Strategy for new-to-me 2000 Intrepid 2.7 w/31k?

[redbeardracer]

First of all, I'd like to say thanks for all the knowledge I've gathered from lurking in the forum for a while.

My wife and I are inheriting her mom's 2000 Dodge Intrepid with appx 31,000 miles on it. Mom was the 2nd owner of this car, and it hasn't been driven much over the last 18 months - maybe 2000 - 3000 miles. Mom was good about regular oil changes - dino oil from Jiffy Lube. The car is in excellent shape overall.

I'm a concerned about all the sludge issues with the 2.7. This car doesn't seem to be dirty on the dipstick or around the oil fill in the valve cover. We'll be driving the car appx 250 miles home to our house over Thanksgiving. The last oil change was 3 months ago, but only about 800 miles. (I wasn't going to change the oil before the trip, because I don't have any Auto-RX yet.)

So far my strategy is an initial Auto-RX treatment. Just one or two rounds? How about using an inexpensive filter during this phase - Advance Auto "sure grip"? And Pennz 5w30 dino?

Once done with ARX, then Mobil1 5w30 and Purolator Pure One filters. Probably 6 month OCI, since we'll drive an average of 12,000 a year, some very short trips and a few longer (500 mile) trips.

I'd like to treat the Intrepid well, since its a nice car. What would you do differently, or in addition to the above? Regular maintenance (2 oz) Auto-RX? LubeControl?

Thanks in advance for the replies!

(Other vehicles are '03 Dodge Ram Hemi Quad Cab on M1/PureOne 6m oci and a '90 Mazda Miata autox and occasional track toy.)

 

[TomJones76]

This is a sludge-prone motor, no?
I'd follow the Auto-Rx prescription for high-mileage (over 100K) vehicles.
Then I'd run Castrol Syntec 0W30 (not the EP, the regular stuff) at 5K intervals with the reccomended dose of LC.
Substitute Amsoil's Series 3000 or Redline 5W30 for Syntec in my plan if you like.
Might be a little pricy of a regime, but if your car sludges while you're following my advice, it was doomed anyway.

 

[55Test]

Do one ARX treatment, then go with their maintenence dose recommendation. I'd either use a top quality name-brand 'dino' oil at strict 3000 mile OCI's, or go with a good synthetic oil, preferrably a synthetic HDEO. If the car had regular oil changes with reasonable distances between them and was driven up to operating temps then you probably don't have anything to worry about. I'd go ahead and do the oil change before you take the drive, just use some cheap Walmart oil and filter then when your AutoRX arrives, change again.

 

[cyclic]

We just had one of these in our shop with only 70k miles on it, it was totally sludged up and the motor is ruined. Do not ever miss a severe service oil change on this engine, they are crap.

I phoned Dodge to see what could be done about the valve timing chain tensioner that was gooped up, he told me to pull the motor and put a new one in, they're crap, that str8 form a dodge technician, lol.

 

[55Test]

Too bad Chrysler messed up on the oil recommendation for that engine, by the looks of things it should only ever use synthetic oil. It's a good engine, pretty peppy and gets great fuel mileage. A friend of mine had a 98 Intrepid with the 2.7 that he bought used at a Chrysler dealer. He had it a little over a year and never changed the oil once, and I doubt the oil was even checked more than a handful of times. One day, it stalled, then when it started up again it was rattling bad which of course indicates a sludge problem. He's still making payments on the car and it's sitting in his yard. He phoned the dealer to see how much an engine would be for the car, and he was told $6000 and up. He can't afford to fix it, but he can't drive it or get rid of it.

 

[Cutehumor]

55

he can get a used engine from the junkyard and have it installed. 1500 bucks maybe?

 

[IslaVistaMan]

I think Frank has revised the ARX maintenance dose to three ounces now.

 

[55Test]

I don't know how much faith I'd have in a junkyard engine. The car has been sitting for a few years now, might not be much good anymore. I'm looking on car-part.com, engines are available from $1500 for an engine with 67000km to $3000 for a rebuilt one. I wonder if he's ever considered going that route. Hmm, will have to ask him next time I see him.

 

[TR3-2001SE]

I think your plan was much better than any advise you have gotten yet. Yes auto-rx. I would pull a valve cover just to check after one auto-rx. Then if you need the second treatment do it. Then Mobil 1 and auto-rx maintenance dose should keep this thing from sludging. I would probably check under the valve cover from time to time just for insurance.

 

[redbeardracer]

Thanks guys!

The gunky 2.7s are spawning another business: the 3.2 or 3.5 "swap kit"... google intrepid conversion 2.7 or intrepidconversionscom. (I can't add a URL due to my noobie status here.)

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I would either pull the valve cover off now for a look-see (or) change the oil every 1K/filter every 2K until warmer spring weather arrives. Cheap Super Tech oil & filters are all that's needed until you reach a conclusion on what condition your engine is in.

 

[MN Driver]

If someone went with car-part.com and bought the engine at whatever price they offer it at, what would the approximate labor price range be for installation?

Now to get back on topic, you said that it looks clean around the oil fill? I've had engines that used to have a slight amount of sludge and a decent layer of varnish under the oil fill cap. Are you saying it looks very clean, or is there a small amount of sludge or varnish present? If you don't see any, synthetic might just be the answer to keep it that way. I suppose the best way to know would be to open up the engine and have a look. Auto-rx is a good idea if there are any doubts in the end, especially with the oil burning under acceleration that these engines seem to be heavily prone to.

