I've got a new truck & am wondering at what miles I should do the first oil change. Salesman said 8K which seems way too high to me. I was thinking 1k or 1.5K on the first change, but I'm wondering if Dodge uses break in oil on their new trucks. Also was thinking of putting synthetic in but someone told me the 5.7 Hemi's should not use synthetic oil. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

They come with full 5w20 synthetic and many on this forum, including myself run synthetic. So whoever said not to put synthetic in a Hemi is nuts. As far as when to change going by either the manual or when your truck's computer tells you it is time will certainly work, although with some synthetics you can typically get more mileage out of an oil change than what the manual will state. You will not hurt anything by waiting for your first oil change until 8K or when the computer tells you to. Because it made me feel warm and fuzzy, and I am a throwback to the old days, I changed mine at 500 and then 1K miles, though I realized it was probably overkill in this day and age of modern engines.

 

Yeah, I'm kind of old school too so I'll probably dump it at 1000 miles to get rid of all those metal chips that aren't there...LOL

 

I agree with Hermes1 on this. I too used to change my oil at 500 miles then every 3000 to 5000 after that. Depending on usage.

 

Whoever told you not to run full syn in Hemis is full of s***. Including the first change from factory oil, I have gone 6000-7000 miles per change, and I switched to full syn on the first change.

 

I kind of figured that. The guy who told me had a HEMI in his jeep so it got me thinking, but made no sense.

 

I changed mine at 6000 to synthetic now Ill follow the oil change indicator when to change it again.

 

I picked up my new Ram last week and I was told the engine oil was a synthetic blend. Since I plan on keeping this one for a long time I pam going to switch over to full synthetic very soon. My intervals will probably be at 5000 miles. My mechanic recommends letting the oil go about 8k but changing the filter at 4k.

 

Got my truck brand new. There is not any special brake in oil.
I changed it on 1000miles on the clock,then on 2000 miles on the clock, then on 4000miles and from then I change it every 2500 miles.i use mineral oil.
I bought 10 oil changes from dealer for 150$. Plus they will have note that truck has been serviced there and regular oil change was done if any problem with engine happens.
10 oil changes on every 2500 miles should last me about 3 years,and 150$ it's not bad deal I think.

 

I used to be one of those guys that changed my oil at 3,000 mile intervals like clock work. Then after reading hundreds of used oil analysis's at www.bobistheoilguy.com I realized that the 3,000 mile oil change interval is a myth pushed by the oil companies. That's why all the manufacturers are recommending 8K now. In the case of a good synthetic like Penzoil, even 8K may be conservative based on a lot of the analysis's I've seen.

My plan for this truck is to use good oil (Penzoil Platinum) and good filters (Wix) and follow the oil life monitors recommendations.

I do however believe a short oil change interval for your first oil change is cheap insurance. I'll probably change my oil at 500 miles to get the break-in metal particles out. Also because I have the startup tick/knock and I think the wix filter might cure that. I think the wix filter has a better anti drain back valve. I don't get this startup noise on my Grand Cherokee's hemi when running the wix filter.

 

I will change it out with approx 700 miles as I am old school and go with Mobil1 syn

 

break in oil

To the best of my knowledge, no automotive mfr. today fills their vehicles with any special break-in oil (though I have heard a rumor that Honda does.) I have seen a bottle of Royal Purple that was labeled as a break-in oil, but think it was intended for newly rebuilt engines. The dealership changes mine and I always specify full synthetic Mopar, which I understand to be Pennzoil.