Hello!!
Our facility just bought a generator last year and it has a Kubota 2403-BG engine in it (4L, inline 4 with common rail injection) and we have it at about 62 engine hours. We ran it for 50 hours and then switched out the oil. The oil we used was Lubrication Engineers's Monolec Ultra Engine Oil 8130, it's a 10W-30 CJ4 (successor to the CK4 standard) oil and has their proprietary additive package. It's interesting, when running the unit at ambient temperatures ranging from 50 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 35 degrees centigrade) the coolant temperature has never (as far as I have seen) exceeded 183 degrees Fahrenheit (83 degrees centigrade), but the thermostat fully opens at 185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 degrees centigrade). It was really interesting reading FleetGuard's advice for taking oil samples too. Lubrication Engineers also has a UOA laboratory and I do want to send them a sample.
For filtration, the gen has a Donaldson air filter and it's really well put together. It seems like it has a glass reinforced nylon casing with metal latches to hold the service port to the air filter housing. The filter has a wire mesh around the outside to protect the pleats.
When we did the oil drain, we replaced the oil and put on a new Kubota oil filter, a HH164-32430, and I assume the engine was shipped with break in oil. The manual said to run it for 50 hours and then replace the oil and then the oil was good for another 400 hours and then needed to be changed again. The oil we have now is likely just going to be replaced yearly as our utility service isn't the best but it's also not like living on Mars.
I've heard that FleetGuard filters are considered by many to be the "gold standard" for oil, lubrication, and fuel filtration. Is this the case? I saw another post on BITOG showing a silicone ADBV where the Donaldson had a nitrile one. The Donaldson equivalent to the Kubota filter is the Donaldson's P550939 whereas the comparable product for FleetGuard is the LF3706. I am tempted to get the Donaldson filter because filtration is all they do compared to FleetGuard as Cummins makes those but you people know way more about this than I do. One thing I found interesting was that on the Cummins marine engine that I was looking at had a Donaldson air filter on it.
I also want to try Donaldson's Blue line of fuel filters too once the OE filters need to be replaced. Anecdotally a buddy of mine has a pal who is a heavy equipment mechanic at the Golden Gate Bridge and he told my buddy that they only use NAPA Gold filters but to me those seem cheap and like an insult to the gen because we really want to -- and need to -- take care of it so that it provides power for us when we lose utility power.
The last thing I'll say is how fascinating I find the durability of industrial diesel engines. They have a 100% continuous duty cycle, meaning that they can run at 100% power for weeks on end. There are not many applications where this is feasible, and even in marine diesel engines their ratings are about 80%. An interesting article can be found here about duty cycle and what makes an engine "continuous duty" rated. Of course, there is a slight derate for the prime power output compared to the standby though, but this is negligible considering how many hours you can run the gen on the prime nameplate capacity.
Any advice, thoughts, recommendations, or anything else?
Thanks so much everyone!!!
Our facility just bought a generator last year and it has a Kubota 2403-BG engine in it (4L, inline 4 with common rail injection) and we have it at about 62 engine hours. We ran it for 50 hours and then switched out the oil. The oil we used was Lubrication Engineers's Monolec Ultra Engine Oil 8130, it's a 10W-30 CJ4 (successor to the CK4 standard) oil and has their proprietary additive package. It's interesting, when running the unit at ambient temperatures ranging from 50 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 35 degrees centigrade) the coolant temperature has never (as far as I have seen) exceeded 183 degrees Fahrenheit (83 degrees centigrade), but the thermostat fully opens at 185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 degrees centigrade). It was really interesting reading FleetGuard's advice for taking oil samples too. Lubrication Engineers also has a UOA laboratory and I do want to send them a sample.
For filtration, the gen has a Donaldson air filter and it's really well put together. It seems like it has a glass reinforced nylon casing with metal latches to hold the service port to the air filter housing. The filter has a wire mesh around the outside to protect the pleats.
When we did the oil drain, we replaced the oil and put on a new Kubota oil filter, a HH164-32430, and I assume the engine was shipped with break in oil. The manual said to run it for 50 hours and then replace the oil and then the oil was good for another 400 hours and then needed to be changed again. The oil we have now is likely just going to be replaced yearly as our utility service isn't the best but it's also not like living on Mars.
I've heard that FleetGuard filters are considered by many to be the "gold standard" for oil, lubrication, and fuel filtration. Is this the case? I saw another post on BITOG showing a silicone ADBV where the Donaldson had a nitrile one. The Donaldson equivalent to the Kubota filter is the Donaldson's P550939 whereas the comparable product for FleetGuard is the LF3706. I am tempted to get the Donaldson filter because filtration is all they do compared to FleetGuard as Cummins makes those but you people know way more about this than I do. One thing I found interesting was that on the Cummins marine engine that I was looking at had a Donaldson air filter on it.
I also want to try Donaldson's Blue line of fuel filters too once the OE filters need to be replaced. Anecdotally a buddy of mine has a pal who is a heavy equipment mechanic at the Golden Gate Bridge and he told my buddy that they only use NAPA Gold filters but to me those seem cheap and like an insult to the gen because we really want to -- and need to -- take care of it so that it provides power for us when we lose utility power.
The last thing I'll say is how fascinating I find the durability of industrial diesel engines. They have a 100% continuous duty cycle, meaning that they can run at 100% power for weeks on end. There are not many applications where this is feasible, and even in marine diesel engines their ratings are about 80%. An interesting article can be found here about duty cycle and what makes an engine "continuous duty" rated. Of course, there is a slight derate for the prime power output compared to the standby though, but this is negligible considering how many hours you can run the gen on the prime nameplate capacity.
Any advice, thoughts, recommendations, or anything else?
Thanks so much everyone!!!
