Maintenance schedule from dealer...is this true?

I was looking at the maintenance schedule again I received from the service department and had a few question marks for the folks here. The schedule they printed out was based on my VIN and I was told it is specific for my vehicle from RAM.

It is showing my FIRST oil change is at 1yr or 10,000 miles (whichever comes first). Is this true? If it is, I had no idea the oil can last 10,000 miles!

Here is a copy of my schedule.




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That's strange. If I remember correctly my first was scheduled at an even shorter interval than any other and was performed at 2512 miles...

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I did my first oil change at 5000km (3000 miles) about 100hours on the meter.. only because I wanted to get the break in oil out. Oil life was still at 65%.

You will notice that oil intervals are longer than they used to be as oil is getting better and engines are getting cleaner. The interval for our Ram trucks should last approximately 200 hours

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See if the owners manual comes though, 2017 ram, if not you can easily search it is online free pdf. It's not coming through, some versions of ram owners manual service make you download directly, weird. Google it.

It is kind of weird, they put your oil change interval based on a CEL. If it were me, I would change the oil every 7500 miles unless you go with a super premium oil and a synthetic filter. As for the first oil change, that I would do early, somewhere between 1,00 miles or 2,500. You have a lot of posts, you must be a repeat customer for Ram.

Burla said:

See if the owners manual comes though, 2017 ram, if not you can easily search it is online free pdf. It's not coming through, some versions of ram owners manual service make you download directly, weird. Google it.

It is kind of weird, they put your oil change interval based on a CEL. If it were me, I would change the oil every 7500 miles unless you go with a super premium oil and a synthetic filter. As for the first oil change, that I would do early, somewhere between 1,00 miles or 2,500. You have a lot of posts, you must be a repeat customer for Ram.

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Thanks for the info. I do have a lot of posts (from being active on the forums), but this is my first RAM truck I have ever owned. I mainly owned Yukons and various luxury cars.

I'm at 5,400 miles now. I'll go get the oil changed then.


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While we are on this topic, how does the oil change indicator work? Is their a way to let it know that a high quality, long life synthetic oil is used or does it just "know"?

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I guess what the service department printed out was correct. The manual says, "1500 Models Only
NOTE: Under no circumstances should oil change intervals exceed 10,000 miles (16,000 km), twelve months or 350 hours of engine run time, whichever comes first. The 350 hours of engine run or idle time is generally only a concern for fleet customers."


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I don't see any trans flushes or diff changes, that's not done under a 100k anymore?

SYKRAMMAN said:

I don't see any trans flushes or diff changes, that's not done under a 100k anymore?

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8-speeds are supposedly a lifetime fill from the factory.

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SitKneelBend said:

8-speeds are supposedly a lifetime fill from the factory.

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Oh wow! Thanks for the info.


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SitKneelBend said:

While we are on this topic, how does the oil change indicator work? Is their a way to let it know that a high quality, long life synthetic oil is used or does it just "know"?

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It looks like the vehicle monitors driving habits and maybe load, but not actually testing the oil.

The owners manual...

Your vehicle is equipped with an automatic oil change
indicator system. The oil change indicator system will
remind you that it is time to take your vehicle in for
scheduled maintenance.
Based on engine operation conditions, the oil change
indicator message will illuminate. This means that service
is required for your vehicle. Operating conditions such as
frequent short-trips, trailer tow, extremely hot or cold
ambient temperatures, and E85 fuel usage will influence
when the “Oil Change Required” message is displayed.
Severe Operating Conditions can cause the change oil
message to illuminate as early as 3,500 miles (5,600 km)
since last reset. Have your vehicle serviced as soon as
possible, within the next 500 miles (805 km).
Your authorized dealer will reset the oil change indicator
message after completing the scheduled oil change. If a
scheduled oil change is performed by someone other than
your authorized dealer, the message can be reset by
referring to the steps described under “Instrument Cluster
Display” in “Understanding Your Instrument Panel”.

So it treats all oils equally?

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SitKneelBend said:

8-speeds are supposedly a lifetime fill from the factory.

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Wow, there must be some extreme trans filters on them then.

Curlyp said:

Oh wow! Thanks for the info.


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To be clear I'm not sure about the diff fluids , but I don't think they are lifetime. Just the transmission.

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Ram blows *** when it comes to their oil recommendations on the diffs. It is very confusing because they say "check" every 20k miles. There is a huge difference between mineral oils and ester based fluids when it comes to the diffs. Redline performance.

The oil just doesn't break down and also allows you to run cooler. Oil stop I believe recommends diffs change every 30k miles, and they say by using redline that doubles or triples what the recommend. There is a ton of stuff posted in the syn thread on this, more towards the front of it. I would feel very comfortable going 100k on redline in your average medium duty truck usage. Can go longer if your are basically a commuter truck, maybe less if you tow the hell out of it. Mineral oil is a crap shoot. Esters pay for themselves in the diffs, it is the most important or beneficial application where you should consider esters.

@Burla, 20 more posts and your in the 5k club, what do you get? Ring, hat, shirt, some redline? Lol just messing around, theres a lot of great info in your typing though. I've Learned a few things from your posts so thank you for that and congrats on 5k.

SitKneelBend said:

To be clear I'm not sure about the diff fluids , but I don't think they are lifetime. Just the transmission.

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Thanks for all the info. I need to read up on the oils recommended on this forum. What oil does the dealer use? Can I bring them redline to use?

Curlyp said:

Thanks for all the info. I need to read up on the oils recommended on this forum. What oil does the dealer use? Can I bring them redline to use?

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I believe they use Penzoil and yes they will use your customer supplied oil so long as it is the right specification for your engine. I bring them Royal Purple for my oil changes.

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All I got out of that maintenance chart is the fact they try and scare you with required maintenance. These are suggestions nothing more.

smiley3303 said:

All I got out of that maintenance chart is the fact they try and scare you with required maintenance. These are suggestions nothing more.

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My dealer said I have to follow the schedule or I lose out on my lifetime power train warranty. The dealership I purchased the truck from gives out lifetime power train warranties, but you have to follow their schedule.

SitKneelBend said:

I believe they use Penzoil and yes they will use your customer supplied oil so long as it is the right specification for your engine. I bring them Royal Purple for my oil changes.

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Thanks for the info! Is there a specific thread I can read on about the oils? I see Burla said that he feels comfortable going 100K redline!

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