Oil change

12 years ago

Do you think I should wait until the last minute for an oil change--I have two thousands miles to go--or would it hurt to do it now

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Comments (2)

jemdandy
12 years ago
It all depends, and there are a lot of 'depends'. Some may apply to your case, and many others may not - It all depends. Major considerations are: 1) oil condition, 2) oil viscosity, and 3) service conditions.

We are coming out of the winter season and you may have winter weight oil aboard (5 W 30). For my vehicle, that oil is too thin for warm weather driving, but many modern engines use that weight unless driven in very hot weather, like 100 F. (Consult your owner's manual.) I had only 2500 miles on the oil, but changed it because: 1) it was contaminated from cold weather driving and not always fully warmed, and 2) I noticed a change in oil pressure. My oil pressure was normal for a cold start, but after warming up, it fell too far at idle. This pressure reading could have been due to a damaged pressure sensor, worn engine part(s), or it could have been a true reading. It may have fell too low from a clogged oil filter amd that was my suspicion.

With the change to warmer weather and dirty oil, I changed the to 10 W 30 oil and a new filter. Oil pressure readings are normal and I now have clean oil for storing the vehicle during summer months. This is my winter driver; I'm preparing to change to vehicle that gets 50% more mileage for warm weather driving and economy. The winter driver will be sidelined and only occasionaly run and/or driven.

I gave you my situation as an example; I'm sure that your's is different. But, to paraphase your question: "Would it hurt to change oil before going 2,000 more miles?" The answer is NO. It never hurts to change oil early, but can do damage if let go too long. Needlessly changing oil merely spends more money than necessary.
joe_mn
12 years ago
Is car new? A new car has low mileage and probably operates as designers intended. A 12yr old worn out motor may operate poorly with worn rings and valve guides. So that has big impact on oil condition which also ties into miles driven since last oil change. My ex has 2010 Camry. 10k oil change schedule and last change the oil oozed very dark. It is 0-20 full syn. Yr round. What is thread starters situation? 3k miles, 5k miles, or 10k miles?
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Heat, dirt , and water are the enemy of hydros. The oil itself will last but the hydro will fail if it gets contaminated with water and or dirt. Another cause of failure would be overheating. Under "normal" operation this might not ever happen. The real world isn't normal and things happens. A piece of line or rope wraps around the axle somewhere increasing the load by about 300% or a bunch of grass clippings gets packed all around the hydro so it can't cool or owner washes the unit a lot and the hydro gets water and dirt blown through the seals from washing. All these things happen. To prevent failure keep the unit free of debris that affect cooling and check the axle for string, rope, or mono-filament fishing line, etc. Do not wash the unit. Blow it off with your sidewalk blower. Washing mowers, motorcycles, atvs, etc. causes a multitude of failures. If you must wash it be super careful and do not use pressure around sensitive areas like axles and shafts. I say don't wash period. You'll be better off.
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Wisdom from the oil changing nerd! Don't want to hear it, then DON"T read it! I change my oil enough it don't make difference. IMO problem is when you don't change the oil for year or more. Just adds to the problem you already started. Course then their the ones that don't know where the dip stick located another problems added. Adds up to BOOOOOM. IMO it's wise to at least change the oil in air cooled engine twice year regardless of hours. Do that along with checking before you jump on the machine and you won't have oil related problems IMO of course Course I'm going to here from the ones that say I only have 40 hours on my oil and it only been year and half??? Or I not going to waste oil changing oil that much after all Quart of oil 3.50 what do you think I'm made of money and want to make the middle east richer and use up all or natural resorces! Blaaa Blaaa blaaa I heard it all. Months of mowing in Dusty hot conditions take toll. At least I know My mower not going to blow up cause I didn't change the oil enough.
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there is minor play in two directions an mine . pulley moves up and down along shaft a small amount, due to normal looseness from use of a spring spacer in that assembly. separately there is side to side play allowing pulley to rotate on shaft slightly before splines on shaft are fully engaged. I would expect a pulley to fit snugly onto the splined shaft since leaving it loose will encourage accelerated wear of splines. Interestingly, there is a similar amount of rotational play with the plastic fan on the same shaft. That seems to suggest that there was some play in both pulley and fan on shaft from new, since by now the pulley would have seen a lot more force and wear than fan. It was the fact that there was some play in both fan and pulley that prompted my original question to see if when new there would have been no play or if a little was normal.
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bobkel, That's the same online manual I saw. But what is confusing is that the newer manual that comes with the mower makes no mention of changing the oil at 8 hours while it does mention all the other maintenance required at 8 hours. Also the sticker on the mower shows the maintenance required at 8 hours does not include oil change. I'm wondering why the difference. Maybe JD has a newer different break in oil?
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Oil change

Comments (2)

jemdandy

joe_mn

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