Diesel generator oil change interval?

[rv_safetyman]

I am curious as to how often you folks service your diesel generators.  I have a Wrico 10kw with Kubota engine.  Dick says to change the oil every 200 hours. With the amount we have been using the generator recently, 200 hours seems to add up pretty quickly.

Perhaps 200 hours is a bit conservative if you think about the diesel engine for your bus.  For the Series 60, DD recommends oil changes at 15K miles which would be 250 hours at 60 MPH.

I know the obvious answer that oil is cheap, but I don't want to contribute too much to the oil companies.

Jim

[makemineatwostroke]

Jim, my Kubota engine manual recommends every 250hrs its a 4 cylinder,a 60 series used on a power plant is 300 hrs for oil change FWIW

[TomC]

If you want to translate generator hours into mileage, generally 40mpn is used.  So 200 hrs is the equivalent to 8000 miles; 250 hrs to 10,000 miles.  If you have a question as to that figure, I would suggest running 200 hrs and then get the oil analyzed.  Maybe it will be you can go longer, maybe say to go shorter.  But oil analysis is the only real accurate way of determining oil change interval since your usage will be different than others.  Good Luck, TomC

[H3Jim]

What cause the oil to need to be changed is contaminents.  The engines have different running characteristics, and different relative sump sizes as well, so I'm not sure that relative houirs is a fair comparison here.  I'd stick with the mfg, recommendations or get the oil tested.

I'm going on not changing often enough.  I finally have the required 50 hours for the first oil change, but it took me 3 years to get there.  I probalby should have changed it after  the first year.

[makemineatwostroke]

H3JIM, you are a 100% on follow the mfg.recommendations they spend thousands of dollars on each model of engine to do the testing for you and whats best for their engine

[PP]

What's the general consensus for oil change interval on an 892 Silver. Something tells me I'm supporting Big Oil a lot more than I need to. Sometimes I'm parked in a CG for up to 6 months at a time and only run her around an hour a month to keep her limber. Will

[Ncbob]

It's a difficult question but this might throw some light on it for you.

Consider that your car, going down the road, runs at 40 MPG. If you have a tach you would probably read 2000RPM, unless you have overdrive.

The generator runs at 1800 RPM (36 MPH) so at 100 hours is has run 3600 miles, at 150 hours 5400 miles.  Seems lie either would be a good interval to change oil.

Your choice......

Bob

[Len Silva]

I know a driver for entertainer coaches where the generator runs 24/7.  He changes the oil every Sunday which is 168 hours.

FWIW

Len

[Ednj]

The book for my diesel OHNO says 50 hrs for the first, then every 100 hrs.