New truck in and oil change question

[kvp]

Hello all,
The nightmare is almost over.
Truck ordered December 2021, came in April 2022 but wrong. Reordered April 2022 (line 1396 second order order date 04-04-2022), sat in Mexico for about 6 or 7 months and finally delivered to dealer in February 2023.
Unfortunately, when it arrived, I was a two-month trip and not able to pick up till now. It's a C&C getting a flatbed installed. Hoping I can pick up this week.
I'll be flying to MD in Louisiana and driving back to Maryland, about 1,400 miles.
Should I change the oil to get break in oil out when I get home before I hit the road for about a 6,000-mile trip or wait till after trip pushing about 7,400 miles.
I'm thinking I should change the oil before the big trip unless y'all know of a reason not to.

Thanks, Kevin

 

[AH64ID]

I like early oil changes, so I think you should change it. I changed my ‘22’s oil at 1500 miles, and the ‘18’s at 4500 (bought it used).

You’ll be fine if you don’t thou.

 

[mountainears]

I’ve got almost 10k on my 22 HO, haven’t changed anything. Waiting for the light to come on. I’m all for just doing what the truck says, that’s the minimum required for warranty and I’m good with that.


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[AH64ID]

I’ve got almost 10k on my 22 HO, haven’t changed anything. Waiting for the light to come on. I’m all for just doing what the truck says, that’s the minimum required for warranty and I’m good with that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Speaking of warranty, don’t forget about the 12 month interval. The light won’t come on for that, thou it should this day and age.

 

[Gear box]

I don’t see if you are Gas or Diesel in that chassis? A gasser would be right on the edge at 7400 miles. I would probably run it that distance if not to severe of a run. If it is a Cummins I would run it the whole trip. I have done oil
analysis on first oil changes(diesels)several times never had any out of hand metals in oil, granted they will settle down from there out. Let the filter do its job. Also put some protection on the back window if you are bobbing it back to Maryland ,may need flaps too.
Enjoy!

 

[Brutal_HO]

Speaking of warranty, don’t forget about the 12 month interval. The light won’t come on for that, thou it should this day and age.

The disproven 12 month urban legend still endures...

 

[Gear box]

Blackstone laboratories actually told me in a report one time that oil doesn’t spoil and not worry to much about time.
But the guy that has to take that three year old filter off may curse you. I like to age out oil at 2 1/2 years on our fleet trucks.

 

[AH64ID]

The disproven 12 month urban legend still endures...

I’m not sure it’s disproven. I’ve seen dealerships ask for proof of maintenance by months, not miles. I’ve also seen them recommended changes at that interval to maintain warranty forever programs.

It all depends on what the dealership and Ram want to enforce for warranty. It’s written in the service intervals, and therefore enforceable.

At least it’s up to 12 months, the 6 month OCI was a joke. Let’s not even talk about 3 month OCI’s. I’ve always ran 12 months, but without UOA there isn’t any backing past 12 months.

I’ve also seen UOA indicate that 12 months is the limit of the oil, regards of the miles. Some oils I’ve tested don’t even make it 12 months.

Bottom line, if you’re worried about warranty you need to have proof of maintenance at the earliest published interval, miles or months.

Blackstone laboratories actually told me in a report one time that oil doesn’t spoil and not worry to much about time.
But the guy that has to take that three year old filter off may curse you. I like to age out oil at 2 1/2 years on our fleet trucks.

Yet another reason I won’t trust anything Blackstone says. I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with them, they simply don’t hire techs that know the difference between oil and water… and they charge extra for TBN, which is the single best test for the life of the oil. It’s like talking to a wet sponge when you call them and ask questions.

Any decent UOA tech will tell you that oil starts to degrade as a soon as you change it and start the motor. The acidity from blow-by starts to degrade the TBN instantly, and it happens sitting or running. The TBN readings support this.

 

[Gear box]

Not disputing warranty claims at all. But TBN doesn’t lie and the oil we use can hold up quite well to 24+ month age.
The TBN never goes below 3 at this duration that’s why we check it. Blackstone does charge for TBN yes. And yes I may be open to another lab.
Not trying to derail this thread that’s all I got.

 

[AH64ID]

Cummins UOA specs state that oil can’t go below 1/2 the TBN of new.

Lots of other things Cummins published for UOA that Blackstone ignores too.

 

[IndyRamMega]

Cummins UOA specs state that oil can’t go below 1/2 the TBN of new.

Lots of other things Cummins published for UOA that Blackstone ignores too.

Like what?

 

[AH64ID]

Like what?

TBN and soot levels are the two main ones.

