Grand Caravan oil consumption, revisited.

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otis24

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Prior to my last oil change, my 2005 Grand Caravan (3.8 liter v6) used about a half quart at the 2000 mile mark. My GR.Caravan currently has about 20500 miles on it. I have 1300 miles on it since my last oil change and again, it seems that I have consumed about a half quart of oil. I am running a Wix 51085 filter and Havoline 5W/20 motor oil. What should my next step be? I normally do 5K oci. I will go another 1500 miles on this oil/filter and try Motorcraft 5w/20 syn.blend. If it continues to consume oil, I thought of going to Havoline or MC 5w/30. Should I contact the dealer before my warranty is up?

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I have a 2005 Grand Caravan (3.3), I'm currently using chevron 5w-20 and the Wix 51085, I have about 800 miles on this interval (just bought it) so I'll keep track and let you know if I use any oil otis24. As far as the warranty goes I think your okay with 5w-30, I seriously doubt they deny a warranty claim if you change it at reasonable intervals.
 
If it were mine I would set up camp in the middle of the dealer display floor, complete with campfire and porta potty. There is no reason in he11 that that engine should be burning any oil. MY wifes GC 3.3 got M1 10W30 last Sept. at 73K miles. In April with 79K miles, The oil level was still at the full mark. I added 12oz. Auto-RX. I'm ready to change the oil now at 81K miles and shows slightly over full. My sons 94 GC 3.3 with over 200K miles gets ~1800 miles per qt. now and is on its 2nd. A-RX. When finished, I fully expect it to get better then 2000 miles per qt.

Read them the riot act, if that does'nt work, invoke the lemon law. Maybe get a lawyer involved.

Oohhhh!!! I hate Stealers!!!!
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That's o.k oldmoparguy1. These dealers can be sticklers. I talked to the dealership in town (not where I purchased the GC). He said he was familiar with the problem because someone else had a similar issue. He is happy to look at it because it is free warranty money. He stated that Chrysler does not look at it as "oil consumption" unless it is using one quare per 100 miles. He did state that there were a few things that could be checked (pvc valve, gaskets, etc..) and that if nothing else, it would provide documentation that there was a concern while the vehicle was still under warranty. This suggests to me that I may have recourse if a serious problem arises down the road. I also had some front end issues. I'll get them both checked out on Saturday. My next course of action is to switch oil (Motorcraft syu blend and see if that makes a difference).
 
You didn't say any thing about your driving habits, those 3.8 can run hot under city driving conditions, like idling with the air on during a 90 degree day.
I have a 2005 T&C, I use Mobil 1 5w-20, no oil useage.
 
If the service dept is worth a crap, they'll document your dipstick reading, top off your oil, seal the cap and tell you to come back in regular intervals to see how much is being burned. There's no reason for that engine to be using any noticable amount of oil at it's current age and mileage.
 
There is no dealer or manufacturer out there who is going to give you a new engine (likely the only thing that will change it) for a small amount of oil useage. Should it use that amount of oil? Hopefully not, but from a numbers standpoint there are going to be so many off the line that do. If you think it's only one manufacturer then google oil useage or better yet engine oil sludge. It's a tough world out there.
 
Well, the first thing you should do, otis, is to get a UOA to see if there are any elemental issues ..and perhaps to see of the oil is fatigued in some fashion. You've then got one more plank in your claim platform if and when some action is required. Manufacturing defects, although surely rare, do occur.

Although I wouldn't care for your level of consumption ..simply due to the fact that I haven't had any in a new car for a good while. I'd surely have to live with it though given the long standing criteria for considering it a defect. You don't appear to need to add a quart for (probably) 10-15 fuel stops. Hardly what anyone could call an inordinate level of user service
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quote:
Originally posted by otis24:
Prior to my last oil change, my 2005 Grand Caravan (3.8 liter v6) used about a half quart at the 2000 mile mark. My GR.Caravan currently has about 20500 miles on it. I have 1300 miles on it since my last oil change and again, it seems that I have consumed about a half quart of oil. I am running a Wix 51085 filter and Havoline 5W/20 motor oil. What should my next step be? I normally do 5K oci. I will go another 1500 miles on this oil/filter and try Motorcraft 5w/20 syn.blend. If it continues to consume oil, I thought of going to Havoline or MC 5w/30. Should I contact the dealer before my warranty is up?

