Seller's mechanic says change synthetic every 3k miles. I won't be driving van like seller did...he put lots of miles on & most in city. I'll be doing long highway driving. Forgive me, but I already read thru thread & not sure how to proceed. 1. What weight synthetic to use & 2. what change interval for this T&C engine currently 116k? I'm a single woman over 70 & I really want this community's input because I'm afraid my status will lead to being gouged. TIA.
MommaNonna
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Your answers are in your Owner's Manual. If you don't have one you can download one in .pdf format from the Chrysler web site. Comes in handy, especially for searching. I have bookmarked one for my van, use it regularly for myself or answering Posts on here.
Edit: A link to your Owner's Manual:
A search of the Manual brings up 5W-30 motor oil three times, 5W-20 zero times.
Using synthetic oil every 3000 miles is "belt and braces", but more than that, wasteful.
5W-30 is a more robust oil and was likely the one specified back in 2012. They specify 5W-20 for my 2016 now (long story) but Chrysler says 5W-30 can be used, so the no-brainer, for me, is to use 5W-30.
Brand name (my preference for what's in the additive package, another long story) synthetic or conventional oil, meeting API specs is fine. I consider synthetic a waste unless going for 2X conventional oil change interval, so I use it sometimes when I want to waste money.
Some conventional oil, like the Valvoline Daily Protection 5W-30 I use, contains a bit of synthetic (blend). It's often on sale at Walmart here.
Oil monitoring systems, if yours has one, will show somewhere between 5000 and 10000 miles for an oil change interval depending on lots of idling time or lots of highway time. I do about 50% highway driving timewise and use 10000 km (6000 miles) as an oil change target. That's a bit wasteful but an easy number to remember and gives me some leeway (sometimes 1000 km leeway but don't tell anybody).
So, for you, 6000 miles, using Valvoline Daily Protection, 5W-30 should work just fine, maybe a little wasteful. First off though, I recommend checking your oil level frequently to determine if any needs to be added between changes. In which case, oil change intervals could be stretched out a bit, depending.
Edit: A link to your Owner's Manual:
A search of the Manual brings up 5W-30 motor oil three times, 5W-20 zero times.
Using synthetic oil every 3000 miles is "belt and braces", but more than that, wasteful.
5W-30 is a more robust oil and was likely the one specified back in 2012. They specify 5W-20 for my 2016 now (long story) but Chrysler says 5W-30 can be used, so the no-brainer, for me, is to use 5W-30.
Brand name (my preference for what's in the additive package, another long story) synthetic or conventional oil, meeting API specs is fine. I consider synthetic a waste unless going for 2X conventional oil change interval, so I use it sometimes when I want to waste money.
Some conventional oil, like the Valvoline Daily Protection 5W-30 I use, contains a bit of synthetic (blend). It's often on sale at Walmart here.Oil monitoring systems, if yours has one, will show somewhere between 5000 and 10000 miles for an oil change interval depending on lots of idling time or lots of highway time. I do about 50% highway driving timewise and use 10000 km (6000 miles) as an oil change target. That's a bit wasteful but an easy number to remember and gives me some leeway (sometimes 1000 km leeway but don't tell anybody).
So, for you, 6000 miles, using Valvoline Daily Protection, 5W-30 should work just fine, maybe a little wasteful.
First off though, I recommend checking your oil level frequently to determine if any needs to be added between changes. In which case, oil change intervals could be stretched out a bit, depending.
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Doesn't synthetic oil flow better than conventional oil? Therefore doesn't it run back to the crankcase like a scared rabbit leaving little remaining coverage on the engine parts compared to conventional oil. Just saying, watch out for the hype and slanted reports. Currie warns against using synthetic lube in its differentials under hard use and will void warranty if used. Just sayin. All that glitters isn't gold. Actually the additive package for synthetic oil has a stickiness component, so don't worry.
Apparently the 3.6L engine was designed using conventional oil and no extra oil change interval is given for using synthetics. The additive package (the reason I stick with brand names, hard to say what basic package is blended into the house brands), is the performance package for the oil. A conventional oil with a good additive package will outperform a synthetic oil with a mediocre additive package, so says Royal Purple.
A real PAO synthetic will have a much lower cold pour point than todays "quasi" synthetics. That's one way of telling the difference.
As for the base oil, i.e. the carrier oil, synthetic will do the job intended for about twice as long as conventional before it needs changing. Other than that, price is a consideration, sometimes that Mobil stuff is cheap.
To each his own on motor oil. There are things to consider. Right now I'm using Super Tech Synthetic 5W-40 European Formula in my Jeep. That's a Warren Oil product. To me, it's an experiment. Nothing can mess up that 4.0L inline 6. Except maybe some single platinum spark plugs (another story). Anyway the 2003 Jeep Wrangler engine had a diet mostly of Valvoline conventional oil most of it 300000+ km life and is still going strong.
