Do you trust the oil change indicator, or change early?

Pull Ya · Jan 6, 2019

There are recommendations in the owners manual, there are recommendations here, which seem to be all over the map, and the oil companies have recommendations. I say do some research like your doing, then make a decision and have it changed when you want--hell it's your truck!
Jay

dav8388 · Jan 6, 2019

I never look at the OCM just reset it. I change it every 4,000 miles full syth. with the Mopar filter. In fact I just changed it today and the OLM was at 52% when I reset it.

PoMansRam · Jan 6, 2019

ram1500rsm said:
Well I guess I have to be the 1st, I’ll change the oil when the change oil light tells me so. I used to do it every 5k miles long time ago, I stop obsessing about this crap in 2010.

I'm with ya. Fact remains that if you wanted to spend the resources sending a sample of your used oil for analysis, even at 7-10K miles, it passes with flying colors. Is this practical for your average Ram owner? Heck no. You can do a nice synthetic oil change for the same price.

If it was horrifically expensive or difficult to change oil on my Ram, I'd for sure run that OLM down to single digits. I still somewhat enjoy changing my own oil. It gives me a chance to check over the vehicle and I know if I mess something up, it was done by my own dumb ***.

gixxer · Jan 6, 2019

I’ve done an oil analysis and that’s the only way to know for sure. I’ve done over 10k km and the OLM said it was at 0%. The analysis revealed I had another 5k kms or so left. That was primarily short trips and 14 ish months and a synthetic filter.

You can’t use color as an indicator. Dark oil just means the particles are in suspension which is what you want versus building up on parts.

If you’re using a quality oil you should be fine.

Do it once and you’ll have a rough idea. I don’t do the analysis all the time.

You can also get a fumoto valve to make changes easier.

ram1500rsm · Jan 6, 2019

Close your eyes and find something else to focus your time on, she’ll be fine whatever that time/count or whatever it is.

PoMansRam said:
I'm with ya. Fact remains that if you wanted to spend the resources sending a sample of your used oil for analysis, even at 7-10K miles, it passes with flying colors. Is this practical for your average Ram owner? Heck no. You can do a nice synthetic oil change for the same price.

If it was horrifically expensive or difficult to change oil on my Ram, I'd for sure run that OLM down to single digits. I still somewhat enjoy changing my own oil. It gives me a chance to check over the vehicle and I know if I mess something up, it was done by my own dumb ***.

Exactly, ask some the Mercedez folks, they have what 15-20K miles OCI's ? lol
If FCA said that much is ok in the manual, i'll have no reason not to do it, i did send a couple of samples back in 2010 to Blackstone lab, one with 10k miles OCI, another with 12k miles, both times results came out great, and in fact they even said i could go little higher to 15k miles, at the time i was using German Castrol 0w40 in a different application, so i closed my eyes and started doing my oil changes when the bell goes off, no issues ever since. Either way will be ok, if you want to spent 3-5 times more a year in oil changes, oil companies will appreciate it

, your engine won't know the difference if you're using a good synthetic oil.

RAM_Designs · Jan 6, 2019

kad said:
5000 miles for me. Full synthetic and a synthetic filter. I find the monitor convenient for a no math "How many miles has it been" check, but I can't bring myself to go the 10,000 miles it would indicate. I was raised on the 3 month/3000 miles method so these newer vehicle recommendations & new oil formulations are something I have trouble trusting.

-K

Same here, my dad and I always did 3k OCI's with dino oil. 5k OCI with full synthetic is an easy way to play it safe and never have anything to worry about...I could try to do 7k or 8k, but what does that really accomplish? I'd have to have it tested to make sure it's still good at that point, which is more $$$...or I'd have to blindly trust that the oil is still good for however long I decide to use it, and for what? Saving one or two oil changes per year? No thanks, I'll just do 5k OCI's, never have to do a UOA, and live a care free truck experience hahahaha.

joshuaeb09 · Jan 6, 2019

Generally run 4-6K depending on how the trucks been run. Usually by 6k my hot idle oil pressure has dropped a touch and it starts getting the inkling of a tick. That's usually my indicator for change the oil if I haven't hit 6k yet.

17CrewCab1500 · Jan 6, 2019

Oil life is way past the 10K mark.
Doing it early, is wasting money.

