Thread: Oil volume

Still spring in Karratha with a bit of an onshore wind, so we're only hitting 36C mid-afternoon...

Same with the warranty on my side. Next April the 90 will be 2 years old, so I've got a fair bit of warranty left (I'll never get to the kiliometer cut of before 3 years) and I'll be sticking to the prescribed stuff as well.

Share a bit of good fortune though... I just bought 20 liters of Castrol Magnatec Professional A5 5W30 (the proper Ford approved one) for $240.34 all in from the local bulk BP supplier!

Thanks for the info, I will call in now I know that its available. Is that the standard price or do you get trade discount ? I was wanting to aquire some as I'm in Perth in Jan and was going to pick up some genuine filters to have on hand. I'm not to confidant regarding 12/km service interval, so I get it done every six months. To me that sounds like a really good price.

Panna,

I was wearing my work shirt (yellow reflective with company logo), but I did pay with my personal credit card not a purchase order, so I might or might not have received some discount...

I'm with you on the 12000km service interval, just sounds too much. I'll at the very least be changing the engine oil on half that.

Getting a price in Perth next week througth my young bloke. He's in the industry so it will be interesting to see the price. It made a huge difference in the total price when he had his D3 auto serviced recently. My Puma ran out of warrenty yesterday so I now have free hand. After the last dealer service in Perth, all I can say is thank God. Between lost air filter box clips, bonnet stay rod clips broken, Allan stop! I Will report on the oil price during the week and yes I aggree that in the conditions we use these vehicles in the North West, oil change periods should be halved for sure and I too will stick with L.R.A. recomended oil.

Allan

Originally Posted by Allan

[snip]
and yes I aggree that in the conditions we use these vehicles in the North West, oil change periods should be halved for sure and I too will stick with L.R.A. recomended oil.

Allan

You are all guessing without oil analysis.

I'd hazard a guess it would be fine for 10,000km oil change intervals.

It's a modern diesel sipping ULSD (<10ppm sulphur) and using a fully synthetic oil.
What could shorten oil life is constant running in dust. Premium air filtration is paramount for long oil and engine life.


As I often rabbit on during these oil threads, I used to be able to achieve 20,000km OCI's with our our Patrol when towing 2500kg of horses across the country constantly.
Admittedly it has a 10.5 litre sump and good air and oil filtration (two oil filters) and I was using a full synthetic heavy duty diesel oil.

At that distance there was still plenty of life left in the oil but I changed it as we were in front financially at that point (as well as having the same metal wear numbers as when using the recommended mineral based oils @ 5,000km)
That engine has now clocked up 375,000km and is untouched.
I haven't even done a rocker check in over 150,00km, and it didn't need an adjustment when last checked either.

15,0000km was ok in the Tdi Defender, 20,0000km was a stretch too far, but it was also doing a greater mix of long and short trips at the time.

We almost NEVER do 5000km oil intervals. ONLY for customers that INSIST, and those vehicles that cover 5000km in 12months.

I agree with Rick, and IMO air filtration in harsh/ dusty conditions should be given more priority than frequent oil changing, especially since MOST vehicles used in these areas see long road miles.

JC

Thanks guys,

Always good to get more advice off chaps in the industry. The fully synthetic oil is not cheap (cheaper than an engine, I know before someone else says it ) and investigating premium dust filtration seems a logic option.

Any advice on air filters better than genuine parts?

Originally Posted by Loubrey

Thanks guys,

Always good to get more advice off chaps in the industry. The fully synthetic oil is not cheap (cheaper than an engine, I know before someone else says it ) and investigating premium dust filtration seems a logic option.

Any advice on air filters better than genuine parts?

Never seen the underbonnet of a TDCi but OE would be fine as long as it seals properly.

I'm assuming it's a panel type filter (??)

If so, some elements don't seal well around the edges, some aftermarket TD5 filters are notorious for this.

As long as no air can bypass the filter, OE elements or equivalent are often as good as you can get for efficiency, the HD industrial types (Donaldson, Nelson/Cummins/Fleetguard, etc) will have a greater capacity before the pressure dropbecomes too restrictive.

Always remember too that an air filter becomes more efficient the greater the dust loading, ie. the more dust it holds the finer the particles it will trap.