Dodge Stratus 2.7 (2005)

[thomasew]

I have recently become the primary driver of the above vehicle. Was my spouse's, but she has something else now. This car has 112K on it, dealer oil changes every 3K-4K (QS blend, I'm told). My spouse bought this car new, so I know the history of it. I want to start my own oil change program, and go to a full synthetic. Lots of bad stories about this 2.7 engine around the web, but all we have had to do to is a water pump and timing tension thing at 109K. Is the switch to full synthetic advisable at 112K? What are your opinions? Also, wasn't it along 2002 or 2003 that Chrysler made some changes to this motor to help it last longer?

 

[addyguy]

I'd definetly switch a 2.7 Dodge engine over to syn, and go no more than 5k, but that's just me.

 

[volk06]

Also make sure the coolant has been changed sometime through out the engines life. I had a stratus 2.7L, blew a head gasket and fried the engine with only 112k on it. I believe the sludge problem was fixed by the 2005 model. The engine is most likely clean with 30k OCI on Quaker State Conventional. If you have some ramps the oil change on this is pretty simple. The oil filter can be a bit of a challenge until you figure out the right angle to get it out. Id run a conventional at 3 OCI or a Full Synthetic at 5K. Quaker State Ultimate Durability is 20.54 for 5qts of Full Synthetic, that's what id use for 5K OCI as it meets HTO-6 and Dexos. For 3K OCI Id use Pennzoil conventional. I used motorcraft in mine since everything else used it (family fleet of fords), and it ran great on it.

Loved the car tho

Its quick, snappy and still got 25-28mpg on highway trips.

 

[doitmyself]

Yes, it's my understanding they changed the engine around 2003 to lessen the sludge problem. I think part of the fix was to the PCV system. My daughter's '04 seemed to be o.k..

Synthetic vs. dino?? With a 5K OCI and the quality of today's dinos, its a toss up. My daughter did 4k OCI with dino with no apparent sludge.

Something else to watch. It's common for the oil sender unit to start leaking (profusely). It's a very easy fix ($35 part).

Good luck.