So my truck is coming up on an oil change & it got me wondering how often you guys change your oil? Also how often do you perform other maintenance on your trucks? Do you use mileage as your marker or a set period of time? I change my oil in my Dodge Journey every 5,000 miles but could probably go to 7,000 sense I use synthetic. I was going to do the truck every 3,000 but I don't know if that's necessary given how much oil it leaks that I replace & I'm using Rotella T6.

 

The Operator's manual has a pretty good chart or table that outlines the maintenance checks. A grease gun is your friend here too, lots of zerks where modern vehicles don't have any. I would add the charging system and battery to it since winter will be here soon for many.

 

It’s not so much the oil you’re replacing, but the full of crap oil filter. The oil doesn’t go bad, just gets dirty. So as you’re getting it dirty the filter filters it out. After awhile your oil becomes full of stuff to small to filter, and the filter get to full to filter. Then you start running lots of nasty stuff through the engine. If you’re burning oil, you’re getting extra soot from the chambers and debris from past the rings. This will dirty up your oil and filter much faster than an engine that doesn’t burn it own oil. So really an old tire engine should be changed more regularly than a newer tighter engine.

I believe our trucks call for 5w30? I run 10w40 in mine. Little thicker on cold starts and when the engines hot. In MY truck the 40w really quiets down a lot of the top end tick and makes the whole engine smoother. Modern gas oils lack lost of zinc and anti wear additives, desiel oils usually have more better where additives. But do your own research on what YOU want to use, but do know our trucks need zinc and other additives that are NOT in newer gas engine oils. Even 5w30 may not have the additives our trucks need for several reasons.

Brake fluid goes bad, collects water in it after awhile. And differential fluid is usually only $20-30 plus some gasket material. Power steering fluid, Mine usually dumps it all on the ground every couple years anyway .


Lots of grease zerts too. The steering system and king pins and u joints like ze grease. Honestly go buy a $10 pack of screw in fittings. The ones on top of my king pins like to fail and not let any grease get pushed in to them. King pins low on grease, will literally make these trucks ride worse.


Get on Amazon and order a Chilton book for our trucks. I prefer the Chilton over the hanes manual, I have both. You can find the Chilton used like new like I did and get it half off. Amazon doesn’t sell poor quality books.

 

Right, unless the HOT oil pressure is measured with an accurate gauge, at best it's a guess and by golly what's going on with any given viscosity oil, esp. since it may have worn bearings ... or not.

 

Carbed engines tend to dirty the oil a little more than fuel injected. The owners manuals are a good source of maintenance things and OEM shop manuals are great. You could spend a day servicing like the factory called for. Little things like hood latch and clutch linkage, shift linkage, speedo cable, doors, tailgate, the list goes on. All of the little things are as important as engine oil change. Oil changes depend a lot on type of driving, short trips 3 or 4 times a month without ever getting to normal temps would shorten you change routine. Oil change about the same price as a good pizza and a tube of grease same as a soda. Get one of those Fumoto type oil plugs and life is way easier.

 

Nobody cares more about correct maintenance and proper lube orders, hitting every zerk and the rest of it than the owner. That's just the way it is, and it's pretty tough to expect a high attention to detail from a feller getting paid 8 bucks an hour and often treated like dirt.