Does anyone know what the oil capacity is on a D333 Caterpillar engine? I read that it is 7 Gal. in manual. That seems too be to much considering I put 6 Gal in to start and it was about a 1/4" below full mark running at low idle. Then added 1/2 Gal to bring it up to 6 1/2 Gal and its a tad over full mark now. Also anyone that has experience with this engine, what type of engine oil are you using? Application Caterpillar 966A wheel loader. Thanks.
I would say in depends on application due to number of filters, pan size etc. I'm not aware of an "all D333 engines are X gallons". What's it in? Original engine or a transplant?
Its the original engine in a 1963 Caterpillar 966A wheel loader.
I would agree, as the 966A is not shown in SIS I can not say what Cat would say for that application and looking at the Industrial or Marine applications that do show in SIS is of no help as they say 5 or 7 gallons depending on which one you look at. I would myself go by the running level on dipstick and not worry too much about the exact amount in quarts. As for what oil to use, unless you are running at strictly high or low ambient temperatures I would opt for a good 15W40 diesel oil. Something like Shell Rotella should be fine and easy to find on sale somewhere. That said I would imagine even the 15W-40 diesel oil sold at some place like Tractor Supply would be equal to or better than the oil that was available back when that D333 was new!
Ill take that into consideration thanks. Would a 1/2 Gal more or less hurt these old cat engines or is that nothing too worry about?
The danger of too much oil is that it will hit the crankshaft and aerate the oil. If it's that high it should be flinging out the dipstick while running. Less than a 1/4" high in that kind of engine wouldn't bother me at all.
Ok Thanks for the advice guys. I got the 7 Gal from my parts manual on the back page it gives a list of all capacities for the machine. Now I started flipping through my operators manual and found all of the capacities are different slightly from the parts book. Both books are for my machine, which I thought was unusual. Operators manual says 6 Gal and parts book says 7 Gal. So the operators book was more accurate in this case. I put 6 1/2 Gal in so I'm over 1/2 Gal. Its only over the full mark on dipstick by an 1/8"-1/4" though.
What you'll often (but not always) find in the manuals is the word "approximate" before the title "Refill Capacities". In days gone by it was a bit hit & miss, today it's always there. It's always best to fill any compartment to the dipstick, level plug, or sight glass, as appropriate and don't take too much heed of the approximate refill capacity. With diptsticks it's always good to make sure that the correct one is actually installed. Usually with Cat ones the part number is marked on them. As you are doing already the correct method to check the oil level is with the engine running at low idle. If the stick has markings on both sides the "Engine Stopped" side is only an indication that it's safe to start, not an indication that the oil is at the correct level.
Can I add, make sure the machine is on level ground. Even parking on a 5° slope in any direction can throw your dipstick reading off by ¼".