Best Oil for my 09 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited

[mikeintx]

Great Forum!!!

I have a 2009 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. I am trying to figure out what a good oil would be and if I should use synthetic or conventional or a blend.

Vehicle is a 09 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (engine is a 3.8L V6)
Current Mileage on vehicle is 11900.
Book says to change oil every 6000.
I plan on doing the changes every 6000.
This will be the second oil change. First was done at dealer.
Book says to use 5w-20 with the API starburst.
I live in Texas in the Dallas area.
I drive pretty hard due to being on the highways in the heavy traffic. Average speed is 75mph.
Daily drive to work is 32 miles one way (used to be 32 round trip but I have changed work assignments).
There are no known problems with the engine at this time.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[addyguy]

ANY 5W-20 API SM oil will do just fine for 6k changes.

A favourite on here is Motorcraft 5W-20 syn-blend - great oil at a great price!

 

[mikeintx]

Thanks Addguy...I appreciate any advice.

What about a filter? I am considering NAPA Gold. I bought a FRAM but after reading about them and seeing them cut apart, I am just not willing to trust them.

I am also going to do a UOA this time and see what it says just out of curiousity.

 

[defektes]

Supertech filter is good for 6k oci, and at 2.50 a pop cant beat it

 

[Gary Allan]

NAPA GOLD/WIX is a good filter. Purolator. MotorCraft is an excellent price (made by Purolator). ST's are fine for 6k. You could probably use a filter every other oil change. If I read it correctly, you'll do 15k in your sleep if your commute stays level. You'll probably do a good bit more unless you've got another weekend vehicle.

 

[demarpaint]

I'm Bias toward synthetic oil. With the deals out there on synthetic oil with a filter tossed in, and rebates I find it harder to justify dino oil. If you are looking for a good OTC synthetic oil, I'd use PP 5W20 in your Jeep. With rebates I paid about $1 a qt for it. There are some sharp shoppers here on Bitog that have done even better.

 

[mechtech2]

IMO, 6,000 is at the outer edge of dinos, and the inner edge of full synthetic OCIs.

 

[Zaedock]

Greetings!

You can pretty much pick your poison in dino oil for a 6K mile change. There have been some pretty good deals out there on syn oil as well. If I didn't keep up on the rebates/deals, I think the best bang for the buck in a 5W20 is the 5qt jug of Motorcraft at WalMart.

When are you getting the lift kit?.....LOL

 

[ARCOgraphite]

The Toyota 20wt IDEMITSU oil looks pretty darn good, but why not 10w30 CJ-4/SM hdeo in texas? I'm not familier with the engine - guess it the big Caravan optional engine. Is the 3.8L an OHC fully rollerised valvetrain?

 

[addyguy]

Because, ARCO, the vehicle calls for 5W-20 oil.

The 3.8L is an OHV, roller-valvetrain V-6. Not a hard engine on oil by any means.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I have an 08 2 door Wrangler and it gets Regular 5w20. I have run synthetic once and ended up changing it early due to the very dirty air and heavy dust past the filter(bad seal on aftermarket filter)stick with the MOPAR filters). I run mine in the Glade of Farmington NM and in the San Juan Mountains. It has had mainly PYB 5w20 and QS GB 5w20 and although I tried a 10w30 syn in it for a while When I switched back to 5w20 the engine felt looser. I have the 6 speed manual and can tell the difference in the low end off idle torque with 5w20-vs- a thicker oil. Which I couldn't but when offroading that little bit is importnat to me.

AS far as oil filters I run the Motorcraft FL400s on my jeep.
If I did mostly Pavement I would run Conventional 5w20 to 6k without issue. Fortunately I am not in a pavement Jungle and get to go to the mountains and trails often although I am trying to stretch my intervals in my jeep like my Road vehicles I can't seem to get past 2500-4k miles with the service.

 

[Nick R]

I thought there was a TSB on the 3.8 saying to use 5W-30 instead of 5W-20.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

Nope. Not that I know of. I have not been to the dealer or updated by address for them to contact me since I got it but I do keep an eye out for TSB's. The soft top leaks, The clutch throwout bearing rattles under hard acceleration and the oil change indicator goes off early(been menaing to get that fixed) but no TSB on using anything other than 5w20. Here is a link to a site that has all the JK TSB's listed..
http://www.usajeepowners.com/showthread.php?t=221

Now if you are talking about the Chrysler TSB for vehicles sold outside of North America Saying that "5w30" may be used it is not a mechanical TSB but a Service Bulletin that advises Service departments in those regions that they may use 5w30 (since 5w20 is not reasonably available in those markets at this time)

 

[IndyFan]

Originally Posted By: rudolphna
I thought there was a TSB on the 3.8 saying to use 5W-30 instead of 5W-20.


Never heard of that. Original owners have a lifetime powertrain warranty, so if that is the case I think they would have notified us, since they will have to cover it if there is a problem.

I've run mostly Pennzoil Platinum 5w20 mostly, but am now running M1 5w20.

Also, don't use an M1 oil filter. JK owners have had a rash of experiences where the anti-drainback valves have not worked and there's much noise on a cold start, sounding like a dry start. I experienced this first-hand. I switched to a Motorcraft (FL400S??) filter that fits the Jeep, and the problem is gone. Many Jeep owners had this problem, so it is a big deal.

My Jeep tows a camper quite a bit and does some off-roading, as well as lots of stop and go commuting. It runs great, and the engine keeps getting stronger (it needed to), even at over 29k miles. This engine takes a lot of [censored] from people, but I think it is a fine engine. I like it better and better, the longer I live with it.

Enjoy your Jeep!

 

[Bryanccfshr]

THe 3.8 is not powerful nor extremely complicated but seems to be proven reliable and consistant. This is nice to have in an offroad or expeditionary rig. I may try syntetic 20wt in it at some time( I have a case of NAPA SYN 5w30 I need to use or trade.

 

[afoulk]

I've been using various sythetic 5w-30's in mine since I got it and its run just fine on it. I'm thinking of switching to convetional though just to save some money. I've seen several of these engines in the minivans get over 250,000miles on them running cheap conventional.

As far as filters go, believe it or not, Frams filters seem to have the fewest problems with the ADBV failures. I don't know what it is about these engines, but a lot of the filters out there seem to have problems. I've used Fram Toughguards, Purolator Pure Ones, Amsoil EAO, and the Motorcraft FL-400s, all without any ADBV problems. The Motorcraft filter is basically the same as the factory filter, just twice as long. These may not be the most powerful engines in the world, but they are reliable.

 

[John412]

I have recently been experiencing this "dry start" sound and It seems to me that it only started since it has gotten really cold out. I run a larger than stock first line WIX filter and about 6.2qts (to make up for the bigger filter) 5w20 M1 syn. This does not happen every time and only when I am parked with the nose of the Jeep facing down hill does it do this. I have been parking in different ways to test this theory and it only happens when the Jeep has been off for more than 4-5 hours. It is disturbing to hear this and I cant imagine that its not harmful in some way.