best diesel motor oil for a MEP-802A ? Climate range 10 to 80 degrees

[JRM]

Yes it is ! That's why even with the synthetic oil I still use a "Zinc" additive in every oil change. People may laugh at my measures but I have engines, big and small (yard tractor for one) that are over 30 years old still going strong.

Fathers 1966 Craftsman Tecumseh powered lightweight magnesium mower (without all the safety BS) still going strong. Always used high zinc oils and changed yearly.

 

[rustystud]

Fathers 1966 Craftsman Tecumseh powered lightweight magnesium mower (without all the safety BS) still going strong. Always used high zinc oils and changed yearly.

I know I've become the "Town Crier" about Zinc additives, but almost all modern engines have roller cams. There is no need for the oil manufacturers to have an additional oil with zinc additives in it anymore. It is just "not" cost effective for them. So for those of us who run old engines with flat tappet cams we need to be sure to always add a Zinc additive to every oil change. For those who say their lawn mower engine still has flat tappets, well according to the industry those engines are throw-away engines. We all know this. That's why they say to get a new mower every 3 to 5 years. Usually the body rusts out before the engine dies anyway. Personally I like to keep all my equipment running good and strong, and that includes my lawn mower. So I even add a zinc additive to my mower engines.

 

[JRM]

its true most people never notice unless they are a money miser type who runs engines for the long haul- like my VW PD 1.9 that ate a cam a decade ago and the previous owner pretty much gave it to me due to the high repair bill totaling out the car. I stuffed a cam in it, used amsoil 3000 high zinc and racked up another 100k before selling it for $5000.00
I use ZDDP or lubro molly mos2 with great success. My gasser Honda civic D engine is well known to dish out the valve stems- I'm over 300k without any valve tick yet! I think this will be a 500K engine with ease

 

[Light in the Dark]

What exactly is the name of this additive?

 

[lonesouth]

regardless of dyno or synthetic, is an annual oil change the best bet or is that even necessary for a low use generator? I doubt I will ever hit the 250 hours recommended oil change interval in a single year.

 

[Guyfang]

Keep in mind that the military recommendation to change oil at 250 hours is for "cheap", run of the mill oil. If I put synthetic oil in my set, I would not change oil every 250 hours. What a waste of perfectly good oil.

 

[rustystud]

Keep in mind that the military recommendation to change oil at 250 hours is for "cheap", run of the mill oil. If I put synthetic oil in my set, I would not change oil every 250 hours. What a waste of perfectly good oil.

I totally agree with you Guyfang ! I usually change out my oil once every year. Even at that I could actually get away with changing it every two years easily since I always use a quality synthetic oil. I change it out yearly due to moisture getting into the oil from condensation.

 

[rustystud]

What exactly is the name of this additive?

There are several brands on the market. Just look for one that has a good concentration of zinc in it. I believe the one is use is called "ZDDP" .

 

[Bmxenbrett]

Mabe im missing something in my operators manual but what page does it have the oil change interval on?
I have manual tm 9 6115 641 10

 

[Chief_919]

I have had really, really good service from Tractor Supply's Traveler house brand oil in 15w40. I use it in pretty much everything, and when I started had oil analysis done on my CUCV at 5k, 10k, and 15k for two change cycles and it was still good at 15k both times, these days I just change at 12k unless I see an issue with the oil based on that prior experience and testing.

You can catch it around $38-42 a 5 gallon pail on sale.

 

[Guyfang]

Mabe im missing something in my operators manual but what page does it have the oil change interval on?
I have manual tm 9 6115 641 10

While I agree with Chief, todays oils are really so good that 10-15 thousand is a good figure to change by, The proper document to explain services and intervals is: LO 9-6115-641-12. It's in the TM upload section.

 

[Bmxenbrett]

Thsts the TM for the mep802a? 10k hrs seams like alot of hours before an oil change.

 

[Guyfang]

Yes that's the LO for the 802A.

I ment miles, with 12K.

I routinely ran gen sets for in excess of 6 K hours between oil changes, when we used AOAP. As long as the lab continued to tell me that the oil was good, we did not change it. At first it went against everything I had ever learned. But once I trusted the AOAP, (and we went to synthetic oil) we cut our oil usage down drastically. We ran 6-7 gen sets, 24/7 for months at a time. Often, we simply ran them until they broke. Then hooked up another. The new synthetic oils are just too good to toss out with a few hundred hours. Keep in mind, that the oils listed on the LO, are not synthetic oils. And as such, are in no way as long lasting as good synthetic oils. If you use cheap oil, the change intervals on the LO are a good figure to use.

 

[Bmxenbrett]

Found it, thank you. 250hrs on page 2-8

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,

Most users of a MEP-802A and MEP-803A will probably change the oil due to age (time) Unless you live off-grid and run the thing 250 hours or more year. There probably is no really good reason to put really high dollar oil in them. I could understand if the unit used 16 quarts of oil. But, with the MEP-802A needing 3.2 quarts for a oil change...

 

[Chief_919]

What exactly is the name of this additive?

This is the one I use.

 

[rustystud]

Howdy,

Most users of a MEP-802A and MEP-803A will probably change the oil due to age (time) Unless you live off-grid and run the thing 250 hours or more year. There probably is no really good reason to put really high dollar oil in them. I could understand if the unit used 16 quarts of oil. But, with the MEP-802A needing 3.2 quarts for a oil change...

Actually using a good synthetic will increase the life of your generator. I lived off grid for 12 years and went through a ton of generators during that time. We had the generator run 16 hours a day to keep the refrigerators running well and also for the well pump. When I switched to using the "Castrol Synthetic Oil" I increased my generators life by 33% to 50% ! One actually lasted for 2 years which was double the normal life. These where all propane Briggs & Stratton 16HP Vanguard engines.

 

[Bmxenbrett]

Actually using a good synthetic will increase the life of your generator. I lived off grid for 12 years and went through a ton of generators during that time. We had the generator run 16 hours a day to keep the refrigerators running well and also for the well pump. When I switched to using the "Castrol Synthetic Oil" I increased my generators life by 33% to 50% ! One actually lasted for 2 years which was double the normal life. These where all propane Briggs & Stratton 16HP Vanguard engines.

I have been reading on here for a while and remember you saying that. 50 percent is quite the amount of extra life. I think il just use rotella t3 and change it every other year or so. Thanks for the info

 

[Daybreak]

Howdy,

Just remember, the best thing you can do for the generator and oil is when you do run it, run it loaded and long enough to heat everything to full operating temp. A quicky start and run it 15 minutes will not do it any good. You are better off leaving it sit.

Living off-grid and really using it. That is a whole other ballgame.

 

[mlaxton]

I just changed mine to synthetic Rotella t-6 5 40 trying to get better longterm life out of oil

How did synthetic do in the long run?