I have a 2004 F-250 6.0 diesel and the book says to change the engine oil at 5000 mile intervals. I live in Arizona where it gets extereemly hot and I pull a 10,000 lb. 5th wheel. The dealer tells me to change the oil at 3000 miles as opposed to the 5000 from the book. Does anyone have any info as to do I really have to change it so much earlier?

 

This depends on SOOOOO many variables- dino or synethetic, brand of oil, lots and lots of things...there are a lot of people here who are very experienced with this sort of thing (and also alot who are tremendously emotional) but you will get an answer, and lots of them.

IMO, though, change it as often as you can afford it. You can't damage it by changing too often, but you can by not changing it often enough.

I can't figure these guys out that buy a 45,000 dollar truck and change the oil once every 10k miles. Then again, some of them probably can't figure out why I would so something like injection water and methanol through my intake, so....

 

Well, I remember being told... 'oil is cheaper than engines'.. But if you are running in very severe conditions, than for piece of mind, you could change the oil at 3K in the summer months and extend the intervals to 5k when the temps drop or when not pulling heavy.. Or if a combo of conditions, split the difference and go for a 4K change

.......................HP....................

 

And this is a great article for those who missed it. Explains lots to inquiring minds too lazy to look....... http://www.boss302.com/oil.htm and at least it's FORDS

 

There is one problem with this article , if somebody claims that his milage went from 11 mpg to 17 mpg just because he nchange oil from dino 20W50 to synthetic can't remember what is was ,( but let say 10W30) is lets be polite not very trust worthy if you gain 3-4% increase on that kind of change you are very lucky

 

3Ms, you may be a candidate for a by-pass filter with check valve and use a GOOD synthetic rated for diesels like Delvac 1. I think Oil Guard is a sponsor here at the FTE and there should be a link to their site. Others to look at is the FS 2500 and the dreaded Amsoil. The FS 2500 and Amsoil will filter to the 3 micron absolute level. Oil Guard claims 1 micron as I remember. Filter element availability is important in using a by-pass as well as cost of elements. Changing the oil would be determined by analysis which I would schedule at 5,000 miles, 10,000 miles, 15,000 miles and then look at the "trend" of the oil package in regards to your use of the equipment. The oil analysis will tell you when it is time to change oil. At each scheduled analysis you would change the primary filter only and top off the oil. Do not put a by-pass on any engine unless it also has a check valve that cuts the flow of oil off from the by-pass in case of oil pressure dropping below 30 lbs. I would imagine that this setup complete should cost around $500. We see the 7.3 PSD on some units as far as 50,000 miles between changes and the wear metals are consistant with 3500 mile changes. But I also don't want to have you expect that yours will perform the same, all engines are different which is why you will be "trending" your oil package. Delvac 1 is also known as Mobil SUV and RV synthetic and CAT 1 synthetic. Usually, the CAT 1 is available in bulk at the local CAT dealer and is a reasonable deal. If this is of interest to you we can keep this thread active.

 

OilGuard is the way to go....great product and wonderfull folks to deal with.

 

Flash,

I contacted my local Cat dealer and the parts salesman had never heard of Cat1 synthetic oil before. Could it be under a different name? He said they really don't have much call for synthetic oils (suprising here in Alaska with the extreme cold weather), so maybe he just hasn't heard of it. I may have to call back and speak to a different salesman or maybe one the the mechanics.

 

I live in the Detroit area & called Michigan Cat & asked for the synth. Cat 1 & told me he didn't know what I was talking about. I was wondering about maybe another name too. Rick

 

This should be the info directly from CAT
http://www.cat.com/f2l/servlet/cat.v...DS=Y&siteId=25
Hope it is the info you needed. It is in pdf form.

 

Looks like the Cat oil is only a CH-4, not CI-4. Maybe the information on the website is outdated and the product in stock is now CI-4. I also like their Arctic engine oil synthetic 0-30, too bad it's only CH-4.

Flash, have you been getting Cat DEO 5-40 in a CI-4 rating?

 

I had been changing every 5000 miles for the first 25,000. Then on advice from Blackstone went to 6000, then 6200. I just got my latest report back and they recommend extending to 7500. My wear levels have steadily gone DOWN and now at 37,000 are far below average. I test every change and have used Delo 400 15W/40 since the second change. I am using oilgaurd filters (which are made by RACOR). One thing I noticed was that my silicon levels dropped from 10PPM at 30,000 to 7PPm at 37,000 after changing the air filter. No matter what oil you use, the $20 per test is a cheap insurance on a $15,000 engine.

 

Hjudge49,

Just a correction to your post, OilGuard filters are made by OilGuard, not Racor.

Thank You,
OilGuard Tech

 

Sorry, I thought they were Racors. They certainly do a good job. Do you make the fuel filters also?

 

Is using an Oil Guard bypass filter compatible with the Ford 6.0L warranty?