The truck gets a checkup

I've never owned a diesel. I don't know anybody who owns a diesel. A friend of mine works on diesels, but they're the kind you crawl into the engine compartment to work on. When I bought the truck it had 28,000 miles on it and it had a sticker on the window that wanted me to change the oil at 31,000 miles. The owner's manual thought I should take it in to a Dodge dealer after 30,000 miles for some maintenance. The truck now has over 31,000 miles, so it was time. But first a wash and wax to get the truck ready for it's trip to the dealer. Then I made the call.
Thought I would start with an oil change and let the mechanic and the truck get acquainted (I called ahead to make sure they even had a diesel mechanic). They bonded while the mechanic (Chuck) changed the oil and made a list of stuff that it would need for the next 30,000 miles. Turns out big trucks require a special lube and gasket for the differentials (and I have a 4x4 so I have two differentials). $143 for each differential but they would have to order the special big truck lube and the special big truck gaskets first. They promised to stock it in the future in case I needed anymore at my next checkup. Cool.
Then the truck gets a new fuel filter ($70), transfer case fluids ($54), and an air filter ($32). I was expecting it to be more expensive than I was used to for a gas engine, so I wasn't disappointed. But check this out: remember the oil change I requested? $122 including 12 quarts of oil at $6.80 a quart . I was expecting it to require more oil than the 5 quarts a gas engine needed, but 12 quarts? And they recommended I do it again after 3000 miles. Uffda.

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