5W-20, 0W-20 or 5W-30 for 3.6L Pentastar (Jeep)
- Thread starter alaskanseminole
- Start date
Triple_Se7en
$50 Site Donor 2024
You forgot to mention that Exxon-Mobil has the best base oil in the common price ranges we see at places like Walmart.
BTW..... it's the reason for the lesser add-packs of SP / GF6A / D1/G3.....etc....... beginning with SOPUS
Did it ever dawn on you that the strong add-packs of SP / GF6A / D1/G3.....etc......variety signal subpar base oils to meet the best value prices on the shelves.
Going by your judgement, then the economical-priced oils are the best out there.
OK then. But please never suggest an oil for our HyunKia products. For I need them to have a nice long life.... maybe not by myself and the wife. But by the kids and grandkids that get these vehicles handed down to them.
You cannot judge a book by it's cover. So in essence, never judge a Natural Gas base oil....ie... ILSAC, SAE oil ....etc... by it's lesser numbered add-packs.
We use Synthetic 5w30 in the 3.6 at my work that specify 5w20. And synthetic 0w20 in one specifying 0w20
Your kids and grandkids won’t be driving a Korean hand me down, for many reasons.
Enjoy your dull gray bottle kool-aid…
I just bought a Wrangler Rubicon and immediately switched to 5w-30 synthetic. As far as the start up clatter which I do have (69K miles) I just floor the accelerator, which shuts off the injectors during cranking and crank it over a few seconds to build oil pressure before I release the accelerator pedal and it starts noise free.
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2010
- Messages
- 9,807
@alaskanseminole - watch your oil and coolant temperatures. The Dorman causes temperature to go up, not down, due to the heat transfer that happens with the aluminum versus plastic.
There have been a number of people report that on the JL Wrangler forum. In essence, Dorman copied a poor design with no changes. The Dorman supplied o-rings leak at a much faster rate than the Mopar ones do (not that they last more than about 70,000 mi anyway).
I would run 0/5W-30 in it.
There have been a number of people report that on the JL Wrangler forum. In essence, Dorman copied a poor design with no changes. The Dorman supplied o-rings leak at a much faster rate than the Mopar ones do (not that they last more than about 70,000 mi anyway).
I would run 0/5W-30 in it.
- Joined
- Oct 13, 2022
- Messages
- 37
Gee, I wonder what company Valvoline buys their base oils from? Maybe someone that knows could help us out here.
It’s doubtful the base oil is the issue. Additive package and lack there of.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Unless we are talking Racing or Euro formulas (and even then, the low SAPS ones have constraints), they are all constrained by the same API/ILSAC limits on things like phosphorous. So, delicious little anecdotes aside, I've seen nothing presented that would support the premise that Valvoline API-compliant lubes are somehow more "robust" in this department than other oils, from other manufacturers, subject to the same limits.
What has your comparison been and what criteria have you used to make the comparison? In other words, what have you compared the Valvoline product(s) to and in what way have you compared them? Just the valvetrain failures with Mobil oil? Which Mobil oil?
I wonder if other fleet managers have seen these valvetrain failures with Mobil oil?
My Pentastar is just past 87k miles. 0w20 all the way, mostly on Mobil 1 EP. It has Valvoline 0w20 EP in it right now. No issues.
My 2008 JK 3.8 ran 5w20 most of the way with an occasional 5w30 run and a couple 0w40 runs. Mostly Mobil 1 has been used in this Jeep, too. 193k on it and going strong. I'm selling it, which I'm pretty sad about. But I don't need a whole fleet of Jeeps.
Someone help me explain why my 3.8 never exploded in spite of a life of towing and off-roading with 20 wt oil? I thought it was supposed to be terrible. Same with Mobil 1. Such a horrible brand. I must just be lucky.
My 2008 JK 3.8 ran 5w20 most of the way with an occasional 5w30 run and a couple 0w40 runs. Mostly Mobil 1 has been used in this Jeep, too. 193k on it and going strong. I'm selling it, which I'm pretty sad about. But I don't need a whole fleet of Jeeps.
Someone help me explain why my 3.8 never exploded in spite of a life of towing and off-roading with 20 wt oil? I thought it was supposed to be terrible. Same with Mobil 1. Such a horrible brand. I must just be lucky.
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2023
- Messages
- 981
Not a bad idea, especially in such a hot place. I’d be looking at the HPL NO VII 5w30, personally.
I'm in several Jeep clubs and there are a bunch of Pentastars with very high mileage.....>200k is very common. Most have had zero issues. I haven't heard talk of a rocker failure on one.
Really, it is a reach to say there's a design flaw. There are some 14,000,000 plus of these mills that have been produced. If a tiny percentage of them have a rocker failure, then every shop in America will see them and many mechanics will say they are junk.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
So then no controlled back-to-back testing that would be statistically valid then eh?
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Surely you must appreciate that in addition to my earlier API/ILSAC comments regarding the bookends imposed, making these sorts of claims with respect to an engine design that has a very well-known materials problem with the roller follower assembly that simply cannot be mitigated by lube selection due to the nature of the failure (improper hardening) presents a significant challenge for trying to derive any sort of statistically valid information regarding valvetrain longevity?
I would be making this same point if we were discussing the LSx engines or the HEMI and lifter failure, for the same reason.
It's a bit like trying to determine whether Redpath is less likely than Lantic to cause diabetes in the obese population, or whether Chapman's is less likely than Ben & Jerry’s to lead to heart attack.
If you need to be appreciated then yes I do appreciate your need to be the most intellectual authority in most any discussion. I think we are expressing our opinions here. Yours based on written data, mine from in the field experience. It’s all good my friend. Carry on.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Please don't try to make this personal. I wasn't asking for you to "appreciate me", I'm asking for you to appreciate some fundamental facts that we should be able to agree on here that work to form the foundation of this exchange. Two of the key ones are:
- What limits the API/ILSAC impose on formulation. This is not only validation of performance through tests like Sequence IVA, that specifically targets valvetrain wear, but also constraints imposed on things like phosphorous, the primary AW additive.
- The fact that we are dealing with an engine family with an established history of defective valvetrain components.
I'm not expressing an opinion as much as I'm trying to convey that trying to infer the impact lubricant selection plays in component failure rates via field observation of Pentastar engines is speculative at best because of the amount of noise introduced by the presence of an established materials issue.
If we were dealing with an engine family that did not have a history of defective components, then my position would lean more towards one of intrigue, and I would be asking you for more details. I'm not one to discount fleet data, but I am one who exercises caution when trying to draw conclusions when there are significant factors present that can heavily influence the quality of that data, such as the presence of a design or materials defect.
And is most always the case, "real world" or "field" data does not have anywhere near the relevance people think it has. It's always based on perception and anecdotes which are highly subjective. The ugly truth that is often hard to understand is that it's nearly impossible to draw any real conclusions outside of a laboratory where multiple and significant variables can be controlled.
Illusory correlation:
Lunacy and the Full Moon
Does a full moon really trigger strange behavior?
Last edited:
Similar threads
