Diesel Maintenance

wintersun wrote:
With my diesel and towing 50% of the time I change the oil every 7500 miles and not per the DIC which would allow for going 10,000 miles. Diesels put more soot and such into the motor oil and the situation is even worse with towing or with short trips (less than 45 minutes) where the engine is seldom at its optimum operating temperature. My engine also takes twice as much oil as a gas engine and requires a more expensive motor oil as well. And I have to drive further for oil changes as most of the quick lube places and the GM dealers use a poorly rated oil for diesels.

I can go 100,000 miles with the fuel filter with my gas vehicles but have to change the fuel filter on my truck every 10,000 miles. Diesel fuel is unbelievable dirty and particles in the fuel eat away at the fuel injector solenoids which are operating at 29,000 PSI or higher in today's common rail high pressure fuel systems. Even with 98.7% filtration there are more than 200,000 particles going into the injectors at high velocity with each gallon of diesel that is burned. It is well worth the expense to use the best fuel filters you can find and not the stock ones, especially with the Duramax and its mediocre ACDelco filter. Ram with its Cummins filter is the only one I would trust.

NOx sensors cost $700 to replace and they are less reliable than the O2 sensors with gas vehicles. And there is the need to buy DEF for use to keep the exhaust cleaner. Diesel itself costs more than premium gas which pretty much negates any gains in MPG. Two batteries to replace instead of one.

My annual costs with the diesel engine are more than double that of any gas powered truck I have owned. Repairs are going to be magnitudes more expensive. A new set of fuel injectors for a diesel truck will cost more than an engine rebuild with a gas engine.

Completely disagree. While towing the engine oil is not being abused at all. When I tow a lot my oil change intervals are about 7,500 miles the maximum allowed for my 11 HO RAM 6.7. I change at the time it says no sooner.

Yes diesel's (all brands) are more expensive to maintain. Having said that I am impressed that the Ford automatic transmissions requiring service at 150k miles where as other brands require servicing at 30k miles or perhaps less.

With my diesel and towing 50% of the time I change the oil every 7500 miles and not per the DIC which would allow for going 10,000 miles. Diesels put more soot and such into the motor oil and the situation is even worse with towing or with short trips (less than 45 minutes) where the engine is seldom at its optimum operating temperature. My engine also takes twice as much oil as a gas engine and requires a more expensive motor oil as well. And I have to drive further for oil changes as most of the quick lube places and the GM dealers use a poorly rated oil for diesels.

I can go 100,000 miles with the fuel filter with my gas vehicles but have to change the fuel filter on my truck every 10,000 miles. Diesel fuel is unbelievable dirty and particles in the fuel eat away at the fuel injector solenoids which are operating at 29,000 PSI or higher in today's common rail high pressure fuel systems. Even with 98.7% filtration there are more than 200,000 particles going into the injectors at high velocity with each gallon of diesel that is burned. It is well worth the expense to use the best fuel filters you can find and not the stock ones, especially with the Duramax and its mediocre ACDelco filter. Ram with its Cummins filter is the only one I would trust.

NOx sensors cost $700 to replace and they are less reliable than the O2 sensors with gas vehicles. And there is the need to buy DEF for use to keep the exhaust cleaner. Diesel itself costs more than premium gas which pretty much negates any gains in MPG. Two batteries to replace instead of one.

My annual costs with the diesel engine are more than double that of any gas powered truck I have owned. Repairs are going to be magnitudes more expensive. A new set of fuel injectors for a diesel truck will cost more than an engine rebuild with a gas engine.

The Mad Norsky wrote:

dapperdan wrote:
I just picked up my new 2015 Laramie 3500 Saturday. I'm still going over a ton of stuff to learn about this truck but I did read where with the Cummins 6.7 the oil change interval could be as high as 15,000 miles. I don't think I'm going to be going that high between oil changes on MY truck. On the '06 we just traded off I usually changed the oil and filter around 6,000 miles and every fall I changed the fuel filter. Air filter every other year.

Get the diesel you'll love it. Plenty of power and torque when needed.

Dan

Just thought I would mention that I had the oil changed on mine at about 3,200 mile mark.

No way I am gonna run 15,000 miles on a new engine with factory oil in it.

