Would like your help with choice of oil.

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Marchboom

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I would like to get the input of the forum members on the oil I should use.

2009 Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi. Bought new, now has 6000 miles. Driving consists of 2-3 trips into town a week, 20 miles one way...all highway. Never any short trips. I drive easy and do not abuse this truck as I want it to last a long time. No towing or heavy loads. Manual says 5W-20 oil and may use synthetic if I want. Dodge recommends 6000 mile oil & filter changes and I plan (so far) to go by that. I live in North Idaho & the truck is always parked in a garage when at home (never below 40 degrees in garage).

Without any sales or rebates synthetics are more than twice the price of dino's. Would synthetic be a waste of money or would the ability to handle the cold better be a benefit? Is there anything else I'm overlooking? Would an oil sample be worth the money?

Thanks for your assistance.
 
With the capacity of the Hemi truck. I would just go with Pennzoil yellow bottle 5w20. That viscosity is already requiring a better engineered oil and for your warranty purposes dino is good. Possibly later if you want to venture into extended service a synthetic would be good.
 
Pennzoil Platinum 5W-20 and PureONE for oil and filter. Change diff fluid with synthetic, and change ATF every 30,000 miles with ATF+4. Put a bottle of lubegard red in the ATF now and add some with every fluid change.
 
With that service I think a good dino 5W20 will serve you well.
If your not ascared of putting something that says Ford in it, Motorcraft syn blend is a good deal at WalMart. Its just a relabeled Conoco-Philips product.
 
Considering it's pretty much ideal conditions for oil (all 20 mile highway trips, no short trips, etc), does anything think a semi-synthetic like Motorcraft would be a good fit? Sounds like conventional should be able to handle it, but a semi-synthetic will give a bit more toughness, better cold flow, and the price on Motorcraft oil is hard to beat
 
Synthetics is really the wave of the future, set it and forget it for 10k, oci's. but thats my 10cents worth. I run my van hard and I use mobile 1.
 
B
Marchboom said:
Forgot about that. Is there any benefit to using a syn blend?[/quote

Better cold starts and probably a slightly better mpg.

I too would go with MotorCraft Syn/Blend 5w30...an excellent oil. If you go to a full synthetic (Valvoline SynPower 5w30), you could stretch out your OCI's to 9,000 to 10,000 miles

Be sure you use a good filter like a Purolator PureOne or Bosch.

Suggest OCI's at about 6000 miles (for Syn/Blend). You should get many good years out of that vehicle.

One other thing...change out the tranny fluid every 30,000 and the fuel filter at the same time.
____________________________________________
2003 Foed Focus SE 2.3L / 82K
Valvoline MaxLife Syn 5w30 / Oci's 7000 +/-
Purolator PureOne PL 10241
Click to expand...
 
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I would only recommend 5W-20, for numerous reasons. One, it is warranty required. Two, MDS only works properly with 5W-20. Three, 5W-20 is extremely shear stable. I had forgotton about it, but I would support the Motorcraft Semisyn 5W-20 recommendation wholeheartedly. Run for the 6K mile warranty requirement, and have no fear.
 
Originally Posted By: rudolphna
Pennzoil Platinum 5W-20 and PureONE for oil and filter. Change diff fluid with synthetic, and change ATF every 30,000 miles with ATF+4. Put a bottle of lubegard red in the ATF now and add some with every fluid change.


Lubegard in a new car is useless. The Atf+4 itself is a premium product.
 
Originally Posted By: Marchboom
Driving consists of 2-3 trips into town a week, 20 miles one way...all highway. Never any short trips. I drive easy and do not abuse this truck as I want it to last a long time. No towing or heavy loads.

the truck is always parked in a garage when at home (never below 40 degrees in garage).


I don't think you need synthetic, but I would "blow the carbon out of it" every week.
 
With a new motor where the oil and filter (and the air filter) will be changed at regular intervals, is there any chance of sludge buildup with dino oil vs. synthetic or semi-syn?
 
The above mention data is excellent>>>>> Use 5w20 syn blend or full synthetic motor craft or mobil one or penns platinum plus or royal purple synthetic. All of these are great b 4 you get over whelmed with to much data. Your engine or anyone elses engine will do fine on these oils. In conclusion, almost all oils today are an excellent choice, its like food choices out here, everyone of us has our favorites, try one of the above and u cant go wrong. I have used 5 different makes thru the years and never lost an engine due to a oil malfunction.
 
Originally Posted By: Marchboom
I would like to get the input of the forum members on the oil I should use.

2009 Dodge Ram 1500 Hemi. Bought new, now has 6000 miles. Driving consists of 2-3 trips into town a week, 20 miles one way...all highway. Never any short trips. I drive easy and do not abuse this truck as I want it to last a long time. No towing or heavy loads. Manual says 5W-20 oil and may use synthetic if I want. Dodge recommends 6000 mile oil & filter changes and I plan (so far) to go by that. I live in North Idaho & the truck is always parked in a garage when at home (never below 40 degrees in garage).

Without any sales or rebates synthetics are more than twice the price of dino's. Would synthetic be a waste of money or would the ability to handle the cold better be a benefit? Is there anything else I'm overlooking? Would an oil sample be worth the money?

Thanks for your assistance.


Congrat's on the new truck. The new 4th Gen Ram's are really nice. I wanted a 2009 when I picked up my 08 but got such a deal I couldn't pass on it. Oh well, next time.

The 5.7L is a great motor. You should get many years of trouble free service from it. However, be sure to stay with 20 weight oil( 5W-20 year round or 0W-20 during winter )unless you disable MDS. 20 weight is required for proper operation of the MDS system and you can have problems with other weights.

The older HEMI's were prone to the infamous HEMI TICK. Not sure if the new 09+ 5.7L will have this issue or not? Synthetic oil really quiets it down and is the popular choice for 03-08 5.7L owners. Even if the new 5.7L does not have the tick synthetic is not a waste of your money.

You can run either but IMO a synthetic is the way to go. If you have a PepBoys near you they carry Kendall GT1 full synthetic for just $4.99 a qt( so $34.97 for oil with the 7qts you need ). It is excellent stuff. You can also get good deals on 5qt bulk jugs at Wal-Mart on Penzoil Platinum, Valvoline Synpower, Moil 1, etc... and then just grab 2 extra qts. You will still be in that $32-$35 range though for oil. IMO it is worth it however for a better product.

6months/6K is actually the max OCI allowed by Dodge. Your truck will have some type of oil life monitor in it( style depends on your trim level ). You can go by that or just go by the 6/6 like I do.
 
Originally Posted By: Marchboom
With a new motor where the oil and filter (and the air filter) will be changed at regular intervals, is there any chance of sludge buildup with dino oil vs. synthetic or semi-syn?


No, not if it's not "a sludger". Research history for your engine in these forums.
 
I would again say in your case, Motorcraft Blend 5W-20, with a Purolator PureONE filter, and run for 6,000 miles, until the end of the warranty, and do the same thing but for 7,500 miles.
 
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