Hello all-

I searched around here for about an hour tonight trying to figure out what oil to put in my '05 CTD. It has about 37,500 on the clock, and right now it is running some stuff from Firestone with an oil change written on the sticker for 38,100 miles (I dont know what the previous owners put in it- I bought it used from the Dodge dealer at about 35,000 last month.) I live in VA, and the temps are warming up now so I am thinking 15w-40 is an ok choice, but I am not sure what brand. I work about 15 miles away from home, but I do a few trips per day that are only a few miles round trip. I would like to go the amsoil route, but what are your recommendations? If I am doing short trips of less than 10 miles, but I do a bit of highway driving, where would I be on the service schedule? I appreciate the help, I have been a gasser until this new truck and I want to make sure I do this truck right.

-Out

 

Chevron DELO400 15W-40, Shell Rotella T 15W-40, Mobil Delvac 15W-40,Valvoline Premium Blue 15W-40 just to name a few dino oils that are formulated especially for diesel engines............all meet the Cummins specs. There are others that will work just fine, both dino and synthetic. I change my oil at 5000 miles, use Chevron DELO400 15W-40, use Fleetguard Stratapore LF16035 oil filter and Fleetguard Premium FS19800E (7-micron) fuel filter. I order my filters from Geno's Garage online.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!!!

 

I also get my filters from genosgarage.

Any of the oils listed above are good to use. You do want to use the Severe Schedule for the change interval as short trips are hard on the oil because the engine does not warm up properly as you know.

Choose your oil on the brand you like and just make sure it is an oil that is formulated for diesels. 15w-40 is the recommended oil for your truck with the 5w-40 Synthetic for use when temps drop below 0 degrees. It can also be used in place of regular dino 15w-40 if you desire.

 

Alright, so it's not really worth it for me to go to Amsoil if I am following the severe duty schedule. The amount of money it will cost me to maintain Amsoil in it is pretty high at about $100 per oil change. Guess Rotella-T will be my choice. Do I have to do the oil change at the mileage mark in the manual, or could I do a filter change only?

 

You can not go wrong with either Rotella 15-40 or 5-40 synthetic. The 1 gallon jugs(you need 3) of Rotella are available at any walmart and the oil has a proven track record in big rigs with 1 million miles. The synthetic flows much quicker in the winter and will get you slightly better mileage. Many members on this site will only run fleetguard or dealer filters. I run Napa Gold filters without any problems. Oil-7620, air-2846, and fuel-3585. I would change the oil now and get on a 7,500 schedule. Unless you have paperwork for when the fuel filter and airfilter were changed, I would change them out also.

 

As to do the filter only or do mileage that would depend on an oil analysis.

I change my oil and filter by mileage at about 5,000 miles everytime. I just did an oil analysis and everything came back good with 5,000 miles on the oil.

I use the 5,000 mile interval because it is very easy to remember and even though I could go to 7,500 miles it generally takes me close to 6 months to reach 5,000 miles so I do 2-3 oil changes a year depending on where I go for vacation.

 

WHATEVER YOU USE ...just use a STRATAPORE (fleetguard) oil filter...keeps the oil 'nice and clean' !

BTW... I use Rotella-T 15-40 for forever (as long as they have made it) and NEVER had ANY problem

 

THANKS roadgeneral. That's what I have been looking for. Most approved oils listed in a short and to the point paragraph. As others, I change on the 5000 just to keep it easy to remember. I also rotate the tires at the same time.

Hay

 

Hey Rattler, since you bought the truck used and possibly unsure of previous maintenance history - if you're going to be layin' under the truck changing the engine oil, it might be a good opportunity to change out the fluids in the diff's and transfer case too. Its not that difficult, and if you do it yourself you can save yourself a ton of cash.

 

Is the rotella-t a synthetic, no where does it say anything about synthetic or non synthetic. Yeah, I am changing out the diff. fluid with Amsoil at the same time, but I am not quite sure of how to do the transfer case. I had a '97 Ram, but a 2wd so I am new to maintaining a 4wd diesel. Any tips on that one? Also, why is it not recommended to use a friction modifier in the front or rear diff on these trucks?

 

It's not a matter of the friction modifier not being recommended, it's a matter of not needing the friction modifier. Use it or don't use it, it makes no difference since you don't have clutches. For those that have a clutch-type posi and don't use a friction modifier, they might have chatter problems when going around corners.

 

Rotella 15-40 is dino, Rotella 5-40 is a very highly cracked hydocarbon. Still a dino which is allowed to call itself syn. BTW Valvoline PB 15-40 is on sale for $6.00 a gallon for a few more days at Flying J

 

i was just wondering the difference between sae30 and 15w40 "any brand" i can never tell by the chart what i'm looking at not necessarily for a truck
thanks

 

There are two hex plugs located on the back of the transfer case. The top one is the fill plug and the bottom one is the drain plug. Loosen the top one prior to draining the the ATF. Buy 3 quarts of ATF and a pump to pump it into the zfer case. I use synthetic ATF when I change out mine.

 

Diesel engine oil is rated CI for compression ignition, and gasser engine oil is rated SH, SJ, SL, etc. for spark ignition. You want to use the CI-4 rated oil.