Conventional motor oil or synthetic from factory

[LilChico]

"They" are wrong. Oil is sold by viscosity(thickness). A 5w-30 conventional is the same "thickness" as a 5w-30 synthetic. Oil does not "blind" to parts. The purpose of oil is the exact opposite

They are referring to the old way I guess, that conventional oil flows slower then synthetic. Thus protecting engines better in the past. I will stick with synthetic. Appreciate everyone’s input.

 

[TNRamGuy]

@HSKR R/T is spot on. Oil ratings 10w-40 vs 0w-20 are the same no matter if conventional or synthetic. So 0w-20 thickness, 'binding',etc all identical.
@djevox is right with-no reason not to

Go full synthetic every time! The couple $ difference is almost laughable, if in 10 years you say "man, I wish I would have saved all the money by buying cheap oil " I will vemoe you the difference

Good explanation below

Synthetic Oil: Everything You Need To Know

Synthetic oil is a man-made lubricant that consists of artificially made chemical compounds. Synthetic oils are typically created from chemically modified materials such as petroleum components, but the base material is almost always distilled crude oil.

www.caranddriver.com

 

[OldMarine]

I'll say this....there is no subject in the world of IC engines more "over-thunk" than the subject of oils. Never mind just about anything you "heard" from some guy with lots of tattoo's when you were little. For these trucks, just use what's recommended in your manual, and remember....you don't need to change oil every 3000 miles anymore!!! Go at LEAST 5000... Even the ancient designed, air cooled, super hot-running Harley V-Twins recommend up to 5000 on oil changes!! I see so many guys dumping perfectly good syn at 3000 because that's what they grew up doing with dino-oil, ya..ya..I know, "it's cheap insurance to dump it at 3K"...not really, it won't hurt anything to go 5K instead. Peace-out.

 

[TNRamGuy]

I'll say this....there is no subject in the world of IC engines more "over-thunk" than the subject of oils. Never mind just about anything you "heard" from some guy with lots of tattoo's when you were little. For these trucks, just use what's recommended in your manual, and remember....you don't need to change oil every 3000 miles anymore!!! Go at LEAST 5000... Even the ancient designed, air cooled, super hot-running Harley V-Twins recommend up to 5000 on oil changes!! I see so many guys dumping perfectly good syn at 3000 because that's what they grew up doing with dino-oil, ya..ya..I know, "it's cheap insurance to dump it at 3K"...not really, it won't hurt anything to go 5K instead. Peace-out.

If only common sense was actually common, well said brother

 

[PatrickLeedleLee]

I don’t understand how all of these so called “mechanics” make up these conspiracies on oil. Why is it so hard to follow manufacturer recommendations?

 

[LilChico]

@HSKR R/T is spot on. Oil ratings 10w-40 vs 0w-20 are the same no matter if conventional or synthetic. So 0w-20 thickness, 'binding',etc all identical.
@djevox is right with-no reason not to

Go full synthetic every time! The couple $ difference is almost laughable, if in 10 years you say "man, I wish I would have saved all the money by buying cheap oil " I will vemoe you the difference

Good explanation below

Synthetic Oil: Everything You Need To Know

Synthetic oil is a man-made lubricant that consists of artificially made chemical compounds. Synthetic oils are typically created from chemically modified materials such as petroleum components, but the base material is almost always distilled crude oil.

www.caranddriver.com

I was just thinking of doing conventional for first oil change due to some advice of mechanic friends. I agree synthetic is the best way to go.

 

[HSKR R/T]

I was just thinking of doing conventional for first oil change due to some advice of mechanic friends. I agree synthetic is the best way to go.

Will it hurt anything, no.

Will it make any difference on break in, or longetivity of the engine, also no.

 

[SD Rebel]

I was just thinking of doing conventional for first oil change due to some advice of mechanic friends. I agree synthetic is the best way to go.

The common thought back in the day was run to run conventional oil because synthetic was too "slippery" and would affect break-in. However, that's been proven to be a myth.

Many engines already come with synthetic fill, including likely your RAM, especially if you could potentially go10,000 miles on an oil change based on the maintenance algorithm, there is no way the factory fill is conventional to begin with.

 

[mikeru82]

I'll say this....there is no subject in the world of IC engines more "over-thunk" than the subject of oils. Never mind just about anything you "heard" from some guy with lots of tattoo's when you were little. For these trucks, just use what's recommended in your manual, and remember....you don't need to change oil every 3000 miles anymore!!! Go at LEAST 5000... Even the ancient designed, air cooled, super hot-running Harley V-Twins recommend up to 5000 on oil changes!! I see so many guys dumping perfectly good syn at 3000 because that's what they grew up doing with dino-oil, ya..ya..I know, "it's cheap insurance to dump it at 3K"...not really, it won't hurt anything to go 5K instead. Peace-out.

