[Ford-ferguson] oil

[David]

Cool, guys. Thanks for all the oily thoughts! I'm leaning toward 
changing the oil here before I have to do more snow removal -- and 
switching to a synthetic that would serve for the summer months too. Of 
course, there's really no way I'm ever going to be certain if I've made 
any real improvements (or problems) by doing this -- but at least I'll 
feel like I'm doing something. ;-)


--Compmikey at aol.com wrote: --
> I  run Rotella 15W-40 in my modern Ford diesel utility
> tractor (23HP Ford/New  Holland 1520HST circa 1990) but it's
> not synthetic.  Maybe there's  another product by the same
> name that is synthetic.  Rotella has an  excellent reputation
> and a smart marketing guy might start slapping it on a  whole
> range of products, who knows.  Also, diesel engines seem  to
> generally call for higher viscosities and I am not sure
> you'd find  Rotella in a 0W or 5W.

Even if it was still just a 10W-30, I've been told that a synthetic oil 
is going to be less gloopy at low starting temperatures than the 
same-rated conventional oil. And ease of starting and quicker 
oil-warm-up-and-get-where-it's-needed, are my concerns here.

---Mike V wrote: --
> I'm in total agreemnt.  Rotella (& other diesel rated ) oils still
> conatin zinc, which was removed from most passenger car
> oils as smog laws became tighter in the 80's(?) .  I think  it
> had something to do with contaminating O2 sensors in engines
> that burned excessive oil.  If you read cam grinders' literature
> closely, non-roller cams require zinc-rich oils for break in, to
> avoid wiping-out the lobes during break-in.  This was not an  isuue
> a few decades ago, when all oils contained zinc.  Related to  that,
> my truck garage friend says they see many diesel with wiped cams
> due to people cheating and using the slighgly less expensive car  oils.
> Rotella diesel rated oil is good stuff.

That sounds about right. I wish somebody would just market a line of 
lubricants labeled along the lines of "this stuff will match or better 
the old-fashioned requirements of your old machinery." Maybe with some 
kind of conversion chart on the side: old ratings, and appropriate 
modern equivalents? And then there's the whole detergent-nondetergent 
thing, too...

  I know this goes on with the antique outboard motor crowd as well -- 
debating what kind of 2-stroke oil to add to reformulated modern 
gasolines, to please machines that when new just called for you to dump 
in a quart of plain old SAE 30.

--Howard Fleming <hfleming at moosebird.net> wrote: --
> Rotella also makes a synthetic oil (Rotella-T?, do not have the 
> container in
> front of me at the moment to verify the name).

Yeah, that's the stuff I remembered seeing.

It's my generic impression that matching or bettering the manufacturers 
recommended API service grade is what matters most, and that the higher 
letters encompass and supersede the previous grades. And that the "Cx" 
grades are the diesel ones. But it also seems to me that oils are made 
to do things now that weren't even considered back when our tractors 
were made, and with different metals and fuels and everything else.