i'm new to diesels, bought a used 07 d3500 dually to tow w/. i want to do basic maintenance myself. where is the basic info like the steps required for a new, 1st time diesel owner to can change his oil? the manual is fair at best. i don't want to buy a $20 250 page manual that 50 pages are slightly related to my truck and 5 pages are thing i need to know. i want info on the maintenance required and i must do because i live 2 hours from a dealer. i found one set of instructions on th internet that never added oil to the filter!!!
what about water in fuel? my tractor has a separator, where is the entry level info? the manual says things like "change the oil every 7500 miles or when a light goes on"! useless and i don't know where to get accurate info!
where can i get basic, accurate maintenance info and instructions??? help

 

I tote 20k pounds everywhere. Never unloaded. I change first oil change at 5k
then every 10k after being at internvals 5k, 15k, 25k, 35k ect.

I change fuel filter every 20k being at 20k, 40k, 60k.

Tranny pan drop and filter at every other 35k. Being 70k I will do a flush of system with no new filter. At 105k i will do pan drop and filter.

I have amsoil diff oil and I change that every 50k. But first changed at 3k.

Tire rotation every 20k.

Did I leave anything out guys???

Now you will get plenty of replies of people changing oil at 5k and fuel filter at 10k. Everyone is different and everyone has different fluids. I have all stock fluids as of now except diff and this is my plan that I use. I tote around heavier then 99% of people on this site and I tote 100% time of my truck is driven where as most people tote around small travel trailers or boats 5 percent of the time. I work the heck outta my truck and do avg 8-11k miles each month.

It all depends on how **** you are, how much you wanna spend, how much you drive, and if you plan on keeping this truck till it dies 500k miles later. Thats the biggy, if you plan on trading in at under 200k, save your money, slack on maintaince, and let it be someone else problems.

BTW in the back of your instruction manuel is your scedule, if you dont have it, email me and I can send you the scedule by DODGE in pdf format.

 

Well, for starters - search this site and you will find info on most basic maintainence.... as for a service manual - genosgarage.com (http://www.genosgarage.com/products.asp?dept=17) has them... pricey - but you can get CDRom versions cheaper...

 

10K is Cummins recommendation on fuel filter changes. I did mine at 10K and could tell a differennce in performance afterwards. Doesn't matter wher you get fuel it's all dirty change it out per manuafcturers recommendations or sooner filters are cheap injectors aren't. Oil change recommendation for light duty usage is 15K miles but I do mine with dino every 5k. OCI is a matter of opinion again just follow manufacturer guidelines or sooner and you should be fiine. Drain the water seperator once a month other than that all I can say is search different forums for DIY on filter, oil changes etc. It's nothing difficult no different from maintaining any other vehicle really.

 

Can you really feel a difference when you change your fuel filter???? I go every 20k and my filter still looks brand new when I change out. Yes a cut her open!!!!!! I feel no difference in power at all, even when i ran a crap load of lsd then ran nuthing but ulsd, then changed out filter. No change in power. I notice no difference in fuel mpg or power. Maybe cause i work the heck outta my truck, who knows. Maybe its just the area and I got clean fuel, NO, that cant be it cause I get fuel all over.

Someone else jump in on this, kinda curios what other people say about the fuel filter.

Like I said I change every 20k with no improvements and filter still looks brand new inside. Minus being wet.. Granted they are cheap, But IMO, specs are always gonna tell you less then what they always are so manufacturs can make more money. Changing oil at 5k is a waste of money and anybody can tell you that. Cars these days now have intervals of 5k or 7500 miles cause of improvements in oil and engines. As where old diesels have been at 7500 and now 15000. Thats alot of money to blow on oil and filter every 5k. But I guess if you only drive 5k miles each 3 months or so, it wouldnt hurt the bank.

Now the smart thing to do, which I shall do soon also, is get a amsoil bypass kit and run synthetics. You wont have to change oil every 100k miles.

 

Yeah definitely there was a power increase when I changed it at 10K. Could not believe it myself cause on the road tractors at work only get new fuel filters every 25K and i never notice a difference with those and they get fueled at all sorts of differennt places. I've only been buying fuel at a local home depot they just built in my hometown a few months back the fuel tanks are brand new and the pump sticker says 500 ppm. All the locals with diesel pu's fuel there. I only drive 6K miles a year in a normal year I put 12K on it this year because it was new and all that. When I get my bypass on and synthetics in I'll extend the drain intervals per analysis recommendations but until then dino dumped out every 5k it's cheap.

 

Maybe its the 6.7, maybe cause you run LSD. Never had a 5.9, just a powerjoke, come to think I put 45k on my powerjoke and never changed the fuel filter. lol

Wow, 6k miles a year, you should be changing your oil every 2k miles then. lol every 3 months, right!!!??? Your exceeding your limits, haha

 

i change my oil at 7500 and fuel filter at 15,000 and never notice a change

 

I change the filter in my old truck when the water in fuel light comes on. Never noticed a power gain darn it.

 

It wasn't like that. I must have gotten some dirty fuel at my old fuel stop before the new one at the home depot came online. Let me put it this way. If you ever do clog one up you will know it. There'll be a definite drop off in power and getting up to speed will be hard with a load. I didn't notice a drop off with the original filter but after the new one was dropped in there was a noticable increase in throttle response so it could only have been some dirty fuel went through the old one..

 

Seriously CCOOP, if there's anybody that can attest to the durability and performance of these 6.7s it's gotta be you. Regardless of anyone's opinion on your maintenance schedule I love to hear about someone putting the hurt to their 6.7 without the usual whining about mileage and the DPF.

Keep up the good work.

 

If anyone is using BioDiesel...It acts as a mild solvent and can clog the filter to various degrees...Possible performance reduction.