2021 L3901 engine oil change

[OldcrowP51]

Excluding the initial 50 hour service the manual for my L3901 says to change engine oil and filter every 400 hours.
This is also documented on Kubota service videos.

Looking on Kubota web site maintenance schedule is says every 200 hours. This schedule is generic and does not indicate what machine it is referencing.

Your thoughts, 400 hours seems excessive.

 

[85Hokie]

Most here will change oil ...yearly or 50+ hours.

Tis cheap insurance to have fresh oil and clean filter. At 30 bucks or more you cannot go wrong.

 

[bearskinner]

I do my motor oil every 100.
that turns into about once a year

 

[mcfarmall]

If you used your tractor for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week you'd be doing an oil change every 10 weeks. When you look at it that way it doesn't seem so bad.

But most of us on this forum don't use our tractors that heavily so I go with the 100 hours/once per year schedule.

 

[mattwithcats]

When I was in the military, they used 50 hours conventional, 100 hours semi synthetic, and 200 hours synthetic…

 

[The Evil Twin]

400 hours is roughly equivalent to 12,000 road miles. Being that rpm is relatively constant unlike a car, 400 isn't out of the realm of comfort IF it's no more than a year. Most oil suppliers say no more than a year of service regardless of miles. For me, it'll be annual because I won't see that many hours in a year.

 

[fried1765]

400 hours is roughly equivalent to 12,000 road miles. Being that rpm is relatively constant unlike a car, 400 isn't out of the realm of comfort IF it's no more than a year. Most oil suppliers say no more than a year of service regardless of miles. For me, it'll be annual because I won't see that many hours in a year.

I consider average road speed to be 40 mph.
40 mph for 400 hours would equal 16,000 miles.

 

[The Evil Twin]

I consider average road speed to be 40 mph.
40 mph for 400 hours would equal 16,000 miles.

I used ridetowork.org average of 32 nationally. Then, admittedly, rounded down to make the math easier in my head.

 

[Fordtech86]

I used ridetowork.org average of 32 nationally. Then, admittedly, rounded down to make the math easier in my head.

FWIW, Ford uses 25 miles per hour of use as spec for our purposes

 

[GeoHorn]

(except where specified otherwise such as the wife’s car)…I’m a conventional-oil user and change liquid-cooled engines at 5K miles on the odometer…or 100 hrs on the tach…or annually… air-cooled engines at 25 hrs or annually.

What I do with my equipment has absolutely NO BEARING on what others might choose to do… or what mfr’s might specify… But my two oldest air-cooled engines date back more than 60 years each (admittedly with regular mx)… and my experience with autos has taken one of them well-past 15-years and 330,000 miles with ordinary CHEAP SUPERTECH conventional oil…(before it got smashed in a wreck.)…and my other vehicles ALL go past 200K without burning oil.

You might say I’m not a proponent of any particular brand of oil since the 1973 oil embargo…. as long as it’s conventional, meets ILSAC / API standards and is cheap.

Kubota published the following for my model: (note that the filter is only recommended every OTHER oil change…. I change it each time tho’…can’t see running fresh oil thru a dirty filter or keeping a 1/2 qt of dirty oil in-service.):

 

[retired farmer]

Once upon a time, I read somewhere that the shipper, UPS decided to start changing oil in their delivery trucks to every 6K miles instead of the factory specified 3K, because it was too costly and did little to lengthen the life of the vehicles.
As for my L3301, the oil/filter service gets once a year, usually about 150 hrs, give or take.

rr

 

[The Evil Twin]

FWIW, Ford uses 25 miles per hour of use as spec for our purposes

That is pretty close to what my Super Duty is when you divide the odometer by total hours. The idle hours are about 14% of the total hours since I don't shut down when fueling if I'm towing or the temps are extreme (summer/ winter). What's interesting is that I mostly tow with it, so I expected a higher average.

 

[fried1765]

(except where specified otherwise such as the wife’s car)…I’m a conventional-oil user and change liquid-cooled engines at 5K miles on the odometer…or 100 hrs on the tach…or annually… air-cooled engines at 25 hrs or annually.

What I do with my equipment has absolutely NO BEARING on what others might choose to do… or what mfr’s might specify… But my two oldest air-cooled engines date back more than 60 years each (admittedly with regular mx)… and my experience with autos has taken one of them well-past 15-years and 330,000 miles with ordinary CHEAP SUPERTECH conventional oil…(before it got smashed in a wreck.)…and my other vehicles ALL go past 200K without burning oil.

You might say I’m not a proponent of any particular brand of oil since the 1973 oil embargo…. as long as it’s conventional, meets ILSAC / API standards and is cheap.

Kubota published the following for my model: (note that the filter is only recommended every OTHER oil change…. I change it each time tho’…can’t see running fresh oil thru a dirty filter or keeping a 1/2 qt of dirty oil in-service.):

View attachment 91690

Back when synthetic oil was relatively new, MB offered a free oil change for every one of their vehicles still under warranty.
THAT was not CHEAP, and I suspect they they did not offer it just for fun!

 

[sheepfarmer]

Seems like I remember that the dpf regeneration process can dilute the oil with a little diesel, depending on method and tractor type. So another factor to consider depending on how the tractor is used.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Seems like I remember that the dpf regeneration process can dilute the oil with a little diesel, depending on method and tractor type. So another factor to consider depending on how the tractor is used.

It shouldn't. Fuel is injected on the exhaust stroke of the cylinder or directly into the exhaust stream.

 

[sheepfarmer]

It shouldn't. Fuel is injected on the exhaust stroke of the cylinder or directly into the exhaust stream.

Yes it shouldn't, but it can if regen is interrupted. I looked in the L3560 owners manual to see where I got the idea, and it mentions that unnecessarily starting and interrupting regen will cause a small amount of fuel to mix with engine oil, thus "degrading the oil quality". Over the years there have been lots of new owners that have trouble managing the regeneration process or for other reasons turn their tractors off without it completing the regen.

 

[The Evil Twin]

Yes it shouldn't, but it can if regen is interrupted. I looked in the L3560 owners manual to see where I got the idea, and it mentions that unnecessarily starting and interrupting regen will cause a small amount of fuel to mix with engine oil, thus "degrading the oil quality". Over the years there have been lots of new owners that have trouble managing the regeneration process or for other reasons turn their tractors off without it completing the regen.

Ah, ok. Well, I see that, but the regen itself doesn't. It's improper operation
I let everything finish Regens. Even if it means I have to keep driving for a little longer.