2006 Dodge Cummins 1st oil change???

[trawler]

The mileage will get better with time, my '03 took forever, it seemed, but settled in at 17 to 20 mpg depending on how I drive it. I'm a Valvoline fan, love the stuff, leaves no crud at all inside. Use the All Fleet Plus, it's got the diesel rating. Look in on this site;
www.turbodieselregister.com, lots of good info.

 

[trik396]

My 05 Dodge CTD, has had black oil since day one. At 5000 miles I added an Oilguard bypass. Oil was still black. At 10,000miles I added at Motorguard AFTER the Oilguard. Oil is still black. Soot is really, really small and does no harm as long as it doesn't clump. My oil analysis has always been good. For the guy who said his Franz cleaned the oil, no offense, but I'd have to see it to believe it.

 

[LACTD]

With my Oilguard the oil stay pretty clean for the first 4k, kinda like light syrup. It has 6000 on it now and is dark, but not BLACK as before. Will change it next week as it has ARX in it and is due changing after 2500 miles.

 

[1sttruck]

"Soot is really, really small and does no harm as long as it doesn't clump. My oil analysis has always been good."

Above a certain level in the oil soot has been shown to increase wear.

 

[md_lucky_13]

Change the oil as soon as you drive it home.

Most dealerships will start those trucks up and let them idle for extended periods, especially in the winter months. They need to make sure that batteries are charged and that they will not have to explain a dead battery to a customer on a brand spanking new vehicle.

Although it might have next to no miles on the engine, chances are high that the engine already has several hours of use on it.

Your not going to seat the rings properly until 12-15k, at least. Just run a good quality 15/40, and then look into synthetics at around 20k. Even if it is a wives' tale, cummins specifies that IN THEIR BOOKS. If nothing else, don't create a warrently claim problem for yourself.


As mentioned before, you truck has an extra injector pulse in the cycle. It is not going to get 20mpg stock. There are certain modifications you can do to improve MPG, but your pretty much stuck where you are at.

I can't wait to see what the MPG reports are on the new 6.7 ISB that will be in our trucks next year.. Between the increased displacement and the emissions requirements, its going to be very interesting.. Interesting enough that I would consider making 06 my last new diesel truck purchase for a few years.

 

[Lightman]

Congrats on a sweet new ride. All the 04.5+ trucks blacken the oil instantly as mentioned above, however this does not mean the oil has an overly high soot content, or that it's bad.

I would also agree that you sould wait 15-20k to change to synthetic, unless you tow heavily. That said, I couldn't seem to hold my horses, and changed around 13k with no ill effects, and lots of towing.

Mine definitely had the same gorilla from the factory, it's a battle getting that first one off. Consensus is the fleetguard stratapore is the best bet filterwise...geno's has pretty good prices.

As far as the engine having high hours but not miles, it's easy enough to check. Your owners manual should tell you how to do that. There are a lot of little readouts you can get with various combos of actions. For example, if you flip your key from the off position to on and back three times it will display any trouble codes you might have.

Whats up coob!

 

[tsmay51]

I have a 2003 dodge ctd with about 46k miles. I do not know if they are doing something different with the cummins now but my oil still looks pretty clear and clean at 5k miles intervals. That is using rotella or valvoline dino oil with a mobil 1 filter. I have really been surprised that the oil in my truck stays as clean as it does. My experience with most diesels has always indicated it turning dark or black much quicker than gas engines.

 

[1sttruck]

The HO 2003 seems to be the cleanest running engine, as others have often noted that the oil stays clear for quite awhile. In the meantime they've tuned the engine so that it meets emissions for all states, the 2003 HO was a '48 state' engine, and they've also had to slowly increase output for the 'torque war' that has been going on, so mileage tends to suffer. Maybe oil cleanliness has suffered too.

I have a 2003 SO California engine which evidently produces more soot as it runs cooler for reduced emissions, the oil change interval is shorter than for the other engines, but being cooler running it is the best candidate for the most boring performance parameter of all - long engine life :^)

 

[md_lucky_13]

Thats because the 03s don't have that stupid 3rd squirt for emissions..

04.5 and up are doomed to a life of sub-par mileage reports until a tuner comes out that removes that 3rd squirt..