We are new to the Synthetic Oil.Need some information.
Do your Syn.oils tend to turn darker quicker than non synthetic oils?

 

No. It shouldnt. It will get black or darker than fresh oil but with our trucks (3 diesels)we run AmsOil synthetic and its never anything close to the typical BLACK oil that you find in a diesel with petroleum oil after lets say 10,000+ miles. My 12v has a little over 1,000 miles on its fresh oil change and its still gold.

 

We just bought this 2002. It has 64,155 original miles.We have changed the oil a couple of times now. If you were to switch from synthetic to non synthetic would it create Big issues?

 

my previous truck was a 1997 Ford power stroke diesel. It was a great truck, but man the oil would turn black within 1000 miles. It alsways kinda freaked me out.

I was really suprised with this Dodge, even after a nice long heavy tow and about 3500 miles, the oil was not yet black. It was certainly not golden, but was more a rich medium brown color.

Maybe less blow by in these engines as compared to the the power strokes?

WR

 

Synthetic oils are great. Only problem is on higher mileage engines that have lots of gunk built up in the engine. Two things could happen at that point:

1) The synthetic oil (because of its excellent cleaning capabilities) may free up some carbon deposits in the engine leading to a clog in small oil ports.

2) You may develop oil leaks because synthetic oil is "more slippery" than dino and may seep past little imperfections around gaskets, etc.

That sounds like a low mileage truck and if it's been running on synthetics then there is no problem. It's even better for the engine, less wear and maybe even better mpg's due to less friction. The price is the only limiting factor in my case. I might switch to synthetic in the future with a bypass filter so I can run the oil longer. But then again, my truck has 190k miles. Not sure if it's a wise thing to do.

 

All very true, IMHO.
It wouldnt hurt to run a good quality engine flush to get the old gunk out of the motor. Thats what happened to my 93. My dad switched it over at 214,000 and not long after the oil pump became clogged cause all of the old deposits settled down in the bottom of the pan. But once we got that fixed it has been the best modification to that motor

 

Using syn. in my 99 since about 45,000 - took out a lot of engine noise and the cold weather startup rattle all but went away. I change oil and filter every 25,000 miles.
309,000 and running strong!

 

my truck has 125,00 miles if i was to change to syn. oil will it hurt like someone said above about a high millage is this to high of miles to switch or will it be ok to do??????????????????

 

You know the engine condition of your truck best. If it's been well maintained and runs clean then I wouldn't see a problem. Even with 190k miles I'm still thinking about doing it. I would probably run an engine flush for a few minutes before the switch though.

 

Okay Cruzer, how often should you change syn.? Around 10,000-15,000? We are always on top of changing our oil and fuel filter.I run Rotella T in my truck and have since day 1,we change it every 3,000 mile(I know some will say that is excessive) but that is just us.We keep all of our trucks very well maintained.

 

what is a good product to run in the engine to help clean up and deposits before you make the switch? and how long would you run it before switching?

 

According to Amsoil you can run their synthetic for 15,000 miles under "severe conditions" or 25,000 miles for "normal conditions." Even longer with oil analysis. One guy on this site ran his oil for something like 60k miles. He said the oil analysis kept coming back ok but he decided to change it anyway. I'm not trying to promote Amsoil, but you can become a preferred member for $20/year and get a discount on all your purchases. Any synthetic is going to be better than regular motor oil. I know Rotella makes a synthetic that a lot of people use. All depends on cost and availability I guess. There's some people who even change their synthetic oil every 3500 miles! That's way overkill imo. If I ever run synthetic, I'd at least double my oil change intervals (along with use of a bypass filter).


I always use Gunk Motor Flush. It says to use it for 5 mins. at idle, no revving. Common sense would be to run it for longer to clean the engine more, right? No... Running it too long can actually dissolve the varnish on internal engine parts. Whenever I use it in our Accord, I don't run it for longer than 3 mins. I've been doing it every other oil change and use synthetic. Keeps the engine clean on the inside. These things are more of a preventive measure imo, so deposits don't build up inside the motor. I don't think there's anyway you can clean a neglected high mileage motor in a just one shot with some miracle solvent.

 

Oh my, 60K miles? I talk to a few guys yesterday and they said they recommend changing @ around 6,000-7,500 miles.

I have heard alot of people talking about how good syn. is,we will still run syn. in the 2002 because that is what the previous owner started out with.I just needed some more info on it,and I recieved it.

Cruzer,Thank you for all your help! Cin

 

What does Cummins say?
They make NO EXCEPTIONS for synthetic. They recommend a change interval becasue their is blowby & soot, synthetic or no.
You can believe Amsoil or you can believe Cummins. My money is on Cummins.
Most of the regular brands, Rotella & Delo, do a superb job of keeping motors clean & well lubed when changed according to schedule. You let an oil go to long and sludge happens.
So, when Cummins says this or that about Synthetic, that you can lengthen your interval, I will believe it. Until then, dino lube works fine for 4,000, (towing) ,especially CI-4 if you can still get it.

 

Haven't talked to Cummins,I just needed alittle more info on it and I got it.Thanks again.

We don't let our trucks go,we are very cautious about changing the oil and fuel filters on all of our truck so that wasn't even an issue.Thanks again