I was thinking about this the other day. I used to run standard Rotella(miss those days $$. Anyways I changed to T6 to try and baby along my worn out injectors. I always heard people say about 5,000 miles on syn oil. I have been doing that myself. But recently started wondering if I should get a oil analyze done before I continue to stretch to 5,000 miles. My truck currently has 285,000 miles on it. I don't want to be causing any unneeded damage or wear and tear.

 

Seth,

The Oil Analysis is a solid idea to understand what is in the oil and better understand how it's holding up. With 285K miles, are you the original owner? What is your driving style? Are you rolling coal from each red light?

I ask the above questions because each can play a role on the quality of your oil at 5000 mile intervals.

If you have owned your truck from new, you are the best to judge how you've cared for it over the years. How consistent is that 5000 mile cycle? How does it sound today from 12 months ago?

How do you drive the truck? Is every red light the chance for a new 1/4 mile record? Do you push your EGT's to the max and hold them there? On cold mornings do you fire it up and run it like a rapped ape? -OR- Do you let it warm on cold mornings, pull when you need and keep the temps in check?

Finally, if you run hard, you roll coal. Coal, or carbon particles, are absorbed by the oil and act as wear material in your engine. Used oil is one thing, abused oil is an engine killer.

We will all say get an Oil Analysis to know for sure, to understand the wear metals, viscosity and flash point of your oil. Aside from that, you have to do what you think is best based on your knowledge of the truck.

We all do it differently with different types of oil. I run Wal-Mart Diesel Oil in 3000 mile intervals. My blackstone reports say I can go to 5000 but I don't trust the oil beyond my 3000 mile limit.

If I was running a Delo, Mobile 1 or the like, I might push it to 5000. The oil report will let you know for sure.

 

I bought the truck at 167,000 miles. So I have know it for the last 110,000 or so. When I ran Dino Rotella it was every 3,000 miles. Now 5K with the T6. I am pretty religious with oil changes. I don't have a chip so no rolling coal here. I do hot rod around a little on occasion to have a little fun. Lately I have been pulling my cargo trailer around to jobs a lot. Trailer weighs 6,000 pounds or so. To me the engine sounds pretty much the same over the years. I know I need new injectors but that isn't in the cards currently. Normally on cold mornings I let her warm up. I have a remote starter for that reason. But since the injectors are being a pain in my you know what that hasn't been working. Overall I consider myself a maintenance conscious person, but don't hesitate to push the truck when needed.

 

Seth, based on your reply, I'd run the Oil Analysis ($22) and be sure. However, I'd still keep my 5000 mile interval because you are pulling a block behind your truck, that block will force you to work harder and heat your motor more than no pulling.

Pulling isn't bad at all, it's what these trucks are made to do, however keeping that maintenance schedule will help you enjoy more years of service.

As part of your maintenance work, you might not need new injectors, maybe just O-Rings. you can run some AR-9100 in your Oil or Hot Shots to cycle through your injectors to help clean them.

The cold start issues are more than likely Glow Plugs.

8 ZD-11 Glow plugs are $75 on Ebay
8 sets of Alliant Injector O-Rings are $80 from RiffRaff or Diesel O-Rings.

The same effort to do both projects so do them at the same time. Your truck will appreciate you in the winter.

Total job time for your first time under the valve covers... 8 hours maybe?

 

test the glow plugs first. they are easy to ohm out when you remove the connector to valve cover. They should read about 1 ohm. I f they all check out then check for voltage to them. usually volt meter will drop when they engage.

 

I run 5k interval on dino oil....if you feel good about dumping oil at 3k, that's fine....but I think it's ridiculous.

 

I run t6 in all of my powerstrokes, 5 of them! I test the oil at 5,000 and change the filter, than change the oil and filter at 10,000
my '97 only tows heavy and has never had a bad oil analyses

 

Select a UOA company that reports Oxidation & Nitration. With those values you will be able to see the oil's serviceability (oil life). And you won't need to do UOA reports forever, just long enough to build up some historical records, they you can ease off and do them every other change or once in a while.

 

Fleet receives 5k oil intervals, dino, semi synthetic, full synthetic don't matter. That's the max I'll go before an oil change. These trucks get worked and get abuse daily, so far all are over 300k and some on stock injectors (look at my sig) You should be fine with 5k intervals, also do oil filter on every oil change, I don't know why people do it every other oil change filters are cheap insurance for longevity of you power plant.

 

New o rings and glow plugs last fall, new batteries two years ago, new glowplug relay this summer. I know that glowplugs are always the first things to check. But I feel the issue is somewhere else. I could try to use some cleaner.

 

Hard cold starts with injectors approaching 300K, new O-rings, GP's and a New GPR. I'd would think it's a darn good posdibility the injector poppet valves are worn and it might be close to time for new injectors. After all -can't complain about getting 300K out of the original set.

 

I agree with you. However my pocket book has other ideas.

 

295K on original sticks and I change my Mobil Delvac dino every 5K miles (with filter). I change my fuel filter every other oil change. It's served me well so far.

 

rotella synthetic 5w40 and every 5000

 

That's very nice,😎🍻

my brother-in-laws F-350 made it 350K on original injectors, just started acting up last winter. New glow plugs, UVC harness, UVC gasket, & relay as well. She's not liking to start when it gets below 50 degrees.......