which oil to use

[2414.ginger]

Can anyone tell me the difference between 15/30 and 15/40 engine oils? and which is best?

The service manual for my JCB 801.4 kindly sent me by rob-b tells me to use 15/40 for the engine, and hydraulic fluid 46 to work the arms, I can get confused quite easily

Also is there any preference between hydraulic oil and hydraulic fluid?

Any knowledgeable hints if you can please.

Thanks Pete

[Muz]

Any 15/30 oil 'for' diesels should be fine .. the 40 may be for hotter climates.. as it is more viscous at higher temperatures... as to the Hydraulics .. Oils/fluids should be the same thing as long as they are the correct grade .. lots of manufacturers have different names for their products which leads to confusion. I use a Castrol AWS 32 Hydraulic oil for excavators, again viscosity is important, but also other properties such as low foaming, and non compressibility factors identify this type of oil from others in its correct application.

Again confusion reigns .. because for quite a few years agricultural manufacturers were using engine oils in engines and back ends !! .. but its not the case in excavators .. the engine oil is always a different type, and grade to the hydraulics, and so to is the oil in the track motors (usually a gear oil) and slew .

Some manufacturers such as Kubota however dont use any gear oil in their 'smallest' track motor hubs on later K008's, because they dont have reduction gear boxes, and are just straight hydraulic motors .. it pays to check and do a bit of research

[jackpreacher]

Hello Pete
i found out the hard way how confusing the oil grades/names are. In my case I had put the wrong grade of hydraulic oil in the tank and the hydraulics were so sluggish as to be unusable. Plus it costs £50 a refill.

As Muz says, check the manual and even ring up the oil manufacturers to triple check -they'll most likely have your machine on a database with their brand of recommended oil. Good luck

[Wazza]

Try entering your make and model into this website ,or any other oil supplier of choice and I think you will find answers .
http://ew5.earlweb.com/search.php?site=6

[2414.ginger]

Thanks all
That link you sent Wazza is brilliant, its all on there in black and white, for absolutely everything I have.
Thanks for that.
Pete

[Wazza]

Thanks Pete ,I have always found the oil manufacturers websites very informative ,but some of them seem to make the information tricky to find ..

[jackpreacher]

Try entering your make and model into this website ,or any other oil supplier of choice and I think you will find answers .
http://ew5.earlweb.com/search.php?site=6

I shoulda gone to SpecSavers.....

[Dan]

Try entering your make and model into this website ,or any other oil supplier of choice and I think you will find answers .
http://ew5.earlweb.com/search.php?site=6

Good link that

[ianoz]

Good link that

Steady on Dan , You don't want to Swell his head TOO much .

[Wazza]

Steady on Dan , You don't want to Swell his head TOO much .

TOOOOOOOOOO LATE .........Sadly I receive no financial reward for directing traffic to them ,neither does MUZ .....