sringer

my jeep is an 07 with 30,000 miles now. i bought it at 27,000 miles. i just did my first oil change the other day and only took out 2 1/3 quarts

JKlad

My '08 owner's manual states that 5w30 may be used if 5w20 is unavailable. Mind you, it's an export model (Australia) so the book may be different to the one for US sold vehicles.

In many places 5w20 isn't even available off the shelf anyway. Where I am it's special order only from the dealer, and Chrysler dealers have to import it from the US because it is not available here from local suppliers. The main reason I guess is that where I am is a hot climate country, and oil with a 5 winter rating is considered purely a winter oil for alpine areas only, and the 20 weight is considered too thin to protect the motor under extreme operating temperatures, which commonly occur if you're sitting in traffic on a 110F day with the aircon on full blast for extended periods. Even the 5w30 I use (Castrol Edge) is considered a high performance racing oil and costs over 50 bucks for a 5 quart container and the famous Mobil1 doesn't even come that thin here; 10w30 is the minimum.

The accepted reason why Chrysler specifies 5w20 in primitive, non-VVT pushrod motors like the JK's V6 is that these thin, low additive oils achieve slightly better fuel consumption figures in the federally mandated tests and help Chrysler meet its CAFE targets for the fleet. The factory fill where I am for motors of similar design to the 3.8L V6 is usually 10w30 or 15w40.

Reiper

BUMP

I checked my oil today and guess what the oil is down again about a half inch under the hash marks this was after sitting all night in the blustery cold the mileage was 28,853. I let it warm up for about 5 minutes and drove to the gym 7 miles away and checked it when I got there about an 1/8 of an inch under the hash marks.. (now I did not think the oil was going to magically reappear just wanted to get an idea of where it was after it had warmed up). The oil change sticker from the dealership has the next oil change at 31,000+

Called the dealership they said to add oil, keep an eye on it and let them know if it keeps doing it. Guess I still have a problem! Really starting to get frustrated with this FREAKIN' PROBLEM CHILD

MM Jeep

About this time I would be asking for a new engine if they can't fix the one thats in there. Or just say frik Chrysler and rebuild or replace it my self.

Mike JK

How can they get away with saying 1qt/1000 miles is acceptable while the problems worsens and such terrible sludge builds up in the engine??? Then, when you're out of warranty and suddenly cross the 1qt/1000 mile mark, you're shit out of luck?

And this is legal?????

There should be a class action lawsuit.

ronjenx

It's perfectly legal.
All piston engines use SOME oil.
The line has to be drawn somewhere for what's acceptable and what's not, regarding when to take action to fix it. Otherwise, fools would expect new engines if theirs used a few ounces between oil changes.
The 1 quart/1000 mile figure has been around for many decades, among all the manufacturers.

Mike JK

Except that most (almost all? overwhelming majority? all but this one?) modern engines don't use enough oil for owners to notice.

The issue here is that this problem gets worse and worse. So if I come to the dealer when I'm burning .9 quarts of oil per 1000 miles and I have 1000 miles left on my warranty and that dealer sends me away, what happens 10001 miles later when I start burning 1.1 quarts of oil every 1000 miles and spend 2000 dollars having my engine taken apart and the mechanic finds defective rings that were not properly installed or some other issue that should have been covered under warranty?

I went to the dealer. I had the problem while under warranty. So what's supposed to happen?

drumnatural

That seems way too much imo. 1 quart inbetween oil changes, lets say every 5k miles, seems to be more of a normal consumption.

Regardless of what the manufactures say 1 quart/1000 miles is their scapegoat to cover for crappy engineering/quality control.

ronjenx

I agree, and would be pissed if mine was using that much.

A Google search for "excessive oil consumption" will bring up just how common this is across the board (meaning all makes and models).

JKlad

Agreed.

JK has a 6 quart sump. So if a JK using 1 quart per 1000miles is left alone between oil changes, then only one quart will be left in the sump at the scheduled 5000mile oil change. This is below the amount of oil required to feed the oil pump on even a slight incline/decline leading to starving of the oil pump and loss of oil pressure leading to catastrophic failure of bearings & other components (read: piston with con rod attached exiting the engine block at 5000RPM). So by following Chrysler's recommendations you will destroy the motor.

Where I am (Australia) the service interval is 12,000KM (7450miles) and Chrysler still says here that the 1 quart per 1000miles is acceptable, so you would run the sump completely bone dry and seize the motor solid well before the scheduled oil change is due.