Oil Recommendation for 2009 3.8L Chrysler T&C

[robertway]

Looking for a recommendation for a 2009 Chrysler Town & Country with the 3.8L V6

1. What kind of vehicle you have?
2009 Chrysler Town & Country with the 3.8L V6

2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well?
Manual says 3.8L Engine (SAE 5W-20, API Certified) 5 Quarts, also recommends changing the oil every 6k miles. I just picked up a 5 gallon jug of Castrol Syntec 5w20 at WalMart and was going to use a Purolator PureOne filter. The first oil change was at about 3200 miles and it was the freebie from the dealer so I have no idea what they used.

3. Where you live?
Central New Jersey

4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)?
This is the wife's daily driver, she doesn't beat the &%#$ out of it but doesn't baby it either, lots of hard accelerations and 75mph cruising speed on the highways.

5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)?
Pretty much a 50/50 split between highway cruising and carting around town, lots of stops and starts throughout the day.

6. Whether your car has any known problems?
Nope....

Thanks in advance for any assistance...

 

[94supraonchrome]

the Syntec will go 6K OCI no problem....Pure One is a great filter.

 

[ueberooo]

The Castrol, like any other major brand is fine. I would drive the oil to the max manufactured OCI minues 1500 miles; that way there's little danger of forgetting to change the oil in time, plus, it usually is pretty close to 4000 miles, which any decent brand oil will tolerate. If it were me, I'd try the Conoco Kendall GT-1 synth blends with the new additives. I've been happy with that brand in the past and now they have new and much improved additives.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: ueberooo
The Castrol, like any other major brand is fine. I would drive the oil to the max manufactured OCI minues 1500 miles; that way there's little danger of forgetting to change the oil in time, plus, it usually is pretty close to 4000 miles, which any decent brand oil will tolerate. If it were me, I'd try the Conoco Kendall GT-1 synth blends with the new additives. I've been happy with that brand in the past and now they have new and much improved additives.



What new blend? When?

 

[addyguy]

The brand-new Kendall GT-1 syn-blend with 'liquid titanium' additive technology.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I've used a number of oils in my '07 T&C with the 3.8L engine. The FF was good. I changed that out at 1,000 miles to MotorCraft 5W-20, which was also good. I changed that out at 5,000 miles to Mobil 1 5W-20, tons of valvetrain noise. Drained that at about 6,000 miles (no filter change) to Pennzoil YB 5W-30, and the noise was gone.

At 10,000 miles, I drained the PYB and ran two 5k OCIs of Valvoline SynPower 5W-30. That seemed to be good oil. At 20,000 miles, I put in some Pennzoil Platinum 5W-20, and that seems to run the best in it. At 25,000 miles, I ran an OCI of Chevron Supreme 5W-30, and that also ran very well in it. At 30,000 miles, I switched back to PP 5W-20, and the engine will have PP 5W-20 in it for as long as I own it from here on out.

Filters are the Mopar MO-090 filters from Walmart (overpriced Purolators) or currently a bunch of Advance Auto AA16 filters I got on close out from Advance (which are Purolators spray-painted red).

Your '09 3.8L engine should take the "small" filter, which is a PH-3614 size as I recall. You can run any number of larger filters in it very easily, such as the PH-16, or even the PH-8A (I list the Fram part numbers simply because they're usually easily recognizable). The Purolator equivalent of the PH-16 is the L14670 as I recall. My '07 is supposed to take the "small" filter also, but the owner's manual still has the -090 Mopar part number in it, so I'm clear to run that filter for warranty purposes. Our '07 has the lifetime powertrain warranty, so I'm keen on keeping it up to date and using the "authorized" parts.

The PureOne will be a fine filter, and the Pennzoil Platinum 5W-20, should you choose to use it, will easily handle the recommended OCIs from Chrysler. It's 3K miles for "severe" service and 6K miles for "normal" service as I recall. I change mine at 5K mile intervals. I really like the 3.8L powertrain. It's relatively smooth and efficient. We've averaged 19.6 MPG with our '07 T&C overall, including every drop of fuel we've put in it.

