Oil Consumption and sampling

[Hummin Cummins]

Getting ready for my first oil change @ 5000 miles since i bought this truck. Checking oil is still above the fill mark so i assume this is about right I know some useage is normal. Also wanna sample it so whats the best way to do it, Warm and mixed up, cold and settled out?. Also how far through the drain do i pull a sample?

 

[LSMITH]

I don't know a lot about sampling, but here is what I do know. You should have the engine warmed up, and sample from somwhere near the middle of the drain. Be sure to clean the drainplug area good as some dirt getting pulled into the oil stream could really skew your results. As a side note, my engine has over 85K miles on it and does not use any oil that I can tell. The dipstick reading is the same 7K miles later, that is as far as I have gone on one change. Hope this helps.

 

[illflem]

Since it's your first oil change you might not know that you don't have to remove the drain plug to fully drain the oil. Just a few turns of the plug will give you a nice slow stream that is easy to take a sample from. Do the rest just as LSMITH said. Just in case you don't know the plug takes a 3/8" square drive socket wrench.