oil change - when?

[moparmarty]

I have 5,300 miles on my 04. 5 and was trying to decide when to perform my first oil change. My usage has been 70% highway miles usually around 60 MPH, 20% stop & go city driving and 10% towing my 21' TT through the mountains of Oregon. Had my oil analyzed and the report came back showing everything well within acceptable limits, except for some dirt that I think came from the drain plug. After reading the discussions on TDR regarding soot in the oil, it was interesting to note that the analysis showed the soot reading to be "32% of allowable limits. " So with my type of driving, I could probably go 15,000 miles before soot became an issue.

 

[hammersley]

Do yourself a FAVOR and use 5,000 MIles as a Measure!

It's well within the limits and VERY EASY to REMEMBER! Stick o the 5,000 - I mean 5, 10, 15 etc. I now have over 185,000 on mine and use Val Extreme Synthetic - and Stratopores... ... .

 

[SHobbs]

Delo 15w-40 Stratapore oil filter every 6000 and Stratapore fuel filter at the same interval.

 

[John - K5AWO]

using hours to change oil instead of miles

these mileage numers are great, but i don't have that option right now, anyone have a hourmeter?

kent

Pick a number, say 40 mph for city driving, and maybe 60 for highway driving styles.



The average miles/change seems to be something around 5,000 acording to the previous posts. Sounds good to me. So, 5000/40 would be 125 hours?



Aircraft engines use 50 hours as the change interval, but my airplane club changes at 25 hours and has done so for years. A lot of aircraft engines don't even have an oil filter, so that might explain the more frequent change intervals.

 

[JCleary]

My company had a number of air compressors that had the Cummins 5. 9. Oil change interval was at 200 hours. I looked at my truck the other day, and it had 388 hours, and 11,000 miles. I'm just about to do the second oil change at 12,000, which will be just over 400 hours.



After that, I'm going back to a every 5k interval. I bought the truck used, otherwise I would change at 5k, 10k, 15k, etc.



Much easier to remember when to do it.

 

[CPittman]

I change the oil (Shell Rotella-T dino oil - I like the smell... reminds me of Oklahoma), and filter (Fleetguard Stratapore from Geno's) every 5K miles, fuel filter every third oil change again with the Fleetguard from Geno's. The dealer gets big bux for the fuel filter, The stratapore from Geno's is a better filter and about 80% cheaper.

 

[Buzz930]

Oil Changes: I do mine at 3000, but was told by the mechanic at the Dodge dealership to change the fuel filter at 10K. This is my first Dodge, and first diesel. I do all my own changes, as the dealerships in Jacksonville will ask for your firstborn to do a simple oil and filter change. The prices are unreasonable, so I use Dello Diesel oil, and go the the local Cummins dealer for filters. They are a good filter, backed by Cummins, and one heck of a lot cheaper than getting ripped by the Dodge service dept.

Also, I have to ask this question. How are the auto transmissions on the newer Dodges? I have heard in the past that they used to crap out at 70K, but the newer ones are supposed to be better. Are they? I am going to pull a fifth wheel trailer as a fulltimer soon. If anyone can give me some input on this, I sure would appreciate it.



Buzz 930 with a 2003 Quad cab, with mostly stock equipment.

 

[John - K5AWO]

Buzz, not to get off topic, but my 98 auto transmission is still working like new with 98,200 miles on it. I had a problem with slow engagement the first time each morning, but found out it was improper linkage adjustment between the column and the transmission. If I pulled it down to 2nd right away, it always engaged immediately. So, changed the linkage a tad and bingo, it works right every time now.

 

[HeavyHauler]

Every 5000 miles because it's easy to keep track of. Too lazy to keep log books. I use rotella, and a napa gold filter.

Same here - verbatim.



My manual says 7500 with no towing and 3000 with towing and lots of stop and go driving. I drive a lot in town so I split the difference and come up with 5000.



I'm a huge Rotella fan (love the smell ) but if you want to go by what Cummins has endorsed, get your local NAPA shop to order you some Valvoline Premium Blue 15W-40. I have actually considered swapping to this myself but I figured that Valvoline has some kind of deal worked out with Cummins and it's probably not any better oil.

 

[Byershome]

I believe it is 7500 B Schedule and 15000 A schedule. I believe you getting the California engine which has shortened oil changes due to their stricter emmission standards.



This from the Cummins sight on the newer models



"The Cummins 600's cleaner combustion results in reduced sooting of lubrication oil, allowing Cummins to double the oil change intervals to 15,000 miles for schedule A and 7,500 for schedule B (towing) for all 50 states to help reduce the cost of ownership. "



This was the same for the 03 except in California.



I have changed to synthetic at 30000 and will go 10000 here on out since I do very little heavy towing, for now.

 

[HC]

I'd suggest not switching to synthetic before at least 10k.



