Oil Change

[david1601]

Kinda new to the cross country RVing. We are leaving May 2nd for 3 & 1/2 months on a trip to the west coast and back across Canada. It will be around 9,000 miles total. My question is about getting the oil changed in a 36' gas RV that is 12' tall.

What are the best places do this? Truck stops, dealerships? Or do you do it yourself and if so, how do you dispose of the old oil properly? At home I do this myself but have no idea about on the road.

Thanks.

[Grit_dog]

Good point Jim.

[JimK-NY]

Oils, engine tolerances and oil change recommendations have changed greatly over the years. I had a 2010 Ram CTD that specified changes every 7500 miles. Of course the oil filter was changed at the same interval and the fuel filter was to be changed every other oil change; i.e., at 15000 miles. Now I have a 2018 Ram CTD. The oil is synthetic and the change interval for the oil and filter is 15000 miles. Unfortunately the cost did not go down. There are now two fuel filters. Both are expensive and the recommendation is for changing at the 15000 mile interval.

Some owners are just determined to change oil frequently regardless of the manufacturer's specs. They somehow think the manufacturer is lying and wants them to buy a new engine. Owners were changing oil at 3000 miles when the specs called for 7500. Now we will see 3000 or maybe 7500 when the specs call for 15000 miles. I have always followed the manufacturer's spec. My last two vehicles survived the recommended 7500 mile intervals. My Izuzu lasted for 290K miles and died due to A/T failure. I sold my CRV at 190K miles when I retired and went full time in the truck camper.

If you are really pigheaded, you can always spend a few dollars and have your oil tested. You only need to do it once in order to confirm the manufacturer's schedule.

[rhagfo]

time2roll wrote:
See earlier post....

First 30,000 miles did 10 oil/filter changes.

Next 170,000 miles did 17 oil changes vs about 57 if done every 3,000.
As best I can tell there is zero ill effect.

I drive my truck nice. Still has original transmission clutches and brake rotors.

Makes sense to me I did 10,000 mile oil changes on our 2001 Ram 5.9 CTD. Had Blackstone test for extended change. When I sent the sample at 10,000 it was still good enough to go for 12,000 miles. I stopped at 10,000 miles as long enough.
Oil it’s self doesn’t wear out, the additives get depleted, I had enough left to go
12,000 miles if I wanted.
Replaced the tappet cover gasket at about 300k miles and zero sludge anywhere!

[Grit_dog]

All in good fun!

[david1601]

Jeez! What did I start. I have my answer or at the answer that works best for me. Thanks for all the advice. That is why I love this forum. I can ask a simple question and learn ever so much.

Thanks guys.

[time2roll]

See earlier post....

First 30,000 miles did 10 oil/filter changes.

Next 170,000 miles did 17 oil changes vs about 57 if done every 3,000.
As best I can tell there is zero ill effect.

I drive my truck nice. Still has original transmission clutches and brake rotors.

[Grit_dog]

time2roll wrote:
Yes the truck is 18 yo and 199,000 miles. Burns the same 1 qt in 3,000 since brand new. Yes I expect to keep it 20+ years and I further expect it to still be running great when I sell it.
I still get comments on how great it looks.

So at 199k miles and assume oil changes every 5000miles for sake of argument, you would have done approximately 40 oil changes on the truck, but instead you did not do 40 oil changes, which means you did zero?
Or at 3000mi intervals (kind of excessive) = 66 oil changes and you only did about 26 of them at around 7500 miles?

I'm down with scenario #2 sort of. But I wouldn't hedge $1.69 a week savings against timely oil changes. But that's just me...
Of course I drive like I stole it, $40 in beer, $30 in Copenhagen and $50 in lunches a week, so $1.69 a week is not a significant savings for me.

[time2roll]

Yes the truck is 18 yo and 199,000 miles. Burns the same 1 qt in 3,000 since brand new. Yes I expect to keep it 20+ years and I further expect it to still be running great when I sell it.
I still get comments on how great it looks.

[Grit_dog]

time2roll wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
As far as I can see, for gassers, an oil change is about the cheapest maintenance item one can have. I'd rather error on the side of too frequent changes. I have been driving about 6000 miles per year.

OK I have forgone 40 oil changes and with oil, filter, supplies etc maybe $40 to $50 per oil change = $1,600 to $2,000 saved. A little more than pocket money. If I keep going it would save enough to put a new motor in.

Correct , and the engine won’t blow up tomooorw from an extended OCI, but that is pocket change over the timespan it took to save $2k. Depends what you want out of your vehicle. Do you want to keep it 20-30 years and a bazillion miles or are you just waiting to pawn off your ill maintained newer vehicle on the next sucker, I mean person?

[Grit_dog]

Typical rvnut thread. OP asks about changing oil in his RV and gets blasted with 4 pages and counting of rhetoric!
It’s a vehicle, if you put more miles on than you’re comfortable driving between oil changes, spend an hour stopping to get it changed. No rocket surgery here kids.

[Gulfcoast]

My diesel truck gets fresh oil every 5000 miles, or sooner if I'm going on a long trip. I don't care what it costs... oil is cheap, motors and labor are not.

[time2roll]

pianotuna wrote:
As far as I can see, for gassers, an oil change is about the cheapest maintenance item one can have. I'd rather error on the side of too frequent changes. I have been driving about 6000 miles per year.

OK I have forgone 40 oil changes and with oil, filter, supplies etc maybe $40 to $50 per oil change = $1,600 to $2,000 saved. A little more than pocket money. If I keep going it would save enough to put a new motor in.

[Lynnmor]

philh wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:

Richmcm wrote:
My ford E450 2006 owners manual says to change every 3000 miles.

2007 says 5,000 miles, what changed?

Studies that showed cars can go 10k miles and beyond without any issue. On my DD car, which I drive pretty hard, I see an difference when I go all the way to 15k miles. I oil test every oil sample.

Ford scheduled maintenance for 2007 is 5,000 miles. They pulled the manuals for older models from their website so I can't verify the 3,000 mile claim for 2006 models.

[pianotuna]

As far as I can see, for gassers, an oil change is about the cheapest maintenance item one can have. I'd rather error on the side of too frequent changes. I have been driving about 6000 miles per year.