6 month oil change?

Not new to Cummins or Ram, but picked up an ‘18 HO Cummins. Read the OM supplement and found out the minimum oil change interval is 15k miles, 500 hours engine time, or 6 months. Wow! 6 months?!? That seems insane.

My new truck won’t be doing any crazy miles or hours. So to change the oil every 6 months seems a bit crazy. Annually? Yeah, I get that. But 6 months seems way too much for a fella like me and my usage. The truck I just traded had 14k miles and I owned it about 2.5 years.

Opinions? What do you do? Am I nuts for thinking this is a bit overboard? I was going to go full synthetic, but not if I’m doing an oil change every time I turn around.

 

FCA furnishes the warranty. The end user either abides by the maintenance requirements as outlined in the warranty booklet, or the end user does not abide by the maintenance requirements as outlined in the warranty booklet.

In a nutshell......your truck / your warranty.

This topic has been discussed ad nauseam.........

 

It already has synthetic from the factory. Although the factory says 6 months, I personally would not give it much worry. I can't recall the last oil related failures anyone on TDR had since I have been around. But you need to do whatever you're comfortable with. I would at least change the filter at 6 months and add a quart. If you buy a couple years of oil and filters and save the receipts your good.

 

Sorry my question bothers you. You didn't have to answer.

I DID do a search without many results. I wasn't satisfied with what I found, so I started a new thread.

I had thought 3500 miles (on average) for 6 months for oil is a very extreme for needing changed. Perhaps my uneducated self doesn't know what these new spaceship exhaust systems are effected by oil at 7 months? I came here to learn, educate, and share. The TDR has always been known for that.

I wanted to know what fellow TDR members are doing.

 

Hi sixkill,
Am I reading this wrong? So does this say you can’t leave oil in for more than 6 months? I’m reading that as the maximum interval, but I guess it’s semantics. If that truck is new, I’d surely follow the break in interval, and after that, you could do what you want. Save the receipts, log onto owner connect and put in your maintenance (that’s what I do with my R/T Durango) and because of your situation, I’d sample at least once a year, with TBN, to back up your unique usage situation.
I am 30 years in government fleet maintenance, and my agency has much less tolerance on the meters, it’s more like 3000 mi/ 250 hours, but we do have low usage machines, and for that reason, no fluid or air filter of any kind can be more than a year old.
Personally with my ‘04, I am currently in a low mileage rut, and I drop it twice a year, along with the other vehicles in my sig. That oil usually has less than 200 hours on it, but I fear for fuel dilution and other contaminants.
I do agree that these engines do not fail for lubrication issues.

 

Yessir, The manual states 15k miles, 500 engine hours, or six months, whichever comes first. The hours and miles seems very appropriate for today's machines. I just have a hard time with the 6 months being the longest you can have oil in your crankcase without changing it.

 

I've been Doing OA (Oil Analysis) on every motor I own, That includes My Lawnmower Snowmobiles You name it. Some of My equipment sits for long periods of time. MY Trucks go 12 months or 12K miles most don't see the miles use, My lawn mower went 3 years and the OAs was good for another 3 years of use, Remember that mower sits for 6 months a year. Use quality Lube and your good for 12 months IMO and do OAs to establish trends

All Makers error on the cautious side for maintenance on engine service, Now trans service according to the Holy Manual is disturbing IMO, lifetime for certain trans C'mon.

Here's My Ecdiesel OA , I no longer own the Truck its gone Yey

 

Sixkill,

I agree with you. I do 12 months or 13,500 miles....I hit the miles first so far. FYI, I have a 2017 C&C, so the mileage interval is less. I maintain a manual fuel/ maintenance log. My truck sat on the lot almost a year and the dealer DID NOT change the oil once. I have a good dealer, same service writer for 20 years on 4 trucks. The dealer knows I maintain my trucks, so don't expect problems.

This is my 6th Ram Cummins., 2nd 6.7L truck, and I've never burned, leaked, or had any oil related issues.

Hope that helps that there are others out there who don't throw away good oil.

Cheers, Ron

 

The 2019 is up to 12 months, and it sure shouldn’t be any easier on oil than a 13-18. Maybe we’ll get a revised manual

Maybe they are more confident in CK oil over CJ oil.

 

One year seems reasonable. I just can't imagine modern oils can't handle a year minimum in the crankcase, miles and hours not withstanding.

 

I run full 15k at variable time intervals with AMZ/OIL 15-40 and FleetGuard filter. Next change I will be using the AMZ/OIL-Donaldson filter as it filters and flows better. I do a oil analysis every time and they all come back saying the oil is good and I could go longer after warranty is up.

 

Depends on where you live. Look under the valve cover of a vehicle that’s parked from October to April around here and you’ll see why 6 months may be appropriate for certain condition.

 

I wouldn't advise not following the factory manual recommendation. Or at least do what Sag 2 said..... Buy 2 years of oil/filters and keep the receipt. But since your truck comes with a mopar filter, i actually would recommend what Ron says and change the first change as break-in oil after the first 6 months. The warrantys used to come with the first 4 oil changes free as long as they were done in the first 2 years. I think that may have gone by the wayside. But that made the decision easy for me. The dealer did not use synthetic when changing oil, but i didn't really expect them to.

Don't top off your DEF if you don't plan on running it alot.

 

Personally I see zero reason to replace filter and add a quart. That still does not satisfy the requirement. Put that money towards a Blackstone report and get to know the inside of your engine.

 

I agree, but really dislike Blackstone. More expensive and the people have never impressed me with their comments on the report or in person.

Personally I prefer Oil Analyzers Inc. When Blackstone continued to disappoint I asked my local Cummins and they recommended OAI.

 

I suspect the change to 12 months is Ram keeping up with the Jones. Both Ford and GM use oil life monitors rather than fixed service intervals. Fords reminder will light up if 12 months have passed since the last reset and oil change conditions have not been otherwise met. This dates back to CJ4 oil as well. I think we can all agree the 6.7 Ford engine is not easier on oil than an ISB...

GM used to be the same way but have not been in anything of theirs in several years.

I've sampled conventional CJ4 and CK4 oils at 9-11 month intervals and 12-14k miles and return good results. My driving routines are pretty consistent, this mileage generally puts me around 350 hrs give or take. I'm sure there are scenarios where shorter intervals are needed but the determining factors would be based more on ones usage than time alone.

I use Webscope PM for my oil analysis.

https://schaeffer.theoillab.com/Services



They use Predictive Maintenance Services.

https://www.theoillab.com/

 

They come with synthetic 5w-40 now from the factory. I like shell rotella T6, good oil and affordable. I change my oil every 5,000. There is also an oil life indicator in the message center. I keep a tablet in the jockey box and log all the services. Use the genuine Mopar filter. Install Geno's garage heavy duty magnectic drain plug on your first oil change. You'll thank yourself many years down the road.

 

Why?

One of the least efficient filters you can buy. It's minimum spec filtration, and not any really cheaper than much better filter.

I went thru 3 of these on my 05. The magnents never stayed attached for more than one filter change. I would clean the magnet with a rag and it would fall off. Warranty, etc. I kept the HD plug for the hex head, but ended up not bothering with the magnet.

 

Because I live in the mountains and drive 17 miles on dirt roads until pavement. Comparison data on the filters? Never had a minutes trouble with my drain plugs, run them in 4 rigs now.

 

If you really want the best possible filtration you should be using the fleetGuard StrataPore filter. Mopar is made by FleetGuard but is cellulose. Even better use the Donaldson or AMZ/oil filter made by Doanldson. They flow more and filter even better.