3.3L Dodge recommendations

[spinfire]

I have a 1994 Dodge Grand Caravan with the 3.3L V6 engine in it. The van has 167k miles on it right now, and it is beginning to burn around a quart and a half every 3000mi change period. 5w-30 is recommended in the owner's manual.

Recently I've used Quaker State Higher Mileage 10w-30, Valvoline Maxlife 10w-30 and Valvoline conventional 5w-30. I'm not interested in an expensive oil for this vehicle, but I am curious for a recommendation of a good basic $1-2 a quart oil. Are the higher mileage oils usually worth it?

 

[Pluto5]

I can't answer your question directly but I have the same vehicle/engine and run Walmart brand 5W-30, 80 cents a qt. so adding some between changes is not a concern. Your piston rings are probably worn plenty so you cannot eliminate the oil burning.

 

[Ken2]

Another reason for oil consumption could be piston rings stuck in their ring grooves with carbon or slow leakage through seals.

A good, thorough, gentle, slow internal cleaning of your engine would not hurt and might help a lot. Auto-Rx and Schaeffer's #131 Neutra each work very well. Check the Site Supporter's page for the Auto-Rx and call Mills Outdoor Power Equipment at the number at the top of this page for Schaeffer. I've used both and have had good success. I'd also recommend Auto-Rx in your transmission, and a flush 1000-1500 miles later--might defer a breakdown. If you decide on the Neutra, use 1 oz. per quart of engine oil and 1 oz. per gallon of fuel. Change your oil & filter after 300-500 miles (crankcase cleaning instructions are on the bottle).
http://www.schaefferoil.com/data/131.html
http://www.auto-rx.com
http://www.auto-rx.net


For your engine, 5W-30 in those NH winters and a thicker 10W-30 in the summer is probably a good choice.


Ken

[ March 25, 2003, 07:11 PM: Message edited by: Ken2 ]

 

[spinfire]

Thanks. I haven't run a compression test, but the engine seems to be in very good condition.

I switched to the Valvoline 5w-30 because of the winter, and as of now I'm just exhausting my case of 5w-30. The Higher Mileage engine oil did seem to prevent some consumption, but the reduced compression could also be due to the differing viscosity.

I haven't seen much regarding the additive treatments, except general advice against them. Auto-RX looks good. I'll look around for some more independant data.