Oil Change (Your Own?)

[DocDetonancour]

You can get enough oil for 2 changes for 30 bucks and change at Sams. Doc

 

[ScottBrown]

Back to the Royal Purple I use it in all my gassers. Great oil Buy it in the 5 gallon pals. Havent used it in the diesel yet not enough miles til break in. On the oil filter I use the filter wrench from Genos. Get a Looong extension and come up from below, lower it in the filter cup , very little spill. While you are at it why not put a Fomoto valve on your oil pan. You can just flip the valve and drain it , It is great if you want to collect a oil sample. Another benifit is you dont risk stripping out the oil pan bolt.

 

[nickleinonen]

So how do you make it easy to drop 10+ liters of oil in your drive way?

i do my own oil changes at home. i got my oil at canadiantire [just regular old rotellaT 15w40] and a fleetguard stratapore filter [got them from genos, but i need to find a local provider, duty fee's are too much from the usa]





are you from canada? [talking in liters and all... ?]

 

[Steve M]

I just bought three gallon of Valvoline Premium Blue from Advance Auto Parts. Premium Blue is what comes in our Cummins from the factory. I've used Rotella in the past three Dodge/Cummins trucks.

I also remove my filters from above. The tube is easy to remove and gives a good hand grip on the filter.

The 15qt pan from Walmart works great and is easy to haul back to the auto parts store to dump. I usually use the three one gallon jugs to haul it back in but either way...

Personally, I don't go for the non API approved oils and non Cummins approved filters. With the travel trailer delivery fella that has over 1,114,000 miles on his Dodge/Cummins using Rotella and OEM filters, I'm convinced that's the better route to take.

 

[Bertram65]

I have a Fram sureDRAIN on my truck, works great. The oil needs to be warm or it takes forever to drain though. They sell them at Wa-Mart and Autozone, about $13. I had one on my previous truck as well never a leak or problem with it.

 

[amsoilman]

Incase anyone want's an alternative to dropping the filter from below. I just take off the intake tube (from turbo to air box) and I can get right at it. I place one hand below the filter and unscrew w/ the other and it comes right out. I haven't spilt a drop.

I change oil in a lot of CTD trucks, and this is the way I do it as well. I do use a "Strap" wrench on the filters. Works great!



Wayne

amsoilman

 

[boonsur]

Like CIverson mentioned, there is a risk of burn when dropping from the bottom. I found this out the hard way. Some hot oil hit my hand, I flinched, and dumped the filter. Fortunately, I lay down a large piece of cardboard to lay/slide on. This caught most of the mess.



Lesson learned, now I wait an hour or so (after running at operating temps. ), before changing it. It is still warm enough to flow good, but not hot enough to hurt your hands. Then you can take your time getting the filter down, and not make a mess.

 

[Rosco]

Sorry for the confusion guys, my truck does take 12 quarts of oil. I was just so floored by the $400 bill he was given that my brain let out a nice big fart .

 

[bighammer]

Change the oil cold. No risk of burns, and you get more oil out. (especially if you have more time to let it drip)

 

[GWeed]

For those who change your own oil, where do you take the old oil to get rid of it easily and cleanly?

 

[Bertram65]

Not sure if it is federal but in MA any place that sells oil has to take used oil back by law. So back to the Wal-Mart service desk it goes, they do not ask for a reciept or anything you just drop it off.

 

[yycguy]

Thanks for all the tips guys

nickleinonen yes I am a canuk;0)

400 bucks for a oli change?

I new the moment the dealer handed me the bill that I had been hosed, but what the heck they just lost my business. I have just found in the past that changing my own oil in the driveway a pain in the _SS. But having said that I will from now on do my own oil changes.

Another question if I may. The dodge service manual does not say anything about NOT recommending synthetic till after the break in. But on the cummins web site they do not recommend synthetic oil till after the 2nd oil change. Up here in the Great White North we had a very cold winter and after my 1st very cold night my truck would not start. I went to the dealer and they said as does the dodge Owners Manual to run synthetic oil for cold weather operations. Now I changed to synthetic oil at that time with only 6000 miles on the engine, any thoughts about the break in process and running synthetic?

yycguy

 

[JStieger]

GWeed,



The local city dump here takes the waste oil (and antifreeze) for free. I've taken in about up to 20 gallons at a time and they never said anything about it being "too much" for one visit.

 

[RobertBolinger]

The city dump here as well as Advance Auto Parts will take used oil for free.

 

[ray1933]

Oil Chage

I did my 91 and the 95 from above but the 03 is a peice of cake from below.

 

[RGardner]

Did my first oil change on my 03 yesterday. The drain plug was not tight at all and I did miss the fluted plug that my 01 has. The filter is harder to get to than on my 01. Another place to get rid of used oil is to check at local garages, many use waste oil heaters and are glad to have the oil.

 

[phloop]

Originally posted by RobertBolinger





I have heard of people drilling a hole in the bottom on the oil filter to drain it out first. I don't think that is necessary.



I read an article about changing oil on a PSD 7. 3 and that guy hooked a shop vac to the oil filler to keep the oil in the pan until he had the plug completely off. Seems like a lot of trouble.

The post on the PSD guy using the shop vac was when he replaced the stock drain plug with a Fumoto drain valve which he wanted to change before he needed to do an oil change. Instead of drilling a hole in the filter just use a big nail and poke a hole in it. That and using the Fumoto valve makes for a easy clean oil change.

 

[doldenburg]

i dont know how some people can make a simple job so tuff. like others have said,remove air intake,strap wrench-i have done it this way on all 4 of my trucks since 93. old filters will work on new trucks. i buy them by the case.

 

[RRoton]

I took mine to the dealer for the first oil change, and the bill was $70. 00 I thought that was a little high, but $400. 00 "WOW"

 

[jfrow2]

When I bought my 2004. 5, the dealer offered a D/C service contract for 6 oil and filter changes for $165. 00 or $27. 50 each. Normally the dealer charges $60. 00 for oil change. The contract is supposed to be renewable and works at any D/C dealer.



At that price, I could not turn it down.