To be honest it’s been over 10 years since I talked to Blackstone, I just recall lots of red flags on their “analysis” vs published Cummins data. They told me that it didn’t matter what Cummins published, they went of their own data/trends. I wasn’t sold on their product, and my local Cummins shop recommended OAI Testing.

Reminded me of when Wix told me than micron’s were really small and it didn’t matter if they didn’t meet OEM specs because a micron was so small.

 

[Brutal_HO]

I’m not sure it’s disproven. I’ve seen dealerships ask for proof of maintenance by months, not miles. I’ve also seen them recommended changes at that interval to maintain warranty forever programs.

It all depends on what the dealership and Ram want to enforce for warranty. It’s written in the service intervals, and therefore enforceable.

At least it’s up to 12 months, the 6 month OCI was a joke. Let’s not even talk about 3 month OCI’s. I’ve always ran 12 months, but without UOA there isn’t any backing past 12 months.

I’ve also seen UOA indicate that 12 months is the limit of the oil, regards of the miles. Some oils I’ve tested don’t even make it 12 months.

Bottom line, if you’re worried about warranty you need to have proof of maintenance at the earliest published interval, miles or months.



Yet another reason I won’t trust anything Blackstone says. I’ve had nothing but bad experiences with them, they simply don’t hire techs that know the difference between oil and water… and they charge extra for TBN, which is the single best test for the life of the oil. It’s like talking to a wet sponge when you call them and ask questions.

Any decent UOA tech will tell you that oil starts to degrade as a soon as you change it and start the motor. The acidity from blow-by starts to degrade the TBN instantly, and it happens sitting or running. The TBN readings support this.

I wasn't disputing the potential warranty requirement and bringing it up in the context of my comment isn't relevant to my statement.

Most any quality oil in the context of this discussion regarding our trucks, and certainly anything I'd use - specifically T6 - doesn't generally just "go bad" in 12 months and only 7,500 miles. It's a common misconception that the oil accumulates moisture that will contribute to metal contamination and premature wear if you don't change it at 12 months, and IMHO that's just not the case with modern synthetic oils and the additive packages they use.

Any OA will easily "disprove" that.

 

[AH64ID]

I wasn't disputing the potential warranty requirement and bringing it up in the context of my comment isn't relevant to my statement.

Most any quality oil in the context of this discussion regarding our trucks, and certainly anything I'd use - specifically T6 - doesn't generally just "go bad" in 12 months and only 7,500 miles. It's a common misconception that the oil accumulates moisture that will contribute to metal contamination and premature wear if you don't change it at 12 months, and IMHO that's just not the case with modern synthetic oils and the additive packages they use.

Any OA will easily "disprove" that.

True, modern synthetics are great and do last a long time. I have seen modern synthetic age out in 12-14 months with less that 10K miles thou, but that’s on gas engines with lots of short trips and mid level synthetics. The top tier synthetics don’t have the same issue, in my UOA experience. It took several oils, and years, for me to find one that would easily go 12 months in our 4.0 V6 4Runner.

 

[Riddick]

To my knowledge these trucks do not come with break in oil, they are filled with Valvoline Blue Premium at the Cummins plant. If there are any shavings/sealants in your oil from "break in" your filter will catch them. If you want to change your oil early there is nothing wrong with that but running it 10-15k miles is also perfectly fine. Whatever gives you that warm and fuzzy feeling is what you need to do. We all have our own OCI we choose to follow for whatever reason. Generally speaking as long as you change your oil before 15k miles you will be fine.

 

[techman]

If Cummins used "break in oil", it would certainly be noted and oil change intervals would reflect that. Not to mention "break in oil" is conventional not synthetic.

With all that said, if the oil in your crankcase is keeping you up at night, go ahead and change it.

 

[dogbreath650]

With the EVIC telling us how much oil life is left I can't see how FCA could deny a warranty claim as long as you're within the EVIC messaging band. I'd like to see some links or evidence of successful warranty claim denial for > 1 year between changes when you're complying with EVIC guidelines - I don't buy it...

 

[AH64ID]

With the EVIC telling us how much oil life is left I can't see how FCA could deny a warranty claim as long as you're within the EVIC messaging band. I'd like to see some links or evidence of successful warranty claim denial for > 1 year between changes when you're complying with EVIC guidelines - I don't buy it...

It is unlikely, but Ram wants to be able to deny any warranty claim.

There are actually 3 things that effect the OCI, and as far as I know only mileage is represented on the EVIC... which is dumb. It would be difficult to ignore the hours/months just based on what the EVIC says when this is what is printed in the owners manual.

"Change engine oil every 15,000 miles (24,000 km) or 12 months or 500 Hours or sooner if prompted by the oil change indicator system, whichever comes first."