engine oil

[D.B. in Mi.]

I found an engine for my 49 8n and the guy said it has synthetic oil in it. If it is synthetic, is it true that you sould not switch back to regular conventinal oil.
I thought I heard that before.

 

[Jerry/MT]

I don"t believe switching to conventional oils will hurt anything.

 

[Dell (WA)]

DB......here's the deal; synthetic oils are SUPER DETERGENT and when used in worn engines will "dissolve" some of the oil crud and can cause oil seal leaks or speeded wear on crankshaft bearings.

So what is yer problem with continuing using synthetic oil??? You don't haffta change them as often as petroleum oils. Instead of every 200hrs per Ford specs; you could probably go for 1000hrs (5-yrs) WOW, isn't that amazing??? Find out what brand and weight that is currently being used and write it down. (CRS, you know) .......Dell

 

[Jimmyjack]

I dont believe it would hurt a thing. Mobile oil company told me you can run a blend of regular oil and Mobile 1. I run one quart of synthetic to the balance regular, and he told me that one quart will lube things in cold weather that the regular wouldnt touch until it warmed. Ishould qualify I do it in my vehicals, not my tractor. I still use 15 w 40 or 10 w 30 there.

 

[Peter, Covington, LA]

For what it's worth, I'll pass on what I have been told:

I spent an evening chaperoning a party for my daughter's class, sitting with a Dad I hadn't met before. He told me he works for a company that runs barge-pusher tugboats up and down the Mississippi river. He said you can always recognize his company's tugs because they sound just like a locomotive -- because they have the same engine in them as a locomotive!

These engines carry something like 55 gallons of oil in their crankcase. As you can imagine, changing the oil in them is a chore - especially since they are located in the hold, and the oil has to be pumped out - not simply drained out. Disposal was not a problem for them, as they burned old oil to heat the cabins, etc.

He said that since his company switched to synthetic oil, they have conducted exhaustive tests, and kept exhaustive records.

The upshot of it is, they NEVER change the oil in those engines any more, since changing to synthetic oil.

They change the filters regularly, and add just enough oil to replace what was trapped in the filter they took out, and make up for drips, etc.

The time-between-overhauls on their engines had, at the time he told me about it, been multiplied by five SO FAR. But that was not a fair measure, because since switching to synthetic oil, they had not yet had to overhaul any engines. They simply didn't know how long the engines would go without overhaul. The interval had been long with petroleum oils, but it was becoming astounding as time went on.

I tell you all this to 'second' the question - why would you want to switch back to petroleum oil?

 

[Bruce (VA)]

If the filtration system on an N was the same as on that tug boat.....or even the same as on a car.....you would have a valid point.

 

[Peter, Covington, LA]

I'm sorry - I didn't mean to indicate that I thought we should adopt a "forever" plan for either our cars or tractors.

What I meant to say, was that this company seemed to think that the lubrication qualities of synthetic oil is vastly superior to petroleum oil, and if properly filtered and kept from overheating (easy if you're essentially under water), it lasts a looooooong time.

I use Mobil 1 in my cars, with the best filters I can buy, and routinely change them only every 6-8K. But I use WallyWorld's cheap stuff in my N - mainly because I need a thicker viscosity than synthetic comes in, to keep the oil pressure up to a reasonable level.

I'm sorry if it looked like I was making a specific suggestion, other than wondering why he was switching back to petro oil. I really meant only to share what I consider an interesting "take" on synthetic oils.

 

[Jason1Pa]

Won't hurt. you could go back and forth if you would want to.. I run it in my cars and trucks,but not my tractors. i'm affraid of too many leaks poping up with the older seals.

 

[Bruce (VA)]

Thanks for the explanation! I read too much into the story.

Synthetics in modern vehicles make good sense. Not so in a 60 year old vehicle w/o anything near a modern filtration system. For it to work 5-8k miles, you need a good filter which an N doesn't have.

 

[FatTony]

Switching back will be no problem. BTDT

 

[D.B. in Mi.]

The ideal of not having to change the oil so much is great, if I can find the weight of synthetic oil I want to run in this motor.

 

[gahorN]

(quoted from post at 16:41:24 10/30/09) I'm sorry - I didn't mean to indicate that I thought we should adopt ... and if properly filtered and kept from overheating (easy if you're essentially under water), ....

Actually, most marine engine installations are more difficult to cool than most other installations due to air-circulation issues. (Marine installations rarely enjoy atmospheric-cooling ...they usually have fan-forced-air supplementing oil coolers, etc. which may utilize heat-exchangers. Marine installations require greater cooling capacity than most others and therefore are not necessarily "easy".

 

[D.B. in Mi.]

Actually, most marine engine installations are more difficult to cool than most other installations due to air-circulation issues. (Marine installations rarely enjoy atmospheric-cooling ...they usually have fan-forced-air supplementing oil coolers, etc. which may utilize heat-exchangers. Marine installations require greater cooling capacity than most others and therefore are not necessarily "easy".[/quote]

Not to step in where not welcome, But I was always under the impression
That marine engines used the water they run in too help keep them cool.