I don't disagree with most of what you said. But in one breath you said to "just use what's recommended in your manual", and in the next breath you said to "Go at LEAST 5000". The manual says you can go 1 year or 10,000 miles. So your 5000 mile OCI recommendation is a bit of a contradiction to your first sentence to follow the manual.

 

[SD Rebel]

I don't disagree with most of what you said. But in one breath you said to "just use what's recommended in your manual", and in the next breath you said to "Go at LEAST 5000". The manual says you can go 1 year or 10,000 miles. So your 5000 mile OCI recommendation is a bit of a contradiction to your first sentence to follow the manual.

The manual says to go by the maintenance reminder, but it also states DO NOT GO BEYOND 1 year / 10,000 miles if you want to keep your 5yr/60k powertrain warranty .

The maintenance algorithm adjust based on your driving style, idle time, coolant temp, etc. It can go from 100% to zero anywhere from 3,500 miles to 10,000 miles.

The 5,000 mile recommendation is if you just want to be conservative. But most will fall within 5,000 - 8,000 range if you go by the maintenance computer. I believe RAM recommends you schedule your oil change when the meter is down to 15%.

 

[mikeru82]

The manual says to go by the maintenance reminder, but it also states DO NOT GO BEYOND 1 year / 10,000 miles if you want to keep your 5yr/60k powertrain warranty .

The maintenance algorithm adjust based on your driving style, idle time, coolant temp, etc. It can go from 100% to zero anywhere from 3,500 miles to 10,000 miles.

The 5,000 mile recommendation is if you just want to be conservative. But most will fall within 5,000 - 8,000 range if you go by the maintenance computer. I believe RAM recommends you schedule your oil change when the meter is down to 15%.

Thanks for the unnecesary explanation.

I was just inserting a little comic relief. As an fyi, the oil change reminder on both of our Ram 1500's appear to directly follow the odometer. I did the first oil change on my truck last Friday, with 20% oil life left. The odometer read just over 8k miles. I would have let it go longer but I'm a week away from having owned the truck for 1 year.

 

[Reverse]

I have always followed the oil change counter on both our 2014 (190,000) and 2020 (80,000), which with our driving styles is always 10,000 miles. Every now and then I send in a sample to Blackstone and they always come back with a recommendation that I could go longer if I wanted

I stick to 10,000 max though, fully synthetic.

 

[SD Rebel]

Thanks for the unnecesary explanation.

I was just inserting a little comic relief. As an fyi, the oil change reminder on both of our Ram 1500's appear to directly follow the odometer. I did the first oil change on my truck last Friday, with 20% oil life left. The odometer read just over 8k miles. I would have let it go longer but I'm a week away from having owned the truck for 1 year.

Lol, I tend to do that

I get to about 4,500 miles before I do my oil change, mainly because it's 1 year at that point because I work from home.

 

[Goldsy]

I purchased the maintenance plan with the extended warranty when I got my truck. That maintenance plan came with 12 services that expire in 6 years. I will be getting my oil changed every six months, even though I only drive about 7000 miles a year. My truck has 5000 miles on it now, and it's already had the oil changed twice

 

[Dewey]

I have always followed the oil change counter on both our 2014 (190,000) and 2020 (80,000), which with our driving styles is always 10,000 miles. Every now and then I send in a sample to Blackstone and they always come back with a recommendation that I could go longer if I wanted

I stick to 10,000 max though, fully synthetic.

Same here except I use conventional oil. 240,000 on my last two RAM’s and zero issues with 10,000 mile oil change intervals.

I cringe when I think of guys who still change at the old standard every 3000 miles especially when they drive a bunch of miles a year. That’s a major waste of oil considering how much better motors are built these days. The oil life monitors do a very good job.

 

[OldMarine]

I don't disagree with most of what you said. But in one breath you said to "just use what's recommended in your manual", and in the next breath you said to "Go at LEAST 5000". The manual says you can go 1 year or 10,000 miles. So your 5000 mile OCI recommendation is a bit of a contradiction to your first sentence to follow the manual.

ok, if you read what I said, when I said "just use what's recommended" I was refering to the TYPE of oil, not how many miles between changes. When I said go at LEAST 5000, I said that because a lot of guys change at 3000. By the way, the 10,000 is under "normal" conditions, and a lot of trucks are used in "severe-duty", which is towing, city driving, very hot climates, etc...and for those conditions oil should be dumped at 5k-7.5k.....so no contradition actually

 

[User_3336]

I cringe when I think of guys who still change at the old standard every 3000 miles especially when they drive a bunch of miles a year. That’s a major waste of oil considering how much better motors are built these days. The oil life monitors do a very good job.

Oil is cheap......even if you decided to change it as often as you wanted. There are always rebates going on with Pennzoil and Mobil1.

Mobil1 and Pennzoil are $12 for a 5qt jug when Walmart runs them on sale, plus the $10 rebate.