Diesel Oil Changes

[Andy]

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I know that some guys go longer between oil changes with diesel engines. What is your opinion? Do you go twice as long between oil changes as you do with gas vehicles or do you go the typical 3000-3500 miles?

[howam00]

I think they are 10-15k from the factory. Heck our Prius is 10k per change

[blue7.3]

Actually, diesels should NEVER be run w/ dirty oil (the definition of dirty being whatever the manufacturer states, for Blue it's 5000 miles or so many hours (I go by miles, I don't idle much)). Diesel fuel and soot contaminate the oil over time and can really wear out bearings... both engine and tubine. On older Fords, where the injectors also use high pressure oil to operate, contamination will kill the pump and injectors also.

4 gallons of Rotella 15W40 and a NAPA (Wix) filter every 5000 miles... yup yup, yup...

[howam00]

I know the newer diesels have long spans between changes but yes of course follow what is recommended by the owner's manual.

[michigandon]

10,000 miles for both my Jetta TDI and the wifes Sprinter. Use Total Quartz 5W40 in each.

[C Sean Watts]

I'm a skeptic on extended drain intervals on anything with a common rail system, especially if it has EGR and/or SCR. My next door neighbor has two big trucks with Cummins ISX motors and the oil analysis on both have come back suggesting changing oil before the manual recommends.

[howam00]

Originally Posted by C Sean Watts

I'm a skeptic on extended drain intervals on anything with a common rail system, especially if it has EGR and/or SCR. My next door neighbor has two big trucks with Cummins ISX motors and the oil analysis on both have come back suggesting changing oil before the manual recommends.

maybe he uses them harder, most manuals list a more aggressive change interval for "servere use"

then again some oils are also better than others. It could be a combo of both for your neighbor.

[Duluth Diesel]

On my 2009 Subaru Forester and 2010 Honda Odyssey (wife's) I run 1 year or 15k mile intervals. I run AMSOIL 0W20 and 0W30 engine oils with AMSOIL 15 micron filters. Note that your OEM, Napa, WIX, etc filters are only 35 micron filters.

On my 2002 Dodge Cummins turbo diesel, I run 1 year or 25k miles on AMSOIL AME 15W40 Heavy Duty Diesel and Marine engine oil. To keep the oil clean and free of soot (since it is a rather modified hot rod diesel) I utilize AMSOIL 15 micron Eao filters and an AMSOIL 2 micron bypass filtration system. I change filters half way through the interval.

The soot particles that do the most wear and tear in a diesel engine are in the 7 to 12 micron range. For reference, a human hair is about 70 to 75 microns in diameter.

The AMSOIL Bypass Filtration systems work on any engine, gas or diesel, and are rated at 2.00 microns at 98.7% efficiency. And since AMSOIL is a true Group IV PAO synthetic, it retains TBN and resists acidification much longer than a conventional Group II or mineral-oil based Group III synthetic.

Better oil, better filtration, better protection.

-Chuck

[jmac5058]

All the soot in modern DPF,EGR motors is why a dual-bypass remote setup is preferable.Two big filters are better than one small one.

[C Sean Watts]

Originally Posted by howam00

maybe he uses them harder, most manuals list a more aggressive change interval for "servere use"

then again some oils are also better than others. It could be a combo of both for your neighbor.

They are big trucks with 15L common rail engines with computer regulated (nearly) everything. They'll cut power or shut down under conditions that would cause any catastrophic engine failure, like loss of oil pressure or loss of coolant. They won't over rev, since one is an auto shift and the other will not gear down in an over speed situation. You can't "use them harder" than they were designed for IE: 100,000 miles or more per year except for not changing the oil when you should.

Where the difference DOES come in is they are early generation EGR engines therefore the oil quickly gets loaded up with soot. He is also an avid user of oil analysis, as am I - AS OIL ANALYSIS NEVER LIES.