so i have been running the costrol heavy duty for a couple years and i want to switch over to synthetic, i understand that i can just drain my oil with a new filter and just put synthetic in after drianing is this true?

 

I would either go with a synthetic blend or going on a short OCI for the first run with the synthetic oil.

The synthetic oils tend to clean up the engines and that gunk has got to go somewhere (in the pan, filter, etc.). By going with a blend or doing a short OCI, you remove that junk slowly instead of washing it all out at once and circulating it around the innards of your engine for 3-5,000 miles.

After the first oil change you should be good to go with your typical OCI.

 

ok so whats a short oci?

 

Oil Change Interval. Sorry, all these abbreviations....

You may want to shorten the time between the oil changes to 1000 to 1500 miles for the first oil change, then you could go back to whatever you usually do. Just make sure that whatever oil you get it is formulated for use in diesel engines. Our HPOP systems need a good oil that is made to run in these type of engines.

 

ok great i was going to use the shell rottela 15w40.

 

ok great i was going to use the shell rottela 15w40.

 

Rotella 5w40 is their synthetic. It's a good oil and easy to find. Use a better filter too like the mobil 1 or that Giant donaldson I'm using. I'm sorry but I forgot the part number. If your truck is a two wheel drive that donaldson may need a skidplate or training wheel.

 

so its 5w40 instead of 15w40? and i have the mobile 1 ford motors filter i always keep an extra.

 

Yep, 5w40 is the synthetic, 15w40 is the regular dino oil

 

I would just pull the drain plug, change the filter, and dump the synthetic in there. I ran synthetic oil for a few changes back when I had around 280,000 miles or so on the engine. (Wallyworld was getting rid of the synthetic rotella and they were selling it cheaper than the dino oil).

I didn't adjust my oil change interval and had no ill effects at all from the swap over, or the swap back to dino when I ran out of synthetic.

 

Mobil 1 M1-601 Synthetic Fiber Extended Oil Filter.


if you properly maintain your diesel engine,you won't have any sludge in it.
change and go.it's what i did.no sludge found.

 

A friend of mine has been selling Amsoil for almost 30 years. He has had the city truck garage on it for years. About 10 years ago I wanted to give it a try on a minivan I had just got with 98,000 miles on it. His first suggestion was NOT to do it. However, he gave me an option of duing what a previous person replied, using the short change interval. He also said to flush the engine first. Then put dino oil in again and flush again after 500-1000 miles. I have been using Amsoil for 10 years in all my vehicles and change once a year. A little scary at first, but they stand behind it.
Why tell you all this? Because one of our salesmen a few years ago decided to to with synthetic in his Ram pickup. He drained it, and filled it with Mobil One. A few days later going down the highway his engine seized. Trashed.
Synthetic WILL pull the sludge out of your engine and put it in your oil pick up screen. Seems like there should be a warning on the bottle.

 

I guess my concern is that unless you have been the only owner of the vehicle, you can never be sure what the previous owner did or didn't do in the way of maintenance.

Just use your best judgement. If it were me, I would do one change (maybe two) with a synthetic blend, then go to a full synthetic, or just stick with Dio juice.

 

well right on guys thanks for all the help, my dad bought the truck new with 6 miles on it and passed it down to me after getting tired of messing with it so i know of most of everything that was done to it, i know my pops never really maintained it really good so i am trying to change those bad habits. thanks for the tips, FTE is the Sh@t