As per Amsoil you do not have to what to break in the engine you can use syn. right from new. As for oil leaks if your motor has higher milage on it then you should use a engine flush first to get all the carbon and junk out of the engine which inturn may clean the dirt from the cracks in the seals that are the only thing holding the oil in. So you may have to replace the leaking seal. As for price Amsoil is 22.15 per gallon. for up to 2 times then the regular recommended drain intervals. Also extending oil change intervals does not void new vehicle warranties. To affect the warr. the oil must be directly responible for the engine failure. Also you get better cold starts and cooler running temps in the high summer temps. with the added benifit of a increase in fuel milage.

 

Cummins 5.9 engines completely seat the rings between 10-30,000 miles and it is not recommended to use a true PAO synthetic oil until the rings are seated. Engines that pull right from day one will seat faster than engines that limp around idling from one store to the other empty. Heat from high work loads also settles the core shift in the bored block earlier in it's life. My truck got semi-synthetic oil at it's 1st oil change at 25,000 km and true synthetic at 50k. Like Yukon said it will usually not even show any oil use until 8-10k and by 25k oil change time it will have used 1-2 litres of oil. 215k next oil change Feb/Mar 06. Dodge bible thumpers please just put it back in the glove box I am off warranty and dont need to hear what DC says as the oil samples disagree with both of you. PK

 

I generally put less than 20K a year on the truck, and I do the oil analysis before I drop the oil to be sure everything is ok. I really like having that spectroscopic analysis done that shows wear metals, presence of glycol, fuel, and so on.

 

I can't understand why you wouldn't use the extended drain cycle of synth. The majority of contamination comes from blowby, wear and airborne contaminants. but contamination isn't the reason most oils need changing, it's the reason filters need changing. You replace the fluids to make sure the additives package is effective and the viscosity/ lubricity stays within specs.
Synthetics tend to have a more robust additive load and the molecular stability virtually ensures that the chains won't shear(change viscosity).
I use an oversized full flow and a bypass filter that I change twice a year. Once a year I change the oil. The analysis always comes back good but changing the oil gives me a chance to get under the hood and tweak-n-clean.

 

I have just over 10,000 miles on my Mobil 1 5w40. It is now black. It used to be somewhat transparent until about 8,000. I use the Fleetguard stratapore filter. I dont tow much so I figured it wouldn't hurt to run a little longer. I am going to change it this weekend just to be safe. But honestly I think it could last another 5,000.

 

If you go by the color of the oil I would have to change the oil in my old Kenworth with the Cat every day after the oil had been changed. These new engines are really clean for carbon deposits compared to the older ones. AA Meeting if you want to be "safe" send the oil in for sampling and know the truth not speculate it. The oil sample tells you what exactly what is being deposited in the oil and we have adjusted rebuild/repair schedules to match it on the big trucks eg; high tri-metal (bearings) + milage = bearing roll, high silicates shows a dust leak problem in the air filtering, antifreeze shows head gasket or liner seals and diesel fuel traces shows incomplete burning aka overfuelling or injection problems. The system is not perfect but better than guessing buying oil because you were told to. Diesel engines will usually indicate oil change time by an increase in oil consumption ie; 25k oil change my engine will start using more oil about 12-15000km by 25000km oil change time has used 1-2 litres of oil. Oil samples show oil is starting to stress at 25000km - change oil and has been consistant since truck was new like my 1991 CTD. Old system change oil every 5000 miles, new system throw Dodge maintenance schedule and book in garbage (heresay to make money) use technology and chemistry to make oil change decisions and spend extra money from those savings to buy true synthetics to enhance technology you are paying for. PK

 

Well said, fellow Canuck!

 

my understanding is that if you have the "super duper" filtering system on your oil, it will give you a false sense of security because a lot of things you may be testing for are filtered out of the oil before it get's tested.???? (I think I read that in a post somehwere, but I'm not sure about that.)

 

Hm-m-m...that's an interesting concept. Apparently the Amsoil bypass system takes particles out down to 1/10th of a micron, which is 'way below the 10-20 microns. I would think that if you had ruined a bearing and were putting copper into the oil, that you would have particles of all sizes, including smaller than 1/10th micron. Next time I talk to the oil lab people I'll try to remember to ask someone there. Good question, though. But I think the rationale is that if we keep the particles out that cause wear in the first place, we won't normally see catastrophic failure. (I hope)

 

 

That was just my 2 cents, and I only remember it because I read it from someone elses post a few years back. I think the thread was "as something gets more worn, the rate of wear increases geometrically" or something like that. So you should be able to tell how much a motor is worn, by testing the oil and knowing exactly how far the truck has gone since last oil change.

May be a bunch of poppycock for all I know, but I have a very hard time buying used vehicles because of the handful of people who unhook their odometers so they can sell it with the same miles on it as they got it. I'd sure like to have a sure-fire method that doesn't cost a zillion dollars, but will tell you what condition a motor is in.

 

I know it's not practical to pull the valve cover off of every used car or truck you might want to buy, but it would be nice if you could. I had my CTD cover off just before we left home in Oct for a valve adjust, and it was absolutely spotless inside (235,000km/144,000mi).

 

If you're going to do over-extended drain intervals, you better use oil analysis to ensure oil additive package is still protecting engine sufficiently, and contaminants aren't too high. I run synthetic oil all winter 10w30(summer 15w40 dino oil), change it every 150-200 hours(synthetic 200-250 hours average drain for me) approximately 10,000 kms, and have done so since new.

Every ones truck will be different based on how much city/hiway driving, idling, how many times up to operating temp, how much fueling they have etc.

I did oil analysis previously to see what my drain intervals could be based on my fueling, and driving habits, and at 225-250 hours syn oil was still good, but usually by then camping season is almost upon us, and then I change back to 15w40 dino oil. When I put in new injectors this summer at 200,000kms or so, valve cover inside was spotlessly clean.

 

Where do you get the oil analyzed? How much does it cost? I am having a problem getting the synthetic 5w40 for some reason it is not on the shelves at over 13 stores I have visited. One guy from walmart said it was because of Kitrina and should be on the shelves soon. Does it hurt anything to switch from oil to oil? Someone here said not to do it once. T

 

I use the oil analysis service that you will find on Amsoil's website...costs about 20 bucks, and the full spectroscopic report you get back is well worth it. I use their synthetic oil because a mechanic friend is a dealer, and that makes it easy to get, and they were the FIRST to make synthetic oil, I might add. I put their Bypass Oil filter kit on a few years ago, and the hardest thing about the kit is where to put it! I found ONE spot where I could mount it, as the filter is so big. But the point is, when I plumbed it in, I added a petcock to it so that with the engine warmed up and idling, I just crack it open and put the little plastic bottle there to get my sample. Works great! In Canada, buying the oil from him at a bit of a discount, the 14 litres of oil and two filters run me about $250 CDN, but it's well worth it.