Oil - 04.5 Interval and CJ-4

[zippinbye]

Did oil change intervals increase during the 04. 5 model run? Mine is a very early ISB 325/600 (waited 2 mos. for engine production after my order was placed), and it's book shows a 7000 Schedule A/3250 Schedule B. I thought I saw somebody reference 15000/7500 intervals on a 04. 5 in another thread. If so, did my mine come with a dated manual ("Dodge 2004 RAM TRUCK DIESEL MANINTENACE LOGBOOK" [first edition {2nd run}] 83-003-6204)? Any thoughts on the warranty implications ... does the serial # of the truck rule, or the manuals that came in the glove box?



Regardless, I probably won't change what I have been doing, but all the talk of CJ-4 not being appropriate for longer intervals makes me pause. Here has been my rationale while taking "some" guidance from what may be a very conservative factory maintenance schedule (I'm clearly a Schedule B guy, given towing and Las Vegas temperatures): aside from a 1000 mile change and doing 3250 or so thereafter until 10,000, I have been shooting for 7500 mile changes runnning full synthetic, either Valovoline Premium Blue Exterme or Rotella T, both in 5W-40 per the manual. The truck now has about 54,000 miles. The change I am doing today had no interiem filter change, but I usually put on a new Fleetguard Stratopore at the mid point. I did an analysis after 7500 miles on PBE (around 30,000 on the clock) and the results were so good that I decided I did not need to take the time and money to check it on a regular basis. I'll analyize today's change though. I accidently got a CI-4/CJ-4 mix, because Walmart did not have enough 1 gallon jugs for the whole job. I think the mix was 8 qts. CI-4, 5 qts. CJ-4. It will be interesting to see the test results.



So the fresh oil is now 100% Rotella T CJ-4 Synthetic. Given the reduced longevity of CJ-4, am I wasting my money running syntetic? It is exactly twice the cost of the dino version here in LV, and add another 20 percent had I opted for the PBE again. Maybe it's time to look at some off-highway oils that are still CI-4. Does anybody know what Cummins is specifying for the industrial and marine versions?



On a side note, is it safe to run a Cummins after the oil's drained, shutting down the instant the pressure gauge nudges off normal?

 

[amsoilman]

Did oil change intervals increase during the 04. 5 model run? Mine is a very early ISB 325/600 (waited 2 mos. for engine production after my order was placed), and it's book shows a 7000 Schedule A/3250 Schedule B. I thought I saw somebody reference 15000/7500 intervals on a 04. 5 in another thread. If so, did my mine come with a dated manual ("Dodge 2004 RAM TRUCK DIESEL MANINTENACE LOGBOOK" [first edition {2nd run}] 83-003-6204)? Any thoughts on the warranty implications ... does the serial # of the truck rule, or the manuals that came in the glove box?



Regardless, I probably won't change what I have been doing, but all the talk of CJ-4 not being appropriate for longer intervals makes me pause. Here has been my rationale while taking "some" guidance from what may be a very conservative factory maintenance schedule (I'm clearly a Schedule B guy, given towing and Las Vegas temperatures): aside from a 1000 mile change and doing 3250 or so thereafter until 10,000, I have been shooting for 7500 mile changes runnning full synthetic, either Valovoline Premium Blue Exterme or Rotella T, both in 5W-40 per the manual. The truck now has about 54,000 miles. The change I am doing today had no interiem filter change, but I usually put on a new Fleetguard Stratopore at the mid point. I did an analysis after 7500 miles on PBE (around 30,000 on the clock) and the results were so good that I decided I did not need to take the time and money to check it on a regular basis. I'll analyize today's change though. I accidently got a CI-4/CJ-4 mix, because Walmart did not have enough 1 gallon jugs for the whole job. I think the mix was 8 qts. CI-4, 5 qts. CJ-4. It will be interesting to see the test results.



So the fresh oil is now 100% Rotella T CJ-4 Synthetic. Given the reduced longevity of CJ-4, am I wasting my money running syntetic? It is exactly twice the cost of the dino version here in LV, and add another 20 percent had I opted for the PBE again. Maybe it's time to look at some off-highway oils that are still CI-4. Does anybody know what Cummins is specifying for the industrial and marine versions?



On a side note, is it safe to run a Cummins after the oil's drained, shutting down the instant the pressure gauge nudges off normal?

If your not pulling heavy, and only driving on on-road, I would not worry about a 7500 mile oil change on ANY oil! A TRUE synthetic would go twice that in "SEVERE" service.

And NO, I would not run a Cummins after the oil was drained, under ANY condition!

 

[10-9jc]

Find the CI-4 Plus. It's out there.
and -
YIKES !! - - Sure agree with Owen, can't imagine why anyone
would want to run ANY engine after the oil was drained!
Death wish!

~

 

[jgillott]

Find the CI-4 Plus. It's out there.

and -

YIKES !! - - Sure agree with Owen, can't imagine why anyone

would want to run ANY engine after the oil was drained!

Death wish!



~

I'm still finding CI-4 here locally. Not sure how long that will last however.

 

[WCPoe]

Did oil change intervals increase during the 04. 5 model run? Mine is a very early ISB 325/600 (waited 2 mos. for engine production after my order was placed), and it's book shows a 7000 Schedule A/3250 Schedule B. I thought I saw somebody reference 15000/7500 intervals on a 04. 5 in another thread. If so, did my mine come with a dated manual ("Dodge 2004 RAM TRUCK DIESEL MANINTENACE LOGBOOK" [first edition {2nd run}] 83-003-6204)? Any thoughts on the warranty implications ... does the serial # of the truck rule, or the manuals that came in the glove box?

?

Mine's a 2004. 5 with the 325/600 motor and my manual shows the 7500/15000 mile intervals. I decided to use a 5000 oil/filter change interval with a 10,000 mile fuel filter interval so it is easy to remember. I'm reasonably sure the all the 325/600 engines get the 7500/15000 schedule. Maybe someone else with have a different spin on this.

I run the Rotella synthetic as well and the only real complaint I ever had was the fact that the oil turns black so quickly. The probable cause is the third injection event that the 2004. 5's and later have and not due to any oil selection just hte nature of the 2004. 5 and later engines.

zippinbye also asks:

""On a side note, is it safe to run a Cummins after the oil's drained, shutting down the instant the pressure gauge nudges off normal?""



Attention: I think this would be damaging to the engine.

I would never start or run the engine with the oil drained, there is too much pressure on the bearings with a 17 to 1 comp ratio and the subsequent dry start-up would compound the problem. Why would you want to do this??

 

[JDiepstra]

The 325/600 engine says 7500 or 15000 in my owners manual. I use Amsoil and went 20,000 on it and it was not a bad analisys.

 

[steved]

I ran 10k intervals on Rotella CJ-4... always had decent wear numbers.



The only thing the newer oil seems to not like is heat... such as running above typical highway speeds for hours or towing heavy... typically shows an increase in viscosity, but the wear metals are typically still good.