The tractor gets used every week or two during the summer and fall for probably an hour at a time. During the winter I try to run it atleast once a month and let it get up to temperature. Probably 20 or 30 minutes. It's still under warranty so I guess I'll just have to go with the dino oil and change it annually to comply with that. Will the Ultra filter work with dino oil? I just changed it tonight and used Rotella T4 15W40 and a Wix 51064. That's the filter Wix catalog calls for. Just seems like a waste of oil and filters to change it so often. I actually enjoy doing it though. Thanks again for all of the help and suggestions.
Joe, worst case condition for the oil filter would be the winter starts. This is when the 15W40 would be the thickest and the delta P across the element the greatest. The 20-30 minutes operating time is probably not enough time to get the sump temperature to the boiling point. You might need an hour with a load on the engine to get the sump temperature up.
Since you have had one bad filter event, I suggest one or more of the following solutions:
1. Run the engine longer with a load in the winter.
2. A synthetic oil filter would tolerate water better and the Ultra is wirebacked.
3. Use 10W30 instead of 15W40.
Good luck with the path you choose. [/quote
The bad filter event I had was a manufacturer defect and had nothing to do with the oil or its usage. If you checked out my other post "51334 opened " you'll see it is a brand new filter that may have had 30 minutes run time on it with new oil. The oil cooler is also an oil heater and brings oil temperature up when it's cold. Thanks again for the info.