 

[Silber Igel]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
The brand-new Kendall GT-1 syn-blend with 'liquid titanium' additive technology.


+++ Or one of the clones.... Phillips 66, Conoco, Union 76, Motorcraft. I'd go for the Motorcraft blend. Nothing wrong with Castrol either.

 

[JustinC25]

I maintain an '06 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT with the 3.8

I run Pennzoil Platinum 5w20 with the Mopar MO-090 filter from walmart, at a 1 year/5k oci. It runs nice and smooth on it, with no problems. It also sees very hard use (Short trips).
Even though it's an '06 it only has 17k. So I suppose that this speaks well of PP. If you want to run dino, I'd go with the Motorcraft 5w20, Though it is a blend, it is priced as a dino ($11.50 @ WM) Many have had great results with it. I did when I used it in my '03 Windstar (Though now I use PP), and I run it in my friends '06 Mazda 3i 2.0

 

[Hokiefyd]

I ought to run the Motorcraft 5W-20 in mine. I have no real reason not to. PP has given me such great service, though. It really doesn't matter (so price should be pushing me towards the MC).

 

[afoulk]

I have a Jeep Wrangler with the 3.8 (same engine) and agree that the Castrol Syntec seems to do good in them. My valvetrain was the quietest with QS Torque Power 5w-30. I've tryed various 5w-20's and 30's and even Rotella T syn. 5w-40. All did great, but the QS seemeed the quietest. These are real solid, reliable engines and pretty much any oil will work great for you. Some do develope valvetrain noise, such as mine, but it doesn't seem to run any differently. Careful on filter selection. If yours does indeed take the PH3614 sized filter, guys with the Jeeps have been having problems with the ADBV not working in certain brand filters. If you stick with the Purolator filters, you should be ok. Motorcraft FL-400S filters, or their equivilant also fit on the jeeps, don't know if they fit on the minivans. They are the same diameter as stock, but longer.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Almost anything fits on the minivans. The filter hangs straight down, and there's plenty of clearance down to even the front crossmember to prevent any damage from a curb. You can easily hang a MotorCraft FL-1A on the engine (I have before).

What are the filters that haven't been successful with the Jeep guys? I've only really run the Purolators on mine (even a PureOne once), but haven't had any issues, yet. I thought I might have had a filter problem with the Mobil 1 making all the noise, but I didn't even change the filter when I drained it out, so I know the filter was good.

This engine isn't the sexiest engine out there, but it's a very durable and well-running engine. I've never really longed for more power out of it (or from the 3.3L version that I had in our previous van). Even the 41TE transmission has behaved very well for us. I'm sure the new 61TE 6-speed in the 2008+ minivans is even better.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I run a Motorcraft FL400s On my Jeeps 3.8

 

[afoulk]

I know the Mobil 1's are the worst for the ADBV problem on the jeeps, and K&N's were also mentioned. There is even the occasional factory filter that does it too. Surprisingly, all the Fram filters seem to have the fewest problems with it. I've run Fram, Purolator, the Motorcraft FL-400S, and Amsoil filters and havn't had problems with either of them. If you can fit the Motorcraft FL-1A on your minivan, i say go for it.

 

[beanoil]

ST8 from WM, and whatever you want in the crankcase. I've run 5-20, 5-30, 10-30, straight 30 and currently 15-40. I like the 15-40 for the higher TBN @ 6000 mile OCI on E85.

 

[Durango]

I too suggest trying/using Quaker State "Q" synthetics as it's made no "lifter slap" in the early mornings like Mobil 1 did. It's price is a little cheaper than M1 so if your on a budget try that.

In addition like the others said the Kendall "synthetic" brown bottle is priced about $5 bucks/quest and appears the be the cheapest synthetic oil the store shelves! AND it's made by Conoco-Phillips/Union76 which I hears makes excellend oil products as well as Chevron.

As far as the oil weight is concerned stay with the 5W-20 oils to save a few bucks upon start-up.

Durango