Being a new diesel truck owner many questions have arisen based on maintenance especially oil. I have read all of the threads in regards to oil change intervals however I have a concern about the oil in my truck. My f250 was built in May, I purchases in September with 150 miles on the truck. When checking the oil several weeks ago with approximately 2500 miles on the odometer I noticed the oil is black or at least no trace of brown when cleaning the dip stick. Does this suggest I should change the oil or continue on? I am planning on changing the oil at 5,000 miles or sooner based on suggestions. I will only drive about 7,000 miles per year so after that I am planning on changing the oil yearly unless otherwise noted by the computer or based on feedback from all of you. Thanks for your help. By the way about 50% of my miles are pulling an 8,000lb trailer.

 

That would be normal, dark color doesn't mean its worn out - just that its gotten warm enough to change color which is a normal chemical reaction.

Trailer towing like that put you in a severe service category. I personally run a synthetic in everything I drive. Its worth the investment to me.

 

The new 6.7 diesel has extended oil change durations compared to the 6.0 etc. I tow a 13000 pound high profile fiver quite often. My oil changes have been at 7500 miles and all looks good so far. I would not agree that your anticipated usage would be defined as severe. The original oil change design goal for the 6.7 was 15000 miles. A lead engineer from Ford was on here and said they almost made that goal with only severe duty not qualifying. They decided to go little conservative with 7500. Enjoy that new truck.

 

Rickatic, you would not be concerned if the oil is black? also how about the length of time before an oil change which will probably be March of next year. That means it will be 10 months prior to my first oil change and that is based on 5,000 miles. I appreciate your feedback. I was just surprised how black the oil was after 2500 miles.

 

Diesel engines turn oil black in a hurry. I would not worry too much about 10 months and 7000 mile oil changes. I would make sure that I ran it enough each time to get it up to temperature to burn off any condensation that has collected.

Regards

 

I posted a similar question a while back when I saw that my oil was dark at only 100 miles after a dealer oil change. Was thinking that they "forgot" or maybe were ripping me off but quickly got schooled in the ways of diesel oil. Everyone tells me it's normal and one of those things I have to get used to.

 

Nothing to worry about. It's common on all EGR equipped diesels. The blackness is the result of soot being pumped back into the engine via the EGR. Newer diesel oils are designed to hold particulates (soot) in suspension longer so they can be carried to the filter but apparently some of the finest ones don't get filtered out, hence the black color.

 

It is crazy but engine oil on a diesel motor will turn black as night almost immediately. You can even run huge amounts of oil through your motor and try to flush it out, no chance. Heck, you can change the oil, turn the motor over to purge the oil filter and recheck your oil level, and it will most likely be just as black as the old oil you just drained out.

There are kits available for supplemental oil filtering and also coolant filtering but I would not mess with it on this new motor.

 

Completely normal. It will also have a strong diesel fuel smell. Don't quote me on this but I think since it has an extra injector to squirt raw fuel to clean the DPF some ends up in the oil. I'm sure someone who knows more about this will chime in with more info.

 

Ford uses no extra injector. The 6.7 uses one bank of 4 cylinders (driver side I think) to push unburnt fuel into the exhaust system so that the fuel fumes go into the DPF where it burns a ceramic filter free of diesel soot. The fuel is injected into the cylinder during the exhaust stroke ( no compression, just push it out) and it only happens when the instrument cluster tells you "Cleaning Exhaust System". The burnt soot is a grey ash that you possibly can see on the tips of your tailpipe.

The 6.4 diesel on the '08-'10 trucks used all 8 cylinders to send fuel to the DPF which resulted in a more intrusive and severe condition during a cleanout cycle. Many of these motors tend to "make oil", which is to say that diesel fuel escapes the cylinder rings and settles into the oil sump. If you do not check your oil level or go more than 10K on an oil change you may actually overfill the oil level in the motor to the extreme and begin to see oil blow out of the intake manifold, get in the turbo and the intercooler.

The 6.7 diesel is hopefully not going to "make oil". It runs a similar way that the 6.4 does but only using 4 cylinders instead of 8 will hopefully help. Still, check oil level frequently and I am one of the folks here that has decided to change the oil when the truck tells me to rather than going by a mileage schedule. Most 6.4 owners get the oil changed every 5K miles. The 6.7 seems to be in the 7.5K - 10K range.

 

Cool thanks for that detailed info so it makes more sense. I guess it is less likely to make oil then the 6.4, but still a possibility. Something you definitely want to keep an eye on but I too will be waiting until it tells me to change it.