Small diesel run time oil changes

[Grendel]

I have a Kubota D722 3-cyl, liquid cooled, hi-speed (3500 rpm) diesel, running a 10-12 KW generator...this is a whole-house backup...run once a month and as needed 1-4 hours at a time.

The recommended is ~200 hours for oil/filter changes...the oil had gone very black after about
50 hours runtime...so i changed it...original oil...i should have just changed it when i purchased.
I'll be keeping an eye on this oil change (15-40 heavy duty)...it is not using oil...

What do you think?...anyone seen these mil spec units?...it's a 24 volt system...i have battery
saver setup.

 

[JTK]

How many quarts of oil does it hold?

I've used a lot of mowers and equipment with 3cyl Kubotas. Great engines.

 

[OneEyeJack]

I'm going to adopt a neighbor's filter scheme for intermittent operation devices. He has a plastic pipe that he stuffs with 3 rolls of toilet paper and plugs the centers. Set vertically he pours the used oil in the top and catches it after it flows through the toilet paper and back into the engines it goes. A used oil analysis shows that this catches all the water and other contaminants and does not mess with the oil chemistry. The lab claims its cleaner than new oil. He does this once a year for each of 23 engines for generators, pumps, lawn tractor and mower.

He has been doing a used oil analysis ever couple of years and the message has always been good for continued service. He uses Delo 400 15w40. He tells me he does not like the new formulation and is going to switch to something else before winter and start using a 10w30.

He has also done this with some of my left over Red Line 0w30 for his 1960 Ford pickup when he rebuild the 292 Y-Block engine about 3 years ago. Once a year he pours the oil through the pipe filter and back into the engine and adds any needed make up oil, usually about half a quart. He drives around the ranch about 5k miles a year. Again the oil after 3 years was judged to be good for continued service.

By the way, the filtering takes overnight plus a few more hours for the truck. Slow is good for filtering.

 

[boraticus]

I've got a 32 year old low speed 1800 rpm Kubota D850 running a 6kw generator. Not too many hours on it. I think around 6700 or so.

The oil goes black in a matter of hours. It's just the nature of the beast. Diesel combustion creates a fair amount of soot that ends up in the oil. It looks nasty but from my experience has no detrimental effects on the lubricating qualities of the oil.

I change oil ever 150 hours or so and the engine doesn't use a drop. Being that I run it in varying temperatures, I've been using a blend of Rotella 10W30-15W40 50/50. I use the same blend in my ATV engines. Seems to let the engines turn over easier in colder temps and hopefully provide the benefits of the heavier weight in warmer temps.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Diesel engines soot up the oil very quickly; it's completely normal.

 

[dlundblad]

She should hold a little under 1 gallon of oil. 200 hrs of service or even once every other year seems reasonable. I'd run a 5w40 synthetic diesel oil. The oil filter should be Fram number xx9688 or WIX 51334.

Diesels by nature appear very dirty and make dark oil very fast. Dont go by the appearance.

 

[bmwpowere36m3]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I'm going to adopt a neighbor's filter scheme for intermittent operation devices. He has a plastic pipe that he stuffs with 3 rolls of toilet paper and plugs the centers. Set vertically he pours the used oil in the top and catches it after it flows through the toilet paper and back into the engines it goes. A used oil analysis shows that this catches all the water and other contaminants and does not mess with the oil chemistry. The lab claims its cleaner than new oil. He does this once a year for each of 23 engines for generators, pumps, lawn tractor and mower.

He has been doing a used oil analysis ever couple of years and the message has always been good for continued service. He uses Delo 400 15w40. He tells me he does not like the new formulation and is going to switch to something else before winter and start using a 10w30.

He has also done this with some of my left over Red Line 0w30 for his 1960 Ford pickup when he rebuild the 292 Y-Block engine about 3 years ago. Once a year he pours the oil through the pipe filter and back into the engine and adds any needed make up oil, usually about half a quart. He drives around the ranch about 5k miles a year. Again the oil after 3 years was judged to be good for continued service.

By the way, the filtering takes overnight plus a few more hours for the truck. Slow is good for filtering.







Seems like a lot of extra work and overkill... if I drop the oil, its getting changing. Not worth dealing with it picking up debris as you drain it, re-filtering, etc...

 

[turbodieselfreak]

Is this by chance the Kubota GL11000 genset? I have one for whole house backup (including central air) with this engine. Changed the oil and filter with delo 5w40 and factory filter after the first 25 hours per the manual, and I've left it alone since. Other than monthly exercise, I ran it for a brief two hour outage, and eight hours a day during a four day outage caused by a tornado. The oil is darker, but still pretty clean. I'm going to run it for another season.