Mobil1, 0-40 SM, 4851 miles, Chrysler Town&Country

[Ron-Indy]

78,414 miles on an all wheel drive Chrysler Town & Country minivan. 3.8 cast iron engine. First 14k miles were on dino oil, then Mobil 1 5w-30, 10w-30 and most recently 0w-40. Mobil 1 and later K&N oil filters, along with the "snake oil" filtermag. Oil filter innards looked pristine.

Has always eaten some oil, most recently 3/4 ~ 1 qt per 5k as compared to virtually none for my 3.5L 300M engine over the same 5K interval.

Thanks

 

[Merkava_4]

Looks real good. 12.40cst@100C is a real nice viscosity.

I'm wondering what it would take to get the iron under 10ppm though.

 

[Al]

I would go back to the 30 wt. oil.

 

[buster]

Just watch the isolubles. Might be getting some blow by, hence the oil consumption. Everything else is fine.

 

[Ron-Indy]

I was surprised at the level of varnish in the valve cover when I got the car at 14K. Oil was changed at 7k and then when I bought it so it was dirty in there.

Is it possible the oil consumption issue originated that early?

Given the engine mileage, would a 30W help or hurt? Intuitively I would think you increase viscosity as wear occurs to make up the gap. Old wives tale?

Thanks for the comments

 

[buster]

Ron, you might want to run AutoRx or keep using the 0w-40 for several changes. It sounds like you have an engine that could use some cleaning. M1 0w-40 contains Group V base oils that will clean well. You could also try Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w-40 as that also has good detergency.

 

[JAG]

Originally Posted By: Ron-Indy
I was surprised at the level of varnish in the valve cover when I got the car at 14K. Oil was changed at 7k and then when I bought it so it was dirty in there.

Is it possible the oil consumption issue originated that early?

Is it cleaner or filthier looking now than when you bought it?

Oil consumption could have originated from the engine's "birth". Was it less or more with xW-30 M1 oils compared to 0W-40 M1?

 

[Ron-Indy]

I'd say that it's since I owned it it's gotten slightly cleaner. I would also say the oil consumption has gotten a little worse with age & 0w-40 but to be fair, I go from memory over the 5K run so the Blackstone reported useage is only a guess.

Could very well be a build issue, but since I didn't own it when it was new I'll never know. My other car new consumed 1 quart of oil (out of 10) every 600 miles until it hit 3,500 miles when it got dramatically better. Now at 19,000 miles it consumes less then 1/4 quart over 2,000 miles.

 

[JohnBrowning]

You might try RTS 5W40 if consuption is an issue... I would consider doing the RTS in the warmer months and 0W40 in the colder months if RTS help with consuption....Truthfully I run 5W40 often year round and live in Michigan without any problems but I do not and have not owned a Chrysler 3.8 so I do not know how picky they are in the winter time.As to the dirtyness if you want to clean it up wait until spring or summer put some SAE 30HD like Valvoline and some AUto-Rx and be down with it! Follow the directions from Auto-Rx then if you want to try the M1 0W40 go for it!

 

[Merkava_4]

If you want your engine spotless inside, do 3 OCI's of Maxlife at 4 month/1700 mile intervals.

 

[Ron-Indy]

That's good advice. I've never done a cleaning cycle as I thought over time it would clean itself and to some degree I'm sure it has. It just doesn't look as clean as my former Chrysler van that had 100K miles. I used various weights of Mobil 1 from the day I bought it and the rockers were as clean as the day it was built.

I'm almost out of my supply of 0w-40 M1 so next cycle I'll try something else to see the consumption impact.

Thanks