2020 Ram fluid change intervals

[rln2814.rr]

Hello all,
I'm a new member to this forum and actually using a computer. Bear with me and my very limited typing skills.
The 2020 Ram Laramie 4x4 5.7 hemi I bought used in "23" is approaching 50,000 miles. I'm looking for info regarding the drive train fluid change intervals and capacities. I'm not the gentlest driver on the road, do have a heavy foot on the throttle while on the pavement and light footed when four wheeling during hunting seasons.
That being said and the lack of knowledge regarding the 20,000 miles on it when purchased I'm changing the tranny filter and fluid at 50,000. I designed and made a delivery system to refill the transmission.
I was totally amazed when I was presale inspecting the truck that I couldn't find the dip stick, almost didn't buy it. let me explain, my previous pickup was a 1997 with almost 400,000 miles and I did, enjoyed doing, all the maintenance on it.
Will need all of the drive train fluid change intervals and capacities information and advice will be appreciated also.
Have a Merry Christmas and happy New Year,
Ralph

 

[silver billet]

So, you’ve tracked the additional wear on the UOAs directly to the lifter needle roller bearings right?

UOA's just show wear numbers. The science of tribology says higher viscosity oil = higher HT/HS which is what separates the mechanical parts from eachother, reducing wear.

My UOAs on both trucks are shining.

You haven't compared wear in your engine vs 30 grade? I've seen great reports/trends on UOA's right until they started getting tick and eventual failure.

If anything, a thinner oil will get to a non pressurized (Splash lubricated) location better being more flowable.

Look at a graph, in terms of viscosity the oil goes through a massive range of values vs temperature, the temperature will affect splash 99% more than whatever the viscosity is at 100C (which is where they define what a 20 or 30 grade is). What's important is the viscosity of the oil at operating temps, especially really high temps which is where the 30 grade is needed.

 

[2021QCBH]

Right, oil runs through large range based on temperature. (And every brand and formulation isn’t going to track that chart).

That chart shows essentially 0 difference between the two as temperature increases visually. A slight difference at 100°C per the numbers which appears normal between a 20-30.

As I said. If there’s was definitive proof 20w killed the lifters I’d switch. With as small of percentage the failure rate is you’d have to run thousands and thousands of engines on 30w to get a tiny amount data on failures vs 20w. (Would be very interesting data).

I’ve always suspected/believed it’s just garbage materials (especially since it’s so prevalent across all brands as of late). Pre Eagle engines don’t seem to have roller failure issues (at least anywhere close to the rate of Eagle hemis) and the oiling system in terms of lifters is essentially identical + also running 20w since 2006 on the truck side.

 

[HSKR R/T]

This one is headed to popcorn time, ha ha.

While I plead guilty to helping destroy the environment by changing oil at or below 5K, my investment of $60K is worth the extra 100-200 a year that the extra changes cost me, IMHO.
Some service managers are greedy for sales while some are ex-techs who understand real maintenance needs.
Engineers often have to do what the bean counters tell them to do, ie. “get it past the warranty”. Lots of room for competing ideas and conspiracy theories.

Do what you want, likely nobody is going to change peeps minds on fluid change intervals. Just don't leave the next owner a turd because you were too cheap to change the fluids by at least the factory maintenance schedule.

Modern "quality" synthetic oils can easily go 7500 miles and beyond. UOAs generally say the oil is still good past 10k under norms driving conditions. Buy cheap oil, and probably better to change sooner. I go with a 7500 mile oil change as a compromise between peace of mind, and how far the science says is safe.

 

[HSKR R/T]

Right, oil runs through large range based on temperature. (And every brand and formulation isn’t going to track that chart).

That chart shows essentially 0 difference between the two as temperature increases visually. A slight difference at 100°C per the numbers which appears normal between a 20-30.

As I said. If there’s was definitive proof 20w killed the lifters I’d switch. With as small of percentage the failure rate is you’d have to run thousands and thousands of engines on 30w to get a tiny amount data on failures vs 20w. (Would be very interesting data).

I’ve always suspected/believed it’s just garbage materials (especially since it’s so prevalent across all brands as of late). Pre Eagle engines don’t seem to have roller failure issues (at least anywhere close to the rate of Eagle hemis) and the oiling system in terms of lifters is essentially identical + also running 20w since 2006 on the truck side.

Back in the mid 2000s, pre-eagle heads, timing chain failure was a larger issue than lifters. And it was usually the timing chain tensioner specifically. There was even an "upgraded" tensioner covered by a TSB.

 

[2021QCBH]

Iirc car specific Eagles at some point also had a timing chain recall or TSB (manual non MDS cars were not included in the TSB/recall). Probably harmonic issues killing the chain with the MDS setups.

I was working in Mopar service departments right out of college and my pops was a Mopar service manager for 25 years so I used to have a lot of insider info ha. Pretty disconnected from that world these days but one in uncle still sells at a dealer and my other uncle is a durability engineer at the tech center over dyno cells.

 

[silver billet]

Right, oil runs through large range based on temperature. (And every brand and formulation isn’t going to track that chart).

That chart shows essentially 0 difference between the two as temperature increases visually. A slight difference at 100°C per the numbers which appears normal between a 20-30.

As I said. If there’s was definitive proof 20w killed the lifters I’d switch. With as small of percentage the failure rate is you’d have to run thousands and thousands of engines on 30w to get a tiny amount data on failures vs 20w. (Would be very interesting data).

I’ve always suspected/believed it’s just garbage materials (especially since it’s so prevalent across all brands as of late). Pre Eagle engines don’t seem to have roller failure issues (at least anywhere close to the rate of Eagle hemis) and the oiling system in terms of lifters is essentially identical + also running 20w since 2006 on the truck side.

HT/HS is the important number, this value is insufficient for 20 grades in a hot hemi. When this happens, the oil is no longer able to provide the film/separation between the components in the engine and the engine relies on the anti wear additives of the oil.

The 30 grade recommendation is not about the lifters per se, it's about mitigating wear throughout the entire engine.

 

[xjarcher]

So we have a bit of a conundrum here. Follow the manual for change interval but don't follow the recommendation on the oil weight because 30 is better. I ran 5-30 in my 05 hemi with no issues.
So what's the basis for MOPAR saying 5-20? is it .02mpg improved?

 

[HSKR R/T]

So we have a bit of a conundrum here. Follow the manual for change interval but don't follow the recommendation on the oil weight because 30 is better. I ran 5-30 in my 05 hemi with no issues.
So what's the basis for MOPAR saying 5-20? is it .02mpg improved?

In the EPA world and CAFE ratings .02mpg can make a huge difference in EPA fines for non-compliance ,which RAM has been paying on the Hemi since it's introduction

 

[silver billet]

So we have a bit of a conundrum here. Follow the manual for change interval but don't follow the recommendation on the oil weight because 30 is better. I ran 5-30 in my 05 hemi with no issues.
So what's the basis for MOPAR saying 5-20? is it .02mpg improved?

0w-20 and 5w-20 are for fuel efficiency. It doesn't help in our trucks that we individually would notice, but even a fraction of a percent helps them when it comes to adding it up for their corporate/CAFE mpg.

I would suggest to ignore the manual for oil change interval as well. 5000 to 7000 is a far better target, or at min once per year.