Recently purchased a Deere 200cLC excavator, have been working to get everything back to 100% on it. It had several leaks and while chasing them down have been topping off the tank with citgo transgard tractor hydraulic fluid. About to have all of the leaks stopped so I want to either use this or switch to the correct fluid. I have found two different manuals for the machine (both say for jd 200 CLC), one says use super ex 46HN hitachi excavator oil from John Deere, the other says to use Deere hy-guard or jd standard JDM J20c. The Citgo meets this j20c spec, can’t find if the it meets the 46HN spec. Will I have any problems running the citgo oil? Machine has 6k hours, no clue what was run up until now. Thanks.
You should be fine staying with the Citgo oil. JD and Hitachi really dropped the ball on hydraulic oil specs on all of their products for years. When you mix other oils with the 46HN ( Mobile 1 ) oil it's clear like water and when mixed with other oils it stains the oil a yellowish color and smells really bad. I've always thought it contributed to seal deterioration and caused leaks as well as operators complainting about the smell of the oil while operating the machine. Air is entering and leaving the reservoir constantly and it is not a pleasant smell. By the time anyone knew what the problem was they had approved of other oils for to long to change.their story.
Thanks, I’m about to change all of the hydraulic filters and I think I have to drain the tank anyway to change the strainer as it has to fit against the bottom
Make sure you bleed the pumps!
Regardless of oil brand you end up using, I believe the oil needs to be zinc free. The Hitachi super 46 is. Not sure on the JD Hygard. I use Mobil DTE 10 excel 46 on my 135 C RTS excavator.
Regarding bleeding the pumps, that is the two plugs on the top. I assume when the plugs are pulled. It will gravity flow out and as soon as I see fluid tighten the plugs.
This. If you don’t use zinc-free oil it could cost you dearly.