Oil consumption...

Chip812 · Jul 24, 2013

My tractor burns through about a quart of oil every 5-6 hours of bush hogging..... It's a 1961 Massey Ferguson 35 with a Perkins 3-cyl diesel engine...
Is that excessive? I have no basis for comparison... It's been consistently doing it every since I bought it. I just consider it part of the price of operation and keep on mowing... Oil is changed once/year or 60 hours whichever comes first (it has always been once/year for the 3 years I've owned it). Use Rotella T synthetic...

Husker44A · Jul 24, 2013

I don't like synthetic oils. My preference. Tried it in a tractor
and it started leaking oil and using oil. Switched back to
conventional oil. No problems since. Del-Vac 1300. I don't like
Rotella either. More oil consumption on my Dodge Cummins
then Del-Vac.

caseyc · Jul 24, 2013

Synthetic oils have their place and in your tractor
is not one of them. Save your money and find a good
straight 30W and try that. If consumption doesn't
slow up then you might consider refreshing the
engine if you wish.

Casey in SD

dej(Jed) · Jul 24, 2013

(quoted from post at 11:31:20 07/24/13) My tractor burns through about a quart of oil every 5-6 hours of bush hogging..... It's a 1961 Massey Ferguson 35 with a Perkins 3-cyl diesel engine...
Is that excessive? I have no basis for comparison... It's been consistently doing it every since I bought it. I just consider it part of the price of operation and keep on mowing... Oil is changed once/year or 60 hours whichever comes first (it has always been once/year for the 3 years I've owned it). Use Rotella T synthetic...

Synthetic oil is GREAT. Switch it over to non -synthetic and it will burn oil like there is no tommorrow. You my friend will need an engine job in the near future. Mow away I wouldn't worry about it one bit.

ohiojim · Jul 24, 2013

yes that is a little excessive, if it's in good shape a quart in 50 hours would seem right

smallercrawler · Jul 24, 2013

Would not use synthetic of any type in any engine, number of Duramax and Cummins drivers I know also feel that synthetic oil in their engines leads to higher consumption/leaks. Several went back to DelVac/Rotella and their problems cleared up. I've never used synthetic in any of mine, as I'm not a believer, running Rotella in Cummins since '04, now at 187k have had no problems, uses absolutely none, does get black quickly.

D beatty · Jul 24, 2013

I to don't like synthetic oil . Had a new car that used 3 quarts in 3,000 miles.I went to a same weight convential oil and it doesn't use a drop.I would go with the Rotella 15-40 non synthetic. I have used it for 35 + years never had an oil related engine failure. The freight line that I drove for used nothing but Shell Rotella 15-40 with no problems ( 40trucks in fleet + 3 tow trucks and company cars).

Chip812 · Jul 24, 2013

Dang it, I didn't mean to start another oil thread... Some swear by it and some swear at it... I think it varies depending on the engine... Soon after I bought it, I switched to synthetic (I also converted it to a conventional spin-on oil filter). It seemed to pick up a little power when I did that. I hadn't had it long enough to know if it used oil before. Allegedly, it had been "completely gone through" before I bought it. But I can tell, if they did, they didn't really "fix" anything that wasn't broken. I can watch the king pins flop back and forth about a quarter inch as I'm going down the field. So I know they didn't fix that. I also keep it well greased and I go though about two tubes of grease every summer (but that also includes the bushhog)...

DeltaRed · Jul 24, 2013

You are throwing money away by useing
synthetic.Drain out the synthetic,replace with
regular'dino' oil.Synthetic is great for extended
change intervals on new engines that go LOTS of
miles between...Your old tractor is not one of
them.I think you will find your oil consumtion
problem will go away when the synthetic does....

IH2444 · Jul 24, 2013

I run synthetic in all my small engines, is great.
I also use it in my newer vehicles.

Good stuff. If the engine is tight enough to not burn/leak thin oil it will be better than dino.

Welding man · Jul 24, 2013

I get this same question from my customers all the time.Heres what I ask them. How many hours do you put on your tractor a year? How many qts of oil do you go through? How many Qt's of oil can you buy for a $2000.00 engine rebuild? Most of them keep buying oil.

Sidekick · Jul 24, 2013

I use Lucas synthetic for motorcycles in my bike(s) but everything else is Rotella.

CAROGATOR · Jul 24, 2013

switch to Delvac oil and never look back. That should get rid of most of the problem. Anything but Rotella.

