Extended Oil Drain

[amsoilman]

Here are a couple of pictures of the top-end of my 2003 Dodge/Cummins engine, after 66,500 miles/5 years of using a Synthetic 15W-40 Heavy Duty Diesel oil and a By-Pass filtration system. I do Oil analysis about every 10,000miles, and the oil is still reporting "Oil is suitable for Continued use". I have changed the two filters 2 times duting this time frame, and added 4 quarts of oil.



The last report showed 0. 78 percent SOOT, and the Viscosity was still in the range of a "new" 40 grade oil.

 

[TMarszalek]

Wayne, I've been running AMSOIL in my 2005 engine, diffs and transmission for the last 20,000 out of the 37,000 miles on my truck, with similar reports from Blackstone. Back in 2006, I bought a dual remote filter (BE100 & SDF26), plus a custom mount that fastens the filter mounting bracket to the header bolts. I have not installed it because of the bad press and issues that set-up supposedly had with zero oil presure etc.



Would you recommend I go ahead and install it or purchase the new set-up from AMSOIL and see my good money spent go down the drain?

 

[amsoilman]

TMarszalek,

If it were me, I would try it. When Amsoil first encountered this phenominum, they got with Dodge and did some extensive testing, only to find out the gauge system in some trucks were too sensitve, which could give false readings. To eliminate any future problems regarding oil pressures, they recommended to NOT use the "Duel Remote" (BMK-15) system, and suggested the use of the BMK-11 System. Since they have now re-designed the "Duel Remote" system, I have not heard of any problems in the use of the BMK-25 Duel remote system.



If you decide to try the one you have (BMK-15) on your truck, you may want to install a "Direct" reading gauge to prove you do have good pressures.



I utilize the BMK-11 Single remote system, along with the Engine mounted "Full-Flow" filter, which has NEVER had any oil ppressure issues. .



Wayne

 

[TMarszalek]

Thanks Wayne, I suspect the pressure was fine all along. I'll give it a go on my next free weekend.

 

[amsoilman]

Here are a couple of pictures of the top-end of my 2003 Dodge/Cummins engine, after 66,500 miles/5 years of using a Synthetic 15W-40 Heavy Duty Diesel oil and a By-Pass filtration system. I do Oil analysis about every 10,000miles, and the oil is still reporting "Oil is suitable for Continued use". I have changed the two filters 2 times duting this time frame, and added 4 quarts of oil.



The last report showed 0. 78 percent SOOT, and the Viscosity was still in the range of a "new" 40 grade oil.

Just had another Oil Analysis done on October 1st. The oil is still in very good shape.



Here are the results:



Iron: 71 ppm



Chromium: 2 ppm



Aluminum: 11 ppm



Copper: 262 ppm Report said this is "leaching" from the oil cooler, and normal as there were no other large amounts of wear metals or evidence of COOLANT in the oil.



Lead: 6 ppm



Tin: 3 ppm



ADDITIVES were still good.



Fuel Dilution: <0. 5%



Water: <0. 1%



Soot: <0. 2%



Silicon: 20 ppm



Vis. @100 c. 14. 6 Cst.



TBN: 6. 44



I have added 4 Qts of oil since installing @ 8,700 Miles in April 2003!



I took this oil sample directly to the lab in Salt Lake City, and received it the next day! Very good turnaround time!







Wayne

 

[JasonCzerak]

That's all good and all for a stock motor. . But what about one with 300+hp over stock?



I have done 5000 mile samples for a few years. before I install my BMK-11 the report said, change your oil to your going to blow your motor. Good thing I was doing 5000 mile oil changes. When I went to the bypass, I went 10,000 and change it, good report at 5 and 10! This time around I sampled it at 14, 500-ish. I'm waiting on the report before doing a drain if needed at 15K.



I changed my full flow every 5000 and since I'm running a little bit more fuel then stock, I changed out the bypass every 10.



still cheaper then full changed every 5,0000

 

[amsoilman]

That's all good and all for a stock motor. . But what about one with 300+hp over stock?

Well, I'm not 300+HP over stock, but I did win this years "Week-end on the Edge" dyno-days for the "Modified stock" class @ 431 hp.



Wayne

 

[rbattelle]

I had my rocker box open last year, after just over 71k miles (thread here).

Maybe it's just your photography, but the inside of my cover and the inside of the box on mine looked much cleaner than yours.

3k mile oil change interval using conventional 15w-40. Stock engine.

I'm not trying to be insulting or anything, I just wanted to point out that the components you've shown here don't appear to be remarkable. I certainly have nothing against your oil change philosophy, particularly since you back it up with oil analysis.

Ryan

 

[steved]

Ryan:



We just had the cover off my dad's 99 with 270k and rotella used at 5k OCIs... it was cleaner than those pictures.



I have read about this on a couple forums where people thought amsoil seemed to leave more deposits than other oils...



But those pictures are still not showing loads of sludge, etc. And that's what I would be concerned with...

