Engine/Transmission (1998.5 - 2002) when to change engine oil?

[waldo]

I have a 99 4x4 club cab. I'm using amsoil 15-40 and filter in the engine. Should I go the 25,000 miles like they say? Looking for some insite on what others are doing.

 

[BIGDIG]

Are you talking motor oil here... 25,000 miles before a change... I change mine every 3,000 but I also drive alot of highway miles and haul. just curious,does it say that in the book or did the dealer tell you that... . theres a schedule "A" and a schedule "B" in the book for maintenance... at least for my 02. . check it out...

 

[klenger]

I'm kind of conservitive about this, but with synthetic lubricants, I will go to the longest interval recommened by Dodge, which is 7,500 miles. With non-synthetics, I go 3,000 - 5,000.

 

[BillGotthelf]

Well the 2003 engines now have a factory recommended oil change interval of 15,000 miles. I am running amsoil in both my CTD's and I have 73,000 and 117,000 miles on the oil in them. Oil tests come back good for continued use but I am running an aftermarket (Puradyne) micro filtration system. Of all the systems out there I was most impressed with theirs because of the heating element that boils off water, antifreeze and fuel that gets into the oil. I change the element every 15,000 miles and the factory filter once a year and add oil as needed.

 

[illflem]

waldo, if you're going to go longer than the factory change interval you should do oil analysis in order to determine whether the oil is still good to go. Start out with analysis at most every 10k till you get a feel for how long your oil will last.

 

[JJW_ND]

25K Maybe

Waldo,



If you have warrenty left take a oil sample at the longest warrenty drain interval (6K or 7. 5K), change filter, add make quart and wait for sample results. Repeat this out to 25K. If you make it to 25K and most likely you will, you will have oil analysis to back what is or is not happening. After warrenty, every 10K is probably plenty for samles. Pick a oil lab and stay with them... trends!!! Using high quality oil filters and change them every 6 - 8K is a good thing.



I have ran 25K drains for the last 150K miles. Never had a sample recomend changing the oil. Truck pulled hard and hp turned up. Seen some of the inside 5K miles ago while changing leaked headgasket. No oil related problems other then all the missed time spending changing the oil!



jjw

ND

 

[keimmmo]

I have rebuilt several gasoline motors over the years that ran synthetic oil and used extended drain intervals. They were amazingly clean and showed no problems from a lack of lubrication. They DID show excessive wear from abrasives!!! You HAVE to keep the oil filtered or you will do damage! If you want to extend the drain intervals, at least change the filter fairly often and do oil analysis! Of course, by the time you pay for that, you could change the oil more regularly. Motor oil and filters are cheap compared to rebuilding a Cummins!!!



Steve

 

[HC]

You already know opinions will vary, but sounds like it's opinions you seek, so here's mine:



Without bypass filter: Change full flow filter at 5k, then oil plus filter at 10k. Many go longer, but IMHO, it defeats some of the purposes of running quality synthetic if you run it too long without bypass filtration. I'd feel better with Delo changing every 5k than with the best synthetic but going more than 10k. JMO, JMO, JMO!



With bypass filter: Change full flow filter every 5 or 7. 5k, change bypass filter per makers recommendation; oil sample at 5k or 10k intervals. Change oil when sample says, or when you find yourself spending too much time thinking about it. (I'm at 30k and counting... )

 

[DocStressor]

I agree with the last 2 posts. If you drive your truck a lot, most engine wear is caused by abrasive dirt particles that are not removed by full-flow filtration. Without a bypass filter, your oil analyses will keep coming back "oil suitable for continued use" until the silicon levels reach a cutoff limit which will vary from lab to lab. That is assuming that you change the filter every 5-7. 5K and add makeup oil to keep the TBN, barrier lubrication additives, and oxidation inhibitor levels up. But your not doing you engine any good going to that limit. So don't buy that 25K hype unless you use a bypass filter that will remove particles down to at least 5 microns and also prevent moisture accumulation.



You should safely be able to extend drain intervals to 10-15K without a bypass. In fact, you could likely do this with any new CI-4 oil, synthetic or not. Dirt accumulation has little to do with the properties of the oil you use. Much depends on how you drive. Note that even Amsoil says that they only warrantee for 6 month or 7K mile drain intervals unless you use oil analysis. Dirt accumulates as a function of both time and the volume of air drawn through the engine. If you don't drive much, you will find that dirt accumulates in the oil anyway since the crankcase system is not closed or filtered.



You could probably get 200,000 miles or so on a Cummins using 25K non-bypass drain intervals without a problem. These engines are tough. But if you expect to reach or exceed the 400K design spec of the engine, you shouldn't push your luck.

 

[waldo]

Thanks for the advice. So who makes a good bypass filter and where can I get one????

 

[BillGotthelf]

I use all amsoil in my trucks but I don't use their bypass. As I stated in my post above we use Puradyne (www.puradyne.com) in all our over the road dump trucks and all my pickups. Got oil analysis to prove 400,000 miles (without changin- delo 400) on 8. 3 Ford L8000's. I like their setup.