Are you human?

Some of our forum wise men say that it is human nature to buy the most expensive equipment that one can afford and then search out the cheapest oil, filter, and fuel to put in it, and that these humans are penny wise and pound foolish. If it is human nature obviously most of us are included. Does it include you? or are you one of the few exceptions.

I guess I am an exception......

I look for Shell Rotella T or Mobil Delvac 15w40 to come on
sale. Use Carquest filters where I can

Rotella oil and John Deere filters.

I change the oil more frequently than most folks do. I dont get
real picky about the filters. Change the truck oil every three
thousand miles. Never lost a motor. My last truck drove out of
here to its new home with 340,000 miles and no smoke or
blow by.

Human last time I checked, but I'm a firm believer in using expensive fine oil (usually depends on the vehicle, full
synthetic Castrol or Mobil 1 typically) plus a name brand quality filter and changing often as I figure compared to the
price of the vehicles its good and cheap maintenance.

I may or may NOT buy the most expensive equipment, I look more to quality, reputation and best value and use for the dollar

That's just me Im sure others are different which is fine by me, their money their equipment their choice NOT ours...

John T

I baby my two Mercs with the good stuff.

Vito

I use Dollar General oil and no name filters from Fram in the Aston Martin.
I use Mobil 1 full synthetic oil and Donaldson Platinum filters in the Yugo.

I do believe the term human nature refers to
instinctive actions. Changing oil or shopping for
best value is a learned skill. A skill is neither
instinctive or hereditary. And that is why it is a very
human foible to throughout history make the same
mistakes over and over again. It is less important
the type of oil or filter you use, but more importantly
you actually change the oil and filter.

I buy old bargain tractors and equipment and then buy high dollar oil and grease to make them last.

I took my new Kubota in for 50 hr service
$708. As long as anything I own is under
warranty the dealer will do all the
service.
Dealers have to stay in business and they
want to eat steaks too.

Unless the truck is used fior short distance , stop/start duty in the winter . The oil and filter at 3000 miles can hardly be differentiated from new oil via an oil sample .

As with most questions of the type, the answer is 'it depends.' My experience has been that the most recent times I have bought new and utilized the dealer for all the maintenance, the dealer has NOT honored the warranty--claiming it was my problem or not a defect of material or workmanship. Further, the work that the dealer has done has been beyond disappointing--in some cases their incompetence has lead to the actual problem occurring. This has been with a recently purchased motor vehicle and with farm/home equipment. I can give specific examples if anyone is interested.

For fluids, recall that even the low end today likely exceeds the specification for anything made in the past. My Gas tractors are both 1941's, built to run on ~70 octane gas if lucky. Putting modern premium in them makes no sense at all. Oils are the same way. If a modern oil--even a no-name brand--is made to modern API and SAE specifications, it will exceed the performance of anything available in 1941.

There are folks who swear by such-a-such brand of oil having special additives that make it work better. Of course the manufacturers want you to believe this--and it is human nature to do so. There is no way to prove or disprove this on an *individual* basis as the person who is a stickler about oil brand is probably also a stickler about maintenance hour intervals and other maintenance. The person who doesn't care about the brand is less likely to be a stickler about the maintenance intervals, so of course will have a worse experience. This is assuming that usage patterns are the same as well. You cannot compare a parade tractor that gets full synthetic oil changes every 20 hours to a work machine--instead, you would need two identical machines, with identical histories, the same operator, the same use conditions, and the same maintenance intervals, to truly compare a no-name oil to a brand-name. I know of no individual with the resources to do this.

However, oil variations has been studied by third-party labs and the conclusion is that the brand of oil does NOT matter as long as it meets the specification. Link provided (link to original data in the article is unfortunately a dead link).
Oil brand comparison study

Its because they think they can get away with it an do little maintenance... Some get away with it but the next owner will pay the price : (

This next owner is stuck with this there is no fix for it... But it was a deal...

Dave41A X2.

I buy the best oil and grease I can with the exception of yellow
bucket oil . My powershift gets the high dollar stuff the
synchro well it doesnt

Original 1966 rear gear in my 4020 thats been fed a lot of
yellow bucket over the years .

I run 15000 and run samples and there is no reason I couldnt
go 30,000 on Diesel engine towing and running around

Ring gear autocorrect got me again

I'm with the theory of changing the oil and filter on a regular basis is more important than the brand if it meets the spec of the machine manufacturer.

Depends. The engine I will get the best oil and filter I can but hydraulic fluid in my tractor since it uses about as much fluid as gas I get the cheapest I can.

I use the cheapest oil that meets specs, quality oil filters and 3,000 mile oil changes. Currently Sheild Synblend is the oil of choice. Fuel is usually the cheapest I can find that again meets the equipment's requirements, I have never noticed any difference except when comparing when conparing premium to E10, E15, or E85.

Neighbor works for lubrizol . They test the additives used by most major brands they supply.
Ran a test on my Ford s 4.6 24 7 till it got to 200 k miles with all there customers oil . Torn engine down and measure the bearings. The best was
Pennzoil . The difference was tenths of a thousands .
So I change oil with a quality manufacturer. Ive run every manufacturer oil in my 4.6 that was on sale synthetic,or conventional with new oil filter of all
manufacturer. I got 310 k miles on it till the frame rusted out.
They also ran used oil in my 4.6 24/7 till they got another 200 k on it 400 k total no failure .
I say keep your oil and filter changed e you will be fine .

I don't know. I've got old tractors and run Mobile 1 in them.

Delo 15/40 engine oil (out here you can find it everywhere) wix or OEM filters..

Don't mind me I'm making popcorn! :lol:

Rick

Most of my equipment never needs and oil change because it either leaks or blows by so bad! I guess I'm not human as I tend to buy junk and fix it enough to get the job done. I don't look for the cheapest fuel either if it's going in a 2 cycle engine! I avoid Fram filters if possible.

(quoted from post at 19:25:06 05/22/21)
I use Dollar General oil and no name filters from Fram in the Aston Martin.
I use Mobil 1 full synthetic oil and Donaldson Platinum filters in the Yugo.

Click to expand...

Maybe 'Can-of-Gold' for the Aston.

They tied up all their money in payments on the new machine, and can't afford the upkeep, so they have no choice but to pinch pennies on maintenance.

Me, I have a different problem. I can only afford the old junk equipment and even then I still only have enough money left over for the cheap oil and filters.

Well, it appears that according to Sprint 6 that no one here at YT is human.