Shell Rotella?

[farmersamm]

The worst oil..................is NO oil. Anything else, is minutia.........

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

I have been told by a very seasoned tractor mechanic NOT to use it in any flat tappet engines. Especially the old fords. He has seen it wear out the cam and tappets because Rotella doesn't have good wearing properties for those types of engines. Just passing it on ,if it helps you. Don't know what the farmall engines have.

That's the opposite of what I've heard. I switched to T4 for my A and E4 from Valvoline SAE 30 for that reason. I researched but never found out if the Valvoline contained ZDDP for flat tappet. Had the cam and lifters ground when I rebuilt the Buda and didn't want the risk. With 15W-40 I had to adjust the A relief quite a bit to get my pressure back so I may go to T4 30 next time.

 

[kencombs]

Actually ZDDP first got its start in the late 1930s and received a patent in the early 40s. It came into its own during WW2 with high revving airplane engines.

That is true, I was referring to its common use in auto oils available at your corner service stations.

 

[Russ from MN]

I only use automotive oil in vehicles with catalytic converters, everything else gets diesel oil. Our new Ford vehicles are getting the oil changes included in the purchase, but they only use semi-synthetic. Once the warranty runs out I will use Mobil 1.

 

[Richard Nixon]

I went shopping at Menards today. I bought another mower battery that is on sale and 10w30 oil. I need to change the oil in my 1950 Farmall C.
I bought the cheapest Valvoline Menard sells. Now I'm wondering why can't I use 10w30 Shell Rotella in an old tractor? It is cheaper.
What would zinc hurt an old Farmall without a cadillac converter. The Farmall rides like a Cadillac.
Can I use Shell Rotella in my Kubota? Currently I use Kubota oil from the Kubota dealer.

I used Shell Rotella in my Kubota M6800 for over 20 years. It worked just fine.

 

[Mobuck]

Rotella 'white jug' 15W40 for the gas tractors and lighter duty diesels. Rotella 'blue jug' for the skidloader and combine since they're more likely to get 'cold started'. JD Torq Gard 15w40 in the 'big' Deeres.
May be different now BUT several farmers who bought Kubota tractors and used 'non-Bota' oil had their warranty claims denied.

 

[buickanddeere]

What kind of warranty problems with ROT-T? Probably a billion miles of OTR 1 million mile engines have been running it for decades. I used it for decades. It has the star burst rating for the current C class???

emissions specs and anti wear additives

 

[buickanddeere]

I've run Shell Rotella in every diesel/gasoline engine I've ever owned, many different grades, sae30, 10w30, 15w40, 5w40, sae50. I've never had an oil related engine failure in any engine I have owned or own currently. There's no reason not to run Shell Rotella in anything that requires oil. imho

Being T1, T2, T3 ,T4, T5 or T6 is more important than viscosity

 

[sotxbill]

emissions specs and anti wear additives

T4 off the shelf meets current diesel emission standards...



Shell Rotella® T4 Triple Protection 15W-40 is designed to provide hardworking protection that adapts to your driving conditions. Suitable for virtually all modern low-emission heavy duty engines and older hard working diesel engines.

• With millions of miles of real world testing, Shell Rotella® T4 Triple Protection 15W-40 uses a proprietary, synthetic blend formula exclusive to Shell.
• It is designed to protect under the most severe engine conditions found in modern low-emission engines and older hard working diesel engines.
• Resists oxidation, wear, and oil breakdown, and meets CK-4 specs.
• Enhanced protection against viscosity loss due to shear and improved oil aeration compared to previous generation CJ-4 product.

 

[sotxbill]

I'd be surprised if your 'bota doesn't specify a diesel-rated (CJ/CK) oil. If it doesn't there must be a good reason. I'd stick to the manufacturer's recommendation. The 'C', on the otherhand, was built long before modern oils and pretty much anything you can buy at Wally World today is far better than what was available back then. I tried 15W-40 diesel oil in my old Ford, but found it was a bit too stiff to crank over when it got down to -20F, so I now use 10W-30 whatever. It may have 5W-30 Rotella T6 in it now, but I'm not sure.

Just saying 'Rotella' doesn't mean much, as there are several different versions of Rotella with different specs. A little-known fact is that Rotella T6 carries the JASO MA spec, which means it's perfectly fine to use in motorcycles with wet clutches. Rotella T4 and T5 are NOT JASO MA rated.

t4 and t5 have too many anti wear additives to be used on a wet clutch... as the clutch will start to slip... Thus its a no no.

 

[Scott 730]

May be different now BUT several farmers who bought Kubota tractors and used 'non-Bota' oil had their warranty claims denied.

