Hey guys I have an 09 6.7 diesel 4wd, Love it, runs great no problems except it seems to be making oil. I have 14k miles on it and have changed the oil 3 times so far. The last change was 1300 miles ago and it has already made oil or so it seems. The level is about 1/4 inch above the full mark on the dip stick. I can't remember if the oil level showed that way when I changed it or not. 12 qts in and new filter. Anybody else see this with their truck. I'm thinking of dumping the oil and refill it to check this out. Could be that the stick is off ? Thanks for any input.
gordy

 

My understanding is that the truck will make oil over time and the computer has algorithms to monitor this and how it is used and will tell you when it is needed to be changed. The interval in the manual is default if you don't get any such messages. There is nothing wrong with the stick and nothing else tricky going on. There is so much fuel being dumped into the system for the regeneration that it does get into the oil and makes the level increase. Mine has done this from day one.

 

Mega-engr, thanks for your input. The only thing is is that I have never had a regen yet. I did have the change oil note flash up on the over head but that happened at 6500 miles and I had already changed the oil 500 miles earlier. I'm always hitting 75 - 80 mph on I-10 close to home, very few in town miles , so I just haven't seen any indication of a regen, I'll just keep my eye on it and see what happens.

 

Under normal conditions, you will never see any message indicating a regeneration is occurring. The only way to tell is with some of the aftermarket monitoring units such as the Edge products. If your DPF gets sufficiently restricted, you'll get a warning message in the overhead. A properly working DPF should never reach that point as regeneration is supposed to occur rather frequently, like every 100-200 miles.

As the previous poster noted, this frequent regeneration seems to be directly responsible for the 6.7L's ability to "make oil" so well. I've also experienced rising oil levels. I've resigned myself to more frequent oil change intervals using regular oil. I won't be switching to some fancy, expensive synthetic that I must change every 5000 miles.

 

I see in this post that you are changing your own oil. Have you waited 20 minuets to check the oil level to see if it is full before adding more? Because of the CCV filter design the oil takes awhile to enter the oil pan when you are changing the oil. I believe the book tells you to wait 20 Minutes before checking to ensure that the oil level is correct.
I belong to TDR web site also and I received a magazine every quarter and in the last issue 65. The magazine has quoted Cummins engine manufacturer that you must wait 15 to 20 minuets to check your oil level after changing your oil. This will prevent over filling of the engine oil.
Just my $0.02

 

have had two oil changes on my 08 6.7 at two different dealerships and it appears on the dipstick that it is overfilled, both times

 

Correctly checking the level at the right time is important, but there are many who have documented on their own that the level starts out fine and grows from there.

Did the original posted re-set the oil change indicator light. It will come on at the predetermined intervals as well as notify you when it "needs" to be changed. Thank goodness for that indicator really due to the fact that the making oil seems to vary on the truck and certain conditions...

I would not want to wait the standard interval when the truck is making oil due to fuel dilution. My first one came on at 4600 miles and I use my truck 90% of the time for pulling...

No wonder I have very bad MPG when towing...

Still working on the deletes and Smarty testing.

 

Jim: I just pull the plug let it drain till its just a drip and change the filter while I'm waitng. Then I add 12 qts. Its supposed to hold 12 so I haven't worried about over filling. Next change I'll have to be more aware of the oil level on the stick after the change and some time to settle down.

 

For all of the readers of this post I was pointing out on of the reasons that the engine can be overfilled with oil.
Now for the other part of the issue with over full oil level in the engine.

Per the same issue 65 when interviewing the Cummins engineer in the question and answer column. The question was asked about an oil sample that showed 5.8% fuel dilution in 8,000 miles. He stated and I quote. " The increase in fuel in oil dilution is a result of thr new emissions system employed with the launch of the 6.7, and the specific operating characteristics needed to support them. It is important to note that the oil change monitor feature was also introduced at the same time. The oil change monitor knows the chemistry of the oil, based on the engine operation and the last time it was reset, and will alert you when an oil change is needed. This varies by duty cycle, but should never exceed 7,500 miles for the 6.7L engine."

I believe what he is saying is that the emission cycle will add fuel to your oil over time depending on how many regens and how much city driving is done. The more highway driving that is done the less the EGR will dump into the intake side of the engine, therefore less fuel will be added to the engine oil. There will also be less active regens being done.

Hope this helps all.

 

Perfect Jim. That was my understanding as I think you posted this before somewhere?

Can't wait to get mine to stop making oil :-).

 

We are in cali bro,don't forget. We have smog checks coming...Gotta love this state..

 

Here is something that I noticed, when I had my egr plugged in, it would, ever so slightly make oil, once I unplugged it, no more oil making. Since I just got it and it still has warranty, that is as far as I'm going, once the warranty is over, the deletes will come as we have no emissions testing.

For the record this truck is SO MUCH BETTER than the 2000 that I traded off. Except for the fuel economy.

 

Exactly, that is why everything I'm doing is returnable in 1/2 a day. No problem so far and well worth the time.

 

I don't have a 6.7 but I thought the regen fuel was injected into the exhaust to heat the DPF. How does more fuel get into the crankcase? Maybe it's not fuel but carbon from the EGR system coming into the intake and lowering the combustion temperature. Carbon from a lower combustion temp and carbon from the EGR. I also keep hearing how the oil gets dirty immediately, which means more carbon in the oil than on the earlier models.

Could it just be more carbon, and not fuel, in the oil?

 

I think that people have oil analysis showing fuel dilution and not sure if they check for Carbon but I haven't heard anyone saying it is high in Carbon.

The fuel easily mixes with the oil on the cylinders and over time this accumulates. That extra fuel to keep the exhaust clean is also diluting the oil. Good thing that it isn't washing the oil off the walls and causing other issues.