How often to change???

[jcmseven]

Fellow Posters,

I have a 2008 6.4L PSD Ford truck. The owners manual says change the oil every 10,000 miles. I do not drive my truck all that often, but when I drive I usually drive it to work, 37 miles one way. The point here is that I do not do much stop and go driving, but the truck does sit for sometimes several days between drivings. Should I change the oil more often, or am I just throwing away money to do so??? I have always tried to follow or exceed the manufacturer's recommendations, but 10,000 miles does seem awfully long.

John M

 

[MrJimi]

I'm sure the oil will say something like so many miles or so many months whichever one is first.
10,000 miles would be over 2 years for me YIKES

 

[Mighty Dodge]

My 97 Dodge isn't a daily driver. I change the oil in April and October. I only put around 6-7,000 miles a year on it.

M.D.

 

[Diamondpilot]

My dad has the same problem with his sports car. I would do which ever comes first, once a year or every 10,000 like the book says.

Chris

 

[radman1]

I would go the 10K for mileage, especially if using synthetic. Manufactures tend to be on the conservative side with oil changes. Those trucks hold about 15-16 quarts which is a lot of oil. Ideally, it would be best to have an oil analysis first. Some owners are reporting more than expected amount of diesel in the oil on their reports. Some owners report that the oil level is actually rising between oil changes because of this problem. It maybe due to the regeneration allowing fuel to seep into the oil.

 

[john_bud]

I change oil in the spring - (going to 15w-40) and in the fall - (going to 5w40). If I didn't need to change viscosity, I'd just change when the oil minder tells me to (usually that is 10k).

Oil is really really good these days and can go a lot farther than consumers take it. Much to the enjoyment of the oil companies and the OPEC'ers. But, I digress.

jb

 

[ihookem]

John Bud is right, we complain about Mobil Exxon's profits but half the guys on this board and diesel garage are still changing at 3k. Go figure. Change every 10k with regular oil or 20k with Amsoil or Mobil 1, filters every 10k or so but get a good filter. Hey John Bud were in taxconsin do you live anyway?

 

[RalphVa]

I change the synthetic oil, which is in every engine I own now, once/year except the generator. On it, I try to do it about every 3 years. It isn't run that often.

The two cars get about 6k miles on the oil The pickup goes about 7k or so. The tractor goes about 100 hours.

Ralph