motor12 367 #1 Posted November 27, 2014 (edited) My Kohler K181 engine had not been well maintained when I got my 854. The first thing I did when I got her home was drain the oil and it was nasty. I put in fresh 30wt detergent, changer points plug and condenser then fired her up. over the next couple of weeks the engine was run about 45 min. total. Yesterday I started her up ran it for a bit to warm oil then drained the oil. I was surprised at how dirty the oil was, I guess the fresh detergent oil washed over the internals and flushed out all the carbon and crap. Edited November 27, 2014 by motor12 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
smoreau 658 #2 Posted November 27, 2014 Sounds like there is a lot of build up on the pan. Most likely from non detergent oil used back in the day. I have pulled a few pans with more then 1/4" of hard crud that took some work to get it all out. I recommend you Chang the oil again after running it for a while. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fordiesel69 214 #3 Posted November 28, 2014 If you do not want to rebuild, pull the pan and wash. The new oil will clean this up and circulate it around accelerating wear. Yes new oils have very effective detergents, hence engines easily staying spotless for 100K miles. Shell Rotella T1 SAE 30 is about as good as it gets for a mono grade oil. You would have to get into the 5w-40 synthetic diesel oil to get any better. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Red-Bovine 289 #4 Posted November 28, 2014 The idea of using non-detergent oil was to allow the comtaminants in the oil (including carbon and metal particulate) to be suspended in the oil and cling to the non-moving insides of the motor. This was by design for motors without forced oiling and without a filtration system. The particulate would be stuck in sludge and do less harm in the motor by being immobilized. When you use a detergent motor oil in a motor that was used to having these contaminants clinging in the insides, you run the risk of loosening years of particulate and crud and damaging your engine with old, formerly immobilized material. Non-detergent oil does have it's purpose for these older and simpler designs without forced oil systems. If you feel you must use a detergent oil in these motors, it is a good idea to thoroughly clean them out first or start them on a diet of detergent oil early in life and change the oil more often to rid the particulate that will stay mobile in the engine. Particulate in motor oil needs to be either immobilized or filtered out. Red 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
motor12 367 #5 Posted November 28, 2014 Since I first posted this I have done three oil changes on my K181 with detergent 30WT oil. I would bring the engine up to temp. then drop the oil and each time it was cleaner and cleaner. Now that I have run a gallon of detergent oil thru would it be wise to return to 30 WT non- detergent. I do not know what type of oil was run in her before I purchased the 854. The motor does not smoke or rattle and I want to keep it that way if I can.Thanks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lagersolut 613 #6 Posted November 28, 2014 Shell Rotella T1 SAE 30 is about as good as it gets for a mono grade oil. You would have to get into the 5w-40 synthetic diesel oil to get any better. Last time I made an oil run to Wal Mart for my small engines ( I've always bought SAE 30 Penzoil or Castrol in qts ) I had a gallon ( tired of buying qts @ 5 /pop ) of that in my hand - my fear of change and not being familiar with the product put it back down ...... Next time I do my oil run I'll be buying 2 -3 gallons of Rotella and say goodby to quarts . 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fordiesel69 214 #7 Posted November 29, 2014 The idea of using non-detergent oil was to allow the comtaminants in the oil (including carbon and metal particulate) to be suspended in the oil and cling to the non-moving insides of the motor. This was by design for motors without forced oiling and without a filtration system. The particulate would be stuck in sludge and do less harm in the motor by being immobilized. When you use a detergent motor oil in a motor that was used to having these contaminants clinging in the insides, you run the risk of loosening years of particulate and crud and damaging your engine with old, formerly immobilized material. Non-detergent oil does have it's purpose for these older and simpler designs without forced oil systems. If you feel you must use a detergent oil in these motors, it is a good idea to thoroughly clean them out first or start them on a diet of detergent oil early in life and change the oil more often to rid the particulate that will stay mobile in the engine. Particulate in motor oil needs to be either immobilized or filtered out. Red This is great and all, but it is tough to find a QUALITY brand of non detergent. All I have seen is API service SA, SB, SC. Nothing better. You cannot run those API ratings in these engines as they do not contain proper anti wear additives. If you could get a good quality oil minus the detergent, that really would be a great thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites