Is there a list of things that are important for new owners to know. Some things of interest would be<br><br>1. How to properly break in a new diesel<br>2. Should fuel additives be used<br>3. Whats the deal with the differentials not being filled from the factory, what else do I need to check<br>4. When to change oil, the first time<br><br>etc.....

 

Here's a place to start:<br>http://www.cummins.com/na/pages/en/p.../faq/index.cfm<br><br>Another place to look is Tech Facts on this site.

 

1. Hook a trailer up and tow<br>2. Take your pic on which additive. I use Stanadyne or Power Service.<br>3. Check all the fluids just to be safe.<br>4. I went a little overkill on my 1st change. Did it at 750. Then 1500. Then 3000. Now I do it every 6000. I'd change it at 1000 then again at 3000.

 

[quote author=brillmtb link=board=8;threadid=14986;start=0#140587 date=1053528299]<br>Is there a list of things that are important for new owners to know. Some things of interest would be<br><br>1. How to properly break in a new diesel<br>2. Should fuel additives be used<br>3. Whats the deal with the differentials not being filled from the factory, what else do I need to check<br>4. When to change oil, the first time<br><br>etc.....<br>[/quote]<br><br>1. Check your manual. It says to drive at varying RPM's...and not to tow anything for the first 500 miles.<br>2. Check your manual. If you do as it says and buy good fuel you do not need additives.<br>3. Don't know. First I heard about that one. Should be filled to the bottom of the hole (per the manual...check it).<br>5. Lots of different opinions. I'm going by the manual and changing mine at 7,500 miles (per Schedule &quot;B&quot; in the manual).

 

Hoss, re #3. There have been a few threads on this and it appears that many (most?) axles have been delivered low on oil.

 

Interesting. The dealer is gonna have my truck up on the lift Saturday to put my hitch on. I think I'll have him check the level so I don't have to do it myself. I'm feeling lazy these days... :

Why would they do that? Seems like the simple task of filling them up could save them a lot of warranty work. After all, most owners don't hang out on websites where they hear about all of this stuff....

 

I just think it's a simple case of filling it to the proper level and figuring that is good enough.<br><br>I guess the guy in charge of filling isn't aware that the fluid goes into the axles, therefore lowering the level in the differential.<br><br>They need to take a look at their procedures, and change it to:<br>Fill with lube to bottom of hole.<br>Drive vehicle around the plant once or twice.<br>Refill differential to bottom of hole.<br><br>That would fix this problem IMHO.<br><br><br>phox

 

I have not checked my differential. I have about 1000 mi on it and am starting to notice a whine which sounds a bit like a police siren but not nearly as loud. Nothing to do with the engine as it makes it clutch in or out if you are rolling along. Is this normal or should I be checking the differential? ??? I just can not believe that it would be delivered low.

 

