Mckratz

How many caravans do you see burning oil?...all of them. everything about these jeeps feels cheap, this is my first time buying other than gm and im kicking myself. Chrysler is just a lower quality brand, from the motors to the paint. But I'm the dumbass for buying it, just never thought I'd see so many issues from something 3 years old from any company. I've owned 12 year old trucks with 250k with no problems. These jeeps are not worth what they charge for them, when you look at what they are, the substance is just isnt there.

ronjenx

Every brand has its share of dissatisfied owners, for all the same reasons.

I've had all the usual brands, including three Jeeps. Never had any problems with any of them.

JKlad

Was talking to a mechanic (not a Jeep mechanic though, so he didn't have JK-specific knowledge) recently about the bearing issues with these V6's. He suggested that I could always do a little preventative maintainance and replace all the crank bearings with some heavy duty ones with lead in the alloy even before the OEM ones start showing obvious signs of wear; said it can be done on most motors from underneath by dropping the oil pan & getting to the bearing shells that way (much cheaper than removing the entire motor from the vehicle & then tearing it down) & can't see why the Chrysler 3.8L V6 would be any different.

The question I have is; does anyone make aftermarket bearings for the Chrysler 3.8L V6? I know there's a whole variety of different crank & rod bearings available for common motors such as the Chev smallblock & LS V8 motors, Ford 351C's, and of course the venerable Chrysler 4.0L I6 but is anyone doing them for the Chrysler minivan motor?

From what the mechanic was telling me, they no longer put lead into OEM non-diesel bearings due to emmisions reasons (lead kills cat converters, thus the move to unleaded gas when cats became manditory; the same reason they don't put zinc & phosphorus anti-wear additives into most motor oils any more either) even though bearings containing lead in the alloy are far more resistant to wear (the reason why they are still used in heavy-duty applications such as diesels).

CAM24

I finally got the dealership to acknowledge my oil consumption issue the other day, after the 3rd test in a year. They replaced the piston rings and resurfaced the cylinder heads and I couldn't be happier. The incessant spark knock is completely gone, thank God because it made me want to drive it off a cliff, and I'm going to check the oil in a few hundred more miles to see what it's looking like. Now if I could just get them to own up about those hinges we'll be in great shape...

ROKLIMO

My '07 burns about 1.5 qts per thousand miles. Knocks like a mutha on startup. No lifetime power train warranty. I have managed to get 95k miles out of it. I think my new rings will include the rest of a 5.7VVT Hemi... Not going to polish this turd.

XBlacky08X

I'm at almost 41,000 miles now and so far no oil consumption issues... I hear no knocking, and she runs great. I have used 10w-30 for the last 10K and no problems yet... I think a lot of it might be Chrysler's recommendation of 5w-20 oil. My mechanic (family mechanic, have known for years) says that 5w-20 is too thin for this 3.8. He recommends a good quality 10w-30.

Rhino64

I moved to 10-30 with my last oil change and plan to continue using it.

ROKLIMO

Just really glad I didn't go with a supercharger. Just extreme turd polishing IMHO

Grumpmeister

I had the same problem with '07. Unfortunately I didn't find out until it was to late. Didn't have a hint if trouble, changed the oil religiously every 3,000 miles. The oil light flashed once or twice. Never heard a knock. When the light flashed checked the oil and there was only one qt left! Toon it right to the dealership (after putting oil in of course! LOL) and the first thing the service rep said after I told him what was wrong was "Call Chrysler and start a case". They check the engine that day and it was shot, metal shavings in the oil. The warranty was up, I didn't have an extended one. Chrysler was pretty good about and replaced the engine and split the cost 50/50. Needless to say I just traded in the '07 and got a new Sahara, with an extended warranty I might add!!

Mckratz

Ha! thats pretty dead on, these jeeps need some kinda engine swap