]

I was told they were recently rebuilt... and a compression check done. The compression results were "very good"

 

[SureshR]

Blue smoke is likely an injector issue, shouldn't be too hard to check and if needed rebuild them. If it was an oil consumption issue it would be there on low loads aswell

Valve stem seals or piston rings .. blue smoke is typically engine oil making it into the cylinders or on the hot exhaust manifold / ports in the cylinder head. Might be at a very early stage in which case you’d only see this during load. On the balance I’d say your valve stem seals need a closer look, piston ring wear would be much more obvious than occasional under load.

Whatever rubber parts in this engine - seals, rings etc will typically be hard and brittle by now and could do with a proactive replacement. Much the same with the belts. Replace those and that engine will last you another 30+ years without fuss.

 

[Jetronic]

Valve stem seals or piston rings .. blue smoke is typically engine oil making it into the cylinders or on the hot exhaust manifold / ports in the cylinder head. Might be at a very early stage in which case you’d only see this during load. On the balance I’d say your valve stem seals need a closer look, piston ring wear would be much more obvious than occasional under load.

Whatever rubber parts in this engine - seals, rings etc will typically be hard and brittle by now and could do with a proactive replacement. Much the same with the belts. Replace those and that engine will last you another 30+ years without fuss.

We're talking diesel here. Any overfueling can cause blue, grey, black, or white smoke depending on the severity. I've seen them all in diesels. That's not saying it can't be valve seals, just that you can't use the colour of the smoke to determine the source (oil from crancase or oil from fuel)

 

[SureshR]

We're talking diesel here. Any overfueling can cause blue, grey, black, or white smoke depending on the severity. I've seen them all in diesels. That's not saying it can't be valve seals, just that you can't use the colour of the smoke to determine the source (oil from crancase or oil from fuel)

Over fueling or in other cases, over filling with engine oil yeah.

On a similar / unrelated note, a service center had overfilled engine oil so it soaked the oil separator in a turbo + intercooler crdi 2.2 diesel in an earlier car, and it caused blowby through the dipstick hole, significant oil consumption, but no smoke on hard acceleration. Just taking the separator (below the intercooler) out and bathing it in diesel to work the soaked oil out resolved it.