[kthomas62]

I have a 2011 Ram 2500 with the 6.7 Cummins that I bought new last August. The truck just turned 5,000 miles. When it was at 2,900 miles, the oil change indicator message came on.

The oil was black as coal, so I went ahead and changed it because I wanted to put Rotella in it. Either before this time or shortly after, the engine malfunction light came on, so I took it to the dealership and was told it was a 02 sensor so they changed it out.

About 2 weeks ago, the light came back on, and again, it showed up as an O2 sensor, but the tech just cleared the code and didn't change out the sensor. Now, at 4,930 miles, the oil change indicator message came on, and again, the oil is black as coal. I know diesel engines will blacken the oil, but I never let the truck idle. If I park, it's shut off. On cold mornings, I start it, and run the engine up to 1,000 rpms for about 5 minutes. I drive about 8 miles to work on the highway and back home.

Also, there is a mix of highway/city driving but not long trips. I know this shortens the life of the oil, but 2,000 miles? We run our big trucks 25,000 miles between services with Rotella so even under the conditions I drive, one would think I could get 5,000 miles out of an oil change.

Today I took it back to the dealership and spoke to the tech on the issue, and he showed me a very vague paragraph from Dodge on the engine oil change interval. It said max 7,500 to 12,000 miles, but shorter depending on the type of service. Anyone have any insight on this?
Thanks in advance!!
KT

 

[Willbrewer]

By only running your truck for a 5 minute warmup and an 8 mile trip 2 times a day, it's never getting up to operating temperature. And that's probably why it's indicating such short oil change intervals. The way you're using your truck is what I'd call "severe service".

I think it takes at least a half hour of driving to reach full temperature. And even when your coolant temp reaches 204, the oil is still a lot cooler.

By not getting up to temp, the engine won't burn as clean and will create excess soot. The emission system includes an EGR valve that routes exhaust gasses (and soot) back into the cylinders to be re-burned, which is the cause of the oil getting black so soon. Soot washed past the rings and into the crankcase.

And just for grins, look at your oil after 500 miles and see how black it is. It doesn't take long.

When I had my 2010 CTD, I never saw the oil change message. I always changed it at about 4000 miles because I was also concerned about the sooty oil. But because I drove long trips pulling a travel trailer, it was easier on the oil (and the rest of the engine).

The Cummins is designed to get hot and work hard... for hours on end, not for short trips with a cold engine.

 

[CdnoilRAM]

All diesels end up with black oil very quickly, it's just the nature of the combustion cycle. My SuperDuty turns new oil black in about 10 days. But you do however need to get your engine up to temp and beat on it a bit, the worst thing you can do to a diesel engine is baby it, they need to be loaded (either towing or aggressive driving with several WOTs) to clean out the chambers, DPF, and EGR. It's a must to get the vehicle out for long hard drives to increase the life of the components. The short warm-up and drive are what is really killing your engine, and the O2 sensor problems would stem from the high carbon deposits that build up when you basically are idling the engine for long periods of time.

Tips for warming it up and keeping it clean: let the engine use the high idle function, it used to be engage the parking brake and it'd rev up on its own, this gets things flowing much faster; once it's warmed up, when you get onto the highway or main street, floor it, you need to get air moving through the engine to clean it out. You probably care about your warranty, so deleting the EGR is probably out of the question, but that's another bonus if you're willing.

 

[mastertech10]

i completly agree with the other posts. a deisel needs to be worked to be efficient its how they are designed with all the emmision crap thats on them. and yes by the way your running yours the oil change lite will come on early, the pcm calculates run time, load time and and your drving habits.

as for the o2 sensors. was it a 1/1 o2 sensor stuck rich? or out of range?

i have a customer with a 2011 2500 who since 5000kms had the engine lite on for o2's(now has (20,000kms). checked everything and after multiple discussions with engineering heads we figured out it was a programming issue. there is a flash for the pcm that was released 2 weeks ago, will cure the o2 issue. i havent seen him since and his lite would be on the next day after clearing.

 

[UPANDCUMMER]

By only running your truck for a 5 minute warmup and an 8 mile trip 2 times a day, it's never getting up to operating temperature. And that's probably why it's indicating such short oil change intervals. The way you're using your truck is what I'd call "severe service".

I think it takes at least a half hour of driving to reach full temperature. And even when your coolant temp reaches 204, the oil is still a lot cooler.

By not getting up to temp, the engine won't burn as clean and will create excess soot. The emission system includes an EGR valve that routes exhaust gasses (and soot) back into the cylinders to be re-burned, which is the cause of the oil getting black so soon. Soot washed past the rings and into the crankcase.

And just for grins, look at your oil after 500 miles and see how black it is. It doesn't take long.

When I had my 2010 CTD, I never saw the oil change message. I always changed it at about 4000 miles because I was also concerned about the sooty oil. But because I drove long trips pulling a travel trailer, it was easier on the oil (and the rest of the engine).

The Cummins is designed to get hot and work hard... for hours on end, not for short trips with a cold engine.

What he said, EGR, just throws soot into the engine. If you don't get your EGT up high enough then your engine goes through regen. It is supposed to clean the soot out of the DPF. A clogged DPF will let soot creep up to the turbo and probably grenade it. Plus, on top of that you also get fuel dilution in your oil from regen. If you put a bypass filter on it will help with the soot. Only way to get rid of the excessive soot in the oil, fuel dilution and get better mpg is to remove the DPF, NOX absorber and EGR set up. This being said I still love my truck even if the federal goverment doomed it to an early death before it was born. I will probably do the deletes next year... Hope some of this info helped and I wasn't too late to the party. Also, you can learn lots if you creep around on the cumminsforum.

 

[96Cummins3500]

thanks for the info