[email protected]
Click to expand...
I know what oil most of those minivan engines like the best..... Castrol GTX. Use the 5W-30 and watch consumption slow considerably.
 
quote:
Originally posted by otis24:
According to this web site: http://www.daimlerchryslervehicleproblems.com/
Chrysler is saying one qurt per 1000 miles is normal on vehicles with less than 50K miles and one quart per 750 miles on vehicles with greater than 50K miles. I say BULL**IT!
If this indeed is true, I've bought my last Chrysler vehicle.
Click to expand...
Well what are you going to buy then? 1 qt/1000 miles is pretty much the industry standard for most makes.
I agree is is not right, but what can you do? My GC with the 3.8 has not used any in the 5 months we have had it (but it is currently on the rinse phase of an Auto-Rx right now, and only 32,000 on the van. It also had 5w-30 from the dealer we got it from and I am using a 10w-30/5w-30 blend for the rinse).
I would do as you said, finish this OCI, then try a different brand 5w-20 and see if there is any difference. I see no reason why you could not try a 5w-30 on this engine after that.
 
Double checking my engine this morning, it did not appear to use as much as I had initially thought. I will continue to monitor it. If problems arise, I will swith to a synthetic blend to see if that helps. I'll keep you all posted. One quart per 1000 miles is industry standard? Really? Is that really the standard or just what they say to cover their butts?
 
quote:
Originally posted by otis24:
Prior to my last oil change, my 2005 Grand Caravan (3.8 liter v6) used about a half quart at the 2000 mile mark. My GR.Caravan currently has about 20500 miles on it. I have 1300 miles on it since my last oil change and again, it seems that I have consumed about a half quart of oil. I am running a Wix 51085 filter and Havoline 5W/20 motor oil. What should my next step be? I normally do 5K oci. I will go another 1500 miles on this oil/filter and try Motorcraft 5w/20 syn.blend. If it continues to consume oil, I thought of going to Havoline or MC 5w/30. Should I contact the dealer before my warranty is up?

[email protected]
Click to expand...
Remember, you might be overfilling the engine when changing the oil and that 1/2 quart might be the engine consuming the oil until it gets down to the level which will then not having the crank slapping the oil up.

Always fill the engine up to the volume in the manual, NOT by the dipstick.
 
quote:
Originally posted by otis24:
D One quart per 1000 miles is industry standard? Really? Is that really the standard or just what they say to cover their butts?
Click to expand...
What's the difference? You gotta concede that they have to draw a line somewhere
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At 250miles/week you're looking at once a month. How can that be considered excessive in the absense of any other issues (fouling plugs, failing emissions, etc.)?? I feel your pain. It's like you feel before your paint gets "christened". You want it to be perfect and get all kinds of anxiety over it. You'll live and get tons of service out of it without incident (but do just ONE UOA).
 
I will do a UOA. Question on that, do they interpret the data for you or just send a bunch of numbers? What about TBN?
Secondly,
I'm doing a 5K OCI with Havoline 5w/20. Can I push it to a 6K OCI if I switch to a synthetic blend (MC 5W/20)?
 
Do the UOA @ 5k ..and see what they say. For (I think) $5 more you can get Terry to interpret the figures. Blackstone goes by statistics as their guide mainly. The most reliable data from them is the visc, insolubles, flash point, moisture, etc. The rest is compared to the average UOA on your engine for the average of miles in service. It's indifferent to oil used, etc.

You may find that you can push your Havoline 5w-20 to 6k or more
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Let the testing be your guide
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Unless you go for a long time over two seasons, I'd save the cash and skip the TBN. You're not into any range that would be considered "extended". You could maybe do it once just to reassure yourself that you're not over extending your length of service
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I personally would do a UOA on th oil in there now to see if there is anything showing up. A Dyson Analysis is $40 (Includs the TBN and Terry's reading on it) which is $10 more than a UOA with TBN alone. A basic UOA is $20 with Blackstone giving an interpritation, which is OK, but not quite as good as Terry's.
As for the 6000 miles, only way to tell for sure is to do a UOA with TBN.
 
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