TO-20 oil usage

I hear alot of ranting about the oil in the book. Folks, the book was written for servicing "your new tractor". My old iron is 40 years old. Most of it is not new any more. That calls for modifications.

So, for my worn out engine I just unknowingly purchased, my oil of choice is currently 40w HD. Seems to be working pretty well.

As far a single grade vs multi, the multi keeps you from having to be season sensitive or drain and fill twice in the year when you may only want to do it once. As mentioned in later (earlier) post, single 40 holds hot oil pressure better than 15W-40.

Blow by from the vent tube (which is designed to scavenge any oil vapour from the top end/sump) will not tell you where the problem lies - only that there is a problem.

Blue smoke from the exhaust on acceleration (Do Fergies have such a thing?) will indicate worn rings - blue smoke on revving up after a couple of minutes ticking over will indicate valve stem seals/valve problems.

A quart in 2 hours (a pint an hour) is one heck of an oil leak if you are only finish mowing - and frankly I'd be amazed if my tractor even ran with clean plugs with such a leak - so check your plugs to see if they are oily - perhaps the oil is escaping from somewhere else??

HTH

Just some thoughts off the top of my head

We used multi-grade oil in old tractors and newer cars and never had any engine problems. The two engines that were worked the hardest were the 706 german diesel and the z129 continental in the Fergie. And yes, the Fergies have good acceleration.

steve