Vanners.. maint intervals?

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Van guys, especially gasoline vanners, how often do you change the oil in the transmission?

The differential?

How often for radiator flushes?
 

Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
What timing! I just finished changing the the oil and greasing the front end. Oil and filter is changed every 5000-7000 miles. I use regular old dinosaur oil. Grease every other oil change.

I have the transmission fluid and filter changed every 150,000. This involves dropping the pan and changing the filter versus flushing and replacing the ATF. Rear end lube I have had changed once. I'm guessing that was around the 300,000 mile mark.

Radiator flushes, every other year.
 

chefdennis

Veteran Expediter
I am using Ams Oil trans fluid and I will change it out at 150,000 along with the filter. I'll change the rear axle lube at the same time...
 

Jack_Berry

Moderator Emeritus
when i had the blue van my tech told me with the hwy trvel it was unnecessary to do the dealer mileage on the trans and diff of 25 and 50k. he suggested 50 and 100k. i suppose with amsoil or mobil 1 you could push that farther. just went back to m-1 oil after doing dealer stuff for the first 53k. already seen a 1-2 mpg difference in the fuel mileage.
 

guido4475

Not a Member
What timing! I just finished changing the the oil and greasing the front end. Oil and filter is changed every 5000-7000 miles. I use regular old dinosaur oil. Grease every other oil change.

I have the transmission fluid and filter changed every 150,000. This involves dropping the pan and changing the filter versus flushing and replacing the ATF. Rear end lube I have had changed once. I'm guessing that was around the 300,000 mile mark.

Radiator flushes, every other year.

How ironic, I guess.Youre schedule is the same of mine.I use that Ford Powerstoke 15w40 oil and a quart of lucas in the oil on my van.
 

fastman_1

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
oil and filters and lube 10,000-12,000 miles, trans 50,000 rear end 100,000 rad.every year before snow sets in.
 

guido4475

Not a Member
Love to see your ECM..total Idle hours and %...mines around 9%....

Well,as I have explained to you before, on the phone, Sir OVM, if my long-term intentions of going back to doing work closer to home are in the close future,why am I going to waste my money on a generator and everything else when I plan on being home on a more regular basis? Now,if things go south, then that will be a reality and a generator will be installed along with everything else.I am a big fan of a generator,and many of my past straight trucks have had top of the line generators on them, saving me a ton of money in the long run,while adding to the covenience also.There is also a weight factor of my van's empty weight to be considered here....We all know my van has a weight problem...lol.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
And then there was the discussion of the actual topic, maintenance intervals for all the systems of a gasoline cargo van.
 

guido4475

Not a Member
Well good for you...you Gondola paddler....:p

They are called "portable" for a reason...if you "ever" get to regional when you wake up from your dream world....it can be used around the house/garage or for emergency power...

Van has a weight problem?...more like weight distribution...it leans to the left going down the road....*LOL*

Ido have a generator here in the garage, but it jumped time 180 and needs to be fixed.Actually, as hard as it may seem to believe,the van actually leans to the right, 3/4 of an inch lower, and it drives me crazy,even put new front coils in it, and it is still that way.So I am eliminating driver weight distribution as the problem.
 

guido4475

Not a Member
And then there was the discussion of the actual topic, maintenance intervals for all the systems of a gasoline cargo van.

Oh, please, will you forgive me Mr Leo? I didnt see the gasoline van part, my mistake...How will I live with myself now?GEEEZZ!!!
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Guido, he is talking about my insolence in posting something off topic - id est Guido's origin.
 

JBCarroll

Seasoned Expediter
For diff, every 30,000. For trans, every 30,000. For rad, every two years. For eng, every 4000 miles.
Its also good to do a flush an fill on powersteering and brake system.
My last pickup, which is still on the road btw. I got 437,000 miles out of it.
I hope to do as good with my van.
 

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Gas or diesel doesn't really matter and nobody mentioned insolence. It was a comment to bring the original topic back for hopefully more input.
 

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
For the engine oil, use a good quality synthetic oil that exactly matches your vehicle manufacturer's specifications and certification requirements, and change it according to the vehicle manufacturer's recommendations. Contrary to popular belief, very few people actually know better about their engine than the people who actually made it. The old rules about engine oil intervals only apply to the old engines. When in doubt, rather than change it too early, which increases chances of some of it getting into a landfill and only adds to oil imports, get an oil analysis done. If you drive mostly city traffic or short trips, then changing the oil more frequently is warranted, but if your driving is mostly longer trips, especially on the highway, then 10,000 miles or longer, whatever the vehicle manufacturer recommends, is all that's needed. For extended oil change intervals, changing the oil filter at the mid point between changes will help keep the oil clean. Not that big a deal with gassers, but it is with diesel engines.

For the transmission, same thing, go with the recommendations to be found in the manual. Same thing applies to city (lots of shifting) and highway (mainly in a single gear) driving where you can extend the interval or not, depending. Most expediters can extend the transmission oil change without any problems. At the very least, changing it prior to the manufacturer's recommendation is simply wasting money and oil.

As for the differential, most manufacturers recommend changing it about twice the interval of the transmission, but again lots of highway mileage is the important thing, and in this case suggests more frequent changes for the differential. I change mine every time I do the transmission.

If you want to deviate from the manufacturer's recommendations, don't do it based on
"common wisdom" or because that's how you've always done it in the past. Do it because you know and understand why the manufacturer recommends certain things, and will then know and understand why any deviations are or are not warranted.
 

Zoli

Veteran Expediter
I never change the transmission fluid and the differential fluids.Also no radiator flush. Waiste of money and time. I would do the transmission fluid change if the fluid smell burn or if is dark color. Some people over maintenance this vans... Most of my vans has more than 300 kmile and they are running great. I change the engine oil every 10 000 miles. Mobil one full synthetic plus one quart of lucas.
 
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