EEEK! Problems with Carrier....GULP

[ConfusedMuse]

Ack! Wouldn't you know it... Just cause we thought we'd be proactive and change our oil on our APU ( ourselves of course to save money) all these other problems arise.
Well, anyways long story short, anyone know what kind/size of oil filter do we need? There
are no identifying marks, no numbers, nothing. Not even a normal way to undo the darn
thing, none of the oil filter wrenches can even get into the teeny tiny space! Any Ideas??
Thanks

 

[greg334]

Call Carrier and ask for their part number or if the carrier dealer is good he will give you competitors filter numbers.

I think the engine is a kubota.

 

[Slo-Ride]

Ack! Wouldn't you know it... Just cause we thought we'd be proactive and change our oil on our APU ( ourselves of course to save money) all these other problems arise. none of the oil filter wrenches can even get into the teeny tiny space! Any Ideas??
Thanks

Follow Greg's advice first
What kinda filter,,spin-on or canister type??
If the tools are to expensive 1 lil trick to remove spin-on oil filter is,,
Using a sturdy screwdriver or tapered drift punch,,Drive it thru the filter housing near the filter adapter at such an angle it allows you to turn the filter (messy but it works)...assumming it has spin on filter..
If filter is in a canister (it should have some sort of retaining bolt going thru center of canister),,,
Well your properly going to find out how per hour Carrier gets to service it if ya cant get it off.G/luck with it.

 

[ConfusedMuse]

It's the canister type, and call Carrier... been there done that to no avail, but, thanks.
All we did was empty the oil out, and fill it back up. What a difference in the color though,
I mean the stuff we drained out was thick and black, I'd expect that if the darn thing had run foreverrrrrr.......... but maybe 60 hours absolutely tops, so we are going to run this for awhile, like a couple of days, then do it again.

 

[greg334]

Now look at the engine itself, if I remember right the engine has a data plate on it with the manufacture and model number.

Oh yea the filter 'socket' should get it from the bottom.

 

[spudhead911]

the oil filter is a spin on you can get at it by taking off the upper and lower diamond plate covers, you need to do it anyway to change the fuel filter. NAPA catties both filters. On the engine is a plate with the model number, write it down and give it to the counter guy. The engine is a kobota. Also just gp to a speedco they have the filters there, that is where we have our Comfort Pro serviced. It costs $25 to have it serviced there. They can also give you the filter numbers if you call them. A small filter wrench fits our oil filter just fine, we use the kind that fits on the bottom of the filter and you turn it using a retchet. I use to do the PM on ours myself but it is easier to have speedco do it when we have ouur PM done on the truck. Speeedco will need to know if you have the 5000 or 6000 series model APU if you call them for the number.

 

[ccrider]

We have a Carrier APU that we too thought we'd service our self. I went to a Carrier shop and bought all the filters (or so I thought) and changed the oil several times.

Then the belt broke and it took out nearly all of the wiring harness (great design). It still being under warranty we called the closest Carrier shop to have this all fixed. Our luck was that it happened on a weekend and even though we drove in to the shop, the "call out" service was not covered by the warranty. $$435 later we had our APU back in service.

This lasted until a small fuel filter failed and shut us down again. This one is so small I didn't notice it.

We then decided to take the truck in for the complete APU belts and oil services on the 1000 hour. (only a cost of $125) The only problem is that Carrier has basically shut down their commitment to customer service. Twice we have been close enough to home (B'ham AL) that we called ahead and were told they were too busy to service the unit. Of course they would let us leave the truck and see when they could get to it (like we can afford to leave the truck for days while they consider how to fit a half-hour job into their schedule).

Today I stopped in without calling. Two of the three bays were empty and I was told they are too busy but I could leave the truck. BS.

They let go half their shop staff are now closed on weekends too. I guess servicing APUs don't pay the bills for them either.

I have had it with Carrier. Next time it will be something else.

 

[Slo-Ride]

All we did was empty the oil out, and fill it back up. What a difference in the color though,
I mean the stuff we drained out was thick and black, I'd expect that if the darn thing had run foreverrrrrr.......... but maybe 60 hours absolutely tops, so we are going to run this for awhile, like a couple of days, then do it again.

