First Oil Change

[bighornram]

I have been following the breakin proceedures in this forum and the owner's manual. I am in the initial working stages of the breaking period and still have a couple hundred miles of easy pulling to go. I am at 1500 miles now. When is the best time to dump the breakin oil?

 

[BHolm]

Everybody has a different opinion about this. That is likely why nobody has touched the thread Modern engines are machined to much tighter tolerances than those of old. I don't think there is any reason to change oil early. I changed mine the first time at 5k to Amsoil synthetic and now change every 10k after that. Depending on how you drive, and what you pull, the engine wont really be broken in until 10-20k miles. Modern engines and modern oils go much further between changes. In the end though, do what makes you comfortable. I still know guys that change oil every 2-3k miles. Thats a big waste IMO but whatever turns your crank.

 

[jjohnson1177]

BHolm made a good point. It's pretty much to each his own. I still change my oil and filter every 3-4000 miles and I did my first oil change with filter at 1000. I've had the truck 3 weeks and have 1500 miles on it so far. Next week it gets the 10,000 pound trailor and a couple of round trips to OKC and back. This little ritual has led to 3 previous Cummins dodges having zero issues the entire time I owned all of them .

 

[GFritsch]

It is pretty much the consensus not to use synthetic oil until the motor is fairly broken in 15-20k. I personally like to get the factory oil out early (500 mi) to get any assembly lube and debris out. After that I go 5k between changes.



If you are going to do the change yourself make sure to get the filter socket from Geno's garage. It will make the job much easier.



Greg

 

[lilthumper]

My manual said 7500 miles but I just had to get the break-in oil out at 3000 miles. Will be using non-synthetic every 6000 miles here on out.

 

[jwduke]

I guess I'm going with the owners manual, and going 7,500 miles for the first change. The mechanics at our truck shop, recomended leaving the break-in oil in, because all of the "junk", is what helps break in the motor. These guys would know, as we have Cummins N14's and ISX's running around with 500,000 to 750,000 miles on them with no serious problems.



I'm going to use Delvac 1300 for my 1st change, then change to Mobil Delvac Synthetic at 15,000 miles. I am also going to use Fleetguard Stratapore filters.



As others have said, everyone is different about the 1st oil change.

 

[AlexWV]

I am of the do the first change early school of thought. I ended up doing the first one at 2500 which for me was actually a little late. It just turned out that way but I was planning on doing it at about 1500. Anyway, from here on out I don't think I will go 7500 it just feels like it is too long.



If I end up getting a bypass setup, then I'll go 7500 synthetic or not although I've had this notion of trying extended drain intervals and analysis. I never have tried it yet, it just seems like too much bother when you can just change the oil, know you are good to go, and be done with it. I still like the bypass filter and had one on my hemi but I didn't go long change intervals.

 

[jwduke]

Over the road trucks are going 20,000 miles on oil changes, using Shell Rotella T, Mobil Delvac 1300, & Chevron Delo 400. Granted they use 6 gal. of oil, but our trucks, hopefully don't see the idle time they do.



7,500 mi. oil change intervals, doesn't seem as extreme as 20,000 mi. intervals.

 

[WHazelwood]

I did 3K oil changes till it hit 15K and then changed to Amsoil and plan to follow the 7. 5K schedule. Just be careful not to drop the oil plug into the catch pan. I did and it plugged the hole into the pan, next thing I knew I had hot oil running under me and across the drive. Not a pretty sight.

Keep grinnin

 

[bighornram]

I shot off an email to Blackstone labs and they recommend the first change between 1500 and 2000 with 3 samples in the first 10,000 miles since breakin is actually a 10,000 mile process on the CTD.

 

[DavidBurt]

The diesel guy at our local Dodge dealer says change it every five thousand. I did my first at 4k or so, probably a little long for the first change. You can't really compare these engines to the over the road engines because like jwDuke said they hold 3 times or so as much oil. Your probably best off doing your first change early (2 or 3k). After that 5 6 or 7. 5K depending on the oil (synthetic or regular) and what makes you happy.

Dave

 

[abdiver]

As I recall I was told from a good source that Cummins runs these engines and drains the oil and refills with fresh oil (not break oil) before they are ship them to dodge and the only break in is for the rear end gears.

 

[CaptNemo]

I'm another one that likes to get around 500 miles on a new engine and dump the oil & change the filter. On a flat tappet race engine, I pull the filter after the first 30 minutes of run time ( cam & lifter break in ) and cut the filter open to look for metal. If it's clean, I install the inner valve springs and put about 500 to 1000 miles on it and change it again. The filter gets cut open again to look for metal again.



3 gallons of oil & a filter are really cheap insurance on an expensive engine. You spent between $30 and $45K for a truck and you're going to cheap out on an oil change ?

 

[BILLUA]

There seemed to me to be a post with a link that had extensive reasoning for early and frequent oil changes on a new engine... I think that it is sound advice... I changed at 2K with Dello 15W40 and have changed at 3000 mile intervals and will do that until 15k then change to Mobil 1 5w40 synthetic and will change at 5k or 7500 intervals... I only use Stratapore filters... I had a Blackstone analysis at 9k and the report came back with a very good narrative saying that truck break-in looked to be on schedule...



There is no way you can damage a engine by changing the oil too much or too frequently

 

[RVCrawford]

I'm not asking this to be a smart*** but has anyone ever worn out a Cummins? I've been reading this board for over a year and I can't remember a post dealing with engine failure that wasn't related to injectors sticking open, some kind of manufacturing defect or plane old abuse.

Seems to me that all of those extra oil changes just means that the engine will only be 30% worn out when the truck falls apart instead of 50%.