What are your theories on changing oil on equipment for winter time? Do you change it before storage, or wait til spring for the fresh stuff? Sometimes our combines get a mid winter oil change at the dealer but as far as you guys what do you think? I'm talking seasonal equipment stored over winter. Big tractors ect.
Oil changes
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I always change engine oil before storage, was told by a very good service manager that old oil is hard on crank bearings if left sitting for months.
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Same as above, always fresh oil when putting away for winter. Fully greased also.
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I've always done that as well if there is enough hours on a unit to justify changing it, combines, swather, tractors etc all get changed at the end of the season in the fall. The theory I've been told as well is to get new oil on the surfaces, bearings, cylinder walls and so on that has the full amount of the anti corrosion and combustion acid combating properties to protect the surfaces as much as one can.
There was a discussion of this some time ago on here and what those farther south in the States that don't get our cold winters but do get very very humid days would do. They were changing the oil before they used the unit the following season as they claimed water was building up in the crank case just from sitting and all that humidity building up within the oil pan. Up here in our frozen waste land its fairly low in humidity all winter and besides, its frozen.
There was a discussion of this some time ago on here and what those farther south in the States that don't get our cold winters but do get very very humid days would do. They were changing the oil before they used the unit the following season as they claimed water was building up in the crank case just from sitting and all that humidity building up within the oil pan. Up here in our frozen waste land its fairly low in humidity all winter and besides, its frozen.
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X2 plus add disconnect the batteries
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, I'm lucky if I can get them to blow the machines off before they park them away.Exactly why I change oil in the spring.
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We change everything on our farm before putting away for the winter, same reason as the first reply to your thread I was also told by a good mechanic that old oil is hard on the bearings so have changed everything before putting away for the past 10 yrs
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Now there's one situation where I am thankful I can't afford to run newer equipment that uses DEF. I know, quite the mixture of emotions statement there !.
Aside from disconnecting batteries on certain known battery draining equipment, I suck all the summer diesel out and put in winter fuel ( I have a storage tank with winter because I can't get that fuel until its way into the winter ) for any trucks or tractors that I may need during the winter.
Aside from disconnecting batteries on certain known battery draining equipment, I suck all the summer diesel out and put in winter fuel ( I have a storage tank with winter because I can't get that fuel until its way into the winter ) for any trucks or tractors that I may need during the winter.
If there is time in fall after field work and harvest is done oil gets changed. But only if its warm out still. Everything is in cold storage so if it gets put away and the weather starts to fall apart and its cold, I think you do more damage trying to get the oil changed late fall then you do in spring or summer. Everything does get greased and blown off and if there is time a wash.
What about equipment with 3-400hr oil intervals? Does it pay to change before winter or before next use if only 200hrs have been used?
What about equipment with 3-400hr oil intervals? Does it pay to change before winter or before next use if only 200hrs have been used?
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If you have coolant leaking into the oil you should probably be looking into getting it repaired, not running it.
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I always change the oil before storing even if it's not quite time. As others have mentioned, the acids in the oil created from combustion is hard on bearings. I was sceptical of this until a few years ago, a friend, who is a farmer and a licensed mechanic bought a '95 camero in Arizona that had been parked for 10 years. The car had about 40,000 miles on it and was mint. His son drove it home from AZ and about 2 hours from home it started knocking. He shut it down and his Dad when and picked it up with a trailer to bring it home. I helped pull the engine and when we opened it up, the inside of the engine was as new, still had cross hatching in the cylinders but the bearings were gone. IIRC 2 or 3 rods turned and 1 or 2 mains and almost all of them showing copper. The ONLY explanation we could come up with was that it was parked with dirty oil and the acids compromised the bearings. Bear in mind, this was parked 10 years, not just 6 months and I don't know what difference there would be in the acid make-up between gas and diesel combustion but I just change in the fall then no worries.
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