2015 Ram 1500 5.7L Hemi, Red Line 0W-20, 19,000 miles

[Joel_MD]

2015 Ram 1500 Big Horn, 5.7L Hemi, 117,000 miles on engine
Red Line 0W-20 (SKU 11805)
12 months, 19,000 miles on oil
2 quarts make-up oil added since previous change (none added in last 8,000 miles)
Baldwin oil filter
Wix air filter

I bought this Ram used in July 2021. It seemed to be well-maintained by the previous owner, but no maintenance history. Have not experienced the ticking sound that many Hemi owners experience. I changed the oil in Oct 2021. I generally drive gently. Living in North Texas, the summer was unusually hot this year (we saw 112 F one day in July) and the winter was typically mild. I took three trips to the East Coast and back, which accounted for about half of these miles. Didn't do any towing. No extended idling.

I checked the box on the oil slip indicating that I'm interested in extending my oil change interval, but I probably won't push it past 20k miles next time. I don't plan on as many long trips in the future, so I might just change it when the oil gets to 20k, regardless of time.

 

[wpod]

Interesting !

 

[OVERKILL]

Now this is an interesting report!

So, despite some fuel (look at the flashpoint), it has oxidatively thickened into an xW-30.

Redline is typically not regarded as an extended drain oil, but your TBN isn't totally in the toilet.

Iron is pretty typical for a broken-in HEMI, 2.1ppm per thousand miles (our '19 was 4ppm per thousand miles at 36,000 miles).

Copper is normal if yours has the oil cooler.

I'd say this is generally a pretty good report for this engine.

 

[doublebase]

Wow, almost 20,000 miles on 0W20! You don’t see that everyday. Doesn’t look bad either.

 

[4WD]

Seems Redline does market extended drain capabilities - but, without mileage claims …

 

[RDY4WAR]

I'm liking this report. Still 2.0 TBN, wear metals in check for the mileage, some fuel, but KV100 is good. Some oxidative thickening. I'd say that oil performed quite well.

 

[OVERKILL]

Seems Redline does market extended drain capabilities - but, without mileage claims …

Yes, they make a vague "high detergency allows extended drain intervals" but I recall most reports we've seen shows it doesn't hold up that well.

 

[The Critic]

Is this Redline High Performance 0W20? The Moly and Calcium Levels are significantly lower than other reports. This must be a new formulation.

 

[DirectRejection]

I would expect successive reports to be confidence building too. There's a nice rugged Baldwin oil filter in use. Keep it up, brutha !

 

[Joel_MD]

Is this Redline High Performance 0W20? The Moly and Calcium Levels are significantly lower than other reports. This must be a new formulation.

Yes, I used this one: https://www.redlineoil.com/0w20-motor-oil

 

[buster]

It does look like the new formulation. Good results.

 

[addyguy]

It behave like ‘old Amsoil’ did - good protection, but thickens significantly out of grade. Amsoil TSO 0W-30 was famous for this.

 

[RDY4WAR]

Oxidative thickening is common in all oils. The difference is your typical shelf oils will shear more (sometimes much more) than the higher end oils such as this one. Then the oxidative thickening brings the KV100 back close to grade or within grade. With little to no shearing with this oil, the oxidative thickening takes it out of grade.

Still, it's a 0.7 cSt increase over a fresh sample. That's insignificant. If it were 2+ cSt higher, then I'd start to monitor it. A little thickening isn't a problem.

What I would love to see is an HTHS test on a used sample such as this to see if the dynamic viscosity increases with the oxidative thickening of the kinematic viscosity.

 

[FZ1]

Oxidative thickening is common in all oils. The difference is your typical shelf oils will shear more (sometimes much more) than the higher end oils such as this one. Then the oxidative thickening brings the KV100 back close to grade or within grade. With little to no shearing with this oil, the oxidative thickening takes it out of grade.

Still, it's a 0.7 cSt increase over a fresh sample. That's insignificant. If it were 2+ cSt higher, then I'd start to monitor it. A little thickening isn't a problem.

What I would love to see is an HTHS test on a used sample such as this to see if the dynamic viscosity increases with the oxidative thickening of the kinematic viscosity.

This + I'd reduce the oci to 15,000 and keep it topped up to mitigate the thickening. .02

 

[RDY4WAR]

This + I'd reduce the oci to 15,000 and keep it topped up to mitigate the thickening. .02

I agree with this. 15,000 miles would be a good, conservative OCI.

 

[JTK]

Great info! Thanks for doing this and sharing.

I never went past ~5000 miles between OCI's on my 2019 Ram 1500 classic w/hemi. The oil life monitor would be at around 50% life remaining at that time.

 

[Artem]

Great info! Thanks for doing this and sharing.

I never went past ~5000 miles between OCI's on my 2019 Ram 1500 classic w/hemi. The oil life monitor would be at around 50% life remaining at that time.

Does it take into account your actual driving conditions or the oil life percent is just a blind counter every 100 miles?

 

[OVERKILL]

Does it take into account your actual driving conditions or the oil life percent is just a blind counter every 100 miles?

I know on the DT it takes driving style into account, not sure about with the DS trucks.

 

[Artem]

I know on the DT it takes driving style into account, not sure about with the DS trucks.

Well that’s just silly for any vehicle produced in the last 10 years. If my el cheapo 2014 Mazda 3 has a maintenance system that takes into account engine operating conditions and adjusts oil life accordingly, I find it PATHETIC that a vehicle worth $30,000+ has a cheap stupid oil life timer.

Driver A can have an easy daily commute (all highway) and the maintenance system isn’t taking advantage of it.

Driver B might be driving in SEVERE DUTY with too much idling time to where the oil is spent by 50% oil life yet the car is too stupid to know it and inform the driver that it’s time for an oil change even though you only drove 3,000 miles.

 

[Plawan]

Well that’s just silly for any vehicle produced in the last 10 years. If my el cheapo 2014 Mazda 3 has a maintenance system that takes into account engine operating conditions and adjusts oil life accordingly, I find it PATHETIC that a vehicle worth $30,000+ has a cheap stupid oil life timer.

Driver A can have an easy daily commute (all highway) and the maintenance system isn’t taking advantage of it.

Driver B might be driving in SEVERE DUTY with too much idling time to where the oil is spent by 50% oil life yet the car is too stupid to know it and inform the driver that it’s time for an oil change even though you only drove 3,000 miles.

The Ds model has a software-based, algorithm-driven maintenance minder