new to me car, what to do?

[mitcheal]

My dad recently passed, and my mom gave me his car. it's a 2000 dodge durango 5.9L v8. it's got about 142,000 miles... my dad bought it used, and did the normal oil changes.... it does not currently leak oil...

I would like to switch it over to synthetic and am wondering if i should run some sort of cleaner through it first... maybe this kreen stuff i keep reading about?

let me know your thoughts... my hope is to keep the durango, it has sentimental value obviously...

thanks...

 

[Quattro Pete]

Sorry to hear about your dad.

Do you know the vehicle's maintenance history? If it had oil changes done regularly, then it probably does not need any cleaning. I tend to stay away from any engine cleaners unless you've got some serious issues.

 

[gfh77665]

I know where you are coming from. I inherited Dad's and Moms cars, too. In short, it appears its up to date. Just accumulate all the service records you can, and do a general bumper to bumper check. I don't think Kreen is necessary at all, if regular changes were done. Syns are great oils. I like Pennzoil Platinum (or Ultra), but any one like Mobil 1, Valvoline Synpower, even SuperTech plus a quality filter, are good.

God Bless.

 

[simple_gifts]

Sorry about your Dad. I wouldn't worry about switching to synthetic; I would spend the time/money changing the coolant, transmission fluid, PS fluid etc, if you don't have an indication that it has been done in the past.

 

[mitcheal]

thanks guys.... my only reason for going to synthetic is that all my other cars are on synthetic and on the same oil change schedule... would just make life easier to change the oil in all the cars in one weekend....

 

[donnyj08]

Sorry to hear about your dad, Mitcheal.

there will be no issue if you want to switch to synthetic out of convenience.

 

[artificialist]

I wouldn't use an oil system cleaner, if the engine had all the oil changes done on time. Approved oil has everything it needs and nothing it doesn't need.

 

[daves87rs]

Sorry about your day...as long as it has been taken care of, doing what you are doing with the other cars should be fine....

 

[eljefino]

Go on allpar.com and read about these motors.

They do have an oil problem; the valley gasket between the two cylinder heads leaks oil into the intake and this causes pinging. They have a timing retarding "flash of death" for the computer but it hurts performance.

I would keep using conventional oil just because it's cheaper. If you want to put money into it you could do the gaskets just as preventative maintenance. The 5.9 is a pretty rare hot rod.

 

[Warstud]

First off sorry about the loss. Switching to synthetic because your other vehicles are running on it isn't a good reason.

 

[Donald]

I see no problem going to synthetic. You do not need any kind of special cleaner first.

 

[mitcheal]

no pinging, or any issues that i am aware of.... so far....

 

[AandPDan]

Sorry for your loss.

There's no problem with the synthetic oils. I wouldn't use any sort of flush in the engine however. Just change it.

Yes the plenum gasket can fail but it's not guaranteed that it will. Just open the throttle plates and look down. If you see oil, it's time to change it.