 

[rbattelle]

But those pictures are still not showing loads of sludge, etc.

Certainly not! Given the oil change interval in use, the condition of the parts is pretty good.



Ryan

 

[amsoilman]

Ryan,

I feel one of the reasons the pictures look the way they do is the angle of the shots. I could rub my fingers on the componnents, and not get anything to rub off, other than clean oil, and could easily remove the oil from my fingers leaving the finger clean.



As stated above, soot was <0. 2% and Viscosity was right in the middle of minimum and maximum limits for 40 grade oil!



Wayne

 

[JCasper]

I need to loan you my Smarty and TST for you to run before the next change

 

[JasonCzerak]

04. 5 and newer motors will have a darker color and require more filtration then anything older then 04. 5. my buddies 03 has clean oil new colored oiled for a good 3000 miles or more after a change. mine's BLACK before I even get a chance to start it up after a change



heh, this is with a bypass. reports are still good. infact I'm waiting on a 15,000 miles one one with 578-612hp rating the entire life of this oil. In reality, it's possibly closer to 650hp.



Ii think I might just change it at 15K regardless of the report. That would mean this week changing it out.

 

[JCasper]

04. 5 and newer motors will have a darker color and require more filtration then anything older then 04. 5. my buddies 03 has clean oil new colored oiled for a good 3000 miles or more after a change. mine's BLACK before I even get a chance to start it up after a change



heh, this is with a bypass. reports are still good. infact I'm waiting on a 15,000 miles one one with 578-612hp rating the entire life of this oil. In reality, it's possibly closer to 650hp.



Ii think I might just change it at 15K regardless of the report. That would mean this week changing it out.

Yup, that's very true



I just changed the oil on an 03 that had 5-6K+ on the oil and 50K on the truck.



The oil coming out was almost as clean as what I put in. That was stock power and all, but still way different then my 04. 5



Hopefully this winter I will get around to adding my Bypass to this truck

 

[amsoilman]

04. 5 and newer motors will have a darker color and require more filtration then anything older then 04. 5. my buddies 03 has clean oil new colored oiled for a good 3000 miles or more after a change. mine's BLACK before I even get a chance to start it up after a change



heh, this is with a bypass. reports are still good. infact I'm waiting on a 15,000 miles one one with 578-612hp rating the entire life of this oil. In reality, it's possibly closer to 650hp.



Ii think I might just change it at 15K regardless of the report. That would mean this week changing it out.

Jason,

What did your last analysis report show, and did you change out the oil? Just wondering.



Wayne

 

[JasonCzerak]

iron 263

chromium 5

nickel 2

aluminum 6

copper 252

lead 4

tin 1

cadmium 0

silver 1

titanium 0

vanadium 0

silicon 11

sodium 9

potassium 5

molybdemim 0

antimony 0

manganese 2

lithium 0

boron 2

magnesium 11

calcium 3617

barium 0

phosphorus 1153

zinc 1367



soot 6. 1

water <. 1

vis 16. 9

tbn 6. 87

oxida 34

nitra 29







iron and soot, really high. I changed it out the moment I got home from the body shop.



I'll be checking again in a few thousand miles to ensure the iron was a fluke... ... the soot is expected.

 

[steved]

Are you sure the bypass wasn't plugged????



I have never seen more than 0. 4 soot... even with a bypass with 30k worth of use. To me, that indicates the bypass was inoperative or you have serious issues elsewhere and the bypass is unable to keep up...



Even JHardwick didn't have soot loads like that with higher miles, high mile OCI, tuner, injectors, towing, and no bypass...

 

[MMeier]

Hmmm....

. . haven't done an analysis in 135k miles, maybe I will just before this next change. Most of the last 130k have been while using the thing as a hotshot rig. Been going 10-12k, changing filter, topping off, then going another 10-12k and change it all out, no bypass.

 

[steved]

. . haven't done an analysis in 135k miles, maybe I will just before this next change. Most of the last 130k have been while using the thing as a hotshot rig. Been going 10-12k, changing filter, topping off, then going another 10-12k and change it all out, no bypass.

IMO, unless you really want to spend the time changing that main filter, run it 20-24k and change the oil/filter at one time. My reasoning is the simple fact the main filter is more like a screen and unless you have serious issues, will not even begin to be loading/plugging at 24k.



JHardwick only changed oil when he felt like it, but (IIRC) his UOAs tended to show good wear, slightly increased viscosity, and only an acceptable amount of soot. I think his typical OCI was around 25k...

 

[brods]

And do not forget he is running a 03 truck which by all accounts puts much less soot in the oil than 04. 5 and up. That is a rather important distinction.



Also the service the truck sees and how it is driven plays a huge roll. Lots of highway miles at operating temperature is way different then the same number of miles of short trips where the truck barely gets up to temperature.



I never quite understood the frequent filter change philosophy. Remember the old days where the oil filter was to be changed every other oil change? Also a used filter will actually give cleaner oil than a new filter (as long as it is not so dirty it is plugged).