In this blog post, we’ll go over everything you need to know about how to maintain a diesel truck, whether you like to maintain your vehicle yourself or bring it to the local mechanic.
Maintaining the Fuel System
The diesel motors of today possess the most advanced fuel systems in the world. A pump first brings the fuel to a common rail. Then, the high-performance and intricate injectors spray the fuel into the cylinder at super high pressures. When this process is working correctly, the fuel system assists your diesel truck to drive almost as silently as a gasoline car. If you properly maintain your diesel truck’s fuel system, it’ll offer many years of reliable performance. On the other hand, if you neglect to take care of your diesel fuel system, you can spend thousands in unnecessary repair expenses and could suffer from breakdowns on the road.
To properly keep your diesel fuel system in top condition, it is imperative that every time you fill up your tank with ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel that you add in high-quality diesel fuel additives. Two excellent options from AMSOIL are AMSOIL Diesel Injector Clean and AMSOIL Diesel Cetane Boost. These two additives combine to boost your diesel engine’s fuel system performance and longevity in multiple ways. The cetane maximizes the efficiency of combustion, which enhances MPG and torque. The detergents help the fuel system stay clean and operating like new. Overall, these additives provide the necessary lubricity the injectors and pumps require to avoid failing prematurely.
Keep Your Truck Clean
Keeping your truck clean on the outside is a great way to ensure it lasts a long time. In northern regions with heavy snowfall, this is especially important since the road salt can get on your vehicle and cause significant corrosion if not cleaned off regularly. Even in regions that don’t receive any snowfall, washing your truck regularly is a surefire way to make sure the external paint stays intact and keeps shining bright. A waterless vehicle wash like AMSOIL Miracle Wash Waterless Wash and Wax Spray not only easily cleans your truck but also protects it against the damaging UV rays from the sun.
Regularly Rotate Your Truck’s Tires
Chances are that your truck weighs over seven thousand pounds. It’s also most likely fitted with E-rated tires that are specifically designed to carry heavy loads, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t exposed to difficult conditions. It is very important to rotate both the drive tires and steer tires on your truck regularly. This helps to extend the life of your tires. A rotation frequency of around 5,000 miles is generally considered best practice.
Give Your Truck Regular Fluid Changes
Most people know to switch out their motor oil at the prescribed intervals, but it is also imperative to regularly change out your truck’s brake fluid, differential oil, transmission fluid, and coolant. All fluid degrades to a certain degree over time, and flushing out old fluids cleans out any contaminants that have accumulated. It is best to utilize synthetic fluids as much as possible, since they offer extended drain intervals and overall enhance the longevity and performance of your vehicle. AMSOIL offers a full line of synthetic lubricants for diesel trucks.
Enhance the Filtration System in Your Truck
The combustion process in a diesel engine is bound to generate some degree of soot over time. A diesel engine’s health determines where that soot ultimately ends up. While the motor’s exhaust system disposes of the majority of the soot, some can end up in the oil sump, resulting in engine oil contamination. While miniscule soot deposits can be easily handled by the dispersants in most engine oils, larger soot deposits can destroy an oil’s dispersant effectiveness and result in significant wear and performance reduction.
By utilizing a 100% synthetic diesel oil from AMSOIL paired with a high-quality bypass filtration system, these harmful soot particles can be held in suspension and effectively removed from the engine oil. AMSOIL bypass filters effectively get rid of much smaller soot particles than conventional full-flow oil filters, and the extra cost is definitely worth the benefits it will bestow upon your diesel engine in the long run.
We hope you enjoyed this blog post on how to maintain a diesel truck. Make sure to check back soon for the latest vehicle maintenance tips!