I just watched this video and did the oil change procedure. I was only able to remove 1 quart of oil before I drough air. Is it possible I only had 1 quart of oil in the top end? Do you think I need to add another 2 quarts? Can I do damage by adding too much oil?


Video link: POWERSTROKEHELP.COM - The Information Source for Ford Power Stroke Diesel Owners

 

Top end oil change is not needed. You can disregard these videos. He gives more bad advice than good advice.

The reason you can only draw out a quart is because the rest of the oil is in the front cover, in the HPOP, and in the oil rails. This oil is not accessible unless you feel like tearing your motor apart. Once the engine is running, it simply circulates right back into the oil pan.

Sucking out the oil from the reservoir only helps to change a tiny bit more old oil out. Other than that, it's not doing any good. Some folks have "claimed" in the past that sludge builds up in the reservoir, and they "claim" that oil doesn't circulate very well.

As my rebuttal to those so-called claims, I present this:



This picture was taken last week. I pulled the HPOP reservoir off to have my pumps (yes, I have two) serviced and updated. As you can see, it's squeaky clean inside. I didn't clean anything. I simply pulled the top off and immediately snapped the picture. My truck has well over 140K miles on it.

Obviously, oil circulates VERY well. If anyone has sludge buildup in their HPOP reservoir, it's because of **** poor maintenance, and the owner will have much worse problems to deal with elsewhere.

In short, to me it's not worth the much added effort to attempt to draw out the oil in the HPOP for another quart of oil change. If someone else wants to do it, be my guest. But in the end, it's not going to guarantee that the injectors will last one instant longer.

As to filling it back up. Any excess oil will drain right back into the oil pan. You do not want to overfill the oil pan, so don't attempt to put quart after quart after quart of oil back in through the HPOP reservoir.

Personally, I would stay away from those videos. He gives way to much misinformation to folks who watch them.

 

Pocket,

Your HPOP is very clean like I hope mine is as well. I am using Delo 15w40 and the MC oil filter changing both at 4500-5000 miles. Just curious, what type of oil and filter are you using at what is your change intervals?

Thanks

 

Over the years I've used different types of oil. Most often I've used Rotella synthetic. I've also run Delo, Motorcraft... and lately my oil of choice is Valvoline Extreme Blue synthetic. I change my oil every 5000 miles, as I run dual pumps and any more than that and the oil shears too much (although the Valvoline seems to resist shear a bit more than the others). Filters I typically use Motorcraft, although I have used Napa filters a few times when the Motorcrafts were out of stock at the local Wally World.

It's all about regular maintenance. Nothing special, just keep things clean and fresh.

 

Curtis,

Thanks for the feedback. I like to ask folks like you questions who take good care of their 7.3's

Thanks again
Bill

 

There's one HUGE advantage to sucking out the HPOP reservoir (tongue planted firmly in cheek): I can put in all 4 gallons of oil instead of just 15 quarts leaving one container laying around with a quart in it....

BTW, my HPOP reservoir was just as clean as Curtis' when I yanked mine to fix the non-serviceable plug leak last year. I now have an easy way to suck it out with no mess & no extra time, so it's no big deal for me. While I'm waiting for the pan to drain, I suck it out...

Have you tried Schaeffer 7000 Curtis? I've been told it's really shear resistant as well...

 

No, I haven't. I thought about it, and even talked to Rocky from Rockin-S Performance about it (he's a Schaeffer's dealer), but it never went any further than just talking about it. I may try it one day, but I'm not done with the Valvoline yet. I want to get some more miles on this oil as a comparison with the others that I've run.

 

Curtis, where are you picking up the Valvoline oil and how much $$? I've been running the Rotella Synth. but willing to switch if it's cheaper.

 

I buy mine at Napa. But it's not cheaper. I think it's $24 or $25 a gallon.

I switched to Valvoline after talking to Mike (Blowby) a while back. He's also running twin HPOP's on his race truck, and said that he's had great results with the Valvoline holding up to dual pumps. So far, I'm in agreement. The Rotella synthetic at 5000 miles was getting pretty thin, and at that point I was taking it as far as I could go. Motorcraft would barely last 3000 miles, Delo was holding up to about 5000 miles. The Valvoline after 5000 miles was showing some signs of shearing, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the other oils, and still looked to be in pretty good shape.

That's the tradeoff with twin pumps... it's harder on the oil. For me it's a balancing game of getting oil to last without changing it super often, but still living long enough to be effective. I still need to do an oil analysis on the Valvoline. That will probably happen sometime in the near future so I can get a benchmark on that oil. Now that my truck is finally running reliably, I should be able to rack up the miles a lot quicker.

 

i pull the oil out of mine just to get more of the old oil out and more new in, just my 2 cents.

 

Thanks, Curtis. I'm creeping up on an oil change soon so was curious.

 

It's good stuff. I don't think it's absolutely necessary for 99.9999999% of folks out there, but I'm more experimenting than anything else. When I change oil, I always put some between my fingers and run my fingers back and forth. I've had oil tested before that was pretty sheared, and it feels more like water between my fingers than oil. After 5000 miles, the Valvoline still feels like oil.

But like I said, I still need to do an actual oil analysis on the Valvoline before I draw any final conclusions.