Robert Major · Jul 24, 2013

Hi
Was just wondering what kinda tractor motor you can do parts maybe machine work and labor on for 2 grand . I just did a 3.152di perk. it was $5500 for motor parts/ machining and a complete single plate clutch assembly. my time only came to $2000. Or are you just talking basic in frame?
Regards Robert

David G · Jul 24, 2013

I was using a little oil in my Ford 6610 on synthetic, switched to Delvac and does not use a drop.

RodinNS · Jul 24, 2013

I'd also ask you how many quarts of oil you can buy for the cost of an overhaul? You won't do much overhauling for 2 grand either. By my calculations you're going through 6-8 qt a year?
If it was mine I'd dump the synthetic oil and use the cheapest diesel rated 15W40 you can find. That will probably come in a Tech2000 can from walmart... You might also find that the oil consumption problem goes away...

Rod

samn40 · Jul 24, 2013

This tractor should not need any oil added between oil changes, if
the engine is right. You can try a different oil We use 15W30 or
15W40 with no problems. If the oil pressure is good you can get
away for years with an inframe rebuild on this engine. Pistons,
liners and rings with the gasket kits should get you going good, but
do check the valves and valve guides when it is down.
Sam

Welding man · Jul 24, 2013

Robert. I would love to do a few for that price. I have never charged anywhere near that for a rebuild and no I don't do inframes for anyone. I can buy a complete master rebuild kit for that engine, with new pistons, sleeves, rings bearings, valves,springs, guides and keepers all gaskets and seals and oil pump for less than $500.00. I do all my own machine work except grinding the crank,if needed.I can pull it rebuild it and put it back for about 1000.00 to 1500.00 labor. If the pump and injectors need work,another 800.00 to 1000.00. Oil-filters and antifreeze-hoses etc another 150.00. Gas engines are cheaper.I do 8N fords all the time for 1200.00 to 1500.00 bucks. Either you paid too much or I'm too cheap.

da.bees · Jul 24, 2013

You can switch to cheaper oils without hurting anything but it will not cure 1 qt per 6 hour consumption. I wouldn't worry about it but you might be pleasantly suprised by what someone with experience with the engine could tell you if they get hands on it. Are you certain there is not a leak?

Robert Major · Jul 25, 2013

Hi
Thanks for the reply I refuse to do in frames too.
They don't come in my shop, the main dealers do them and at $120 an hour.

They can deal with mad customers when the clutch falls out 50 hours or less after, or oil leaks from the crank, or a bearing picks up somewhere and totals the motor. I've seen happen the odd time or three, when I was called to look at the tractor that's running rough after the in frame.

I can see how you can do it for that price. My shop rate is 45 an hour, that motor was a pig to do as it was in a 2500 Massey forklift so had about 45 hours in it total, from pushed in the shop to driving out again.
I can't do machining here so I get Royally adjusted on that and can't justify the 10's of thousands in tools for heads, cranks and boring equipment.

The sleeves took a day to do as they would not come out and the machine shop wanted $700 to do them at $70 an hour plus other work on the head, so a $1000 would of gone there in no time.
parts where crazy for the non jobber stuff you cant get through sources other than Perkins.

Believe it or not it was gonna be more expensive for a crate motor up here in Canada, than a total re build on this one!.
Regards Robert

buickanddeere · Jul 25, 2013

Straight 50wt Rotella T1 in the summer.

flyingace · Jul 25, 2013

I was using quite a bit of oil myself. It was going into the hydraulic fluid via the hydraulic pump. I know this because I leveled the hydraulic fluid, then used the tractor. After adding 2 quarts of oil I opened up the level plug in the diff. Guess what - 2 quarts came out.

I certainly would not pay the $ for synthetic oil at that rate of consumption. If you are losing this amount of oil thru the engine, it must be smoking a lot. I have found that adding an oil stabilizer with 15/40 diesel oil provides pretty good oil mileage for a 45 year old tractor.

Hal/ Eastern WA · Jul 25, 2013

That would not be excessive to me! You might want to research the cost of an engine rebuild and I doubt that you would think the oil consumption is all that bad either, especially if the tractor starts and runs good as-is.

I am not all that convinced on synthetic engine oils, especially in engines that were not designed to use synthetics. I think if your tractor was mine, I would switch over to a less expensive, diesel rated conventional oil and just plan on adding a quart here and there as needed. As for oil changes, what you have been doing is probably all right unless your tractor is often used for very short time periods, so it never gets a chance to come up to operating temperature to boil off the moisture in the oil. Good luck!

Oil consumption...

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