For dino oil, my recommendation would be same as some others said - Delo 15W-40, keep it simple by changing every 5k, with fuel filter changes every 10k. I also agree with those that recommended sticking to Fleetguard filters.



Do NOT use Mobil 1 synthetic - it's not for HD diesels. However, Mobil Delvac 1 is rated for the HD diesels and is a good choice among the synthetics.

 

[Po' Riggity]

Ive changed mine once. . at 5k miles. . changed oil and filter. . plan to change the fuel filter and oil filter, and drain all oil and refill at 10k miles. . oil changes every 5k.

Scott

 

[C. Harlan]

Oil Change/ PM Intervals

I change my oil every 2500-3000 Mi, depending on how much pulling I do. . When you can smell the oil, and it smells sour, and not like fresh, new oil, that is a tell tale sign that it is time to change the oil as well.



Depending on how much fuel y'all are running to the motor, it is better to change it more frequently if you are 'heavily fueled', due to the fact that the excess fuel collects on the cylinder walls, and breaks down and washes down the oil in the crank case. . Just something to think about. 7500 is a little too far fetched for my taste, but to each their own. I had a 1995 Peterbilt 379 with a 3406E Cat, and 667,000 miles on it. We changed the oil at 10,000 miles, as opposed to 15,000 or 20,000 miles. The motor in turn burned NO oil, and did not smoke. In the long run, going far between oil changes will be detrimental to the motor and the components. But, it's your truck, so do what you want. Just giving a little word of advice here. .



As far as filters, I either use a Fleetgard LF3894 Stratapore, or a Ford FL 896 filter- Both approved by Cummins. For Oil, there is only one: ROTELLA-T 15w40.



-Chris-

 

[mechanic]

oil change?????

How often do you change your oil? I know what the manual says... ... . but how often do you change yours?

The dealer gave two vouchers (free oil change) and said that they represent a year's worth?

I just turned 3000 miles on my "new 04. 5".

Driving has been light with no pulling yet.



Dick Gresswell

You have received enough replies to confuse anyone, but I will add mine anyway. I use an oil that is blended by Cato oil company in Oklahoma city. It is owned by Citgo Oil Company. The oil is called Mystic JT8 and comes in all weights from 5/30 to 15/50. I use 15/40 in mine, and there is no substitute for the Fleetguard Stratapor filter. It has a fibre element bonded to a screen wire backing. It can not tare or chanel through. I change mine at 5000 or there about. When your oil gets black and as one other respondant said, will stain your skin when you wipe it across your hand, change it no matter what the milage may be. If I were to use another oil it would be Shell Rotella T or Delo or Delvac. I have seen to many problems in engines with FULL synthetic oils, so I will not run them in any of my cars or trucks, and do not recommend them to my customers. However, I do like the blends. They have most of the advantages of both with only limited liabilities of both. Above all no matter what kind of oil you settle on, BE SURE IT MEETS THE "C" classification family. Ths "S" class oils are NOT for diesel engines. When I bought my truck it had a WIX oil filter (One of the best aftermarket filters, owned by Dana Corp. ), I have a habit of cutting filters open when I have a question of quality or function. So I cut it open and found the paper had a tare about 1-1/4" long. No damage resulted from it, but the posibilities are many. The Fleetguard is no more expensive then the Wix. I get mine from Southern Planes Cummins. There are always some who will run other filters, but to me when you have a $5000+ engine, it is not worth saving a few $ s on oil or filters. Hope that helps and dosn't add to the confusion. I will just add that in my 46 years of automobile service experience oil and filters has been of intense interest to me and I have done a considerable amount of research on these subjects, and I have broken or damaged a few engines in the experiments I have done. So when I say something about an oil or a filter it is not just opinion, but has in some cases some very expensive experience behind it. Take care of that new truck & engine.

 

[dodge cummins]

mobil 1 rocks

you can use mobil 1 5w40 truck and suv formula. it has the yellow cap and is sold at walmart. mobil 1 5w40 truck and suv formula is a repackaged mobil delvac 1 5w40. both are same exact product just different containers. the truck and suv formula was designed to appeal to average joes with heavy duty diesel pickups. for more info on this product see tdr issue 47 page 94. it is clearly the best diesel hd 100% synthetic oil on the market. you can get your mobil 1 oil filters at auto zone

 

[bighornram]

I have decided to go on the advice of a lab. I just traded for a new 05. I had changed the oil in my 02 CTD every 3000 miles until reading about extending the mileage and testing. I decided to test. My last change on my 02 was at 7000 miles and came back with the recommendation of extending to 7500. I pulled my 30' fifth wheel a lot since the last oil change. I sent my sample to Blackstone Labs . There is also some good reading on the subject on their website. I did a poll on TDR and a good number of folks sample so I decided to try. I'm going to base my intervals on testing.