Oil change Percentage

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Kris Myers

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Hey Guys!

Quick question, With Covid I ended up working from home and HARDLY drove my truck. I got 1000Kms on the oil in my truck. Its synthetic oil, looks clean, when I check my dash it tells me the oil is still at 83%

my question is even if I don't put any miles on it after a certain amount of time will it tell me it's time to change the oil, or does it go ONLY by milage.

Thanks guys!
 

Nicholas Cove

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I believe it goes by both engine hours and time itself. You're probably OK to do 8000 km on an interval or once a year. Whatever comes first. 5000km if you're feeling spendy.
 
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Kris Myers

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Really eh? Once a year or 8000km? I've gone from a 1998 F150 to a 2015 Ram so not too experienced in this stuff! Thanks!
 

caulk04

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Mine goes solely on a 10000 mile interval on the dash. I will not go that long.

Around 6k is where I get ready for a change, and 1 year max regardless of mileage. I don't let anything with oil go more than a year.

With very low mileage over the course of a year, I'll usually stretch the filter to two years.
 

danielmid

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Go check out the Blackstone Labs thread, many results in there showing longer intervals with good oil, myself included. I run almost 10k with the testing data to back it up.
 

KKBB

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My 2500 and my wife's durango both just do the percentage left based on the mile interval it suggests between changes. No matter what I do to my truck, tow or beat the crap out of it, or idle time in winter...it will always show based on an 8000 mile change interval!!
 

1999 White C5 Coupe

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Hey Guys!

Quick question, With Covid I ended up working from home and HARDLY drove my truck. I got 1000Kms on the oil in my truck. Its synthetic oil, looks clean, when I check my dash it tells me the oil is still at 83%

my question is even if I don't put any miles on it after a certain amount of time will it tell me it's time to change the oil, or does it go ONLY by milage.

Thanks guys!


Several vehicles I have owned with the oil life percentage feature also specific a mandatory engine oil-change interval (usually one-year) in the vehicle owner’s manual, despite the oil-life percentage.
 

CamperMike

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My 2500 and my wife's durango both just do the percentage left based on the mile interval it suggests between changes. No matter what I do to my truck, tow or beat the crap out of it, or idle time in winter...it will always show based on an 8000 mile change interval!!
My 1500 will go 10k miles if not towing but when towing it will go thru the %twice as fast. When we take long summer trips of 3-4k miles towing there is not much oil life left when we finish (and I change it before the trip).
 

Dean2

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1996 Dodge Ram V10, had used Mobile 5W30 since the first oil change. Oil and filter changed at 14,000 miles, which some years meant the oil was in the truck for 2-3 years. Vehicle parked in heated garage. Vehicle now has 160,000 miles on it. During its whole life it has never needed oil added between oil changes, it still doesn't.

My newer 2020 5.7 Hemi and 2021 6.4 Hemi get changed at 5,000 mile intervals because of the lifter issues. Oil gauge still shows lots of remaining life and have never had to add oil between changes. Synthetic oil is not cheap but oil is still much cheaper than having to do the top end.
 

crash68

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my question is even if I don't put any miles on it after a certain amount of time will it tell me it's time to change the oil, or does it go ONLY by milage.
The OLM only goes by engine running hours and conditions to calculate the Oil Life percentage. It does not have a real time clock to keep track of months and days since the oil has been changed.
 

PowerOnly

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I never change oil unless oil analysis recommends it.
I use a Gulf Coast Filters 1 micron bypass oil filter set up.
I have a 2001 7.3 Ford Powerstroke with over 360,000 miles with no oil changes since 30,000 miles. Engine has never been touched.
I have a 2004 Freightliner Classic XL with 1.4 million miles with no problems.
Synthetic oil does not start lubricating at its peak potential until it has at least 10,000 miles on it according to the engineers at Royal Purple.

Bypass oil filtration is the only way to achieve this.

Oil, even mineral oil, never wears out.
It gets dirty and looses its additive package.

My filter keeps the oil chemically clean.
Changing the filter and adding make up oil restores the additive package.

I also put 1,125,000 miles on an N14 Cummins with the same filter using Standard Rotella oil.

Changed 3 injectors and a head gasket in all that time.

Also note that I changed filters based on mileage ran and ALWAYS pulled a sample for lab analysis.
 

TomB 1269

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You need to be careful. Short drives due to working from home actually dumps more fuel in the oil. I have been getting mine tested, and particularly in the colder months it will come back with higher fuel contamination.

Additionally, if you do enough research you will most likely come to the same conclusion I have about these motors and lifter/cam failure. That its oil related with 2 primarily destructive agent, oil pressure and time. If you drive more miles it helps "cook" out some of the contamination and it keeps the oil pressure higher. However, high idle times dump more contaminates, result in more engine hot spotting and has the engine running on its lowest oil pressures under that amount of heat load.

Long and short is change the oil, change the oil, and change it again. I am not a fan of the 10000 mile oil change. It is to long for most common driving conditions which include a good amount of low speed, idle or near idle conditions mixed with high speed highway.

I will agree that the synthetics are capable of longer change intervals, so I do not get as hooked on it being change every 5000 or less, but I do not tend to run more than 6 to 7 months without an oil change. Therefore I am changing it at least every 6500 or less.

Just my 2 cents.
 

KKBB

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You need to be careful. Short drives due to working from home actually dumps more fuel in the oil. I have been getting mine tested, and particularly in the colder months it will come back with higher fuel contamination.

