Diesel Engine Maintenance Schedule

[Woolecox]

The owner's manual in my F-250 has the first scheduled maintenance at 10,000 miles and every 10,000 thereafter. This includes oil/filter change and inspecting other things.

I have never gone that long before changing the oil and filter before. With all the new synthetic oils, I am wondering if people think that it is acceptable to go for 10,000 in between oil changes?

After all, that is the factory schedule.

Thoughts?

Wooly

[JDG]

The Cummins in the RAM is 15,000. Sure is a lot different now days compared to the “every 3000 miles”.

[Capt who]

I wondered the same thing. I had 5800 mi on mine and was getting ready to leave on a trip. It showed 47% oil life left but I had it changed so I wouldn't need to do it on the trip. I then had it changed when I got home 8000 later. I guess with 3 1/2 gallons of oil we can go 10,000 mi. I will get service around 8-10,000 mi from here on out. I am by no means an expert on diesels.

[Capt who]

There is one thing that I learned, and that is you don't want to let the engine idle as it is the worst thing to do for the emissions system. A lot of people let their truck sit and warm up before driving but I was told to not start it until you are ready to go. Don't let it idle so you can have the AC on. This is the bad thing about the new diesels. If you go into your dash display you can see the the hours running and the hours idling, I guess they do that for a reason.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

We now live in a world that puts oil quality sensors on engines. Back in the day, if you had a fleet, you could pull samples and have them checked. They claim that the process paid off in terms of stretching oil changes out to 2X or 3X the "normal" period (whatever that was on those engines). Now each of us has a rolling lab checking oil for us.

It's not just synthetic oil ....

Bob

[KK4YZ]

You may want to go to Ford Truck Enthusiasts ... the 6.7 diesel sub forum. There's probably a discussion thread on this topic there that go into more detail.

Bob, I wasn't aware that there were sensors that test oil quality in the engine. I thought it was a calculation based on running time, RPM, temp, etc to estimate oil life remaining. Ya learn something new every day :-)

My take is the manufacturers are interested in getting you to warranty expiration (100K for the Power Stroke) and that's it. Maybe they get bennies for recommending long oil life change intervals (fewer oil changes, less pollution), I don't know.

Myself, I'm skeptical of 10K oil change intervals. These engines are REALLY expensive, so I change every 5-6K or so. Fuel filters changed every other oil change.

But that's just me.

[Gary W]

I was skeptical of 10K oil change intervals when I purchased my new truck in 2012. Had a sample sent to Blackstone Labs for analysis including the amount of lubricating properties in the oil with 7,500 miles on it. The truck computer indicated 25% life remaining. Blackstone reported the lubricating properties in the synthetic oil were good and could go to 10K. Reporting also give you reporting upon anything in the oil including water, various metals, etc. I now have 80K plus miles on the odometer and with no issues. I'm convinced thru testing the oil, that everything is safe to extend oil changes per manufacturer's guidelines.

FYI, Ford recommends the first transmission synthetic fluid change at 150K miles.

[gypsydad]

I have never gone more than 7K miles between oil changes with my 2017 F250 KR model. Just turned 121K miles. I try to get it changed every 5-6K miles, and have had several service managers around the US when servicing, tell me 5K is recommended. I changed all the fluids at 100K miles. Costly, but she still runs like new!

[Stews]

Your owner's manual is correct. Diesels don't require maintenance as often as gasoline engines.

[Doc Foster]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

I have never gone more than 7K miles between oil changes with my 2017 F250 KR model. Just turned 121K miles. I try to get it changed every 5-6K miles, and have had several service managers around the US when servicing, tell me 5K is recommended. I changed all the fluids at 100K miles. Costly, but she still runs like new!

Same here, I have a 2016 F250 with 6.7L diesel. Never more than 7500 miles without oil/filter change, and even 5000 mile oil change if 100% of those miles are towing. Also change fuel filters every other oil change as well. Look up PowerStroke Tech Talk w/ARod on YouTube, he is a Ford diesel mechanic with a lot of helpful videos on maintenance.

[tjdonahoe]

Originally Posted by JDG

The Cummins in the RAM is 15,000. Sure is a lot different now days compared to the “every 3000 miles”.

15,000 or 6 months…is what they say…I do mine at 4-5000 miles and have no problems

[mrdes8]

So, just a few thoughts from a guy with 40 plus years in the auto industry...
Many manufacturers include a "severe use" maintenance schedule that includes towing, altitude and other factors and often cuts the intervals in half. I have seen numerous manufacturers with giant recalls or dragged into court for huge settlement cases on engines not living to the warranty period all to do with overly extended maintenance schedules. These include MB, BMW, VW , Mazda , Fiat/Chrysler etc. Modern auto makers have 1 idea in mind... get you out of the warranty period with the least expense to them and with hopefully reasonable CSI (consumer satisfaction) numbers. What makes people happy? not having to spend a lot to service their vehicle. How much was that new truck? Over 100k miles how much more would it cost to add in maybe 5 or 6 oilchanges and 2 or 3 fuel filters? My choice on all my vehicles... oil/filter - 7500. Fuel (diesel trucks) - every other. Air filter - as needed. Modern gas cars fuel filter - maybe 150K. Needless to say, many other factors can be involved but this is what I do after 45 years of seeing it all go wrong.
Wishing you many miles of incident free travel... Mark D