 

[99]

Yep, this is the sludge monster. Personally, I'd sell the car and get something else. If you decide to stick it out, I'd run nothing but a quality synthetic and quality oil filter with this engine from now on out and change them every 3k-this engine falls under severe service no matter what. Good luck.

 

[JBM]

Why isnt Dodge doing somethng about this problem?

 

[beanoil]

"Why isnt Dodge doing somethng about this problem? "

They did.. They made enough of those suckers so you can get another one from the boneyard.

 

[racer12306]

just a little tidbit. advance auto filters are purolator prem plus oil filters. sometimes they have buy one get one on advance filter

 

[va3ux]

See the Topic I started on this very subject just a few days ago :
Sludge Prone Intrepid 2.7L V6 thread

I too have a Chrysler Intrepid w/2.7L. I'm anal about changing the oil+filter at 3K (5000 Km). Have been using Valvoline Maxlife HM oil (5W-30) for about the past year. The engine has 135K miles (216,000 km) and so far, no trouble. But with these engines, very frequent oil changes is still apparently no guarantee that the thing is not sludging. I've read several comments that state you should run nothing but synthetic oil in these machines if you truly want to avoid the sludge disaster.

I recently started researching this engine on the web. Naturally all I found is the bad news and there was plenty of it. 1 million satisfied owners don't start websites to tell everyone that their car meets their expectations. But a few hundred people with prematurely seized engines surely do. Even with that in mind, what I found was an eye opener.

There are about 1.5 million of these engines out there. Obviously they do not ALL suffer a catastrohic failure due to sludge. But far too many do. In typical Chrysler fashion, they have apparently turned their backs on all warranty claims for oil-sludge induced engine failures. The car owner is automatically blamed, even in cases where the oil was changed at a Chrysler dealer every 3000 miles. Remember, this is the same Chrysler that refused to accept any responsibility for several hundred thousand faulty transmissions. Chrysler is currently being lobbied (badgered) by a U.S. based auto association to accept responsibility for sludge ruined engines and to acknowledge the faulty design. We'll see what happens.

Toyota and VW had essentially identical issues with some of their engines. They too turned their backs on their customers but finally did give-in after considerable pressure from lobbiests. Chrysler is still silent.

Other than the sludge tendencies of this engine, it's a great motor. Mine, with 133K miles, starts and idles so smoothly that you'd think it was just built yesterday. It's amazing. You could sit a glass of wine full to the very brim on that engine while it's idling, and not a drop would spill.

I like Intrepids. I've been driving them for years. The gas mileage is excellent with this engine, and is amazing for a car this size. When the real cold weather passes (probably in March for here), I'm going to pull the valve covers to evaluate the internal conditions. I haven't done anything like this since I owned a '68 Pontiac Parisienne 2+2 with a 327 4bbl back in 1971. But with this Intrepid, I think it has become a must. I'm also seriously considering having the timing chain tensioners replaced before that famous failure mode occurs.

Just a 'little' more info for ya'll. Hope it isn't too wordy.

Phil

 

[acewiza]

The Chrysler 2.7 saga seems unfortunately, another great example of how Internet myths are built. To read some of the hoopla I seen bantied about I'd be worried about making it home from the showroom.

Define "faulty design." The 2.7 is an very efficient, smooth-running engine. Considering all I've read about it like va3ux, along my personal ownership experience, I'd characterize the motor in this context as "intolerant to abuse." It is hard to say who did what, when to whom regarding a sludged motor. Knowing the way some people treat machinery as I do, I'd be inclined to believe plenty of negligent owners played their full part in this story.

We have just crossed 60k on our Sebring w/2.7 running 6-7k OCI with synthetic oil, no problems noted. I have recently upgraded the lube system to include a bypass filter and cooler. It's nearing the end of it's first extended OCI teamed with LC (currently at 8k), which I intend to take to 10K, followed by a UOA.

Hoping to get it out longer than that. Just have too many vehicles and not enough time to be doing all these oil changes. We'll see. Wish me luck.

 

[unDummy]

I would pull a valve cover off for inspection. If it looks good, I don't see the need for ARX or LC. If not, then thats your choice!
If everything looks good, start a 3k or 3mo OCI program. API SM/GF4 is pretty stout for 3k intervals.
With a good full synth(mobil1/GC/RTS...), 6mo/6k OCIs should be easy.

Also, top off the oil as needed. Never let it run low. And, if there is room for a bigger oil filter, every bit of oil capacity helps.

I too believe that sludge monsters are over "exaggerated". Blame the owner!

Don't forget to flush the tranny/PS/BF/coolant......and all the other maintence fluids, filters, and tuneup components(plugs/thermostat/belts/PCV) that need service.

 

[redbeardracer]

Thanks for all the info and opinions.

We drove it from Tulsa to KC (appx 275 miles), packed to the gills with stuff and 3 people. (Huge trunk!) It got 33 mpg. I'm very pleased.

I'm doing an Auto-RX treatment.

I noticed when I changed the PCV valve, the rubber hose (about 4-5" long) has some nasty crud in it, and the hose seems to be deteriorated to the point where vacuum would collapse it. I'm going to replace this hose soon.