paul4romtexas

Guys, I am a bass fisherman and fill my brain with fishing knowledge instead of diesel knowledge. That being said, I admire what yall know about our trucks. I bought mine to pull my bass boat all over Texas to various tournaments and whatnot, I also pull horses from time to time.

Here is my question, the truck is 14 months old and has 27,600 miles on it, about 75% of these miles are towing. I am very happy, it is completely stock and will remain that way. I have changed the oil every 7500 miles and I am about to go in for an oil change. I hear this talk about synthetics but dont know what they are or how they help? Should I ask for synthetic oil? Once I go synthetic, do I need to stay synthetic? Which synthetic oil (if any) can the dealer get for me? I dont change my own oil, dont have the time or knowledge. So, help a novice diesel owner out. What should I do for the better of my truck?

soulezoo

OH NO!! Another OIL THREAD!!... haha

There are a lot of oil opinions here. I want to underscore the OPINION part. I'll try to help you best I can with my own. Todays synthetics for the most part are well made oils. And you can swap back and forth between dino and synthetic, but I recommend not mixing oils. The main advantage to synthetic is better, meaning higher, temperature range, extended drain intervals (meaning that to offset the cost of the oil you don't have to change as often, they do not break down as fast and a better ability to hold in suspension contaminates). Plenty of people here choose Amsoil. It is a very good product. I use shaeffers, another top shelf oil. Others use Mobil 1, or Rotella synthetic. Royal Purple is yet another. It is possible to get better fuel mileage from synthetics because of a little more lubricity or better flow capability. In short, not as much oil "drag" if that makes any sense to you at all. You can maybe see 1 mpg better. In my opinion, if you really want to help your engine out and protect against wear, invest in a oil bypass system like FS 2500 or amsoil. That will really filter out the smaller wear causing particles that your regular oil filter cannot. That, I think, will help you out more in the wear/protection area more than the argument of synthetic vs dino.

Hope that helps!

coparam4x4

Do your truck and wallet a favor and change it yourself. It's the EASIEST oil change I've ever done on any vehicle. The hardest part about it, is going down to the parts store to actually buy the oil...Besides dont you want the extra $$ in your wallet not the dealers.

82NDSNPR

so does the fs 2500 really work i have been thinking about it for 550 you get the nice kit and if its only 550 but helps then its worth it in my opion that being said i have herd that the prob with our 3rd gens is a injector process that makes most of the carbon i would like to see an oil analisis on the 2500 that has been on a dodge, we use them on the cat track hoes we own and it works in those, just wondering if it works as well in our trucks with the injector issue any thoughts??

Arkapigdiesel

Being as you change it every 7500 miles....stick with a good 15W-40 dino oil. IMO, synthetic engine oils are only worth it in northern climates when cold pumpability is a factor.

Torque master

Syn Oil is great, Cost more up Front But you Reap the Benifit through longer periods between Oil Changes.
( Synthetic Oil is the only Oil they Run In Jet Engines )
It does not break down as Fast, and can handle Higher temps. after any Engine is Broke in, its the Way to Go.

soulezoo

I've looked at the FS 2500 and it is nice looking. For less than half the price the Amsoil does the same thing.

For the rest of it, the bottom line is, 3rd injector event or not, your regular filter has BIG holes in it to keep the full flow of oil going. (I can't remember what the average is but think it is above 12 microns) Most of the wear causing material in oil is 4 microns and above. The amsoil bypass system filters down to 2 microns at an efficiency above 98%. (All this is off the top of my head so please don't take it as gospel... I could be a little off here but you get the point.) By removing this stuff you can go longer betwen oil changes. FWIW... neither the amsoil or the FS2500 will keep your oil from getting black in time. That does not mean it isn't doing its job. My oil analysis says the system and oil I have is doing a great job at 20k drain intervals.

82NDSNPR

thanks for info soulezoo i checked it out on the site and since it was half the cost of the 2500 i went ahead and ordered it does this void any type of factory warrinty if it does not realy worried about it the mods do that but just be nice to know if its one more thing i will have to fight with the dealer about

soulezoo

You're welcome-- I hope it is helpful to you. I really can't answer the warranty question for you. That issue seems to vary from dealer to dealer. Heck, have you read some of the threads where gauges caused a warranty issue?? It gets ridiculous in some cases. I would not think that an extra oil filter would cause an issue-- but like I said... I can't answer that one.

I can tell you my last UOA from Blackstone said my engine looked really healthy for 100k miles and contaminants in the oil were very low compared to averages. And the TBN was high... that's all good stuff.

82NDSNPR

yea thanks alot man i figure i just bought the truck it only has 9k on it ( i still have not gotten to drive it yet) and i just put enough money it performance mods on it to make my wife demand new furniture (which she will get now) so i might as well spend a few extra bucks and make sure its well taken care of. im glad i found this forum learned alot and found a guy to fix the ac prob in my truck as well cant beat it man if i can just get ats to come fix up our humvee so we can pop smoke when we need to in a hurry

soulezoo

I hear ya! I always figure if my new bomb costs this much... then actual cost is doubled becuase I have to spend equal amount on the wife!!

82NDSNPR

yea aint that the truth but at least she lets me live and puts up with alot, i told her i would leave it stock since i have the chevelle but that lasted 2 weeks before i had her take it in to PDI in st george lol oh well you cant take it with you if go so might as well use it now