Onan BFA Oil - Why not 20W-50?
Note: Our typical camping climate range runs from 10F to 115F (if we go to Redding, CA in the summer... otherwise up to about 105 in Southern Oregon.) Clearly Onan/Cummins have updated their recom...
Forum Discussion
Cd Obregon, Sonora, to Las Vegas, Nevada...
112 - 122 degrees Fahrenheit. When I got to Laughlin Nevada at three minutes past midnight the temperature was close to 100 degrees. Dawn brought 91 degrees.
Despite the fact that an "Oh-Man" RV generator is air cooled and my Dodge Spirit is water-cooled, an oil temperature in excess of 240 degrees is exactly that - throw water at the oil pan and it boils off.
The Mitsubishi 3.0 engine has (to this day) never seen anything but 5W-30 petroleum motor oil.
That stint plus a hundred more during days of 100+F should have taken it's toll on the lifespan of my engine. For the last seven years. But the engine goes 3,000 miles and consumes one half quart of motor oil, the same as it did when brand new.
Ooooooo this is impossible. According to SAE weight/temperature oil perfectionists, my engine is bleaching its bones in some arid arroyo, seized up like a 14-year old in a cathouse.
Onan marketed their own brand of oil and pushed it hard for many years. It was relabeled GULF, ENGINE LUBE OIL, with a 300% markup.
Me? A skeptic? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
During my days in Montana, my uncle used straight 10W engine oil in all mowers, hay conditioners, The Farm Hand, cars, pickups, everything. Summer temps reached above 100F. We won't talk about post blizzard thermometer breakers.
Too heavy an oil may well be a principal contributor to shortened engine life.
Brands? 35 years ago I "tried" a free 5-quarts of Pennzoil 20W/50 in a 1972 Chevy pickup truck. The California coast. Summer. Local driving. 400+ miles later the oil light came on. More than 4 quarts had been "consumed". I immediately switched back to Castrol 20W/50 and never had a problem for the next six years. And no, there were no leaks. The bottom end of the engine was dry as dust and me, with my own fingers had done the oil changes and verified the dipstick. I will not allow Pennzoil on my property.
I have had too many "Onan Moments" and suffered through too many air cooled V-4 36-HP Wisconsin generator hiccups to be easily fooled.
The "best" oil for air cooled engines is "ash-free" oil. Air cooled aircraft engines are the most demanding engines on the face of the earth. I chose AEROSHELL 80, 100, or 120 depending on temperature. There are sections of an air cooled engine's combustion chamber that exceeds that of an air-cooled engine. High temperature is conducive to the formation of ash. You want fun? Run non ash free oil in an Onan generator (Most of what I was forced to work on was 12+Kw). Ash starts preignition then combustion detonation. An Onan piston is no stronger than any other (just three times as costly).
About the time viable alcohol ester synthetic oil hit the market I had retired.
Slowly, Mexico is weaning itself off of straight weight 40 oil. 5W/30 and even 0-30 synthetic is not uncommon.
I am personally convinced that too heavy a grade oil, really REALLY screws up any engine due to lack of lubrication during startup. Now think about the duty of an onboard generator.
My Kubota and my 400NTC Cummins both get Delo 400 15W/40 oil. But this is the tropics. If I lived in Matingmooses NWT Canada, I would consider a lighter grade of Delo.
BTW a real fire-breathing enginner at Transamerica De Lavalle explained to me how too heavy an oil will (not "can") bind up the oil scraper and expander rings in one of their 10,000 HP engines.
Food for thought...
112 - 122 degrees Fahrenheit. When I got to Laughlin Nevada at three minutes past midnight the temperature was close to 100 degrees. Dawn brought 91 degrees.
Despite the fact that an "Oh-Man" RV generator is air cooled and my Dodge Spirit is water-cooled, an oil temperature in excess of 240 degrees is exactly that - throw water at the oil pan and it boils off.
The Mitsubishi 3.0 engine has (to this day) never seen anything but 5W-30 petroleum motor oil.
That stint plus a hundred more during days of 100+F should have taken it's toll on the lifespan of my engine. For the last seven years. But the engine goes 3,000 miles and consumes one half quart of motor oil, the same as it did when brand new.
Ooooooo this is impossible. According to SAE weight/temperature oil perfectionists, my engine is bleaching its bones in some arid arroyo, seized up like a 14-year old in a cathouse.
Onan marketed their own brand of oil and pushed it hard for many years. It was relabeled GULF, ENGINE LUBE OIL, with a 300% markup.
Me? A skeptic? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
During my days in Montana, my uncle used straight 10W engine oil in all mowers, hay conditioners, The Farm Hand, cars, pickups, everything. Summer temps reached above 100F. We won't talk about post blizzard thermometer breakers.
Too heavy an oil may well be a principal contributor to shortened engine life.
Brands? 35 years ago I "tried" a free 5-quarts of Pennzoil 20W/50 in a 1972 Chevy pickup truck. The California coast. Summer. Local driving. 400+ miles later the oil light came on. More than 4 quarts had been "consumed". I immediately switched back to Castrol 20W/50 and never had a problem for the next six years. And no, there were no leaks. The bottom end of the engine was dry as dust and me, with my own fingers had done the oil changes and verified the dipstick. I will not allow Pennzoil on my property.
I have had too many "Onan Moments" and suffered through too many air cooled V-4 36-HP Wisconsin generator hiccups to be easily fooled.
The "best" oil for air cooled engines is "ash-free" oil. Air cooled aircraft engines are the most demanding engines on the face of the earth. I chose AEROSHELL 80, 100, or 120 depending on temperature. There are sections of an air cooled engine's combustion chamber that exceeds that of an air-cooled engine. High temperature is conducive to the formation of ash. You want fun? Run non ash free oil in an Onan generator (Most of what I was forced to work on was 12+Kw). Ash starts preignition then combustion detonation. An Onan piston is no stronger than any other (just three times as costly).
About the time viable alcohol ester synthetic oil hit the market I had retired.
Slowly, Mexico is weaning itself off of straight weight 40 oil. 5W/30 and even 0-30 synthetic is not uncommon.
I am personally convinced that too heavy a grade oil, really REALLY screws up any engine due to lack of lubrication during startup. Now think about the duty of an onboard generator.
My Kubota and my 400NTC Cummins both get Delo 400 15W/40 oil. But this is the tropics. If I lived in Matingmooses NWT Canada, I would consider a lighter grade of Delo.
BTW a real fire-breathing enginner at Transamerica De Lavalle explained to me how too heavy an oil will (not "can") bind up the oil scraper and expander rings in one of their 10,000 HP engines.
Food for thought...