Plus, now at least for sure I know what is in the engine. Good grief. Some claim it came with 5W/40 Rotella, others 5W/40 Valvoline. Others 15W/40 Rotella. On and on.

I had it filled with the 15W/40 Rotella.

Same here, I will dump factory fill around 3K and fill with AMZ/OIL 15-40 100% Synthetic. After that I will change when the light comes on. I will also do an oil analysis at that time including TBN.

labren wrote:
Thanks for the input...... this was not a complaint about the cost of the services on diesel, but rather to know more about the frequency of the services and what it entails to take care of a diesel. With gassers forever, diesels were a mystery to me.

You all helped clear that up, thanks

As was mentioned above maintenance schedules vary and depends on the brand and year models. One size don't fit all.

The '03 to '07 5.9 HPCR Dodge/Cummins use a 7500-15000 mile oil change schedule. I use a 15 dollar Fleetguard oil filter from my Cummins dealer mostly in the 10k-13k mile range. Very easy to change from the bottom.

Mopar/Fleetguard air filters ...... 27 bucks at my Cummins dealers. I actually use the AFE pro 7 air filter system for 100 degree's lower EGT's. The AFE has been on my '03 Dodge/Cummins since new.

I change a 15 dollar Fleetguard fuel filter every 25000 miles. very simple 6 min job from the top.

This truck has just over 260000 miles and with a oil analysis ever 50k miles no issues.

dapperdan wrote:
I just picked up my new 2015 Laramie 3500 Saturday. I'm still going over a ton of stuff to learn about this truck but I did read where with the Cummins 6.7 the oil change interval could be as high as 15,000 miles. I don't think I'm going to be going that high between oil changes on MY truck. On the '06 we just traded off I usually changed the oil and filter around 6,000 miles and every fall I changed the fuel filter. Air filter every other year.

Get the diesel you'll love it. Plenty of power and torque when needed.

Dan

Just thought I would mention that I had the oil changed on mine at about 3,200 mile mark.

No way I am gonna run 15,000 miles on a new engine with factory oil in it.

Plus, now at least for sure I know what is in the engine. Good grief. Some claim it came with 5W/40 Rotella, others 5W/40 Valvoline. Others 15W/40 Rotella. On and on.

I had it filled with the 15W/40 Rotella.

Bottom line is until you narrow your focus to a specific brand, model year, and engine version you won't really have a good handle on maintenance. Like all have posted, you will generally find engine oil changes are more vs a gasoline engine primarily due to the quantity of oil required and batteries when the need arises, since there are two. Everything else, brakes, coolant hoses, coolant changes, transmission/differential maintenance, shocks, tire maintenance, would likely be similar to a gasoline powered truck. Oh yeah, no plugs, coil packs, or ignition wires to mess with.

Just follow the intervals as indicated by the DIC. Changing oil and fuel filters more often than that is not necessary, and pretty much a waste of your hard earned money.

I have the old 7.3 Powerstroke motor, and 15 quarts of oil and a filter are about $60 at Walmart. I change the oil every 5000 miles, and it's an easy 30 minute job, especially since these trucks sit so high to begin with. I'll change the fuel filter every 20K miles or so. The air filter will also go 20K miles.

I understand all the filters are very pricey on the newer model trucks. With only 120K miles (12 years), I hope to run my truck for many more years.

I have two Duramax trucks.

The 06 I've had for a year. The 09, since new, August 31st 2009.

On both, I try to change the fuel filters somewhere around 10k miles - $30.00 per filter.

Oil changes:

The 06 sees a lot of highway miles, so the OCI varies - it depends on when I have time and motivation: Somewhere between 4000-6000 miles. I partially base my OCI on what the DIC says, but it's never been as low as 25%
Oil is about $30.00 at WalMart. I get the filters online, about $8-$10 each I think.

The 09: OCI varies greatly too, but I have free lifetime LOFs on it, and I've never paid for an oil change on it yet.

Allison Spin-on trans filter - I change every other oil change on both trucks. Filter is about $10.00 each

Water Separator is built in to the fuel filter - I've never gotten a water in fuel warning, so I've never opened the water drain petcock on the bottom of the fuel filter.