Motor oil

Phil Tibbetts · Aug 10, 2020

What oil are others using in The old tractors? I have a super H I want to change the oil in but I'm afraid to use High Detergent oil and
can't seem to find any No detergent oil. I've heard stories of HD oil messing up engines by loosening up sludge. I don't want to mess up a
good engine.

caterpillar guy · Aug 10, 2020

We just use 15w-40 same oil we use in the diesels. I think most of the guys on here do the same. You can pick the brand. Not that much difference. Most would be better oils than were available when tractor was first made.
If your worried about old contaminants change it run it a few haours and change again look at the oil if it stays clean and new looking it probably is not very bad.

Ken Loewenhagen · Aug 10, 2020

15W40

BarnyardEngineering · Aug 10, 2020

As you've noted, non-detergent oil is difficult to find, so it is highly unlikely that the previous owners religiously sought out and used non-detergent oil in your tractor throughout its entire life.

Most likely at some point in its life on the farm the owner used IH Low Ash engine oil as that is what the dealer sold for gasoline engine tractors for a long time. That is a detergent oil.

Unless this tractor has been sitting in a barn untouched for 40 years, it certainly has a detergent oil in it now. You should not be worried about using detergent oil in it going forward.

DeltaSteve · Aug 10, 2020

15/40 fleet diesel. The same oil as everything else. As said,unless it's been sitting for 50 years,it has detergent already in it.

old · Aug 10, 2020

Since non detergent oil has been hard to find good chance it already has detergent oil in it so no problem using

Red Dave · Aug 10, 2020

Like has been said below, 15-40, year-round. Most old tractor guys I know use it, no problems with any of them that I've ever heard of.

the tractor vet · Aug 10, 2020

I guess i am the only one on here that runs the 30 weight low ash in my S/MTA and Super H and run 30 weigh # 1 diesel engine oil in the diesels . 15-40 Delo for my 95 Dodge Cummins Cars get Castrol 5-20 and the Durango gets 10-30 . My old I H 4300 with the SMALL CAM got 30 weight Delo 400 , now had that been a 78 with the BIG cam then it would have got the 15-40 .

DR. EVIL · Aug 10, 2020

Not sure exactly what Dad used in the '51 M between 1972 when he quit farming until 2006 when we used it every weekend getting ready for his last auction. Once I got it home I checked the oil and it was Coal black. I think he used whatever automotive oil he could get on sale really cheap. I changed the oil with 15W-40 Rotella, ran it about 5 hours and once again oil was coal black. Changed it again with 15W-40 and it's stayed clean. The detergents in diesel rated oil really clean out the sludge, I can't imagine a chunk of sludge breaking off somewhere and plugging an oil passage that hot diesel oil at 60 psi wouldn't dissolve.

Motor oil

Phil Tibbetts

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caterpillar guy

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Ken Loewenhagen

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BarnyardEngineering

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DeltaSteve

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old

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Red Dave

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the tractor vet

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DR. EVIL

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