whitescrew77

I have a new 2016 Diesel f250 with about 3000 miles on it. Going to get oil changed at ford dealer soon. Still going with conventional oil for now. What mileage do you consider a diesel to be broken in? At least to when you should switch to synthetic oil? 10k, 20k, 30k miles? I have no idea. Thanks.

jdp530

Good question. I bought my first 6.7 diesel a couple of weeks ago. I have four gallons of synthetic Shell Rotella T6 5w-40 and Motorcraft filter in my garage now. I will hit 2000 mi in the next day or two so I am planning to change it this weekend.

I also bought the Fumoto drain valve to use. I have used these valves on a few different vehicles over the past three years and its so much easier for me to drain oil without making a mess!

whitescrew77

I kinda thought you let diesels run conventional oil to break in better then eventually switch to synthetic when you want to try to stop the wear process.

jdp530

I dont think synthetic will actually 'stop the wear process' but it should provide more protection under heavy load/heat cycles and the synthetic will hold up better to high heat that turbo will generate. Many auto manufacturers are using synthetic oils in their new vehicles.
I agree with the following statement from TheDieselStop.com website in regards to break-in period:
Thus, we can see that heavy loading and light loading can cause some major problems. Moderate loading is the key to a proper break in for the first 1000 miles. It permits the loose fitting piston rings to expand into the cylinder walls allowing them to perform double duty: First, scraping oil off the cylinder wall, and second, to create friction that will promote wearing the two surfaces to each other’s proportions. Furthermore, moderate loading will allow the rings to get hot but not to the point where it will flash the lubricating oil supplied to the cylinder walls.
Here is the article referenced: http://www.thedieselstop.com/content...iesel%20Engine

whitescrew77

Thanks, I'll check it out.

My sync vehicle health report says i have 67% oil life left, which is good for the factory oil, but i will change it out soon at 3k miles. I plan to run this next oil for 7k miles at which time i may switch to synthetic at 10k miles and run that for the rest of the life if the truck.

I just read the article, and my ideas pretty much what that guy is saying in his article.

jdp530

I changed the factory fill today with 2150 miles on my new truck. Went with the Rotella syn T6 5w-40. And, the factory filter was on very tight but I got it off with the filter cap wrench and a breaker bar!

whitescrew77

Oh i know they drill them on tight. Every factory filter i have ever touched has been crazy torqued from the old factory!

ThatNewWifeSmell

I'm not changing out my factory oil until after 5k miles. I might even wait for the light to come on telling me to change. Then I'm going directly to synthetic.