I've read through alot of posts with similar subject to my thread here and got some good info that I can apply to my reasoning. But I was also interested in any specific insight you might want to give on my truck, usage and change intervals.
History:
1st oil change with Mobil Delvac 10,606 May, 2001
2nd Mobil Delvac 23,987 Sept, 2002
3rd Mobil Delvac 32,279 Nov, 2004
4th Delo Syn 36,873 July 2006
5th Delo Syn 48,991 July 2008 (also Edge Juice and Air Dog fuel pump)
6th Delo Syn 57,295 June 2010
Next change ??? milage approx 62,000 - April 2012
A couple things. First off you can tell that this truck has changed from more of a daily driver when new to a dedicated tow rig now. The annual miles have gone down substantially as have the oil changes going from annual to biannual.
Also, I switched to Delo because I have a Chevron distributor right down the road and went to school with the owners son and like dealing with them. Plus the Delo 400 LE is good oil so it isn't like I was going down in quality.
As for how this truck is used. The last several years the truck is driven about 5000 annually. It's primary use in that time frame is towing a loaded trailer in the 9000 lb ball park, often making 3000 mile round trips with this load driven in high heat of mid summer (through Kansas) and often mountain passes (Colorado). When the truck is not towing it usually just sits with occasional short trip non-tow usage in the 10-15 minute variety.
I started changing oil more frequently on the milage basis because I didn't want to go so long on the calender without changing it and the fact that it sits alot with some short trip driving made me think it was better to get old oil out sooner rather than later under all the circumstance. Going 3 or 4 years on the same oil waiting for the milage to hit change time didn't seem wise.
So then your opinions? I've formed some of my own by reading the forum and would like to see how everything fits together with my exact situation. Thanks.
OCI and oil type opinions on 2001 Dodge Cummins
- Thread starter skk
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Delo is a good choice.
I have no trouble with 2 year OCIs, do it regularly. Have gone out to 3 years on some tractors. UOA-verified in both situations. Oil can't read a calendar so unless there are operational or environmental conditions that would effect oil health, I see nothing wrong with running a mileage-only schedule with a 2 or even 3 year time ceiling. The short trips may or may not toss a monkey wrench into that so you might want to verify oil health in your conditions with a UOA that included TBN/TAN and soot percentage.
Originally Posted By: Jim Allen
Delo is a good choice.
I have no trouble with 2 year OCIs, do it regularly. Have gone out to 3 years on some tractors. UOA-verified in both situations. Oil can't read a calendar so unless there are operational or environmental conditions that would effect oil health, I see nothing wrong with running a mileage-only schedule with a 2 or even 3 year time ceiling. The short trips may or may not toss a monkey wrench into that so you might want to verify oil health in your conditions with a UOA that included TBN/TAN and soot percentage.
Is your truck garage-kept, or does it sit out in the weather? If it is subject to wide temperature swings, there may be some concern of condensation on the walls of the crankcase causing internal corrosion and rapid depletion of TBN if you are mostly making short trips. That's the only reason I can think of to change oil according to the calendar and not mileage. It seems a waste to drain the Delo syn at only 5k miles. Do a UOA and see where you stand on TAN and TBN, then make a decision from there.
Another thing about your truck is the Edge Juice box you have on it. If you are running very aggressive fuel settings, it would be putting more soot in the oil, and may limit the miles you would want to go on an OCI. A UOA would also tell you about soot loading.
But in general, I think you could go 9-10k miles on the Delo between changes. I have gone a lot farther than that on my Cummins Dodge in the past.
On your '01, with the VP44 injection pump-I would be more concerned about monitoring your fuel pressure at the fitting between the lift/transfer pump and the IP-my '02 had IP trouble due to the lift pump getting weak. If your '01 is like my old '02 it'll run great on ANY good name brand HDEO, even dino, for 7500+ miles with no problems whatsoever.
It's been brought up by a_Harmon about the condensation. I just got some results back from a spare 3412 we bought as a swing engine. It had a dupont overhaul. It was loaded with water. Not sure how long it was sitting in the elements when we bought it.
I use delo 15w40 le in all of our diesel fleet. I could buy 24,000 quarts a month if I did not monitor and utilize bypass filtration systems. I run particle counts and VOAs on occasion.
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
On your '01, with the VP44 injection pump-I would be more concerned about monitoring your fuel pressure at the fitting between the lift/transfer pump and the IP-my '02 had IP trouble due to the lift pump getting weak. If your '01 is like my old '02 it'll run great on ANY good name brand HDEO, even dino, for 7500+ miles with no problems whatsoever.
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Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
On your '01, with the VP44 injection pump-I would be more concerned about monitoring your fuel pressure at the fitting between the lift/transfer pump and the IP-my '02 had IP trouble due to the lift pump getting weak. If your '01 is like my old '02 it'll run great on ANY good name brand HDEO, even dino, for 7500+ miles with no problems whatsoever.