Any time ya add clean oil it don't hurt anything, but with out changing the filters all ya accomplished was to bring up the viscosity back to where it belongs..I would concentrate on getting the filter changed before dumping any more oil in it..(other then make-up oil)
As far as thick and black,,,
Thick is a good thing unless ya changed hot oil then it should have been thiner.
Black,, some of that can be called normal,,,But excess (Black Sludge) Isn't to good,,Soot build??exhaust piped to close to air intake??? Eng problem?? If your not the original owner hopefully its just due to lack of maintenance from other owner,,all the more reason to get that filter off...
Not trying to scare ya into a big repair bill here

 

[spudhead911]

Any time ya add clean oil it don't hurt anything, but with out changing the filters all ya accomplished was to bring up the viscosity back to where it belongs..I would concentrate on getting the filter changed before dumping any more oil in it..(other then make-up oil)
As far as thick and black,,,
Thick is a good thing unless ya changed hot oil then it should have been thiner.
Black,, some of that can be called normal,,,But excess (Black Sludge) Isn't to good,,Soot build??exhaust piped to close to air intake??? Eng problem?? If your not the original owner hopefully its just due to lack of maintenance from other owner,,all the more reason to get that filter off...
Not trying to scare ya into a big repair bill here

Thick is NOT good, thick IS sludge, black is ok, when the oil turns thick it loses its viscosticy (spelling) and can wreck the engine. Without changing the filters you leave the buildup of sludge in the old oil filter, not a good thing. The sludge is from not doing regular PM on the APU. Sludge is thick and gritty, can sometimes be as thick as thin or even heavy mud. All engine oil turns black from lubricating the engine and because you never empty all oil when you do an oil change, there is always a little left in the bottom of the pan.

 

[highway star]

Thick and black after only 60 hours? That ain't right. Did you buy this used? Did you get service records? You should be able to go hundreds of hours without the oil getting thick.

 

[ConfusedMuse]

Hi everyone, thnx for responses HighwayStar, we bought it brand spanking new, had the Carrier dealer in OH( I'll be specific if you PM me) install it along with other stuff.
Service went out the door, and off the telephone the second we took possession of truck. Yea we know we shouldn't just add oil to it, but figured until we can surmise how the filter comes off that was somewhat better than nothing.

 

[Slo-Ride]

Thick is NOT good, thick IS sludge

not always there are plenty of oils that wont run out of a spoon,,,not knowing what weight oil being used.. Guess I was kinda thinking they may have dropped oil while it was cold????
Its rare to see real sludge build up unless Eng was really neglected. Dirty grimy oil I agree but thats due to oil filters not being changed and serviced..With just clean filters and make-up oil some Equip never goes thru an oil change..case in point being a locomotive..unless it has some kinda contamination in it,water,,,or flash point is to low due to fuel in oil they never drop the oil..
Well good thing is they got up and running

 

[bluejaybee]

Black is bad??? My experience with diesel engines has been that you don't have to run them any length of time till the new oil is already black. I don't think black is a bad thing. Thick, sludgy, gritty would be bad. But not black.

 

[highway star]

The oil doesn't turn black as quickly in the small engines. At least mine doesn't. Getting thick shouldn't be an issue at all with proper service. I've gone as high as 475 hrs on my oil and it didn't have a sludgy appearance.

 

[Slo-Ride]

Black is bad??? My experience with diesel engines has been that you don't have to run them any length of time till the new oil is already black. I don't think black is a bad thing. Thick, sludgy, gritty would be bad. But not black.

Right,,,The more ya filter the oil the longer it will stay clean.The filters collect the dirt....For neglected motors it wouldnt hurt to change filter in between oil changes for a few times.
If for some reason I cant drop the oil or cant afford to do it this month it allways gets a new filter,,even if it means giving up a 12 pack..Filters are cheap in the long run..

 

[RLENT]

Black is bad??? My experience with diesel engines has been that you don't have to run them any length of time till the new oil is already black.

Yup - diesels put out so much soot the oil gets black in a hurry. EGR diesels are particularly bad.

I don't think black is a bad thing.

It isn't inherently - in fact, the fact that it is black can be an indication of how well the detergents (part of the additive package) in the oil are working.

If the oil was clear .... but you had black sludge stuck all over the place inside the engine that wouldn't be a good thing.

Thick, sludgy, gritty would be bad. But not black.

Pretty much. The oil sump in my Sprinter is currently at around 50K miles or so, on the current oil change .... the oil has been black for a long, long time - probably since 5K miles or so - but most of the soot is being filtered out (bypass filter) and the soot load is actually pretty low (usually around 0.2% to 0.3%)

Soot particles (98% carbon) can be extremely small .... (in fact, so small that they can't realistically be filtered out - unless you want to go to some really high-dollar filtration equipment) ..... extremely small, at least to start out with ... soot particles, as found in fresh lubricating oil, typically have diameters in the 60 to 200-nanometer range. One nanometer = 1/1000th of a micron.

A good oil bypass filtration system might filter out particles down to 1/10th of micron.

So oil gets black because there are lots of extremely small soot particles (carbon) in there that just can't be filtered out as a practical matter ....... yet ........

It's the job of the oil's dispersant (also part of the additive package) to keep the particles from agglomerating, or sticking together and forming bigger particles. But the soot load can get high enough that the dispersants can't keep up .... and the soot starts to agglomerate and stick together.

When the soot particles get large enough (from agglomeration), they become abrasive to any parts they come in contact with - like engine bearings - this is particularly bad in areas where there are high loads (like rod bearings) and the clearances are very small/tight.