Oil for a Yanmar 100HP TURBO diesel

[ip485]

What would the collective opinion be on the best oil to use please, given happy to pay more for a quality oil.

Would the recommendation be to use a different oil in a tropical climate?

Thank you.

(As you can guess about to do an oil change, and the boat maybe based in the tropics in months to come).

I also have a 8KW Fischer Panda Genset - thoughts on the oil for this would be appreciated on the same basis.

 

[VicS]

See the owner's manual, which you can down load from https://www.barrus.co.uk/divisions/marine/diesel/yanmar-marine/manual-downloads/ if you have mislaid your copy.

ITYWF that the engine oil spec will be an SAE 10W30 or 15W40 multigrade and API category CD or better. 15W40 if ambient temps are 30 to 40C

See the manual for the generator. ITYWF the same oil will be suitable . ( https://fischerpanda.com/downloads/

Richard S will probably suggest synthetic oils and not to worry if the oil change intervals are extended a bit

 

[ip485]

VicS - thank you. I should have said I had consulted the mnauals.

I guess it was more a matter of whether it was worth a better quality, branded or synthetic oil? Also whether the temperature makes a difference?

 

[Skylark]

Richard S will probably suggest synthetic oils and not to worry if the oil change intervals are extended a bit

Probably based upon his lifetime experience as a Tribologist working with internal combustion engines

I guess it was more a matter of whether it was worth a better quality, branded or synthetic oil? Also whether the temperature makes a difference?

Personally, I’d stick to the API spec and viscosity rating recommended by the manufacturer.

Yanmar invested millions of dollars in R&D in order to make their recommendation and I can’t imagine that many on here have the knowledge, experience or resource to know better. Just my humble opinion after a career within the automotive supplier industry.

 

[vyv_cox]

No doubt you have found that API-CD is obsolete and nowadays almost unobtainable, at least in UK from well-known manufacturers. API CF-4 has been used by many as the next grade up. I believe that API CI-4 may now be the grade of choice as its base number (TBN) is lower in recognition of ultra-low sulfur in diesel fuel. Marketed by all the well-known hydrocarbons producers.

 

[VicS]

Probably based upon his lifetime experience as a Tribologist working with internal combustion engines


Personally, I’d stick to the API spec and viscosity rating recommended by the manufacturer.

Yanmar invested millions of dollars in R&D in order to make their recommendation and I can’t imagine that many on here have the knowledge, experience or resource to know better. Just my humble opinion after a career within the automotive supplier industry.

I don't think anyone is considering or suggesting an oil other than one which complies with the engine manufacturer's recommendations for viscosity grade and API category although, as Vyv points out API CD is now obsolete

Some thought about fuel quality , in particular sulfur content, in faraway places may be prudent because some of the more recent API category oils are only intended for use with low sulfur fuel.

A synthetic oil might be worthwhile if it allows the time interval between oil changes to be stretched a little if one becomes due in some place where it's not convenient.

 

[RichardS]

Richard S will probably suggest synthetic oils and not to worry if the oil change intervals are extended a bit

Not just me Vic .... there are a growing number of us on here who have questioned the "received wisdom" and found it wanting. I first did that 40 years ago but someone has got to be in the vanguard. :encouragement:

One day, some years in the future, people will look back at all the recommendations on here to use the cheapest supermarket oil you can find and wonder what those old troopers were smokin'.

Richard

 

[vyv_cox]

One day, some years in the future, people will look back at all the recommendations on here to use the cheapest supermarket oil you can find and wonder what those old troopers were smokin'.

Richard

Why is that then? How many engines have failed due to using cheap oil? My engine has done 2700 hours, all of them on API CD oil. It consumes none in a season and is utterly reliable. I know several charter lead boats that have done more than 15,000 hours, all on the cheapest oil available. Modern oils, even the cheapest, are perfectly adequate for the vadt majority.

 

[RichardS]

Why is that then? How many engines have failed due to using cheap oil? My engine has done 2700 hours, all of them on API CD oil. It consumes none in a season and is utterly reliable. I know several charter lead boats that have done more than 15,000 hours, all on the cheapest oil available. Modern oils, even the cheapest, are perfectly adequate for the vadt majority.

I'm being somewhat tongue in cheek, of course ..... but future generations might wonder about the Earth's resources which were wasted with all those oil unnecessary changes when we could have been changing oil every few years and/or every 1000 hours, like my new car.

Richard

 

[pvb]

VicS - thank you. I should have said I had consulted the mnauals.

I guess it was more a matter of whether it was worth a better quality, branded or synthetic oil? Also whether the temperature makes a difference?

The manuals were written 10+ years ago, before the improved oil grades were available. As your 4JH4-HTE engine is turbocharged, I'd choose a synthetic oil ideally, in order to achieve better thermal stability. I ran a turbocharged Volvo Penta for around 20 years in my last boat, and I used synthetic oil in that with no problems. You don't need to pay Mobil 1 prices; Halfords have some good own-brand synthetics.

 

[RichardS]

I'd choose a synthetic oil ideally, in order to achieve better thermal stability. I ran a turbocharged Volvo Penta for around 20 years in my last boat, and I used synthetic oil in that with no problems. You don't need to pay Mobil 1 prices; Halfords have some good own-brand synthetics.

+1 to all of that.

Richard

 

[Old Harry]

The manuals were written 10+ years ago, before the improved oil grades were available. As your 4JH4-HTE engine is turbocharged, I'd choose a synthetic oil ideally, in order to achieve better thermal stability. I ran a turbocharged Volvo Penta for around 20 years in my last boat, and I used synthetic oil in that with no problems. You don't need to pay Mobil 1 prices; Halfords have some good own-brand synthetics.

Agreed, the OPs engine is less stressed than an average 100bhp road car