What oil should be used!

[BigShug681]

My mom has a 2008 Grand Caravan with the 4.0 and only 80k miles on it. The issue is when running an extended drain the van seems to be using oil , about a quart after around 5k miles. We've been running the OE recommended 10w30 and using Amsoil's boosted series I'm just curious as to what people would recommend, I'm considering possibly Amsoil's ACD oil. Would a HDEO be safe to run in the van? Do you guys think I'd see good results or should I just bump it up to maybe a 10w40 PCMO. Thanks in advance and sorry for any poor grammar! Also I forgot to mention that it has a somewhat loud start when cold, sounds like upper valve train, so another reason for the ACD is the high ZDDP level to maybe help ease that out.

 

[StevieC]

Those engines will run fine on just about anything you throw at them. I would check the PCV valve to make sure it isn't a problem. I haven't seen any 4.0's using oil even with high mileage on them. I had one I drove as a fleet van for work and it had a pile of miles and was in really poor condition when they retired it and it still didn't use oil.

As for the noise on start-up are you sure the anti-drainback on the filter is working properly? Try a different brand.

The only complaint with the 4.0 is that it's hard on gas.

 

[BigShug681]

It's always seemed to make the noise just a metallic sound upon first firing off, makes me cringe a little, good call on the PCV valve didn't even think about that. Almost like a dry start every first time firing off

 

[StevieC]

Yeah I would try changing the filter brand. Get a Mopar one as a starting point and if it does it with that one then most likely it's just bleeding down after shutdown. My Santa Fe used to make a fork in a blender sound on start-up for the first 30 seconds and it lived a very long life. It was a common problem for that series of engine. Noise doesn't necessarily mean something bad is going to happen. It's just more unsettling.

 

[BigShug681]

Most definitely unsettling! I guess I'll try the ACD oil, if anything it's a stout oil that should definitely give the ole 4.0 a good cleaning!

 

[StevieC]

Oh and if you are into Amsoil you can try their Engine/Transmission flush product it's excellent. It's just high quality detergents and no solvents. Dump it in a warm engine and idle for 15 minutes and then drain out and change the oil. I have seen it remove some pretty nasty crud from engines.

I did it on my MIL's CRV before we changed her over to Amsoil from Conventional and it washed out some junk and she was good about regular oil changes.

That might help if it's not the PCV valve. You might have stuck oil control rings.

 

[BigShug681]

Also you're very right on being hard on gas lol. She gets about 15mpg and my F350 with a 6.0 psd gets about 14-15 and weighs almost twice as much

 

[BigShug681]

I'll definitely give it a shot. I'm thinking run that and the high detergent diesel oil to just really shine the inside of that block right up

 

[StevieC]

The flush will do more for you in short order and then any quality oil changed regularly will do fine, those engines aren't hard on oil at all. Chrysler has always been good that way in their Caravans.

Yeah they are pigs on gas. I remember driving from gas station to gas station in my fleet van. It was nuts, then it was replaced with a 2012 with the 6 speed and the 3.6L and I could get almost twice as many miles out of the tank as that beast.

Keep up on the transmission as well. That transmission likes clean fluid and filters or it will fail prematurely. I have seen a few in our family have this problem.

 

[Oildudeny]

5w30 or 10w30 will do just fine.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

What OCI do you use?

You may consider trying Rotella T5 10w30

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted by BigShug681
My mom has a 2008 Grand Caravan with the 4.0 and only 80k miles on it. The issue is when running an extended drain the van seems to be using oil , about a quart after around 5k miles. We've been running the OE recommended 10w30 and using Amsoil's boosted series I'm just curious as to what people would recommend, I'm considering possibly Amsoil's ACD oil. Would a HDEO be safe to run in the van? Do you guys think I'd see good results or should I just bump it up to maybe a 10w40 PCMO. Thanks in advance and sorry for any poor grammar! Also I forgot to mention that it has a somewhat loud start when cold, sounds like upper valve train, so another reason for the ACD is the high ZDDP level to maybe help ease that out.


My neighbor kept his for 300K and fed it nothing but Valvoline conventional white bottle and changed it every 4K (four times per year)
Still ran great when trading-in that 1999 model @ 18 years-old. Garage-kept.

 

[BAJA_05]

Gets cold in Missouri during the winter. Was the motor spec. calling for 10W30? I agree with the PCV valve and switching to another oil filter. I noticed the Fram Ultras & Mopar filters are almost the same price at my Wal Mart. Fram Ultras can be used for multiple oil changes and are now rated up to 20,000 miles. I have them on all vehicles in signature except the Subaru. When I used a Mopar filter on my Ram in signature -- it also had a cold start tick for acouple seconds initially -- that went away totally switching over to the Fram Ultra oil filter. For the price, Quaker State Ultimate Durability there full synthetic 5W30 would be a perfect fit for that 4.0L is my opinion.


Dale

 

[andyd]

Change to a different filter brand and stay with 10w30. It will start at -15F . Or go with 5w30. Either one is fine for MO. temps and a Dodge.

 

[BigShug681]

Yes, spec is 10w30, only reason we were running the amsoil is because I use a lot for my hot shot rig, 6.0 psd, so I get discounts on it. I am interested in the QSUD, love the feed back also!

 

[BAJA_05]

Originally Posted by BigShug681
Yes, spec is 10w30, only reason we were running the amsoil is because I use a lot for my hot shot rig, 6.0 psd, so I get discounts on it. I am interested in the QSUD, love the feed back also!



BigShug681 -- you will not be disappointed running QSUD 5W30 or 10W30. Keep us posted on how you made out!!!


Dale

 

[nthach]

The bigger Chrysler engines aren't known to sludge up like the 2.7L V6s and they seem to be happy on any oil. I'd try a different filter - start with a Mopar one first. They're cheap at Walmart and see how it sounds. While Purolator does make the OEM filters for Ford and Mopar, there hasn't been as many complaints with those compared to some aftermarket filters.

I wouldn't complain if 1qt/5K is all your mom's van is using, maybe running the Amsoil flush or going with a MMO/Neutra regimen 500-1000 miles out from an OCI to clean out the rings wouldn't hurt, check the PCV valve.

 

[BigShug681]

So just thought I'd give an update. I decided to keep with amsoil but bumped up to 10w30 SS opposed too 10w30 XL. She's about 400 miles in and I've noticed the cringe worthy sound upon a first start, especially in the mornings when it sat all night, have disappeared. I'm going to attribute that to the increase in ZDDP and Moly. I'll post an update in about a month to see if the oil consumption has lessened, I did run the amsoil engine flush before adding the SS so fingers crossed!