My Grand Caravan was bought early in 2005 and the manual says 5w30 but I know the late 2005 Grand Caravan suggest 5w20> Is there any special brand that seems to perform well in the 3.8liter engine
best oil for a 2005 grand caravan 3.8 liter engine
- Thread starter rampinor
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You may get a general idea reading the used oil anaylsis' forums.
Motorcraft is always a solid recommendation for 5W-20 at factory service intervals.
The 3.3/3.8 V-6 is not hard on oil at all. Only real issue some have is dropping oil levels over the OCI, but usualy no more than 1/2 qt/5000 miles.
Any SM oil would be fine, in either 5w-20 or 30.
Any SM oil would be fine, in either 5w-20 or 30.
I'd try Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30.
A full synthetic 5w30
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You're going to get all kinds of opinions here,rampinor. You're also going to be invited, sooner or later, to do a UOA to see how good your engine is doing on any oil.
Once bitten by BITOG ..there is no turning back. It's kinda like that blue pill/red pill thingie in The Matrix™
Getting somewhat serious here
can you tell us what type of driving your do, your annual mileage, and typical trip length?? That's the sorta stuff that alters some recommendations.
I don't know the engine, but I imagine that it can run on 5w-20 without a care.
Once bitten by BITOG ..there is no turning back. It's kinda like that blue pill/red pill thingie in The Matrix™
Getting somewhat serious here
I don't know the engine, but I imagine that it can run on 5w-20 without a care.
I know some oils appear to do better in UOAs than others but has anyone ever got a BAD uoa from a name brand oil that was put in a mechanically sound engine? Iam of course speaking of a UOA where the oil was not run too long and the engine didn't experience any problems during the interval. Don't they all protect well enough to make the engine last longer than we really care for them to? Granted, we have our favorites and some do better than others but you really can't go wrong using any oil that meets the owner's manual specs.
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Most likely, some Toyota, Saab, VW/Audi, and a few others excluded, you can't go wrong with a factory spec'd oil over a factory spec'd OCI. Tens of millions of cars have lasted long enough to look like turds and fill the junkyards with perfectly functional engines .at least from a lubrication standpoint.
..but you never know when you're going to fall into the "excluded" group. A history has to start somewhere
Most likely, some Toyota, Saab, VW/Audi, and a few others excluded, you can't go wrong with a factory spec'd oil over a factory spec'd OCI. Tens of millions of cars have lasted long enough to look like turds and fill the junkyards with perfectly functional engines .at least from a lubrication standpoint.
..but you never know when you're going to fall into the "excluded" group. A history has to start somewhere
I'm running 5w-20 chevron/havoline in a 2005 Grand Caravan with the 3.3, my gas mileage is around 25 MPG on the highway which is pretty good in my opinion. I'd try a 5w-20 in your GC.
Triple_Se7en
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Theres no such animal as 5W-20 GC. The German offering is only in 0W-30 -- only available at Auto Zone.
Triple_Se7en
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I would stick with your manual wording of 5W-30. The 30W sheers down to a high 20W most times anyways during the OCI. Pennzoil oils have always given me the least amount of consumption in two Caravans I had - one I still have. My 2nd choice would be Castrol.
He was saying to use a 5w-20 in his GC (Grand Caravan), not 5w-20 GC (German Castrol).
the car is used primarily for short trips to the grocery store no more than 6miles a trip , and then occasional one to 2 hour trip on highway.
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