I am starting to see oil on top of my transmission, and have intermittent oil usage, so it seems the Achilles heel of these 3.6 motors is rearing its ugly head. Any thoughts on which new oil cooler to purchace? Or to stay away from?
2014 Dodge GC oil cooler advice?
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115K on the van...
I just did this two weeks ago. I ended up using the Ransoto part from Amazon, but swapped out the sensors with new ones from the auto parts store. It fit perfectly fine and no issues in the past couple weeks. I had tried getting the Dorman upgrade part, I called them and the customer service rep wouldn't or couldn't even estimate when they would be available. I couldn't even backorder the Dorman upgrade at O'Reilly or Advance.
Dorman is a well established brand and their product is guaranteed to work correctly, but it's expensive and in limited supply. Jkean used a knockoff but chose to replace all gaskets, which I would recommend you do also if you get a cheap metal one too.
I swapped from original OEM to Pacifica OEM and then a year later the first Dorman units came out and I grabbed one on the 2nd or 3rd production run. None of them leaked ever, but I knew the original was on its last legs at 120k and that eventually the Pacifica one would fail while the metal wouldn't.
One thing bad about the OEMs is I've never been able to get the coolant sensor out without ruining the housing body. The brass fitting will break loose and spin inside the plastic making it completely useless because it would then leak. The tapered sensor combined with the thread locker they put on at the factory pretty much guarantees if you need to replace the sensor, you'll need the whole unit.
One thing bad about the OEMs is I've never been able to get the coolant sensor out without ruining the housing body. The brass fitting will break loose and spin inside the plastic making it completely useless because it would then leak. The tapered sensor combined with the thread locker they put on at the factory pretty much guarantees if you need to replace the sensor, you'll need the whole unit.
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Buy a Mopar unit, ensure no one is overtorquing the cap from now on. Problem solved.
I used to think the plastic oil cooler was the Achilles heel, until everyone started posting about failed rocker arms leading to camshaft wear, posts
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Add to that the factory fill transmission fluid that starts to die at/before 100000 miles. that's suppose to last for at least 120000 miles under normal use. I wonder where they got that poor performing ATF+4 from. 
Seems the ATF+4 that came with the 4th Generation 41TE was a better product. Some never changed it, wasn't required under normal use (basically no towing/heavy hauling).
Seems the ATF+4 that came with the 4th Generation 41TE was a better product. Some never changed it, wasn't required under normal use (basically no towing/heavy hauling).
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I mean the 4th gens also suggested 50k change intervals much like the 5th gens suggest 60k intervals (the 120k interval is only in pure highway use). Oddly enough the 41TE still had loads of failures despite it's 20+ years of updates and upgrades.Add to that the factory fill transmission fluid that starts to die at/before 100000 miles. that's suppose to last for at least 120000 miles under normal use. I wonder where they got that poor performing ATF+4 from.
Seems the ATF+4 that came with the 4th Generation 41TE was a better product. Some never changed it, wasn't required under normal use (basically no towing/heavy hauling).
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Nope, not at all.
From a 2007 DGC Owner's Manual:
Under Schedule "A" Service there's no mention of transmission fluid/filter changes. Zilch.
Under Schedule "B" Service, transmission fluid/filter changes are required every 60000 miles but with this stipulation
Otherwise, no transmission fluid/filter change is required. Zilch again.
The transmissions on my 2002 DGC and 2007 DGC performed flawlessly over the years. I had to replace the solenoid pack on the 2002 due to a leaking gasket (twas typical).
From a 2016 DGC Owner's Manual:
There are descriptions of all sorts of driving conditions, uphill, downhill, city, highway, cruise control on or off, ECON mode on or off, winter, summer, wet, dry, and so forth, which involve the operation of the transmission. There is a requirement for the transmission fluid/filter to be changed at 120000 miles. This is revised to 60000 miles under these, and only these, conditions:
This has nothing to do with city driving, highway driving, cold, hot, uphill, downhill, or whatever what one might imagine. It is very clear as to what requires more frequent fluid/filter changes and is consistent with the 4th Generation.