Additionally, if you do enough research you will most likely come to the same conclusion I have about these motors and lifter/cam failure. That its oil related with 2 primarily destructive agent, oil pressure and time. If you drive more miles it helps "cook" out some of the contamination and it keeps the oil pressure higher. However, high idle times dump more contaminates, result in more engine hot spotting and has the engine running on its lowest oil pressures under that amount of heat load.

Long and short is change the oil, change the oil, and change it again. I am not a fan of the 10000 mile oil change. It is to long for most common driving conditions which include a good amount of low speed, idle or near idle conditions mixed with high speed highway.

I will agree that the synthetics are capable of longer change intervals, so I do not get as hooked on it being change every 5000 or less, but I do not tend to run more than 6 to 7 months without an oil change. Therefore I am changing it at least every 6500 or less.

Just my 2 cents.
I agree. My truck is a 2019 2500 with 6.4 and I just got my results back from blackstone labs. I had just under 5000 miles on the oil when I changed and TBN was at 2.5. I use PUP 0w-40 like is recommended and blackstone said I could push the next to 6000 miles. That is 2000 short of what Ram recommends and also 2000 short of what the oil change indicator says. I'm going to stick with 5000 mile changes or less until I use up the PUP 0w-40, and then might switch to redline 5w-30
 

turkeybird56

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You will get 1,000 different opinions on oil changes. If you do not tow much, and more of a GG (Grocery getter), it is different to stressing a motor out. Also environment means a lot (Hotter Climate/Colder Climate). Now here is where it gets weird: If your vehicle sits a lot, regardless of mileage, do not go past a year. Engines sitting a long time have oil breakdown from moisture and such. Also, if U do a lot of short trips, not always optimal. Here is what I do:

I live in an extremely hot climate. Truck used for towing infrequently and more of a DD/GG. I run full synthetic oil with a very good full synthetic filter. I change the oil every 5,000 miles and also rotate tires every 5,000 miles. I do not go by the Oil (lie-o-meter) ref miles/time. But this is me, and what I have done forever, as these Hemi's are stupid picky on oil and time. That oil reminder "thingy" really there to remind PPL ref oil, not a go by meter. All IMHO...

ADDED: Oil analysis OK if U want to see what is happening in your motor internally. A lot of PPL go by UOA (oil analysis). I personally do not, but I do not push my truck that hard. It does get worked when I hit the Interstate and run 70-90 mph, because any slower, and U be road kill, LOL.
 

Willie Mosher

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I say you go 2 years on this oil.
But not as many mile as normal.
So if get 4000 miles need a oil change.
 

MontanaHandyman

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Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I don't trust what Ram is telling me through the olm, and since I live in an area that can get to -40f in winter and over 100 in summer, I just swap out the oil and filter every spring and fall. Cheap (relatively) insurance in my humble opinion. Like the ol' saying goes, oil is cheap (relatively), engines are not!
 

Burn2k12Ram

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You will get 1,000 different opinions on oil changes. If you do not tow much, and more of a GG (Grocery getter), it is different to stressing a motor out. Also environment means a lot (Hotter Climate/Colder Climate). Now here is where it gets weird: If your vehicle sits a lot, regardless of mileage, do not go past a year. Engines sitting a long time have oil breakdown from moisture and such. Also, if U do a lot of short trips, not always optimal. Here is what I do:

I live in an extremely hot climate. Truck used for towing infrequently and more of a DD/GG. I run full synthetic oil with a very good full synthetic filter. I change the oil every 5,000 miles and also rotate tires every 5,000 miles. I do not go by the Oil (lie-o-meter) ref miles/time. But this is me, and what I have done forever, as these Hemi's are stupid picky on oil and time. That oil reminder "thingy" really there to remind PPL ref oil, not a go by meter. All IMHO...

ADDED: Oil analysis OK if U want to see what is happening in your motor internally. A lot of PPL go by UOA (oil analysis). I personally do not, but I do not push my truck that hard. It does get worked when I hit the Interstate and run 70-90 mph, because any slower, and U be road kill, LOL.
What specific oil/filter do you use?
 

2019RamInSC

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FWIW.
I had a large electrical contractor doing work for our company on a regular basis. They had a large truck fleet. Pickup trucks and much larger. Surprisingly very few diesels. Their maintenance program required the trucks to come into the shop on a regular schedule. During that visit they sampled the oil and tested it. Based on the results would determine if the oil got changed at the next
Scheduled visit. My contact told me most trucks went over 20,000 miles.
And yes they used Synthetic Oil.
Again. FWIW.
 

turkeybird56

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FWIW.
I had a large electrical contractor doing work for our company on a regular basis. They had a large truck fleet. Pickup trucks and much larger. Surprisingly very few diesels. Their maintenance program required the trucks to come into the shop on a regular schedule. During that visit they sampled the oil and tested it. Based on the results would determine if the oil got changed at the next
Scheduled visit. My contact told me most trucks went over 20,000 miles.
And yes they used Synthetic Oil.
Again. FWIW.
I got U, Big $$$, Big Company, Use UOA, all good. IMHO (very humble), I would neva let a truck run to 20K with oil. Of course, there are PPL, bout neva change their oil. But Big Company, Big $$$$$. Whateva works for them, but not on my personal lil Bighorn, LOL.
 
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