first oil change

The first oil change on my EcoDiesel is fast approaching and I've had a heck of a time trying to find the specified oil. The dealer I checked has the Pennzoil Ultra Euro L synthetic 5W-30, the only problem is they sell it for $17.54/liter. The truck requires 10 liters so that's CDN $175.40 just for the oil! I've seen this oil on Amazon for less than half of that price, but they don't ship to Canada. I heard the dealers here sell the Mopar oil filter for around $100, luckily I ordered mine through Geno's for USD $50.

Another oil I've seen on the shelves here that is rated for this truck is Mobil 1 ESP Formula 5W-30 selling for $16.79/liter at Canadian Tire stores. It meets the Chrysler MS-11106 specification. I should have bought this oil when I last saw it as today there was nothing on the shelf and nothing on order at my local store.

Another German brand I found today at NAPA was made by LIQUI MOLY and it sold for over $100 for 5 liters! NAPA brings it in for VW customers. I have to check some more on this one to see if it meets the ACEA C3 rating but again it's a little too pricey.

Has anyone come up with any other compatible oils for the ED at a reasonable price with good availability? I know part of the problem is my rural location and there's not that many of these trucks or euro cars that would require this type of oil around here.

On the plus side the owners manual says the oil change interval is 16,000 km or 12 months or as indicated. I'm actually racking up the miles on this truck quickly so I'll hit the mileage change interval well before the time limitation. It's interesting when compared to my CTD with a 24,000 km or 6 month or as indicated oil change interval. Completely different engines but I wonder if this super special oil for the ED has something to do with the 12 month interval as compared to 6 months for the CTD? Unfortunately due to lack of use I'll be changing the CTD oil based on time and not mileage.

On the plus side while looking for oil today I did buy a pail of Mobil Delvac Super 1300 15W-40 for the CTD which worked out to $3.50/liter!

If anyone has found alternative oils for the ED please post. Thanks.

 

Hi Patty,
There are no cheap ACEA C3/MS-11106 spec oils. I recently had my oil changed at the dealer for $158. They sell the Pennzoil Ultra Euro L at the dealer here for $6.60/qt.

If you want to cheap out, you'll have to use an oil that is not ACEA C3/MS-11106 compliant. Rotella T5 or T6? Not many I know are willing to do this while the truck is in warranty.

More information on oils for the L630DOHC here-
http://www.ram1500diesel.com/forum/ram-1500-diesel-maintenance/300-oil-type.html
http://www.ram1500diesel.com/forum/ram-1500-diesel-maintenance/2804-oil-change-savings-account.html
http://www.ram1500diesel.com/forum/...nce/675-c3-oil-explanation-consolidation.html

 

Check with your dealer. Mopar just released oil change plans for Ecodiesel vehicles. If you purchase 6 years (plan code LOFRED624) you can get 12 oil changes and 12 tire rotations for $1365 or $113 per service. You can't even buy the parts for that and you don't have to get dirty. You can get plans from one to six years but the price is slightly higher per service in the shorter plans. I just had mine changed last week and it was over $175 in parts alone.

 

Thanks Top, good posts on that forum. I'm not going to cheap out or risk my warranty, I'm looking for the specified oil at a reasonable price but welcome to Canada and life in an area with a strong crude oil based economy. I would gladly pay $6.60/quart but I'm looking at $17 - $18/quart up here. And when you can find the right oil it only comes in 1 quart/liter bottles so you pay maximum price.

I may have to look at getting Amazon to ship a 2 year supply to the border and go pick it up! No joking the trip would pay for itself in no time.

 

Thanks sag2 I'll check into that but I'm not sure if those plans are available here, will ask though. I can't even get a half an oil change doing it myself for that price! You guys are lucky on your costs down in the States and that's not even including the dollar exchange rate.

 

I'm not sure what the oil specification your looking for but my local autoparts store carries the Pentosin brand for the European car folks.
Here is a link:
http://www.pentosin.net/f_motoroil.asp

I had one of the oil change contracts with the local dealership. It was good and bad. The good was that I didn't get dirty and I couldn't buy the oil for what I paid for the contract. Everytime I went in for a change the service manager would throw a fit about how they were losing money on the oil change contracts. His attitude was most unwelcoming............
The bad side was that the oil level was always high on the stick when I left the dealership. I have a feeling that they didn't give the CTD adequate time to drain down. I changed my own oil the last two times giving adequate drain time. Each time the oil level was well within the window with a full 12 quarts. Mind you that this was a CTD and not the VM engine.