Some people do that to their vehicles that they trade in every 2 years. haha

I Can see if you plan on keeping it for your life time.. but I sure these engineers who say ok it's 10K miles, know it's 15K - they tell you 10K, so if you go over even by 5K you're still not doing any damage.

tap4154 · Jan 6, 2019

17CrewCab1500 said:
Oil life is way past the 10K mark.
Doing it early, is wasting money.

Some people do that to their vehicles that they trade in every 2 years. haha

I Can see if you plan on keeping it for your life time.. but I sure these engineers who say ok it's 10K miles, know it's 15K - they tell you 10K, so if you go over even by 5K you're still not doing any damage.

Agreed, factory recommendations are always conservative. But the oil industry and quick change shops want you to change it more often so they’re always pushing the 3000 or 5000 miles. Bottom line is, as someone said, it’s your truck, do you whatever you want, so I’ll probably split the difference like I said around 7000 max, but looking at it now with a little over 6000 I can still see the dipstick clearly through the oil, and that’s an indication it’s still fine.

Porkbutt · Jan 6, 2019

I drive a little less than 6000 miles a year, mostly city, in hot Texas. I'll go 5000 miles before changing the PUP, filter, and clean air filter.

hoe... · Jan 6, 2019

I've been doing my 6.7 as per the indicator, at around 25000km. Analysis is fine.

My big rigs are 45000km, so nothing unusual.

My petrol fords I change at 15000km as per manufacturer specs and one of them has almost a million km on it.....

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

Mr.AK902 · Jan 6, 2019

I go by the indicator, as it was designed by the manufacturer and they would have to back it. I used to do analysis' in tune with the indicator and they always came back clean.

I know people that are strict on 8k or 10k km intervals or so, but to me that is extreme overkill and an expense that isn't needed. I do understand the thought process of it being cheap insurance though. Indicator has never done me wrong on my vehicles though.

mboymopar · Jan 6, 2019

I go by the miles only.
When it gets changed, I set one of the trips to 0

kad · Jan 6, 2019

Marine Les said:
I'm at 5k and the monitor is 50% indicating 10k for an oil change. The dealers really push for them to do the 1st oil change to do updates and get data that might indicate problems. My understanding is they use dino not synthetic oil and wonder why, saving $ or ? I will be getting this done in the next 1k or so, any opinions?

My dealer offers both dino and synthetic, I'd ask them when you bring it in. The one thing mine does not offer is a synthetic media filter, but they will use one you bring in without complaining. I got some free changes when I bought the truck, those are gone and the likelyhood of them ever doing an oil change on it again are slim to none given what they charge.

-K

tap4154 · Jan 6, 2019

Marine Les said:
I'm at 5k and the monitor is 50% indicating 10k for an oil change. The dealers really push for them to do the 1st oil change to do updates and get data that might indicate problems. My understanding is they use dino not synthetic oil and wonder why, saving $ or ? I will be getting this done in the next 1k or so, any opinions?

The dealer put Mopar #68258687AA in mine, which I believe is Pennzoil Gold synth blend. Eventually I'll do my own changes, and probable switch to full synth. Just want them to do the first few, for no particular reason, I guess, except that it needs a software recall done again (had one at the first oil change too) so I'll have both done at once.

BTW I just noticed the window sticker they gave me which advised the next change should be at the next 5K miles/5 months, so I guess the dealer plays the same "sticker mind game" as the quick lube joints

Slevin · Jan 6, 2019

I did 9-10k change intervals with Valvoline synthetic for the 5.7 in my Charger. 60,000 trouble free miles before I traded her in.

Hawkman · Jan 6, 2019

I change mine every 5K miles with synthetic. Changed to Red Line oil this change, see if it makes a difference. I also rotate my tires at every oil change and have been getting really good mileage out of my tires.

mmcdowell25 · Jan 7, 2019

Well it looks like I'm an outlier here. I change my oil based off the indicator. Since I'm an Engineer and know that MOST Engineers are as **** as I am, it only makes sense that the change light is indicative of when the vehicle actually needs an oil change.

Now that said, I change the oil in my Harley every season regardless of how many miles I have actually put on her unless I get to the mileage the book calls for my oil to be changed.

Frankwhoa · Jan 7, 2019

The service interval on my BMW was 15k. The dealer wouldn't touch it prior to that. They used full syn gtx. I am more than comfortable going 8-10k on my ram with a full syn, especially pup.

TRXHemi · Jan 7, 2019

Full synthetic with filter change every 10K. I have over 140K miles on my 2014 so far. Still running strong! I did the same thing on my 2010 with no issues.

Do you trust the oil change indicator, or change early?

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