New CTD owner

[biggieou]

I posted this elsewhere and was told this would be the best place for it. I'm new to CTD from the Ford brand. I still love my Ford's, but gosh the Cummins is amazing. I just got a 92 D250 auto, its in great shape and I intend to keep it that way. I was wondering if you guys have some preventative maintenance tips for me? I will prolly be posting alot on here, so I hope you all dont think I'm stupid and get tired of me asking, cause I wont get tired of asking. I figure its better to ask a question about something that you dont know, then to not ask and screw something up.

Thanks

Josh

 

[DBF]

Lots of good tips are inside the thread at the top of the forum page - Best Tip for new owners..... etc.



If you'll read thru them, you'll pick up a sense of what's important for preventive maintenance and what options you have for improving the performance of the beast.



I keep my PM logs in an Excel spreadsheet, if you want that.



There's a tremendous amount of knowledge available from the folks here.



Welcome to the zoo!!





DBF :-laf

 

[biggieou]

Yea I have read all the stickies at the top a few times so I have a couple ideas, I was just checking to see if there were anymore?

 

[DBF]

Ok.

I use the maintenance schedule in the owner's manual, slightly modified. I change oil every 6000 (less if I've been towing) and change the fuel filter every oil change (as well as the oil filter). I change the air filter every oil change when I'm towing or running in dusty territory. I use Fleetguard filters. The theory - keep the crap out of the engine.



Every second or third oil change, I send the old oil and transmission fluid samples in for chemical analysis. Keeps me aware of what's happening in the engine/trans.



I set the tire air pressure per the tire manufacturer's spec sheet for that tire; I keep all four on the ground the same for handling reasons.



My gage set includes tach, egt, boost, and trans temp. Each of these plays a part in knowing what's happening in the truck. Note the gage readings for several particular modes of operation so you can compare later operation with them - foot to the floor acceleration, going up a certain hill at a certain speed, etc.



I change out the other things pretty much at manual intervals - differential fluid, serpentine belt, packing the front bearings, engine coolant, valve adjustments, trans fluid/filters.



That's a start, anyway.



DBF

 

[biggieou]

Every second or third oil change, I send the old oil and transmission fluid samples in for chemical analysis. Keeps me aware of what's happening in the engine/trans.

Where do you send it to and how much does it cost?

 

[DValentine]

Hi again. Glad you made it over here. Happy reading...



Dave

 

[DBF]

Where do you send it to and how much does it cost?

Blackstone Labs, Fort Wayne, Indiana. $15-20, IIRC.



Web site is here:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/index.html



Call them and have them send you some containers for samples to be mailed in.



DBF