 

The oil for the VM in the RAM must be ACEA C3 AND meet Chrysler MS-11106 to meet warranty requirements. There are plenty of ACEA C3 oils out there, but only a handful that meet MS-11106. It has been speculated that MS-11106 is the same spec as MB 229.51, but no one has a copy of the MS-11106 to compare with the MB-229.51. I asked RAM customer care, but they said the spec was "Proprietary Information".

 

Does the ECO diesel 3.0 l engine really take 10 liters of oil ( 12 qt)?????

gtwitch in wyoming

 

Yes it does. It's actually 10 liters or 10.5 quarts. My owners manual says 7.7 liters but then there's one of those yellow addendum cards (an update to the manual) that says it is in fact 10 liters. I'm guessing maybe the 7.7 liters came from the Grand Cherokee and possibly the truck has a larger pan.

 

Did the first oil change on my Eco Diesel yesterday. I had 13,980 km (8400 miles) on the factory fill and the EVIC said I had 16% oil life remaining. Ended up buying Mobil 1 ESP Formula 5W-30 as it was on sale here for CDN $11.69/liter, regularly $16.79. Pennzoil UEL was only available through the dealers for $15 - $17.50 per liter. Filter from dealer was $60.49. The change itself was super easy and mess free, I actually don't mind that style of filter. I had an EZ change drain valve at the ready, which I installed but it really wasn't necessary as the oil flowed at a nice rate through the smaller diameter drain hole as compared to a Cummins.

#ad
#ad


#ad


#ad

 

Not that Mobil 1 isn't a great oil, but it does not meet the specification for warranty coverage. I know about a couple ED's that have lost lower ends already so I would probably stay with the required oil. You might want to check with your dealer on one of the oil change service contracts.

 

Mobil1 ESP 5W-30 DOES meet both ACEA C3 AND Chrysler MS-11106.

Check your facts.

 

Thanks for the feedback sag2. According to this link it meets the requirements. Hit the specs/approvals tab in the middle of the page and it lists Chrysler MS-11106. Is that not enough? Plus it has the ACEA C3 as required.

http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Mobil_1_ESP_Formula_5W-30.aspx#

 

Sorry, didn't see the ESP so you are correct it does meet the specification.

 

We ran into the situation with the Liberty CRD. They recommended odd 0W-40. Approved but not recommended was 5w-40. I used rotella 5w-40. Turned out the 0w-40 was spec'ed to meet CAFE mileage standards. Now there are lot of CRDs out there with trashed rockers at 80-110K on the clock. Speculation is that the thin 0w-40 oil and heavy egr use (more than the euro counterpart (they don't seem to have this rocker issue in europe)) is what is killing the rockers. I defeated the emissions early on and ran good oil( I'm using old fashion 15-40 CI-4+ now). Oil analysis look real good. Point is, don't trust Chrysler on this. Do your own research. The motives for why Chrysler recommends this oil may not be the same as the end user trying to get the most out of the vehicle. And if emissions are deleted, all bets are off.

 

Interesting twist. Thanks for the info. Have you actually inspected the rockers in your crd?

 

I have not inspected the rockers b/o this being a overhead cam engine, it isn't as easy as our CTD. But I have done several UOA and they all look very good. Like I said it's all speculation, but the problem isn't seen in other parts of the globe for the same engine. The difference is the amount of egr and the recommended oil. In other parts of the world, 5W-40 and 15W-40 is spec'd, so I know it is OK in this engine. Keith at green diesel engineering is a gold mine of info on the VM engines. He might be a good source. It might be helpful and interesting to post on bob the oil guy forums.

 

One thing I always noticed on my Diesel cars is the EGR and CCV created a mess in the intakes and intercoolers and depending on how driven, type and quality fuel used, and oil used. None ever found a cure w/o doing away with EGR and CCV, however Mobil 1 5w-40 diesel truck oil and a few others like it became the standard as it seemed cause less intake fouling and less engine ware. Also it was found that constant low RPM operation added greatly to oil and soot buildup in intake system, so many often blew out the carbon by high RPM runs.

Back then we could still blow out a lot of soot after a day or two and get the bumper riding idiot behind to back off. This truck blows no soot and doesn't soot up garage door like even my 05 MB did when started with door closed. Then the garage reeked of diesel fumes, but the truck doesn't do that so maybe we won't have those problems. Maybe the oil selection and quality will get settled and we can have a clean running, long life diesel.

My OM and service manual says 10,000 miles for O&F change IIRC, or was that my MB... looks like tank of DEF will do at least 10,000 miles or more depending on driving conditions, such as heavy trailering or lead footing at the light.

 

After reading John Martin's article in the latest TDR mag, I would use Rotella cj-4.

 

I have been looking into Kendall. From what I understand it meets both ACEA and Chrysler requirements and is low SAPS.

http://www.petroleumservicecompany.com/1060746.html