What is a reasonably long OCI for this diesel?

[OilMagnate]

I've changed oil on probably 3 diesels my whole life, so forgive my ignorance, but I am knowledgeable on the gasoline side. I just changed the oil on a friend's 2005 Chevy 2500HD Duramax 6.6L. He already had some filters on hand, and I got some of the Delo XSP (Synthetic) 15W-40 from the recent walmart clearance. The problem is the mismatch in oil and filter. The filters he already had were NAPA ProSelect 27202 (Wix made), and they are overly clear that these should be ran "up to" 5,000 mile intervals. I know the XSP can go long past 5K, but how long is reasonable for a diesel? I guess where I'm lost is what a typical OCI for a diesel is. What's normal when using a conventional like T4? What about T6/XSP?

With that out of the way, I kinda had to get it done yesterday. I thought about using a better filter and saving the ProSelect, but considering how cheap he got them, it didn't make sense to spend 4-6x the price on a high-end filter. So out came the Jiffy Lube cheap-o oil and the "Service Champ" filter, and in went the XSP and ProSelect. When I asked him what his interval was previously, I almost fell back in my chair. He said he ran that for almost 2 years and about 10K miles. Knowing what I do about gasoline, 2 years seems too long on cheap oil with 10K in the mix, especially with that "Service Champ" garbage. Maybe I'm wrong though. He does pull stuff with it, but nothing crazy. I don't know what's been done to it, but he has a Bully Dog tuner in it. I'd bet the farm it's not for performance. Knowing him it's to re-tune to compensate for some kind of part deletion. Idk.

We had a chat about it, and I think the best course of action would be to run it 5K, change the filter only and top-up, then do a complete change at 10K. Does this seem reasonable? Or should I change the filter only again at 10K and do a complete change at 15K? Again, just don't know typical diesel behavior.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[64bawagon]

I ran Delvac syn diesel in my 05 Duramax LLY for around 12k with a standard AC delco filter. The last time I changed it I had an analysis done and it came back with room to spare. I would have zero issues with running the Delo and that filter to at least 10-12k. Mine towed a 10k trailer a lot and was very easy on oil. From that perspective it was a great engine.

 

[Davejam]

Typical OCI for Diesel is 10-15k.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

FWIW my 2012 Cummins Ram says 7,500 miles or 6 months. I was doing 7,500 but through UOAs I can go 10k and probably more. Anything less on a diesel seems wasteful due to the quantity of oil they hold. My Ram takes 3 gallons.

Just my $0.02

 

[Davejam]

FWIW my 2012 Cummins Ram says 7,500 miles or 6 months. I was doing 7,500 but through UOAs I can go 10k and probably more. Anything less on a diesel seems wasteful due to the quantity of oil they hold. My Ram takes 3 gallons.

Just my $0.02

This is interesting.
My former 2013 Dodge Cummins 6.7L recommended 15,000.
So, what changed in 2013?

 

[userfriendly]

With the Bully Dog tuner and EGR delete he can go 10K/2 years on any CK-4 15w40.

 

[PiperOne]

09 LMM... 20k mile oil changes on XSP (5W40), basic Fleetguard filter and 660,000 on the clock. Sample reports indicate a healthy engine and that I could go further than 20k. My 06 LBZ at 330,000 mi got the same treatment when it was working daily. Now it's my wife's daily and I just change it yearly (goes about 15 k a year now).

 

[tnt_motorsports]

This is interesting.
My former 2013 Dodge Cummins 6.7L recommended 15,000.
So, what changed in 2013?

FT4 emissions and the addition of DEF. The 2012 is iT4 and does not have DEF fluid.

Just my $0.02

 

[The motor guy]

This is interesting.
My former 2013 Dodge Cummins 6.7L recommended 15,000.
So, what changed in 2013?

I think they went to def on that model. I think it's a marketing ploy honestly. 15k is too long imo even if all you're doing is running down the freeway. 15k on my truck would be like 600hrs.

 

[tnt_motorsports]

I think they went to def on that model. I think it's a marketing ploy honestly. 15k is too long imo even if all you're doing is running down the freeway. 15k on my truck would be like 600hrs.

Curious to know why 15k is too long? These engines hold 3 gallons of oil. That is roughly 2 to 3 times the volume of what the average car holds and people do 5k to 10k OCI's in cars...

Just my $0.02

 

[BrianF]

I tested mine at the 15k mile interval a couple times. Boring. Even with full emissions, 15k was short.

 

[OilMagnate]

Thanks for the input everyone. Sounds like 10K will be fine on the filter. Maybe I'll run the oil 15K and change the filter halfway for peace of mind? I think as long as I don't exceed 2 years/20K on the oil or 10K on the cheaper filter, I'm safe.

 

[MSCH]

OilMagnate I'll give you my take on it. having spent more than 40 years in a fleet environment.. Since most of the last 20 years of my work life was pretty much Cummins exclusive, Cummins was pretty specific in its oil change intervals, and currently they were mostly recommending every 6 months, 500 engine hours or 15000 miles, whichever came first on their smaller engines.. but for years Cummins had a little carveout in their oil change recommendations, which was that RV's ( aka motorhomes) could go up to a year, 500hrs or 15000 miles.


My assumption was Cummins knew what they were talking about when it came to service intervals, oil grade and such, and my assumption is other engine manufacturers are also the same way... so whatever the maintenance manual says should be fine and you are probably overthinking it, as long as you are using the correct lubricant for your particular vehicle...

Its worth saying that since they give you a time frame on a otherwise low usage vehicle, the owner in question should probably just follow whatever time frame the service manual recommends

 

[Redhawk454]

Changing the oil in a 6.7 Cummins is a pain in the *** because its always an adventure trying to get the oil filter on...

but

I average 2,000 rpm on the interstate going 80 mph and boost fluctuates. Anything over 5k miles I'd like to send samples in

 

[dnewton3]

That old 2005 Dmax simply does not care what oil or filter you use. They wear incredibly well regardless what products are in use.
Further, 10k mile OCI is not a problem for them at all.
I have over 650 UOAs for early engine series (LB7, LLY, LB7); if there were a problem I'd know it and say so.