Diesel oil changes

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Need another oil change soon and am driving way too much to be changing it every 5k.

Local garage said he can do AMSOIL w/ factory or slightly better filter for $180.

How does that sound price wise and how long do you let synthetic go?

I've put 13000 miles on the truck in 5 months with no signs of slowing down.

[TerryD]

Synthetic can do 10K miles easy. With good filters, you can just swap the filters at the 10K mark and add enough amsoil to replace what you lost with the filter and keep going. Probably 15-20K between actual oil changes. However, this is advice coming from a guy who changes his oil every 8-10K in a gas engine, with conventional oil, and gets at least 200K miles out of vehicles. The bodies usually rust off ours before the motors show any sign of trouble.

89 Cavalier RS: 232,000+ sold
93 S-10 Blazer: 245,000+ still running fine, starting to show signs of clutch wear.

We bought both of these new, and have changed oil like mentioned before since new. No engine problems on either.

[Stinson]

driving way too much to be changing it every 5k.

Pussy....I was doing 4000 a month for about 1.5 years, and managed to change mine every 3K.

Hell doesn't Celeb live with you.............

[hklvette]

i run all of the cars/ trucks 10k miles using a good filter (wix/ purolator pure-one) and Mobil 1 for gassers, Rotella for oil-burners.

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Stins, I HATE doing maintenance work. Nothing fun or exciting about it, just a chore.

With that said, a regular oil change is costing me $70-80 in materials. If I can do Synthetic and run 15-20, I'm saving money AND avoiding hassles. Sounds like a win/win to me.

[jac6695]

Arya, my brother has an Amsoil account. I talked to him a little while ago and he is willing to sell you some oil just above his cost (he picks it up in bulk to avoid shipping costs). He buys the 2.5 gallon containers for his Duramax which is perfect for an oil change (10 quart capacity). Your cost would be $7/quart, and he is all over DC so you could meet him anywhere if interested.

Also FYI, he changes his every 15,000 miles or so (Amsoil says it will go 25,000 with one filter change halfway), and has well over 225,000 on his '04 with no (lubrication) issues at all. Still runs strong, just eats injectors lol. Let me know and I will PM you his number.

What exactly was the shop doing for you for $180.00 BTW? Did it involve oral sex?

[Arya Ebrahimi]

James, that's awesome! Thanks for the hookup!

Not to be greedy, but any idea if he'd sell me enough to stock up for 3-4 oil changes?

For some reason I thought my truck held 16qts for some reason, so 180 didn't seem that unreasonable. I know I should know these things, but I just haven't dug into this truck like I have with my toys.

Do you know what filters he uses?

Thanks again!

[jac6695]

James, that's awesome! Thanks for the hookup!

Not to be greedy, but any idea if he'd sell me enough to stock up for 3-4 oil changes?

For some reason I thought my truck held 16qts for some reason, so 180 didn't seem that unreasonable. I know I should know these things, but I just haven't dug into this truck like I have with my toys.

Do you know what filters he uses?

Thanks again!

I am not sure if he has enough oil right now for that many, but chances are good that he does(he stocks plenty for his pickup and has 2 rollbacks also). You can ask him (I will PM you his contact). I think if you want more you guys can work out something in the future when he picks up another oil. I am sure if you buy more he will cut you a break on the per quart price.

I just asked him today about filters and he is presently using WIX, but has used other brands in the past. I think you should consider extending your intervals if you mostly rack up miles as a DD (not towing) to around 20,000 miles with a 10,000 mile filter change with good filters (adding a quart or so to make up for what you lose with filter). I know Jeff limits the interval to 15,000 only because 90% of the time his truck is towing a 3 car trailer. You could also do an oil analysis at the oil change to see how it is holding up.

BTW I think the Duramax in the medium duty holds around 14 quarts.