1. How to properly break in a new diesel<br>Take it relatively easy the first 500 miles in regards to high revs and try to keep it under half throttle. Don't baby it or let it idle excessively. Be sure to vary your speeds. City driving where small loads are introduced smoothly are good. Around 1000 miles introduce a load by towing a trailer, or hitting some steep hills. Try not to really romp on it too much till you have 5k miles or so. *everyone has their own opinions on break in, and their brother broke his in hard and its faster : From the engineers I've spoken with, this is the best way to seat the rings and to ensure everything is mating together nicely. That said, I'm sure the cummins engine is so bulletproof you really couldn't screw it up.<br>2. Should fuel additives be used<br>Fuel additives are all benefit no loss. They are a cheap way to extend the life of your injection equipment by adding lubricity, improve mpg and starting with higher cetane, etc etc. Popular additives are power service, stanadyne perf formula, redline diesel fuel catalyst.. <br><br>When people say 'use good fuel' and you dont need additives, they really (no offense) have no idea what they're talking about, because they likely have no idea if their fuel is truly good or not. The old truckers myth that a station that sells a lot of diesel and has fresh fuel has good fuel is nonsense. I've personally disproven it through laboratory fuel analysis tests. I tested a local amoco that has TONS of diesel traffic, and a truck island, and a few other local stations. The amoco was absolutely filthy, microbe contaminated, and 42 cetane. On the other hand, a local hess had 48 cetane and much much lower particulate content etc. The cleanliness of the fuel has much to do with your particular station's maintenance procedures, and tank environment. The only way to know you're getting good fuel is to test it. Once you find a station that always buys diesel from the same source and has clean fuel, I would agree with the basic/misleading 'if you use good fuel, additives are not necessary' ;D Hope this helps, there aren't a lot of station owners or consumers out there that know much about diesel fuel quality, and it's truly poor in most cases, gotta look around! PM or email me if you want more info on fuel testing etc...i'm not in the business, just have done much research.<br>3. Whats the deal with the differentials not being filled from the factory, what else do I need to check<br><br>Don't have a dodge yet, but have seen a few threads on this. Do a search.... also if I remember correctly, I thought I read that the diff wasn't supposed to be filled all the way to the bottom of the hole, it was supposed to be 1/2&quot; to 3/4&quot; below it..but I could be mistaken. Those details i'll leave to the owners...<br>4. When to change oil, the first time<br>Typically do the first oil change or two at half of the recommended interval and then go for the full interval. Get some high quality CI-4 rated diesel oil in there 8)<br><br>Good luck , hope this helps.

 

[quote author=brillmtb link=board=20;threadid=14986;start=0#140587 date=1053528299]<br>Is there a list of things that are important for new owners to know. Some things of interest would be<br><br>1. How to properly break in a new diesel<br>2. Should fuel additives be used<br>3. Whats the deal with the differentials not being filled from the factory, what else do I need to check<br>4. When to change oil, the first time<br><br>etc.....<br>[/quote]<br><br>1. Per the manual.<br>2. Per the manual. If fuel additives are needed, why not oil additives, too, like Slick50? Not many people will dump Slick50 into the Cummins but many use fuel additives without question. Why is it we think the oil companies can make lube oil that doesn't need an additive but they can't make fuel that doesn't need an additive?<br>3. Everything needs to be checked by the dealer prior to your taking delivery. <br>4. Per the manual.<br><br>There's a lot of good stuff in the manual. DC and Cummins pay people well to write it. That's the place to start.

 

Additives like slick 50 have been proven not to work, hence the lawsuit. Fuel additives have been proven time and time again to provide benefit through many independent labs. If the manual says additives aren't necessary with use of good fuel, we come to my above point, that most people do NOT get good fuel or have any clue as to the quality of their fuel. Fuel additives are cheap insurance against the widespread ignorance of diesel fuel quality. I agree on the diff, I'd have the dealer check your fluid levels if you're not comfortable doing so...

 

[quote author=Lightman link=board=20;threadid=14986;start=0#141903 date=1053878584]
Additives like slick 50 have been proven not to work, hence the lawsuit. Fuel additives have been proven time and time again to provide benefit through many independent labs. If the manual says additives aren't necessary with use of good fuel, we come to my above point, that most people do NOT get good fuel or have any clue as to the quality of their fuel. Fuel additives are cheap insurance against the widespread ignorance of diesel fuel quality. [/quote]

Where does the notion that most people do not get good fuel come from? I again ask the question, &quot;Why do we think that the oil companies are incapable of making, delivering, and selling a quality fuel oil product when it is obvious that they do exactly that with their lube oil?&quot;

As far as 'fuel additives being cheap insurance against the widespread ignorance of diesel fuel quality' I would agree that additives are useful for treating ignorance. They give the buyer, generally ignorant of fuel quality issues, the same warm, fuzzy feeling he had putting Slick50 in his crankcase before the mean old FTC took that security blanket away from him. Their effect on fuel, however, is questionable.

