Hot oil in the John Deere

[SHOZ]

I have a John Deere F510 mower with a Kawasaki 14 hp engine/transmission unit. JD recommends 5w30 oil and this is shared with the transmission. When changing oil half gets changed and the oil in the motor goes into the transmission (or so I think).

he problem is the oil gets too hot and I feel the transmission is slipping as the mower slows down after an hours use or so. I switched to 20w50 weight Amsoil motorcycle oil and feel this is too thick. I checked the oil temp after the usual two hour mow last week and was shocked to see 275F in the crankcase and 245F in the transmission.

Since then I have found a sandwich adapter for the oil filter and plan on putting a power steering cooler in with a fan for an oil cooler.

I plan on also going back down to Amsoil 10w40 motorcycle oil.

Comments????

 

[Bror Jace]

SHOZ, I would have gone with a 10W30 or 15W40 oil ... or something in that range.

I wonder if a limited slip additive might help your transmission?

In any case, good luck with your bodging and let us know how it works.

--- Bror Jace

 

[greencrew]

Is that transmission a hydo like in my JD 445 tractor? Either way, the 20-50 is too thick and may have contributed to the high temp. What temp did you get with the 5w30?

Wow, that is hot. My hydro gets hot, but I don't think it will boil water.

 

[SHOZ]

When I had the 5w30 and later 10w40 conventional oils and when changing the oil after mowing the oil was super hot. Hotter than I have ever seen in my cars. I did not measure the temp of the oil back then though. I was planning on going down to the 10w40 Amsoil.

 

[Neil Womack]

No transmission drain plug? Any way to get at the transmission through a dip stick or fill plug, so you can suction off the oil.

Try the JD web site deere.com for on-line handbooks, tips, faqs and on-line ask the expert.

 

[SHOZ]

No it has a drain. A nice built in petcock that is rally nice. But when you drain the oil only half comes out. Total capacity is 4 quarts but only 2 will come out when you drain. I usually drain the two, empty the pan and pour in 2 quarts of new. Then the other two quarts will come out. I then top off with another two quarts.

 

[Lightman]

amsoil 0w-40 4-stroke oil, all I can say

 

[SHOZ]

Well I got my sandwich adapter and some 1/2: hydraulic hose. I plan on using a power steering cooler form a '93 Taurus SHO. it is about 4" square with 1/2" fillings. This along with a 4" 12V muffin fan wired to the blade clutch so it runs when the blades are on.

Now I need to find somewhere to mount it......

 

[SHOZ]

Well I finally got the cooler installed. Previously I did drain 2 quarts out and filled the engine with 5w30 Amsoil. I then measured the oil temp and there was no change. The next week the ambient temps were down into the low 80Fs and i measured 265F after mowing.

I installed the cooler, with 8' of 1/2" hose and just temporarily mounted it in the front horizontally. Mowed today and the oil temp was down to 245F. This with an ambient temp of 80F and no fan cooling.

I plan on mounting the cooler up higher by the steering column and have it so it is facing the air flow. I will also use some copper tubing to make this last connection. This along with a slightly bigger filter which should increase the oil capacity about over a pint, should keep the oil under 250F even in the hottest times.

 

[Jelly]

...This is the engine/transmission oil spec. chart for F500 series mowers (sorry, kinda hard to read):

...I'd definitely recommend the use of a 10w30 synthetic in conditions like this.

[ September 18, 2003, 01:49 PM: Message edited by: Jelly ]

 

[SHOZ]

JD recommends 5w30. I personally don't see how the viscocity grade of oil will change things, and in fact didn't. The problem is too much heat and not the oil viscosity range. IMHO

 

[Jelly]

SHOZ,

Look at the graph (that's why I posted it)...JD recommends BOTH 5w30 and 10w30. In fact, if you use JD oil, this is what they say use:

· TURF-GARD® 10w30 motor oil

· TORQ-GARD SUPREME® 5w30 motor oil

Yes, 10w30 won't make the engine run any cooler, but I recommended synthetic 10w30 over synthetic 5w30 simply because 10w30 relies upon less VII's to get the job done...high heat and high load could result in the VII's shearing on one hand (believe the oil has to deal with gears in the transmission), and cracking and decomposing under the high temperature condtions on the other, leading to unwanted deposits. Yes, I'm overplaying the situation a bit...but I'm an oil nut!

But, hey, it's your engine. I'm sure you'll be plenty fine with 5w30...just tellin' you what I would do

[ September 19, 2003, 03:21 AM: Message edited by: Jelly ]

 

[Bror Jace]

SHOZ, Would you consider running a thicker oil like a Straight 40, 15W40 or even 20W50 to see if temperature goes up or down?

I'd like to see if the thicker stuff causes temperatures to rise appreciably.

--- Bror Jace

 

[SHOZ]

Originally I ran Mobil 1 5w30. I had it tested after 50 hours and it came back as too low of viscosity, change the oil. I went to a conventional 10w40 oil. It came out like water.

I went to 20w50 Amsoil motorcycle oil. This was the first time I measured the temp. After my usual 2 hr mow it was 275F in 90F ambient temps. I changed to a 5w30 Amsoil and the temp was the same.