Oil changes

[schl44]

Hi, I have a 2012 F350 with 20,000 miles on it. I only use it for towing my fifth wheel. It has a 6.7 in it. I was woundering how many miles should you put on before changing oil. I do not use synthetic. I have been changing every 3000 miles. What do others do? Thanks!!!!

[atwowheelguy]

schl44 wrote:
Hi, I have a 2012 F350 with 20,000 miles on it. I only use it for towing my fifth wheel. It has a 6.7 in it. I was woundering how many miles should you put on before changing oil. I do not use synthetic. I have been changing every 3000 miles. What do others do? Thanks!!!!

20,000 miles in five years = 4,000 miles per year. So every 3,000 miles is once every 9 months. You're not running the engine very often to evaporate the condensation in the engine. My truck owner's manual says never exceed one year oil change interval. 3,000 miles at 9 months seems reasonable to me.

[drsteve]

I change the oil when the computer tells me it's time to change the oil.

A while ago, I let the DW's car go past the appointed oil change time, and within a couple thousand miles, the CEL came on, with a code that said the crank position sensor and the cam sensor were not in agreement. Car still ran fine. I changed the oil, and the light went off and has not returned.

[Grit_dog]

Jiffy lube must be sending all you 3k folks gift baskets!!
If it makes you feel better someone posted recently that changeing your oil too soon is bad for your engine! Lol

[tomman58]

got oil change yesterday at GM dealer. Had 10% showing on the info panel. Asked GM rep if that was the right thing as I use the truck to haul our TT about 80% of the time. He said it is all figured in the % and as long as I maintained it to the level there is no problem. I know on my last Dmax I went to 5 or 10 percent all the time without a hitch. sold it with 180,000. What ever floats your boat I guess.

[1jeep]

I do oil and filter every 5k miles, fuel filters every 10k, my previous ford 6.7 I did the same without an issue.

[Toolguy5]

KD4UPL wrote:
Doesn't matter what other do, you should follow the manufacturer's maintenance schedule in the manual.

Agree

[RAS43]

Arcamper wrote:
Not really sure why Ram/Cummins puts a 6 month time limit on oil changes but I changed mine in April and it has sat most of the summer only getting about 400 miles. So to keep with what the book says I need to change it next month with 400 miles on the oil. Since it is still under warranty I will but after that it goes to once a year or 5k miles. Anyone have a good reason why I should not? This truck stays indoors climate controlled unless its being driven.

It was the same thing with my '99 Ford with the 7.3l. Twice a year with a total of 5000 miles a year. After warranty I changed to once a year and it was fine. Now I have a 6.0l and the recommendation is 5000 miles or 1 year which fits my use well. And today's oils are much improved from the past.

[Arcamper]

Not really sure why Ram/Cummins puts a 6 month time limit on oil changes but I changed mine in April and it has sat most of the summer only getting about 400 miles. So to keep with what the book says I need to change it next month with 400 miles on the oil. Since it is still under warranty I will but after that it goes to once a year or 5k miles. Anyone have a good reason why I should not? This truck stays indoors climate controlled unless its being driven.

[Stefonius]

My 2003 F450 7.3 used to have self-changing oil. I just had the oil pan replaced last week. Now I suppose I'm going to have to start paying attention to how many miles go by...

[dodge_guy]

rhagfo wrote:
Wow, so many old school 3,000 mile changes!
2001 Ram/Cummins with 300,000 miles, daily drive and change every 10,000 miles.
Blackstone said I was likely good to go to 12,500, but 10,000 is just about I put on in a year.

10k on a diesel is about the max I would go. I do my V-10 every 4k with Mobil1.

[rhagfo]

Wow, so many old school 3,000 mile changes!
2001 Ram/Cummins with 300,000 miles, daily drive and change every 10,000 miles.
Blackstone said I was likely good to go to 12,500, but 10,000 is just about I put on in a year.
This is the lifter gallery when I replaced the cover gasket, at 300,000 miles.

[drsteve]

Lynnmor wrote:

drsteve wrote:

Lynnmor wrote:
Those additives have been used for more than half a century, now the government wants them out.

The government wants them out? Interesting. Do you have a link? TIA.

Here is a little background: Zinc

One of the problems with some diesel oils is that they are also rated for gasoline engines and need the lower additives to qualify for that rating.

Thanks. I don't see anything about the government though, just that standard formulations of lubricating oils for gasoline engines now have reduced amounts of the additive due to the API limiting the concentration of this additive in new API SM and SN oils. Their reasoning is that this additive may damage catalytic converters.

API is a trade group that has nothing to do with the government, AFAIK.

[Ramp_Digger]

F-TROUP wrote:
2001 F250 7.3 change every 5,000 when I rotate the tires. Shell Rotella 15w 40

x2. The same on my 2000 ford excursion 7.3 diesel, It has a 3.73 rear axle ratio. However on my 2001 f-550 7.3 I change every 4000 mi.It has a rear axle ratio of 4.88 and spends a lot of time towing and delivery type service.

[Grit_dog]

brooks379 wrote:
I change my oil and filters with top of the line products regularly. My brother on the other hand has a 95 Ram Cummins diesel ranch truck with 388,000 miles on it and changes the oil with what ever is available and when ever he thinks it must be about time to change it and it starts up and runs like it did in 95.

Bingo. And while just making those miles on an(y) engine is great, the fact that the oil gets changed and never runs out, is like 80% of the battle.
The next 10 % can be attributed to doing it regularly, as reccomended or needed.
The last 10% is, maybe, arguing over the benefits of high $ oil and filtering efficincies, driving habits, etc.

Bottom line, change your oil by mileage or every year if low miles and you've just won 90% of the battle.