newbie question on fluids

[Megadesertdiesel]

i am going to recieve a 06 megacab next week and would like to know when i can chance to amsoil fluids? do i wait for a few thousand miles or just go fot it. how about capacities of oil, trans, diffs? just trying to make my truck last long. thanks

 

[Diesel Power]

its best to wait untill 8-10k for our trucks that seems to work the best!!! :-laf

 

[Buffalo]

MBigley,



Like Diesel Power said, I've always heard to wait 10-20,000 miles before using a synthetic motor oil. You want to give the engine a chance to "wear-in" properly & synthetic is just too slippery to give it that chance.



Regarding conventional oils, Chevron Delo-400, 15X40, CI-4+ is considered, by many, to be an excellent "dino" oil. Its base oils are considered very high quality & their additive packages are very robust, including moly & boron.



I have been using Delo & at my last oil change, I did a UOA (Used Oil Analysis) sample with 8303 miles on the oil & Fleetguard Stratopore oil filters, & the analysis came back showing that the oil still had a lot of life left in it.



Quality conventional oils are quite a bit better than they used to be. They have had to keep up with the demands of the lower emisison diesel engines.



The Cummins engines seem to be easy on oils & can live a million plus miles on conventional oils when changed regularly. You have to ask yourself if you are going to keep your truck for a tremendously long time?

On the other hand, that "warm, fuzzy feeling" you get knowing that you are using "the best" for your truck, has value also.



In my opinion, synthetics really "pay-off" if you drive constantly (towing commercially) & use a bypass oil filter (for extreme cleaning of the oil) & use regular UOA's. This should allow you to do "extended oil drain intervals" where you can go long distances with out changing the oil. Some of the big trucks go over 100,000 miles before changing the oil. Remember though, to maintain your warranty, you still have to change the oil (synthetic or conventional) when Dodge recommends that it be changed. Some have said that if you do UOA's at the DC recommended oil change intervals, & the oil's still good, You're OK. However, if you had a lubrication related engine failure & hadn't followed DC's recommendations, my guess is that you would be in trouble.

If you would like to learn more about lubricants for your truck, there is a website (free) called "bob is the oil guy.com". There is more information than one person can read, on that site. It will ,also, introduce you to many other products that you may not be aware of. Some of which are considered excellent.

You mentioned Amsoil products in your post. They are a very well represented, well known & advertised company with some quality products. However, there are some other high quality products, out there, some of which are lesser known (Schaeffer's 7000 & 9000, for instance) & some well known (Mobil 1, Truck & SUV, Mobil Delvac 1, etc. ).

Personally, I had never heard about Schaeffer's Oil Co. til I read about it on the BITOG (bob is the oil guy.com) website. Both their 7000 & 9000 had such good UOA's & had such a loyal following that it caught my interest. This company is the oldest, family-owned oil company in the U. S. (1839). There is a distributor on your side of town, also. In the future, I'm thinking, seriously, of switching over to the 9000 myself. Not because I "need it" but, for that "warm-fuzzy" feeling.



You may want to consider changing-out the rear differential fluid, a little early, as it seems to generate quite a bit of wear-in material. My oil looked nasty at the recommended 15,000 gear oil change. The changes after the first one were much cleaner. In my opinion, the first one is most critical. Before you take delivery of your new truck, Have the dealer check the levels of gear oil in the diff's. I read some of them are still coming in low.



I used RedLine 75-90 in my diff's & got it at the distributor for $7. 00/qt. The first change, I used Mopar's product at $15. 70/qt. after bargaining with the dealer. They wanted $21. 00/qt. If you are interested in the RedLine products, call Dealer Direct @ 602-866-6168, Bell Road Automall, 999 West Bell Rd. , Phoenix. I told him I could get it online, tax free from "My Oil Shop.com". You will have to pay the tax but, you would also have to pay delivery from the online source, so it should be a wash.



Hope you enjoy your new truck. They're more than just a truck. They're fun, kind of like owning a Harley.



Joe F. (Buffalo)

 

[Grizzly]

I plan on switching my 05 at 20K. Haven't decided yet on transmission, differential and transfer case.

 

[JRMora]

George,



I'm a little over 47,000 and I'm changing to Amsoil now. Diff gets the 75W-90 Severe Geer, Transfer case gets the ATF+4, and the NV5600 gets the 5W-30 manual Transmission gear oil. I know a local Amsoil guy and thought I'd give it a try.



I've previously done the diffs with Mobil 1, the transfer case with Mopar ATF+4 (Ouch!!!), but the transmission nees to be done.



I'll let you know how it works out.



Juan

 

[Spooled-up]

I switched to synthetics at around 25,000 mi, and also changed the transfer case at that time. The mechanic I happened to speak to at the dealer where I had to buy the ATF fluid (it was only available at the dealer at the time) said that he was happy to see me changing the xfer case fluid that soon. It gets dirty quicker for some reason, and mine was black when I changed it. I'm going to stick with the 25000 mile interval with the xfer case. Just something to think about.

 

[Diesel Power]

on the engine i can understand the waiting for break in, but as for the rest of you truck you should do the oil changes ASAP because they dont have much of a filter if any to filter metal out of the oil!

 

[Spooled-up]

The NV5600 has a magnet in the case you can clean, but you're right. I don't think there is actually a scheduled oil change in the owners manual for the manual trans. I might be wrong though.

 

[Grizzly]

on the engine i can understand the waiting for break in, but as for the rest of you truck you should do the oil changes ASAP because they dont have much of a filter if any to filter metal out of the oil!

I would still give it some time as those parts have to ware into each other. Maybe they don't need 20K like the engine, but they still need some time.

 

[Grizzly]

George,



I'm a little over 47,000 and I'm changing to Amsoil now. Diff gets the 75W-90 Severe Geer, Transfer case gets the ATF+4, and the NV5600 gets the 5W-30 manual Transmission gear oil. I know a local Amsoil guy and thought I'd give it a try.



I've previously done the diffs with Mobil 1, the transfer case with Mopar ATF+4 (Ouch!!!), but the transmission nees to be done.



I'll let you know how it works out.



Juan

Thanks Juan, Let me know.