Answered Annual service or not?

[Neal]

This year I've been unable to travel much and other than monthly exercises I've been out for a month for a trip from VA to WI and back. My last annual FL service was in November. My next scheduled is December. I'm curious if I should even go and if I do go, what do vs. not. For example, does the oil need to be changed? That seems like a waste. I haven't had this conversation with FCCC yet and would like to hear your opinions on what to do. I've been going annually religiously and have around 65K miles on the coach, typically around 10K/year.

 

[Chargerman]

Sounds like you only put a couple thousand miles on it since your last service. I am a stickler regarding maintenance but I am also not wasteful. I would put the coach to bed without throwing away perfectly good oil and filters.

 

[Rich W.]

My oil change interval on my 6.7 was 7500 miles (self imposed) , while Cummins recommends 10,000 or 15000 depending on where you look. Since I was doing it myself it only cost me around $120 with good semi synthetic oil. Your 8.9 has more oil (24 qts?) and I believe your recommended interval is 20,000 miles (or more depending on certain variables) or 1500 hours or 18 months. A lot of folks and techs will say change oil annually regardless but I’ve spoken to oil experts and they have all said that generally speaking it’s unnecessary unless the rig just sits and never runs and is in an area prone to considerable moisture condensation. As for the rest, I liked to have my chassis lubed annually because I was driving around 12k/year, but given the low milage you’ve put on it this can wait. Same for the fuel filters and air filter. If I had kept my coach I would have sent out a sample to Blackstone out of curiosity as I approached 70k miles. This might be a good time for you to do that to both get a check up on your engine condition and see if you can save yourself an unnecessary service.

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[Joe Hogan]

Many service items are 12 months or XX miles. Personally I would keep the annual service. Fluids and filter medium do age.
Let the service provider know the mileage since last service and do necessary items.

 

[punkinhead]

I don't try to second guess service intervals. I'm not smarter than the engineers that wrote them. Most are both time and mileage based for a reason. For example, air filter paper elements degrade with time due to adhesive degradation, regardless of use. If I were purchasing a used RV and saw someone skimping on maintenance because they weren't using the rig enough that would be a huge red flag.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

It is always best to change oils before you put a piece of machinery in moth balls. That of course implies local service!

 

[Neemer]

I would head south.

 

[BuckyII]

When you go to sell, it's nice to point out the regular service.

 

[Rich W.]

I don't try to second guess service intervals. I'm not smarter than the engineers that wrote them. Most are both time and mileage based for a reason. For example, air filter paper elements degrade with time due to adhesive degradation, regardless of use. If I were purchasing a used RV and saw someone skimping on maintenance because they weren't using the rig enough that would be a huge red flag.

Air filters have a 2 year interval. For the most part my maintenance intervals far exceed the mfgr recommendations. However I have a very high level of experience with heavy duty vehicle maintenance, not the least of which has been with emergency vehicles, and I am able to weave a little common sense in with the check box method. Hence my answer to what I consider a legitimate question.

Minor edit added:

As for the engineers, all the maintenance intervals are a result predictions and assumptions based on over the road trucking. A good example is the DEF filter. The recommendation is anywhere from 150k miles to 300k. Thats fine for a trucker that drives almost every day and burns up 150k miles or more each year. But the way we operate our coaches, we need to make that an annual maintenance item regardless of milage. And on oil, while they say 15,000 miles between oil changes, for a hard working little 6.7, I would never run one that long without an oil change. I can see 10k for an 8.9 but that’s about it.

As far as I’m concerned, these engines operate under severe duty conditions hence my oil change interval of 7,500 miles, at the most. Sometimes it was closer to 5k if my next trip would pass 7500 while I’m on the road. Oil is cheap and engines aren’t and I’d rather do my oil changes at home, than in some parking lot. I’ve done that more than a few times but I prefer not to.

The point is that my maintenance ethic is more conservative than the mfgr’s and from that position I can easily provide the advice in post #3. I used to go round and round with the guys at the city garage trying to get them to reduce intervals on fire engines and ladder trucks because we used them very differently than garbage trucks or city busses.

So that’s where I’m coming from. The book is a good guide and starting point, but sometimes the coach don’t read the book.

 

[AbdRahim]

@Rich W. : Who is that guy in the picture. You become a city slicker?

 

[Rich W.]

@Rich W. : Who is that guy in the picture. You become a city slicker?

It was at a wedding in Austin last year so I had to clean up a bit

 

[BGMAC]

It is always best to change oils before you put a piece of machinery in moth balls. That of course implies local service!

I understand you thought, but I look at it a little differently and I maybe wrong.
Oil changes on vehicles are xx amount of miles or one year. Piston aircraft engines are usually 50hrs or 6 months. The big reason is atmospheric contamination (partials, water) through vents etc and oil breakdown. if you have new oil in the engine it will be contaminated while in storage. I kind of do the opposite. I change oil at the start of the season.

There are a lot of contradictions. I remember when Mobil1 first came out and the recommended oil changes at 25000 miles if you used their oil filter. That fell away for a while, but now they guarantee 12000 miles. (Gassers). So what do you do?
Follow the manufacturer’s requirements and document when under warranty or they will reject a warranty request.

Oh, btw; on the F-16 the F100-PW-200 engine with 20,000 lbs of thrust had no recommended oil change. Just inspect and clean filters.

 

[Kevin D Pem]

I understand you thought, but I look at it a little differently and I maybe wrong.
Oil changes on vehicles are xx amount of miles or one year. Piston aircraft engines are usually 50hrs or 6 months. The big reason is atmospheric contamination (partials, water) through vents etc and oil breakdown. if you have new oil in the engine it will be contaminated while in storage. I kind of do the opposite. I change oil at the start of the season.

There are a lot of contradictions. I remember when Mobil1 first came out and the recommended oil changes at 25000 miles if you used their oil filter. That fell away for a while, but now they guarantee 12000 miles. (Gassers). So what do you do?
Follow the manufacturer’s requirements and document when under warranty or they will reject a warranty request.

Oh, btw; on the F-16 the F100-PW-200 engine with 20,000 lbs of thrust had no recommended oil change. Just inspect and clean filters.

So if my engine had gallons of oil, rather than quarts, I might consider compromise!

The thought is that crust buildup caused by the particulates in used oil (think paint on your storage shed shelves), will do more harm than clean oil will!

As for the shelf life of the oil? Well those particulates are one the causes of the shortened oil life. However that is why I stated in the first of my thesis, I might economize! You wealthy RV owners should be able to pony up for an oil change when you pull the old girl out of mothballs!

Oh! that's what I'm talking about! If you have to ask how much, maybe you should be looking for a cheaper past time!

 

[MemoriesByTheMile]

We do the compromise with oil capacity at 14 gallons of engine oil. Change it every 2 years and we run the engine every month at highway speeds to fully heat the engine. Cummins and Shell indicate it can go tens of thousands of miles between changes (when primarily clean highway use), but, that is assuming commercial/regular use.
Also use Blackstone Labs on the other years to monitor oil condition.