This is from the guys that wrote the book on maintenance, not some seat of the pants, pat answers from a peanut gallery. However, it appears they messed up in the quality of their factory fill transmission fluid. That's the only way I can explain it. It loses its frictional and other attributes long before it should.
The newer 8 and 9 speeds have "lifetime" fluid. I hope they do better than they did with their factory fill ATF+4 on the 5th Generations.
Anyway, this Thread is not about transmission problems but rather a botched up plastic oil filter housing assembly by Chrysler that isn't likely going to be fixed, for long, by putting in the same failure prone plastic product. No doubt rough handling is a contributing factor. That's why we don't have cotton cord tires anymore. Not tough enough.
The aluminum replacement for the plastic assembly, from a second or third tier company (hint Chrysler) seems to be the better answer. It is inherently tougher, no doubt about that.
The plastics and polymers used on engine components were not chosen out of the air. They are not the plastics used in legos and nerf guns. If you look at the material used on the intakes and the oil cooler- it is a nice quality plastic that is used. Replacing it with cheap grade cast aluminum is not going to prevent a Gorilla from overtorquing and cracking the housing.
That also may not be the failure point. I did not see any cracks in my cooler when i took mine off. The seals between the top of the engine deck and the cooler are the only things preventing leak-- over time, I suspect the seals fail- loose compliance, and compression, stay fixed. The engine deck itself at the seal points is perfectly smooth, there is no machined recess for those seals to sit inside or compress into. - you are reliant on those seals having counter compression onto the flat surface of the deck to provide the seal.
10 years is a long time, 100k miles is a lot of RPMs, and many, many heat cycles. Car's up into the mid 90's were never expected to last 100k miles. Maybe the VW/Mecedes versions are lasting longer because they are Euro.
That also may not be the failure point. I did not see any cracks in my cooler when i took mine off. The seals between the top of the engine deck and the cooler are the only things preventing leak-- over time, I suspect the seals fail- loose compliance, and compression, stay fixed. The engine deck itself at the seal points is perfectly smooth, there is no machined recess for those seals to sit inside or compress into. - you are reliant on those seals having counter compression onto the flat surface of the deck to provide the seal.
10 years is a long time, 100k miles is a lot of RPMs, and many, many heat cycles. Car's up into the mid 90's were never expected to last 100k miles. Maybe the VW/Mecedes versions are lasting longer because they are Euro.
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^^^Seen a plastic engine block lately? or rocker arms ... oops, shouldn't have mentioned that ... they may be next.
I think we need a bench test using a plastic oil filter housing and an aluminum oil filter housing. We'll let the guy in your Avatar have a go at both to see which is the strongest.
Anybody pick plastic? Are they using it for important engine parts on airplanes?
Cars up into the mid 90s not expected to last 100000 miles??
Tell that to an old 1966 Ford Fairlane 289 ci. two door hardtop I use to own. New timing chain and gears at 100,000 miles and kept on going (and rusting). The top of the gas tank was the floor of the trunk. One of Ford's "better ideas"?
The 1990s? Much higher, I think, if body rust didn't do them in.
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I'm not sure where or how this trope started, but this **** needs to die.
Many vehicles have been easily able to go well into the 2-300k mile mark since the 60s. 90s-00s vehicles were peak for reliability overall IMO, just enough electronic control to take out guess work and variables, but not so much to completely tank the vehicle when something failed like modern cars.
It's all too common talk for modern vehicles to need engines and transmissions replaced well under 100k miles or for a simple sensor, solenoid, or servo to leave them bricked on the side of the road, while most 90s and 2000s drivetrains were good for 200k even under the worst of maintenance.
Any good, well maintained car should last to at least 250k without major repairs. 100k is when improper maintenance becomes a killer. Before that is either a defective design or gross neglect. Cars have pretty much adhered to this since the 80s. Most manufacturers seem to aim for a mostly issue free 100k.
Just like the plastic intake manifolds that were first used over 20 years ago. And started being replaced 10 or so years ago in quite a few cases. Some appear to outlast the engine, some don't.
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Word of free advise, Replace the PCV valve if you haven't done so. Oil will start to leak thru different points if the engine can't breathe correctly.
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