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Gonna listen to my neighbor - 10w30 in winter.

rockyridgefarm

rockyridgefarm

Well-known Member
I'm trying something different this year. Neighbor swears by running 10w30 diesel spec oil in his winter equipment - Deere 320E, 4020, 4430, 4240, Massey loader tractor. Been doing it for years. Says the equipment starts much better.

I bought a 55 of Shell 10w30 yesterday and changed the oil in my 317 and 60. Today I'm gonna change the oil in my 7.3l diesel Ford and 4430.

Think I'll see a difference?
 
I know my Ford 4000 gasser will not crank at -20F with 15W-40 in the crankcase. It starts up easily at the same temperature with 10W-30.
 
If your in a climate that you need to run your machinery at temps below 10-15 degrees then yes I would say it would be worth it to switch oil for the cold startups. The alternative would be to heat your oil somehow before startup. Remember the block heater will not heat the oil just the coolant.
 
I've used 10W-30 motor oil in almost all equipment and vehicles for as long as I can remember. And we get down into the -20s, -30s, sometimes
worse. I try not to start an engine when its that cold , but I know I can if I have to. I fired up the 2090 Case yesterday with straight #30
in the crankcase but had the block heater plugged in overnight. One turn of the starter and it was going but I usually change it over to #10
most winters.
Just for fun I pulled the dipstick on the 52 Merc a few days ago when it was -5F in the shed (and -25 outside) and the 10w-30 in that old
flathead was pretty stiff. It did drip , eventually, off the dipstick but looked a bit like molasses.
 
We use 0W30 synthedic in our portable
air compressor so it will start in any
weather.
 
My block heaters heat the entire engine, hood and fuel. I know the oil is warm also. I cover the front of the tractor with a quilt to retain the heat.
 
My dad always ran 30w diesel engine oil in the summer and 10w30 diesel in the
winter. I still do it that way.
 
Well Mark the two oils are designed for two different engines (C vs S) aren't they? So why would you use diesel oil in a gasser? Just idle curiosity?
 
> Well Mark the two oils are designed for two different engines (C vs S) aren't they? So why would you use diesel oil in a gasser? Just idle curiosity?

I don't think I mentioned whether or not I used a diesel-rated oil. As I recall, the 15W-40 was Shell Rotella, and (at the time) carried both gas and diesel ratings. At any rate, any oil, gas or diesel, available in the past twenty years is going to be far superior to what was available when my tractor was built in '64.

An interesting side note: If check the ratings of the various "diesel" oils, you'll find many carry the "JASO MA" rating. That particular rating means the oil is suitable for use in motorcycles with wet clutches. Not many diesel motorcycles.
 
How can you tell from his post that there are 2 different kinds of oil? And why is one for diesel and one only for gas? I myself only run 10-40 all year around. Only have gas.
 
Some of the diesel oils still have the zinc additive, an advantage with flat tappet engines.

The gas oils have all taken zinc out, assuming nearly everything now is roller cam, and to be more compatible with emissions equipment.
 
When you say "some" oils still have the zinc additive, well some do but they are what might be called "specialty oils" these days. There are oils with zinc additive that you can buy for your classic or vintage cars that have flat-cam tappets, etc however they are very expensive compared to the regular stuff that tractor guys would purchase. I don't think any of the widely marketed national brand oils anymore have zinc additive. Occasionally here on YT, some mention that Shell Rotella diesel formula 15w-40 has the zinc additive but the fact is that it doesn't.
 
hd diesel oils used to be the best oil money could buy.. full of phosphorous and zinc anti wear additives. However now diesels have converters and sadly they have lower these additives..... So now hd diesel oil is only a bit better in the additive packages that a pure gas only oil. Diesel oils still have large amounts of anti clumping, anti acids, anti sluging, resistant to thickening, resistant to vaporizing.... that are a bit higher in specs so they will hold up to the hd soot and longer oil change intervals of a diesel engines,,, making them perfect for diesels and usually perfect for gas engines. Diesel oils may not be perfect for the slightly higher mpg that some lighter weight gas oils are designed for, as they are designed for longest life of engine over mpgs of say a 5w-20 oil...
 
I always switch to 5W-40 in the winter
for my 7.3 powerstroke and it is a huge
difference in starting ability over
15W-40. Don't forget, on the
powerstroke, you need that high
pressure oil pump to be able to
pressurize the oil for the injectors
rapidly on startup.
 
What little I know about oil I've read. It better to have a smaller first number in the winter so the oil flows faster in cold engine, better lubrication. A bigger first number could mean your engine is running without oil flowing in cold engine for a longer time. The last number is how fast it flows when oil is at 100C or 212F. The smaller the last number the faster it flows.

Many new engines are looking at zero for the first number and 20 for the second number.
 
For several years I've been running synthetic 0w-30 oil in my Kohler 16 hp grain auger engine. It stays thinner in the extreme cold and also stays very clean even after several years in the engine.
 
The starburst on the container with C this and that for compression ignited engines and S this and that for Spark ignited engines. The way "I" see it, its after the emissions, and better pressure film resistance being most diesels are high torquers (under square combustion chambers with high compressions) as compared to gassers.
 
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