Engine Oil

[TBrodeur]

For an older Tractor, such as a Ford 800 is a thicker and/or heavier oil better to run in it?
Is there a preference for hot or cold weather as far as engine oil is concerned? Any tips for taking care of the engine as far as the engine oil. For example, should the oil be changed every 3 months?
Thank you.

 

[msb]

About 90+ % of engine wear occurs in the first few minutes of running and before the engine reaches operating temperature. The heavier oil will only add to that wear.Heavier oil is really tough on rod and main bearings if the engine is not allowed to warm up before being put to work For that reason, I use a good grade of 15w40 in my tractors including the old ones.
Oil has two functions. It lubricates and cools. Multigrade oils do a better job of absorbing the heat of an engine, in my opinion.

 

[old]

Sorry can not an will not agree with you. Heavyer oil stays in place a lot long then thin oil does so even if you have little or no oil pressure at first its still there. So in an engine that is old its still better to use a heavy oil instead of a light oil because it will stay where it is. BTDT and will not use a muti weight oil because of that

 

[Don-Wi]

We run 15w-40 in everything on our farm from a small MF 165 gasser, to our biggest Oliver 1855 diesel. Even ran it in my truck during the summer when I ran it more often.

If it runs alot in the winter and it's a smaller gasser, I'd run 10w-30 in it. We used to run that in our 165 but the extra case of oil just wasn't worth it. We buy it in bulk in a drum.

If it doesn't get run much, change the oil in the spring after to get all the condensation out from the short winter runs. Otherwise if you use it quite a bit, every 100 hrs. use is the general rule of thumb.

Don't have to go out of your way to buy a straight weight oil if your supplier doesn't have it on hand, even though they can order it, and a multi-weigth oil is fine in MOST situations and won't do any more damage than any other oil- espescially if it doesn't rack up more than a few hours every year.

If it were mine, I'd run either 10w-30 or 15w-40, depending on it's job and amount of use during what seasons.

Donovan from Wisconsin

 

[MarkB_MI]

Understand that oils have changed a bunch since the 50's when your tractor was built. I'd say go with a multigrade oil. I currently use 10W-30 in my old Ford year-round. I have tried 15W-40, but I found it made my tractor hard to start in subzero weather.