I have a 2012 CAT 252B3 with 2,400 hours on it and C3.4 engine s/n TNK01281 and yesterday while running the snow blower, the fan motor on the blower apparently lost its bearings and dyed all the snow coming out of the chute a nice hydraulic oil yellow. My plan was to buy CAT Hydo Advanced 10 to refill with but I just called the CAT dealer and they said to just put any 10w hydraulic oil in it. I have a jug of ISO 32 from Norther Tool here. I believe ISO 32 is 10w. Should I just run this or get the CAT Hydo Advanced? I guess I'm a sucker for CAT marketing and always assume the OEM stuff is the way to go.
Ok, reading through some past posts on here and maybe my ISO 32 isn't a quality grade. Northern Tool doesn't have "farm", "tractor", or "universal" in the name but it does have "tool" and "equipment" Since the machine is new to me in the last 600 hours. I'm thinking I should do a full hydraulic flush when I service it this spring. I'd do that flush with the CAT Advanced Hydo 10 and maybe just use this ISO 32 to get the machine back up to full until then. Or should I just do an SOS first to see what that comes back with? For all I know it was flushed right before I bought it. Thoughts? Also, we get to -30F and occasionally -40F here. I just read through my service manual and it said the Hydo Advanced 10 was good down to -5F. But the CAT dealer says any 10w for us so I'm assuming it's the best compromise and I've never had a hydraulic wine when starting in the cold anyhow.
Does it mention on the label any industry specifications that it meets.? Common ones are Vickers 35VQ25 or a couple of Dennison specs that I can't remember off the top of my head. If it doesn't meet any specs I would say don't use it. An SAE10W hydraulic from any major oil company would be more than acceptable. I think the "benefits" of HYDO Advanced oil as described by Cat are probably of no value to you. For one thing you will not be changing oil at 3000hr intervals (2000 + 50%) but based on time, 1 year. I can't see you putting 3000 hours on your machine in a year, or even 2000 for that matter. If you have an O&M Manual note carefully the requirement for scheduled oil sampling to take advantage of the extended drain intervals offered by Advanced HYFO oil. See the comments on this thread - HeavyEquipmentForums https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/content/Caterpillar/CM20150813-35930-61404