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Apparently the 3.6L engine was designed using conventional oil and no extra oil change interval is given for using synthetics. The additive package (the reason I stick with brand names, hard to say what basic package is blended into the house brands), is the performance package for the oil. A conventional oil with a good additive package will outperform a synthetic oil with a mediocre additive package, so says Royal Purple.
I don't know that Royal Purple makes a conventional oil. They used to make the "real thing" synthetic, not from petroleum like most of todays "synthetics" are. "Quasi" I call them.
A real PAO synthetic will have a much lower cold pour point than todays "quasi" synthetics. That's one way of telling the difference.As for the base oil, i.e. the carrier oil, synthetic will do the job intended for about twice as long as conventional before it needs changing. Other than that, price is a consideration, sometimes that Mobil stuff is cheap.
To each his own on motor oil. There are things to consider. Right now I'm using Super Tech Synthetic 5W-40 European Formula in my Jeep. That's a Warren Oil product. To me, it's an experiment. Nothing can mess up that 4.0L inline 6.
Except maybe some single platinum spark plugs (another story). Anyway the 2003 Jeep Wrangler engine had a diet mostly of Valvoline conventional oil most of it 300000+ km life and is still going strong..
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Sounds like they may have put no oil in it. Hope that wasn't the case.
Don't fret about conventional oil, it's not the death of your engine as some seem to portray. It's not a savior of your engine either. It all depends on the additive package, so to me, Brand is important.
Just use a reasonable oil change interval and look forward to many more thousand miles, based on my high mileage engine use experience with conventional oil. I had one engine overhauled over the years, a 4 cylinder 2.5 L Dodge Shadow engine with piston slap from the factory. Work done under warranty. Let me see, how many million miles has that been?
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That's the gorilla tape in the additive package.
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Was walking around Walmart today. Not a turkey in site. They have become rare birds this Christmas.
I did a walk by the motor oil section and observed some claims on the containers.
1.4X better sludge protection - Castro GTX conventional
10X better high temperature protection - Castrol Edge synthetic
40% more wear protection - Valvoline full synthetic
Advanced fuel economy - Mobil 1
I didn't look at the "high mileage" motor oils to see what they were claiming. We pretty much know what's different in their additive packages.
So, if additive packages are really basically the same, would Super Tech oil be able to claim "all of the above"? Or is it all just a bunch of hype with Mobil 1 being no better than Castrol GTX except for a longer oil change interval?
They have become rare birds this Christmas.I did a walk by the motor oil section and observed some claims on the containers.
1.4X better sludge protection - Castro GTX conventional
10X better high temperature protection - Castrol Edge synthetic
40% more wear protection - Valvoline full synthetic
Advanced fuel economy - Mobil 1
I didn't look at the "high mileage" motor oils to see what they were claiming. We pretty much know what's different in their additive packages.
So, if additive packages are really basically the same, would Super Tech oil be able to claim "all of the above"? Or is it all just a bunch of hype with Mobil 1 being no better than Castrol GTX except for a longer oil change interval?
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That's a good way to explain it.
Planning to do any blending so you get say a 2.5W-25?
I can remember adding a liter of Castrol 0W-30 European Formula (a true PAO synthetic back then) to an oil change or two, over the years, going into winter. Rotella Gas Truck should be great oil.
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I use a target of 10,000 km (6,000) miles for my 2016 DGC. I have only run it once until the oil monitor light came on. That was at over 15,000 km (9,300 miles). Changed it at 15,467 km, 247 engine hours.
The Owner's Manual says:
The engine hours is something else one can plan around/use for information. My average speed for that oil change was 62.6 kmph.(39 mph). That indicates a fair amount of highway driving and not much idle time nor road construction.
This sticky might be of interest:
What are your odometer readings, engine hours and average speed?
www.chryslerminivan.net
The Owner's Manual says:
It doesn't say to use synthetic motor oil in your vehicle and gives no credit for doing so. It's all based on good old conventional oil.
The engine hours is something else one can plan around/use for information. My average speed for that oil change was 62.6 kmph.(39 mph). That indicates a fair amount of highway driving and not much idle time nor road construction.
This sticky might be of interest:
What are your odometer readings, engine hours and average speed?
What are your odometer readings, engine hours and...
696 hours and 25,071 miles currently on our '11 Crew. It was a rental, and obviously spent a fair amount of time puttering around town. I am interested to see what others have... I like the engine hour meter, I grew up on a farm around heavy equipment and all of our maintenance was done on a...
www.chryslerminivan.net
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