2500HD Oil Change & Lube

[AXE]

I did my first oil change at about 1000 miles. I wrnt with Rotella T4 conventinal 15W40 until I get some more miles and break in. I'll probably go to synthetic at 10k miles.

Overall it's a relatively easy process, but there were some access challenges that make it a little clumsy. Here are the pros and cons.

Pros
- Oil drain plug is placed squarely on the bottom of pan and easy to get to. Oil drains straight down with slight rearward cant that makes it easy to hit the drain pan.

-Oil filter is located in an easily accessible area. It drains straight down and does not run on torsion bar or motor mounts like previous Duramaxes.

Cons
- Drain is a little slow as it will sit and drip oil for a long time from pan and filter housing. After 30 minutes it was still dripping. This oil may be a little heavier for initial break it, so that may have been a factor.

- Oil filler tube is a long reach to back side of motor against firewall. I went with a wider funell that I like for pouring 2.5 gallon jugs. It did not sit squarely in the tube due to contact with upper firewall trim. The 2.5 gallon jug did not want to fit well between funell and hood due to ram air water drain housing on hood. I ended up pouring the oil from the 2.5 gallon jug into a 2 quart jug to make it easier. Your standing on a two step stool to do this if you're 6 foot tall or you risk pouring oil everywhere.

-Oil dipstick is well below grade and hard to reach from drivers side quarter panel. You won't reach it from the front unless you use the stool. I can get my finger in the top of the loop to pull it, but to reinsert it you have to look between the battery and fuse box or you cannot see the tube.

-Oil level on the dipstick does not read full with 2.5 gallons or 10 quarts of new oil. My level was located on lower half of dipstick hatching. I added 8 more ounces to get it up to full side of hatching. I just wanted to be sure it wasn't any lower. I think with the excess dripping during the drain, more oil that might usually be trapped is draining. Seen one guy that drained his overnight and it didn't show on the dipstick so he added another quart. I suppose this isn't necessary, but if it isn't up to top of hatching you'd never know if your using oil. I'll probably always add the extra 8 ozs.

 

[AXE]

Lubing the chassis was kind of a PIA, It always has been difficult to get to the grease zerks on the idler arm and pitman arms, but the skid plate on the Bison package makes it really hard. Also there is some new hardware on the drivers side that make it difficult to fit your hands. I made it work, but next time I'll drop the skid plate.

Some people say their trucks had little to no grease from factory. Mine had visible factory grease on zerks and were lubed just enough. I definitely thought they needed a little more, but it's easy to over grease them and you just make a mess. Better to grease a little less and more frequently.

So the one problem I had was a sketchy zerk on drivers side pitman arm. I ended up pulling it out of the grease cap. It may have been loose or bad threads, but it came out when I pulled my grease gun fitting off. I was able to thread it back in and snug it up fairly easily. I spent a lot of time on the back end of a grease gun on the farm and working construction. Never pulled or broke a zerk. I've fixed some for others, but this was a first for me. I was using a Lincoln 90 attachment, which I've use a lot and it doesn't even lock on zerks very firmly. Anyway, I may replace it the next time with a different zerk.

 

[AXE]

Cut open the PF63 oil filter to see what it looked like. It had some small metal filings, but probably about 50% off the filings and smaller than I found in the 1500.

As i said before, this is a fairly well constructed filter. Lots of filter media and pressure release valve and anti drain seal are good. Sheet metal for can is durable and base metal is heavy duty.

I've seen people say their dealer installed a PF26 filter, cause their manual says that. This is not correct and it even says so on the stock filter. The PF26 uses less holes in base which hinders oil flow at cold start. The PF63 has more holes.

I would still like a larger filter, as this seems small for the large amount of oil used. Probably not a problem for me doing 5k change intervals, but definitely a concern if your doing 7 to 10k intervals.

PPE makes a larger filter adapter, but it requires relocating fuel pump and adding longer lines. Not sure if I want to do that due to warranty concerns.

 

[8ball_99]

Nice, I did mine on my Gasser the other day at around 1600 miles. Everything on it was pretty easy. The fill spot isn't the best on it either. But sounds like it's in a better spot. I did have to use a long funnel. Just worked better with how it's laid out. Mine also calls for a PF63, which is cool because I had a couple left over from my 1500. 5w-30 oil though. So I guess that left over 0w-20 will just sit on the shelf, lol. Glad it takes a more standard weight oil though. The 6.6 gas calls for 8qt if I remember correctly.

 

[AXE]

I actually tried that same funnel too. It was way too tall and almost hit the hood.

I used it on my wife's previuos 5.3 L Tahoe and it was perfect for that. Looks like the same fill spot as yours.

 

[HighTechPauper]

So do they use the PF63 on the gassers? On my 1500 Duramax it calls out the PF66, just want to make sure I'm not using the wrong thing.

 

[AXE]

So do they use the PF63 on the gassers? On my 1500 Duramax it calls out the PF66, just want to make sure I'm not using the wrong thing.

I think a lot depends upon the filter housing as to what it accepts. I found it interesting that the HD specially had that sticker on the filter, as shown in my picture. Never seen that before.

 

[HighTechPauper]

I found it interesting that the HD specially had that sticker on the filter, as shown in my picture. Never seen that before.

My 1500 diesel had a sticker too, of course it called out a PF66 as opposed to a 63, but my guess is that the factory filter didn't have a number on it so they put the sticker so the owner knows what to use maybe? I looked my old filter over and it doesn't have a number or mark one on it except 2 green paint pen swipes, I'm guessing a quality control mark.

 

[8ball_99]

So do they use the PF63 on the gassers? On my 1500 Duramax it calls out the PF66, just want to make sure I'm not using the wrong thing.

I had a 1500 with a 6.2 and now I have a 2500 with the 6.6 gas. Both call for PF63 oil filter. Axe has the 6.6 diesel and his also calls for a PF63. But just cause those three uses that filter doesn't mean anything. Definitely go by your owners manual for the 3.0.