John Deere B oil change

[Dan2]

I have a 1946 John Deere B that I recently had some engine work done on and the mechanic used 30 wt. non-detergent oil in the engine. Would it cause any problems if I changed to a detergent oil since it is easier to find?

 

[johndeereman]

that depends on how much gunk is in your engine if it was perfectly clean one oil change ago then go ahead with the detergent but if it hasnt been cleaned since it was new then id be afraid to do it the detergent is going to clean all that gunk out and it will plug everything up just think about how bad 60 years off build up could be

 

[Dan2]

Good point. The upper half of the engine was rebuilt, but the crankcase probably wasn't cleaned since that part wasn't rebuilt. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Anonymous-0]

What do you call the upper half of an engine that lays side ways? Get her good and hot, drain the oil, pull the filter from the bottom of the crankcase,this should give you some idea of the junk in the engine,only place it can be is the bottom of crankcase. If your brave fill it with diesel, take out oil pressure guage turn it over until diesel comes out guage hole, drain diesel and fill with 30 weight detergent. Unless the engine is severely sludged up you will do no harm with "good" oil. If it is sludge up you will be fixing it soon anyway.

 

[RobMD]

take the steering pedestal off and the crank inspection plate. Drain all the oil and refill with equivalent amount of kerosene. Use compressed air and a nozzle extension to blast around the sludge. Keep repeating this until most sludge is gone, then put in whatever oil you want in it, with a new filter.

 

[Mike Aylward]

Dan, using non-detergent oil won't hurt in the short term but it won't do your engine any favors in the long term. The best oil for your engine is a heavy-duty detergent oil. Get your engine clean, and keep it that way. I use diesel oil in all my two-cylinder tractors. Anytime I have had to look inside the crankcase they are very clean. I like to keep them that way. As far as I'm concerned it's an old wive's tale about using non-detergent oil in these tractors. Get and keep that crap out of there. Mike

 

[PBrowning]

Dan -- Take a short stroll over to the JD-H Restoration Site (below), and whence there, scan across to ARTICLES 2, and from the drop-downs, select OIL PRESSURE ISSUES. It's a good piece and within that piece is a recommendation for oil to be used in two-cylinder tractors.
Restoration Site, JD H