Ram Cummin engines

[Russ661]

Originally Posted by Vikinghb

I have a 2014 5.9, and I change the oil every 10,000.
My friend has a 7.3 in his truck. He's a Ford master mechanic, and he told me to change at 10,000. I take his word his truck has just under 1 million on the odometer with no issues. Like someone said oil filters, and oil are cheap.
This may be different for newer engines, but no harm to do it more often.

Post up a picture of your friends odometer!

[Vikinghb]

He lives 3 1/2 hours away. I will see him the weekend of October 10th. I will post then. It's a 1990 7.3 IDI in a 250.

[namusmc65]

I have just turned 5,000 miles in my new Ram 2500. It has an ecid display for everything. I still have over 60% of oil life left and over 60% of fuel filter left before it will indicate a need to change. I have had the truck about 3 months so in 6 months will probably be close to 10,000 miles. I am going in to talk with the mechanics at the dealership and see what they suggest. I will not wait until their suggested time interval.

[bad99ram]

Originally Posted by Russ661

Post up a picture of your friends odometer!

A 5.9 in a 2014? I thought that 2007 was the last year for the 5.9.

[RUSSELL5000]

My philosophy in a nutshell:

"no harm to do it more often"

[Vikinghb]

Originally Posted by bad99ram

A 5.9 in a 2014? I thought that 2007 was the last year for the 5.9.

oops that was supposed to be 2004. Wish they still made them in 2014, I'd go out and buy one.

[Sledgehammer]

Originally Posted by Vikinghb

oops that was supposed to be 2004. Wish they still made them in 2014, I'd go out and buy one.

You, me, and several other would too!

[TWP723]

My work would have a canniption if I pulled on the lot in a new Ram! I can see their faces now.

[namusmc65]

Well, the dealer would not stretch the oil changes over a 4 year period. However, I went in this morning and had the oil changed at 5,000 miles. I found out my 4 free oil changes for customer loyalty are for 24 months and not 12. The salesman was off by 12 months. That is much better as I will probably go for every 7,500 miles. They also use synthetic oil for the diesel engine oil so I like that part too. In any case, I will get my 4 free oil changes in the 2 year period.

[Edd505]

Originally Posted by TWP723

My work would have a canniption if I pulled on the lot in a new Ram! I can see their faces now.

Made me park my 68 Super Bee out back when working for Lincoln Mercury.

[Jagiven]

I do not put a lot of miles on any of my vehicles. My TV (non diesel) they say every 5k miles. I change at 3K. In a good year I put on 7K-8K miles, mostly towing. I might put on 2K miles on it during a bad winter. Always change the oil in the fall post towing and in the spring.

My antique, the original documentation says to change the oil every 500 miles. I actually try to (hard to know when that is without an odometer). Even thou modern oils are so much better. I know people who tell me they want my used oil from this vehicle so they can put it in theirs. I would not, as it comes out black as coal.

On a brand new vehicle I change the oil much more often at first to ensure any initial crude from breaking in the engine does not reduce the flow through the oil filter and cause any future issues.

There are a lot of acids that build up in the oil, so you really cannot change the oil too often. I think the real key is to use a good ASME certified oil. Nice thing about a diesel the oil is a lubricant too.

[ecksdude]

Well, mine is a 2012, so the manual says every 7500 miles, but that damn message pops up every 3000 miles. Until this last time around, I was actually doing it whenever the message came on, this last time I put a few K more miles on it first.

I just can't wrap my head around what triggers the change oil message. I can't imagine it actually needs changing every 3K miles. I've considered taking a sample of my oil the next time the message pops up and getting it analyzed.

[tjpolsin]

Originally Posted by ecksdude

Well, mine is a 2012, so the manual says every 7500 miles, but that damn message pops up every 3000 miles. Until this last time around, I was actually doing it whenever the message came on, this last time I put a few K more miles on it first.

I just can't wrap my head around what triggers the change oil message. I can't imagine it actually needs changing every 3K miles. I've considered taking a sample of my oil the next time the message pops up and getting it analyzed.

As a geeky engineer, I was wondering the same thing too. I was never able to get an answer from either the dealer, nor talking to Chrysler.
- What variables are measured?
- what algorithm is used to trigger the warning light? i.e. throttle position, over time, at a given engine temp.

I change it when the light comes on.

[Flyrotor]

Its easy to reset the change oil message, I usually reset the message and then change the oil on my terms, not their terms, usually between 7-10k miles.

[SmokerBill]

With my 2011 Ram HEMI I've found that if I drive a lot of highway miles (including towing), the EVIC let me go almost 8000 miles before it notified me of needing an oil change. Now that I'm doing mostly local, short trips, the oil change message pops up around 3000 miles.

I think the perameters figure in things like percentage of highway miles driven, engine temperatures (does it get hot enough to burn off the moisture?), distances driven, and I'm sure a lot of other things. But who knows for sure, other than the system design engineers.

[namusmc65]

Mine seems to be driven off just the mileage as a percentage of 15,000 miles. I was at 5,000 miles and the oil change indicated I had over 60% left as well as fuel filter. I manually reset the oil change indicator as the dealer did not do it. The fuel filter is still indicating over 60%. We will see how much it changes as I go forward. I will change my oil at least every 10,000 miles, if not sooner.

[Flyrotor]

I change the fuel filter myself, $55 at Autozone, takes about 20 minutes, that's only because I don't do it often enough to get quicker, point is it's easy to do and saves a bunch of money

[namusmc65]

Another great thing on these new Rams, at least 2015's and up. The Tire Pressure Monitoring System is fully automatic. Went in to Discount Tires to get my tires rotated and balanced. I asked them about the TPMS system as far as resetting them in the new tire positions. They said no problem, Ram did it automatically. They love the system. A s my tires were rotated front to back, the monitors showed 80 psi in the front and 60 psi in the back, which was the exact opposite of what it should have been. After driving for approximately 10 minutes at highway speeds, the tpms accurately read the new pressures, 60 in the front and 80 in the rear. I love it!

[DrtEmaxChvy]

chiming in here;
15k intervals are excessive. With the EGR systems and emissions on these trucks I am appalled they mentioned 15k intervals. Personally I change mine every 5000 miles with a full synthetic Amsoil oil. This allows me to continuously keep fresh high end fluids in my truck. The added costs is like insurance for the truck, its nice to keep it clean and running at peak performance all the time.
For the new cummins I have a close fried who works at a ram dealer as a GM and he said be sure if you buy one to have $2500 saved by the time it hits 60,000 because around that time the truck needs and EGR system cleaning. The cummins motor as a whole is an outstanding motor but with the emissions systems involved there is a lot that needs to be reassessed.

Oil every 5-10(MAX)run a full synthetic, your truck will thank you in the long run
Trans drain and refill ever 25k (especially for the tow vehicle rigs) ((DO NOT FLUSH))
Fuel filters are running great but change every 1000 gallons used
Differentials every 30k (run a 75w90 full synthetic gear oil)

we all have out own thoughts on who and when to do things but at the end of the day are you going to short change the one thing desperately depend on when your trailer is in tow? Didn't think so

[tugboat95]

Never go past 5000 miles. You can stretch to 7500 If you don't tow or go off-road and no city driving. I work on diesel engines for a living. 5000 miles is a nice figure. An oil change is cheap compared to a blown engine. Synthetic or regular oil doesn't really matter but once you go synthetic don't switch back. In an older engine synthetic will give you less sludge and emulsion. I'm currently sitting on top of 2 Cat 3516's. 4200 horsepower. I have plain old chevron 10W-40 sitting in them with 40k hours.