Replacement Generator

[beancounterman]

One final comment, and then I'll shut up! ;-)

I agree that oil is relatively cheap. Detroit and Cat both recommend changing
oil in coach
engines at 15,000 miles intervals, a couple of times a year or less for most.
This is no big
hassle, and complete periodic maintenance with a good inspection twice a year is
prudent
for a lot of reasons. But changing the lube oil in a gen set every 150 hours,
like
manufacturers recommend, can be a real pain. If one is running the gen set 24/7,
for
example, that is every six days! At 8 hours a day, it takes less than three
weeks to reach
150 hours.

If the use of synthetic lube oils supported with oil sampling allows 300 hour or
500 hour
drain intervals (roughly equivilent to 18,000 to 30,000 miles), this would be a
real benefit
and convenience for a significant number of folks, those who put a lot of hours
on their
gen sets. (Newell uses synthetic Mobil for the initial factory fill and at their
service center
for both gen sets and main engines. They don't recommend extended drain
intervals
because of possible conflicts with original equipment warranties, but do use
synthetics as
added insurance against owners going over 150 hours or 15,000 miles without
realizing
the consequences.)

I also think the gen set manufacturers are a little behind the eight ball
regarding the
possibility of extending the drain intervals using modern lubricants. The last
time I looked
at a Kohler owner's manual, I recall that the lube oil recommendation
recommended a lube
oil SAE classification that was long obsolete, about ten years out of date!

Anyway, I now have a project. I'm going to dig into the current recommendations
of Cat
and Yanmar/Kohler/Power Tech to see if they will bless extended drain intervals
if
synthetics are used, with or without oil sampling.

Bean

--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, randydupree wrote:
> thats up to you! i don't know if the labs are credible,so i change my oil.its
just one thing
less to worrie about! i used to do oil samples on 100 trucks a year,but,i still
changed the
oil every month..oil is not that expensive!! my two cents..(smile!!)
randydupree93wb
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: beancounterman
> To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 9:10 PM
> Subject: Re: Fw: [WanderlodgeForum] Replacement Generator
>
>
> Randy, interesting story. However, I'm not confident that it is credible. If
you read
Detroit
> Diesel's service bulletin regarding their lube oil recommendations, they
discuss
extended
> drain intervals, as I recall in the context of using synthetic oils. In any
case, Detroit will
> allow extended oil drain intervals IF SUPPORTED BY OIL SAMPLING. In
addition, several
> years ago, I was aware of a test program in which Mobil Delvac 1, a
multi-vis oil and as
> such not normally approved for the 92 Series engines, was used in a fleet of
92 Series
> Detroit Diesels. Detroit and Mobil both relyed on oil sampling to judge
whether the
Delvac
> 1 was suitable. The oil performed superbly, but Detroit never published
approval for it.
>
> Beancounterman
>
>
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, randydupree wrote:
> > oil samples! heres a good story on that,on the TDR forum a guy bought a
new dodge
> diesel truck,and he decided to send oil samples off instead of changing oil
every 3000
> miles or so,so,he sends 3 samples off every time to 3 different places to
get them
> analized,blackstone labs,cat and another one.all 3 came back everytime with
three
> completely different reports,none of them were the same,not even close.this
thread
went
> on for years,up to 20,000 miles on the truck before the guy gave up.he said
that its
way
> better to change your oil and trust that the new oil was good rather than
trust the labs
to
> do it right and get you back the results from your oil,not someone else's..i
change my
> oil.its way cheaper in the end,IMHO....randydupree93wb
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: beancounterman
> > To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> > Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2005 9:47 AM
> > Subject: Re: Fw: [WanderlodgeForum] Replacement Generator
> >
> >
> > Some quick comments.
> >
> > I have about 30 years experience around big coaches with diesel
generators. In the
> early
> > years, these gensets were virtually all Perkins powered. Later, Yamar
has been the
little
> > diesel engine of choice. Anyway, both brands have been almost
bullet-proof from
the
> > reliability standpoint. In addition, they are long-lived to the point
that very few get
to
> the
> > point of needing overhaul or replacement. I'd guess that in most cases,
10,000
hours
> is
> > attainable, maybe more.
> >
> > Regarding oil change intervals, how about doing oil sampling to validate
extended
> change
> > intervals rather than guessing? I think any large generator or truck
shop can take
> periodic
> > samples and send them to a good lab until you validate an extended
interval. I'd
also
> > suggest using a major brand diesel synthetic lube oil like Mobil Delvac
1 if you're
going
> for
> > extended change intervals.
> >
> > Beancounterman
>
>
>
>
>
>
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