First oil change

Depends on the motor, the reason for the +/- after that 12,000 mile number. When I had the emissions 12,000 miles and the truck ran like crap. Change the oil and back to normal. Now, 15,000 is fine, even more depending on conditions. This is my truck, I know when it is time to change the oil.

From my experience, it is the emissions that are the issue in regards to oil changes, the soot and carbon packing. And the thought of running synthetic is a true waste of money. There are also the lubrication issues with synthetic up top, that thinner oil along with soot wreaks havoc on cam lobes and rollers. Seen that first hand at Haggai’s shop. All he does is in frame these motors and or carve the carbon out of them. I saw more than a few coming in to have the cam(s) replaced prematurely due to running synthetic or extended oil changes. Just reporting what I saw and was told first hand at a beyond competent shop.

 

All the dealer will warranty is their workmanship.

 

All of oil manufacturers, Shell, Mobil, Chevron, et al spend billions of dollars to improve lubricity, and by throwing that grease in your engine, you're undoing years of improvement. Smh!

 

Service intervals always seem to get heated discussion on here. I feel that its a personal choice. I ask myself the $32,000 question with the pair of CM871's and a CM2250 that I have and the answer is 15,000 mile services work for me, I ran one of the maxxforce motors to 25,000 and everything seems ok so probably 20,000 to 25,000 will suffice with the low expectations I have for the 4 of them.

 

The reason why it is always heated is that there is no correct answer for each situation. Just because I change the oil in my ISX at 15K doesn't necessarily mean that you should too.

Get oil samples done at every change and learn how to read the results. I dont care if you have 1 truck or 400. This is the only way to know weather you are underservicing or overservicing the engine as far as lube oil is concerned. Most preventive maintenance oriented people will lean toward the overservice side as it's much cheaper nowadays to keep the oil clean and changed than deal with the results of running the oil too long.

In a fleet, overservicing an engine can cost thousands in lost revenue annually. We have all seen the effects of underservicing and know that the results of that are much worse.

Enjoy your Independence Day all.

 

Change oil, not engine.

 

Actually these newer motor oils are stripping many of the additives out to meet EPA emission regulations. Does it hurt anything? Doubtful, and it is loaded with the additives that have been stripped out of these new government mandated motor oils. The Moly being the big one. I will continue using it, just from what I saw when I in framed my motor. I could see the light coating on the piston liner walls, when I removed the cams, the lobes had a nice coating as did the bearings. Same on the front gear structure. It appears to be doing a very good job.

 

That was very well put.