[robert claus]

My 2005 Sprinter van, which has been the primary tow vehicle for my Bambi, tells me when to change the oil. It's always around 10k miles for an oil and filter - 9 qts synthetic 0-40. Fuel filter gets changed every other oil change, and air every 30K. It's a little 2.7 turbo diesel that works hard when towing, but it's in great shape after about 240k miles. I've never pulled a drain plug, and use a suction pump through the dipstick tube - much easier.

[uncle_bob]

Originally Posted by KK4YZ

.....

Bob, I wasn't aware that there were sensors that test oil quality in the engine. I thought it was a calculation based on running time, RPM, temp, etc to estimate oil life remaining. Ya learn something new every day :-)

......

Hi

Turns out some do and some don't. It's very much a "that depends" sort of thing.

Bob

[switz]

Oil is still much cheaper than main bearings. All our motorized vehicles are oil and filter changes every 5,000 miles or annually whichever comes first.

[jcl]

The first onboard oil condition sensor I had was on a 2007 model BMW. The sensor was made by Continental. It measured capacitance across a thin film of oil and calculated the depletion of additives. It wasn't doing particle analysis or anything like that, it was doing what the oil lab we had at my work did to figure out if the additive package had been depleted or not. BMW used that sensor on gasoline and diesel models, and still does AFAIK.

Diesel engines of this size are offered by the manufacturers (in other than light truck applications) with various sump sizes. We could double or triple the oil change interval of Cat diesels simply by doubling or tripling the sump capacity. If we took it long enough with increased sump capacity, we added an additional intermediate filter change without changing the oil. It was also important to use quality filters that didn't collapse. Caterpillar technical literature stated at that time that changing sump capacity was the only basis for extending oil change intervals that they supported. Light truck manufacturers don't generally have the physical space due to packaging constraints, but the sumps they spec are typically larger than sumps we all had when we used to do 3000 or 5000 mile oil changes. Our last 3.0 BMW gasoline engine held over eight litres, and ran 24,000 km between oil changes, successfully, for 200,000 km. The highest the onboard computer called for an oil change at was 28,000 km, as we did predominantly highway driving. It still didn't use any oil in between changes at that point. It was the electronics that caused us to trade it, not the engine wearing out. More frequent oil changes would have been throwing money away. I also recall tribology studies showing that the lubricity of engine oil improves from new, with the best lubrication happening at close to 10,000 miles. The issue is whether the additive package stands up, and whether the filtration is functioning properly. If the additives are being depleted, it is most often associated with running cold, frequent short trips, extended idling, and so on. Those were the qualifiers for the Severe Service maintenance schedule, apart from very dusty conditions, which required better filtration.

I wouldn't worry at all about a 10,000 mile oil change interval on that truck, but I would also ensure that it didn't see extended idling, especially when cold, or too many short trips.

[guskmg]

Late '07 Duramax owner here. With full synthetic oil and grease the change interval can be much longer. I change oil and filter @ twice the interval or annually which ever occurs first. I change both differentials and transmission at 60M, and clean and flush the cooling system every 5 years. It just keeps on running.
guskmg

[CarGenGuy]

A friendly reminder to factor in idle hours into your equation. Ford published a good reference , defining "extended idling" which is moving slowly in traffic, etc, they give an example of a contractor driving 50 miles per day and idling for six hours per day, and how all of that factored into doing engine oil and maintenance more often... here is the link: https://www.powerstrokediesel.com/do..._Intervals.pdf

[jcl]

There was mention above of the on board oil quality sensor that some manufacturers are using, or have been using for some years. The attachment describes a component installed (but not designed by) BMW, which has been used since 2006. I had this on my 2007 N52 3.0 gasoline engine. Some may find this interesting, as it describes the sensor function.

The sensor output is used for the condition based service recommendations, which start off with a mileage, and are impacted by fuel consumed (total litres), usage patterns, and oil quality (degradation/depletion of oil additives, essentially a TBN equivalent).

[Joseph Sessa]

Originally Posted by Woolecox

The owner's manual in my F-250 has the first scheduled maintenance at 10,000 miles and every 10,000 thereafter. This includes oil/filter change and inspecting other things.

I have never gone that long before changing the oil and filter before. With all the new synthetic oils, I am wondering if people think that it is acceptable to go for 10,000 in between oil changes?

After all, that is the factory schedule.

Thoughts?

Wooly

No it is not alright. I am a shop owner and I use pure synthetic but change at every 5000. Synthethic does not break down as quickly as non-sythedic but does not giver you more life. Do more research since you do not know me and if I am competent to make that statement but I have ben a shop for over 40 years. My current F-350 is a 2004 and strill going strong and the fluids being changed regulariy are why