That is BS and illegal unless the oil used did not meet the Kubota spec. Warranty cannot be denied only on the basis that is was not Kubota branded oil. The Magnuson-Moss Act protects the right to use aftermarket parts, lubricants, etc as long as they meet the manufacturers specs. Otherwise the manufacturer would have to supply the lubricants until the warranty expired.

............ or there is a lot more to the story.

 

[buickanddeere]

high zinc to lube for flat tappet cam/lifters.

View attachment 109016View attachment 109018
T4 has been spec. JASO MA for years. I use it in my wet clutch ATVs and it seems to shift better.

API ratings for diesels .
Oil intended for Tier IV particulate filter engines is low ash and has limited amounts of anti wear additives . To reduce plugging of the particulate filter engines.
One of the reasons why both gas and diesel modern engines have roller cam followers .
Two stoke diesels also used roller cam followers as the low ash and low additive oil did not have enough pressure point additives to prevent wear of flat tappets.

Oil Categories

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Our more than 600 corporate members, from the largest major oil company to the smallest of independents, come from all segments of the industry.

www.api.org

 

[buickanddeere]

A typical additive package of a diesel oil prior to Tier IV .

PETROLEUM QUALITY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA TEST PROGRAM

The Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA) is an independent resource for information and insights on the quality of lubricants in the marketplace. Our mission is to serve the consumer of lubricants by randomly sampling and independently testing lubricants taken from the field. Test...

pqiadata.org

 

[buickanddeere]

A list of API ratings

Oil Categories

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the only national trade association that represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural gas industry. Our more than 600 corporate members, from the largest major oil company to the smallest of independents, come from all segments of the industry.

www.api.org

 

[Mobuck]

"That is BS and illegal unless the oil used did not meet the Kubota spec. Warranty cannot be denied only on the basis that is was not Kubota branded oil."
Guess you should have been the lawyer for those Kubota owners. Wasn't my problem, I just heard the multiple owners' comments about their treatment. I can say that the brand wasn't very popular for several years after this episode.

 

[Russ from MN]

Actually ZDDP first got its start in the late 1930s and received a patent in the early 40s. It came into its own during WW2 with high revving airplane engines.

I thought most direct drive piston aircraft didn't turn over about 2700 rpm. Most car engines can turn twice that fast.

 

[buickanddeere]

This pre Tier IV rating CH-4 mentions that it provides valvetrain protection .
CI-4plus claims to be back compatible to CH-4 ?

 

[Duey C]

showcrop
It may be asked her daily, but I only read post of interest to me.
I never considered using oil for diesel engines in my Old Farmall until I noticed was cheaper.
Go figure, add something to an oil , zinc, and charge less. LOL.
I remember SNL making a joke out of Lead free gas and it was more expensive. Take lead out of gas and it costs more.

Years ago, I asked a chief at the sales agency of gas powered, air cooled engines we used: Hey Tom, can we use Diesel oil in these engines wthout voiding the warranty? He said: By all means, far better oil to use! So we did.

 

[Dingo3]

I thought most direct drive piston aircraft didn't turn over about 2700 rpm. Most car engines can turn twice that fast.

Yes, high reving was a bad choice of words. Maybe over worked or pushed to their limits would have been better.
Some aircraft did have 3,500 rpm operating speeds with a few higher than that. “Most” automobiles from the war years rarely saw anything close to that. It wasn’t until much later did the average auto see higher rpm’s. You could say that oil advancements and additives had a part in that.

 

[MarkB_MI]

Yes, high reving was a bad choice of words. Maybe over worked or pushed to their limits would have been better.
Some aircraft did have 3,500 rpm operating speeds with a few higher than that. “Most” automobiles from the war years rarely saw anything close to that. It wasn’t until much later did the average auto see higher rpm’s. You could say that oil advancements and additives had a part in that.

Yes, high reving was a bad choice of words. Maybe over worked or pushed to their limits would have been better.
Some aircraft did have 3,500 rpm operating speeds with a few higher than that. “Most” automobiles from the war years rarely saw anything close to that. It wasn’t until much later did the average auto see higher rpm’s. You could say that oil advancements and additives had a part in that.

Aircraft engine speed is limited by how fast the propeller can turn without its tips going supersonic. That's why modern direct-drive engines are limited to about 2700 rpm. The big engines of WWII military aircraft had huge propellers to handle their high horsepower, which further limited propeller rpm. Many of the WWII aircraft engines were geared and ran around 3000 engine rpm but about 1500 propeller rpm. The Merlin, Allison and P&W R-2800 all fit in this category.

What the big aircraft engines of WWII did have were very high power-to-displacement ratios. Later versions of the R-2800, for example, produced 2800 horsepower, one horsepower per cubic inch displacement, much higher than automotive engines of the day. This required better fuel and oil than earlier engines needed.