Change it or let it go.

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Yep another one of these. The recommended oci for my f250 with its non turbo diesel is 2500 miles. It has castrol 15w40 it it. Currently @ 3100 miles on the oil and filter. Mostly 2-4 mile trips. Let it go or drain it?
 
Let it go for how much longer? I'd change it soon. Certainly not an ASAP thing, but I'd change it whenever I could. 2500 recomended OCI and short trips to boot. Ouch.

When's the niece coming back out? Hold off until she can help.
 
Do a quick blot test....take some oil from the dipstick and put a drop on a piece of a paper towel, if the oil spreads out a lot, you're good to go for a while. I'd leave it in until about 5-6K.
 
OK, so warm Cali (on most days) and the engine still does not get up to temp much because of the short trips ... Diesel, so less concern about fuel dilution. Does it start up readily and run well? Do you put your foot in it going up hills on your 4 mile trips? Severe service ...

This is a 7 or 8 qt system isn't it?

Out of warranty?

Pull a sample and send it in via Napa Store. If the oil comes back good, you have documented evidence to not change. If fuel diluted to much, you know what to do ...
 
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Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
OK, so warm Cali (on most days) and the engine still does not get up to temp much because of the short trips ... Diesel, so less concern about fuel dilution. Does it start up readily and run well? Do you put your foot in it going up hills on your 4 mile trips? Severe service ...

This is a 7 or 8 qt system isn't it?

Out of warranty?

Pull a sample and send it in via Napa Store. If the oil comes back good, you have documented evidence to not change. If fuel diluted to much, you know what to do ...
8 qts is the low mark.10qts is full.]Been out of warranty since around 1988. It does not have a turbo so its always being over fueled.
 
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Oils today are very much better than in 1987, so without a UOA it's all guesswork and speculation.

Yes I know the truck doesn't owe him anything, and oil is cheap insurance.
 
A fellow 6.9 idi
grin.gif
They say 2500 severe 5000 normal. My truck is usually hauling stuff when I take it out so I change mine at 3000. 2-4 miles isn't even probably getting her up to temp, I would change it at 3000 but that is just me. Also you can run the FL1995 powerstroke filter if you want it holds an extra quart bringing you to 11.
 
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I would reccommend a UOA.
Either invest in a sample device (suction tube or a Fumoto valve), or just OCI this time and then use the info for the next OCI.

Why guess when you can know?
 
Originally Posted By: Roost426
A fellow 6.9 idi
grin.gif
They say 2500 severe 5000 normal. My truck is usually hauling stuff when I take it out so I change mine at 3000. 2-4 miles isn't even probably getting her up to temp, I would change it at 3000 but that is just me. Also you can run the FL1995 powerstroke filter if you want it holds an extra quart bringing you to 11.
I have used the long filter before but it's made by purolater and I don't trust them any more. Someone here sent me a whole bunch of short idi filters so I'm using those up.
 
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Oh, come on Chris! That 2500 mile recommendation was for '87 oil! And if your original book probably shows API /CD oil. [censored] compared to today's HDEO, hence a lower OCI.

Some of my old UOAs are probably on here somewhere and I went as high as 8K miles (with a bypass filter) and 5.5K before the bypass. The make or break point was soot. In most other areas the oil was fine and that's where the 3um bypass helped by catching a lot of the soot. Old school IDI diesels are a lot like the modern EGR trucks... they tend to be soot monsters. Each engine manufacturer has a prescribed soot limit and offhand I don't know what that limit is for the 6.9L. 2-3% is a generally good number with a well found HDEO. In my 6.9L, it took more than 5K miles to reach that 3% limit. My old Farmall (Neuss diesel) was about 120 hours. With the bypass on the 6.9L, I usually reach the 3 year time limit before I reach the soot limit.

Anyway, get a UOA. If you go Blackstone, look at the insoluables but other companies can list soot directly.

A lot depends on how you use the truck. If you work the truck, it's going to generate more soot. When you work it hard enough to see black smoke out the tailpipe, it's going into the oil at a higher rate. They often equate soot generation with how much fuel is used and hard work eats more fuel... and vice versa.

Check here: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2122499> Doug Hillary had some interesting things to say about soot.
 
I think I've read that you add a lot of top-off oil to this truck...that refreshes the oil to a degree.

I'd let it go to 5k or 6 months, whichever comes first. Oils are better now that they used to be.
 
Run it out to 6k, then run the oil analysis. Don't waste your money on doing one at 3k, modern oils have no problem of doing that. I estimate it can do 8k easy but only UOA will tell really.
 
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