oil change on 2008 Duramax Chevy

[yellowbird]

I am getting ready for 1st oil change on my 2008 duromax and i'm looking for some input. first, how often do you change your oil? I put 76000 miles in my ford 6.0 liter before it blew an oil cooler and head gaskets and I traded it on a new chevy. i used only ford brand oil and changed every 6000 to 7000 miles and had dealer do it. also i was told by service managers of two different ford dealers to be sure not to use shell rotella oil. they said that that had come down from ford. that,s my next question, whats the best oil for a duromax? i,m sure all you knowledgeable diesel jockeys have some definate opinions on the subject and i'd like to hear them. i know driving habits are a factor on change time, so to give you and idea, of the 76000 miles on my 2005 ford, about 30000 of them were pulling my redbird. looking forward to any input.

[Tim]

Mike, What does your on-board computer say as to the engine oil life remaining for your vehicle. I'm not a mechanic, but I'd keep the mileage under 5K for the first oil change and then follow the readouts provided by the OBC. I use synthetic in my vehicle and since I maybe put 5K on it in a year, I never get to the point where it is telling me to change. I just change the oil and filter on an annual basis. There are a bunch of other folks here with D/As and they can probably provide a better answer. Tim

[Torben]

I had a 2003 Duramax with 145000 miles change the oil and oil filter every 5000 miles, had the service department at the dealership do the work and I never had any problems. I now have a 2008 duramax and I plan on doing the same thing.

[Traveler II]

I have 17,000 miles on my 08 and I have 5,500 miles on this oil change and at the present time it's telling me I'm at 60%, only used 40%. This is my first diesel pick-up so I was thinking that I didn't need to change the oil as often, just follow the gauge. Do I go by what the gauge is telling me or should I change oil more often?

[Mike Clay]

Well I know probably waisting money but I am still from the old school I get it changed every 3k been going to 4k since GM's oil minder is pretty much right on according to those who have had their oil annualized at the time the DIC says. Now the fuel filter is a different thing I go about 7k on that. Just remember whatever oil you use make sure its the low ash. I still let the dealer deal with my oil changes since they charge the same price as the quick lube type places.

[campswithcritters]

Whatever you decide on oil aside don't forget Allison recommends a one time change of the spin-on trans filter after 5000 mi to remove break-in material and there is a recommended change of the rear diff lube after 10K mi of towing for the same reason.

[Mike Clay]

Good point Bruce I had my tranny spin on changed but not the rear end guess i need to get that one done next

[campswithcritters]

Good point Bruce I had my tranny spin on changed but not the rear end guess i need to get that one done next

No problem Mike, I had one of those things for a while (even miss it occasionally like in tight parking lots). I just used 5K for he oil changes (ease of record keeping) and fuel filter every other time at 10K. I hear it is still going stong up in the great white north.

[WVcampers]

I had 05 Duramax, the dealer did all oil changes as close to 3000 miles as I could get. They were about the same price as the quickie places. The dealer used Rotella. It had 34,000 miles on when I traded for the Ford that I have now. I guess that I never really got it broke in, but since I have that blue bood in my viens the Chevy never felt like a member of the family.

[dmitchem]

2002 Duramax with 182,000, oil change every 5,000 using Rotella, A few have been done by the dealer and they also recomment 5,000. In the owners manual 5,000 is the recommended change time if truck is used for towing for the 2002 model year. That may have changed later so you may wan tot check. I change the transmsion filter every 15K and the fuel filter every 15K.
Never any issues with engine oil, transmission and the first set of injectors lasted 178K. The injector issue was resolved in later versions of the engine. So far it has been a great truck.

[Judi]

I have a 2004 Chevy Duramax and I use Mobil Del-Vac1 synthetic plus 1 quart of Lucas oil treatment...I change my oil every 10,000 and have had no problems whatsoever....when I first got the truck it had 80,000 miles on it and I was told by a truckdriver what to buy (the combination above) and it works wonderfully for me.....

[bop11]

I had our 08 in today for it's first service. I ask the service guy about the trans filter thing and he had not heard about it but looked it up and sure enough it said to change it at the first service. The parts guy then chined in and said they had recieved a bulletin dropping the milege to have it changed from every 25000 miles to 15000. He also said that the fuel filter needs to be changed every 15000 miles. I only had my Dodges FF changed every 50000 and did'nt have any problems... I sure hope they don't cost $100 bucks to have changed like the Dodge did.
Bill

[Mike Clay]

I have been changing the oil (well the dealer has) every 4k and the fuel filter every 8k my dodge would not run well when the filter got to 9k. Had them check the rear diff last week and said im still good to go plus they did a 24 point inspection on the truck and found nothing wrong so im a happy camper.

[rvthereyet]

Try using a bypass filtration system I haven't changed my oil in almost 40,000 miles,Oil analisis says keep on going. If you have any questions write back its a money saver.