perk

My wife and I recently bought the pickup in the signature, and the previous owner put in synthetic oil just before we picked it up. We now have almost 4000mi on the oil, do I need to change it, or just the filter? Also do all the 6spd's have the HO motor. we bought this one in Canada, and it has the normal valve cover.

Stamey

Typically, one of the virtues of synthetic oil is extended change intervals. This depends on the synthetic oil brand, type, and the conditions the engine is subject to. Personally, I have been running 25K oil changes on my 86 BMW gasser since 175K and I am up to 305K now, running Amsoil. On my diesel, which I have recently switched, I will go by oil analysis to find the right change interval.<br>Typically, Amsoil recommends 2-3 times the manufacturer's change interval, but that isn't set in stone, and that's only for Amsoil.<br><br>Chris

perk

How often should I change the filter?

Ruralmedic

That depends on what filter you're using and what you're comfortable with. Amsoil recommends 12,500 miles with their oil and SDF filter. I switched to synthetic two months ago, and just recently changed the filter at 3,000 miles. The truck had been run on dino oil for it's first 70K miles, so for peace of mind I changed it, considering deposits and contaminents are getting cleaned out. I plan to gradually increase that interval and change out the oil when it has 15K miles on it. I do not have bypass filtration, just the full flow filter. <br><br>

Dieseldude4x4

I am running the dual remote system and I change the main filter every 5000 and the other filter every 20 to 25000 miles. That is over kill but it makes me feel better.

KC

As I understand you should change your filter when it was recommended, 6000 miles or so. The amsoil can go 2 or 3 times that but you should get your oil analyzed.<br><br>KC

Dieseldude4x4

I sample every 10000 miles.

Pit Bull

[quote author=perk link=board=4;threadid=9399;start=0#90047 date=1042075909]<br>My wife and I recently bought the pickup in the signature, and the previous owner put in synthetic oil just before we picked it up. We now have almost 4000mi on the oil, do I need to change it, or just the filter? Also do all the 6spd's have the HO motor. we bought this one in Canada, and it has the normal valve cover.<br>[/quote]<br><br>You have left out a lot of information. How many miles on your truck? Did the previous owner give you any service records that told what oil he ran and his service record for changing the oil in the past? Do you want to keep your warranty intact? Where do you live and what climate will your truck be exposed too? What are you going to use your truck for? Without that information you need to do oil samples and change your oil and filter based on the sample results (if you are going to continue to use synthetic) or you can just change your oil every 4K miles using say Rotella T 15w40 and a Fleetguard filter and your truck will run longer than you will want to keep it. If you don't know anything about past service, then I would do 2 or 3 changes every 3K miles just to make sure it gets cleaned out. JMHO but I don't think synthetic oil buys you anything on these big HD diesels unless you live in Alaska or Canada or the very cold northern US states, it's more for extreme cold or hot weather and very hard use.

deuceandahalf

Tried Amsoil (85K) and it went thru my engine like water. Went back to Rotella T 15/40 and my consumption is back to nil. Change oil and filter every 3500; use Fleetguard Stratapore filters from Geno's Garage.com. Change fuel filter every 7000.

perk

Just to give a little background on the truck, I live in UT for the winter and WA in the summer. It came from Canada, and that is why the guy put synthetic in it. He usually ran synthetic in the winter and dino in the summer. the truck is three years old and has 120k miles on it. We probably won't see 200k for another few years since we mostly use it for travel, driving to ski resorts, etc. In my last diesel, I always wanted to use synthetic, but I had a couple of pesty little leaks that made it too costly.

ProspectorTim

Pesky oil leaks could/should be fixed! <br><br>Synthetic is good for ANY climate, though the easier starts make it especially good in the cold climates.<br><br>Without going in to pages &amp; pages of details or starting a big oil-debate, here are some things to consider:<br><br>Amsoil (I don't know about other brands) is Made In America. nuff said!<br><br>Synthetic oil doesn't break down nearly as quickly as petro-products. Keep it clean and un-contaminated, and you can run extended drain intervals. Oil analysis keeps you informed and advised on when to change. Fewer oil changes = good for the environment (less waste oil) and you spend more time driving your truck instead of laying under it. <br><br>Sure, you can expect that if you change your dino-juice often enough you will have clean oil. But a good filtration system and regular analysis will ensure clean oil *and* alert you to contaminants such as fuel (leaky injectors) or anti-freeze, or lots of other problems you might not notice for a LONG time if you keep dumping your oil down the drain without analysis. Meanwhile, every time you buy that stuff, some towel-head just got a little richer ... or worse!<br><br>There are lots of other benefits to using synthetic, but I wanted to keep this brief. Search the forums, I'm sure the subject has been beat to death. Or email questions to me; I've been an Amsoil dealer/user for over 20 years. I don't know it all, but I can usually answer your questions.

P Kennedy

Dueceandahalf you probably panicked from the oil consumption and did not let the synthetic clean everthing. Typically it takes 2-3 oil changes for everything to stabilize again and which synthetic did you use, the 5-30 typically has higher consumption numbers than the 15-40 diesel/marine oil. Also if the engine did not get a good ring seat certain oils dino or synthetic will create higher consumption numbers. I will bet if at 85k you were to use Esso/Exxon XD3 the consumption would also increase. Despite what you read oil is oil but the base stocks and additives vary greatly. PK

Pit Bull

[quote author=ProspectorTim link=board=4;threadid=9399;start=0#92195 date=1042604767]<br><br>Amsoil (I don't know about other brands) is Made In America. nuff said!<br><br>[/quote]<br><br>I know what you mean but it is getting harder and harder to tell where the money ends up with all of these multi national companies. One day the factory is in Missouri and the next Mexico. Like our trucks one is made in Mexico and the identical truck setting next to it was made in St. Louis Missouri. But it is alway worth some research to buy what supports our fellow citizens.