Read it for yourself Chevron's site has excellent information and Cummins puts out a publication titled &quot;Fuels for Cummins Engines&quot; in which it states, and I quote, &quot;Great care must be exercised in the choice and use of additives. Some fuel additives can be harmful to the engine.&quot; It goes on to state that &quot;In extreme situations where available fuels are of poor quality or problems exist which are peculiar to certain operations, additives can be used; however, Cummins recommends consultation with the fuel supplier or Cummins Service Engineering Department prior to the use of fuel additives.&quot; That is hardly a ringing endorsement of the regular use of fuel additives. Is it reasonable to think that the engine makers are aware of the quality of fuel available in the US and design accordingly? If you'll notice, the ones who proclaim the loudest that there is a problem with fuel are not the engine manufacturers, but are the same ones whose livelihood depends on your buying their solution to this 'problem'--the additive manufacturers.

edit: That was a long post, and in the interest of not hijacking this thread any further, will leave the last word to someone else. I'll be glad to banter further in a new thread if anyone's interested. Not trying to be mean or insulting and if I come across as that, it is not intentional and I apologize. I read my own words and they sound different than what I intended. I realize there are differing viewpoints on almost everything discussed here and my opinions are no more valuable than anybody else's. To each his own, but let's talk about it!

 

Thats a cover your a$$ statement by manufacturers, because YES there are some bad additives out there. Namely those that contain alcohol and have been shown to damage fuel injection equipment.

Secondly, the statement I made about most fuel being poor quality is not a 'notion' as you might put it, as I posted above, it's from much research and multiple laboratory fuel analysis tests I personally have done, as well as seeing many other folks' fuel analyses from different regions of the country. CP, I suggest you go to avlube and buy yourself a test kit, and see if what you've been filling your tank with is good quality fuel or rat pee. You have no idea until you test. Email me if you'd like a copy of some of the fuel analyses I have done. The difference in the results is staggering.

Engine manufacturers have listed particles in the 5-7 micron range and larger as those that damage fuel injection equipment. Factory fuel filtration has been shown (again with before/after fuel analyses) to not be absolute down in this range, just nominal (meaning lets some particles thru). Therefore, picking a fuel with less particulate matter is beneficial to injection system life. For example, a texaco I tested had 3 million particles larger than 2 microns per gallon. While that number may seem staggering, compared to my local(busy truck stop) amoco's ONE HUNDRED FORTY TWO million particles per gallon it seems like purified water! The amoco had 47 times more particulates than the texaco...these are not piddly differences...

While you may trust in the assumption that big oil is out for your engine's health, which is silly, they are profit minded folks, the fact is that most major label fuel brands DO in fact put out decent product. The contaminations mostly occur during transportation or storage, mostly the latter. Therefore, an amoco down the street from you might have clean fuel and another might be dirty to no end, depending on their filter maintenance, tank cleanliness, venting systems, etc.

Only one way to know what kind of fuel you're getting, test. $50 for a test is cheap in comparison to a prematurely worn injection system on such an expensive truck.

Edit - CP relax, this is all about learning and discussion, nobody's arguing or upset here bud! ;D

 

Amen gary, the more filters the better! ;D <br><br>As for the truck stops though, read my post above about the amoco truck stop. It was absolutely filthy, and yes it had Cimtek 10 micron nominal(the most common one you'll see) filters right there at the pump. For those that don't know, nominal can mean it stops 10% of the 10 micron particles or 80%...its undefined... whereas 'absolute' filters generally are designed to stop 95% or more of the particulates in it's rated range. For example, on my TDI, I run a 20-30 micron nominal (OEM) filter, and then a stanadyne 2 micron absolute final filter. <br><br>Gary by the way, not to further rain on your cloud, the auto diesel pumps you normally see , the pay at the pump style, have the same filter at the pump, its just kept inside the housing!<br><br>Also fyi, some cheap/inconsiderate station owners cut costs by simply gutting those filters you see right at the pump, so they never have to be replaced. While you think your fuel is being filtered, it's flowing thru an empty can.