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The short trips may or may not toss a monkey wrench into that so you might want to verify oil health in your conditions with a UOA that included TBN/TAN and soot percentage.
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If your planning on extended drain intervals UOA's are a must !!
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Is your truck garage-kept, or does it sit out in the weather?
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Another thing about your truck is the Edge Juice box you have on it. If you are running very aggressive fuel settings, it would be putting more soot in the oil, and may limit the miles you would want to go on an OCI. A UOA would also tell you about soot loading.
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On your '01, with the VP44 injection pump-I would be more concerned about monitoring your fuel pressure at the fitting between the lift/transfer pump and the IP-my '02 had IP trouble due to the lift pump getting weak.
FWIW, from owners manual:
"Change engine oil every 3000 miles or 3 months (whichever comes first) if any of these apply to you:
1. frequent short driving less than 5 miles
2. frequent driving in dusty conditions
3. frequent trailer towing
4. extensive idling
5. more than 50% of your driving is at sustained high speeds during hot weather, above 90*F.
1, 3, 5 all apply over the course of a year.
I'd say 60% of the time it is driven at high sustained speeds which is in the middle of summer. Driving through Kansas that time of year it will be over 100 degrees outside. Under these conditions the truck is typically driven for 12-16 hours straight with only very brief and infrequent engine off time.
Maybe 10% of the time it is short driving less than 5 miles, sometimes towing, sometimes not.
The other 30% would be slightly longer trips, sometimes towing, sometimes not.
Owners manual goes on to say "if none of these apply to you then change your engine oil every 7500 miles or 200 hours (whichever comes first).
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One of the things I was considering was dropping down to petroleum base 15W40 Delo and keeping the short change intervals.
Or I could do the UOA, see what it says and think of keeping with the synthetic and the extended change intervals whether it is 2 years or even 3.
The truck is run hard for a good part of the time though, so I wasn't sure if that changed variables at all in the opinion of the oil experts here as the owners manual says.
I've never really thought about oil analysis, will have to look into that.
dnewton3
Staff member
You have several options, but here's the reality of how this breaks down.
If you are going to do extended drain intervals, UOAs are a must. Going this route removes all doubt, as actual data will tell you when to OCI. Regardless of using dino or syn, the OCI should be dictated by the UOA data. You could easily go more than 1 year on your OCIs; been done before with excellent results by some folks. 'Nuff said about that.
If you want "simple" OCI plans, then you could do one annual OCI with a quality dino oil. Chevron Delo LE dino oil is great oil and if you like supporting your local buddies, all the better. This fluid will EASILY handle 5k miles per year, even with the heavy towing you expect. The ISB 5.9 is a solid engine and 5k miles is very doable with conventional oil. You will not be risking anything with this approach; you do NOT need synthetics for this plan. If you fear this route, you can even do a UOA to confirm the success. Unless you have some gross mechanical issue we're not aware of (contamination ingress) there is nothing to worry about with a 5k mile annual OCI on dino oil.
Or, if you want to OCI 2x per year, then I'd start buying whatever CJ-4 oil you can find on sale, because at that low a mileage, you'll not be risking anything other than throwing away perfectly good oil, so you might as well reduce the $$$ waste as much as you can tolerate mentally.
Overall, do not be overly concerned about your expected use and annual mileage. Diesel engines and diesel oils were made to be used hard. You're not going to be abusing your truck, given the type use and mileage you mention. The committment to a solid overall maintenance plan far outweighs what oil is "best". There are many good oils that will suffice at 5k miles once per year. Your situation is not unique, and it's well within the design intent of both the engine and conventional oils.
Here are two great examples dino oils in diesels:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2179591&page=1
His 5.9 Cummins is running 20k miles on dino oil! Now - I have no idea if he's towing as much as you. But the point to glean from this is that dino oils are more than capable for most situations.
Here's my UOA from last year where I flogged the living poo out of my Dmax truck and dino 10w-30 oil, to try and find the limits:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2323660&page=1
Bottom line - your 5k miles is a walk in the park for you Cummins, and any decent oil you put in it. Don't let the fear mongers sway you from factual evidence. And it you doubt it, why not try it and do your own fact finding UOAs?
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Thanks for all the input.
The truck has been in my shop for about a week and I drained the oil hot when I pulled it in, which I already mixed with my other waste oil, so I have only a few good drops that I could have analyized, probably not enough. I would have to pursue that for next oil change.
The truck will be driven hard this year and rack up a good bit more miles than what the average has been. I had a couple gallons of left over syn Delo 400 le that was used for this last refill.
I will get things figured out for the next oil change and the change after that to develop a set plan going forward.
Thanks again.
The good thing about your Cummins is that it isn't going to get the soot buildup that a 3rd generation (ESPECIALLY with the DPF!) is going to see-I change my '06 about once a year, before summer boat-towing season starts, usually has 5-6K on it, and it comes out BLACK. Granted that's not a scientific soot measurement-but my '02 could be run hard for 8-9K and barely even be brown!
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