Brother's 2003 Chrysler Sebring with a 2.7l v6

[GoalieFergy53]

My brother bought his Sebring a few years ago used. He's not mechanically incline and was very hard on his old car, as far as routine maintenance. Since getting his Sebring (which just clocked 100,000 miles) he's just taken it to quick lubes for cheap conventional oil changes (and had a few bad experiences!) I first saw a couple months ago a post about the sludging issue the 2.7l v6 engines have, which got me worried. He had a slight oil leak and I put in a bottle of Auto-Rx I had in in hopes of curing the leak and break down any sludge that might be in there. There's no paper work about maintenance prior to him buying it so that has me a bit uneasy.

I just got a set of new ramps and am now able to change his oil for him (doing 3k mile or 3 month OCI). I've been reading up the last few days about the 2.7l and what red flags to look for, so along with the oil change I'll clean the PCV hoses and replace the PCV valve. Once the oil is drained I'll look in the oil filler and maybe take the valve covers off to see for myself if he has any sludge(hopefully not, but if so, probably will drop the oil pan as well to see just how bad.)

That leads me to my question, I plan to use a Motorcraft filter (since they're PureOne/Purolator Premium filters) and was thinking about putting in either Rotella conventional 10w-30 or Rotella T Synthetic 5w-40. My thoughts are that the detergents in the Rotella will help clean up the engine after the Auto-Rx cycle. I'm leaning towards the 5w-40 synthetic since I've read a lot of people say to run synthetic in this particular engine. Would the 40 weight be fine or should I stick to 30 weight? I've begun using Chevron Supreme conventional in my 2006 4.2l F-150, as I've read it's a great conventional. I figured I'd run at least a couple OCI's in my brother's car with the HDEO and either stay with that or then switch the Chevron Supreme.

Any comments or insight is greatly appreciated.

 

[rewote500]

I have a Dodge Intrepid with the same motor. I would not use a 40 wt. oil in that motor...... I have run Mobil 1 5w-30 and Purolator Classic filters in mine since 38K miles with 5K OCI's. Took the valve covers off around 154K miles and it was spotless. I have read about many of these motors failing around 70K miles so I run the synthetic. I'm putting her on M1 EP 5w-30 in April with 6 month OCI's...... You may be okay with the dino (I'd run a syn) but I would use a 30 wt over the 40 wt.......

 

[DC84]

While working at a Dodge dealer for more than a year I only ran across two 2.7s with sludge issues. One had been neglected and the other had a faulty water pump which led to oil and coolant mixing. As for leaks the 2.7 is known for leaking at the oil pan gasket and or the timing cover, I would typically do both at the same time. A 40 weight oil is overkill in this application but synthetic is a good idea as well as having a UOA every so often to check for contamination.

 

[05Blazer]

I would recommend using Shell Rotella 5W40. It has a great winter pour rate and is a very robust synthetic that can handle longer OCIs in the 2.7L. I have been using it on my family's twin Santa Fe Suvs with the 2.7s with Carquest Blue filters with great success at 7500-10k OCIS. If you use quality oil in those engines with resonable OCIs and keep the motor mounts in check, then that engine should last 300k easy. Transmission is another story tho.

 

[ThirdeYe]

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the sludge issue was fixed (or not as much of an issue) for the 2003 year. I remember looking it up before because a friend of mine bought a 2003 and I was curious about his.

 

[Robenstein]

A 10w30 HDEO will work well I think. I personally have had good luck with the Mystick JT8 10w30 Syn blend.

You could do a run of 5w40 with some Marvels Mystery Oil in it to help flush it out.

Id do one of those two with a Purolator Classic filter.

 

[lewdwig]

Originally Posted By: 05Blazer
I would recommend using Shell Rotella 5W40.


+1 (or Mobil 1 0W-40).

 

[BigNick]

A *W40 oil is too thick in my opinion. Even tho the sludge issues are more common in older models (like mine), I would still run whatever synthetic you have stocked up on during sales/rebates (Synpower, PP, Mobil etc).

3 to 4 thousand miles OCI are fine, but the key is to check your oil level often. I have to to add .5 to 1 quart of make up oil between oil changes (to keep the oil level at the Full line), and I don't have any leaks or anything. I also only use higher end oil filters (PureOne, Mobil 1), just for peace of mind.

 

[beast3300]

The 2.7 isn't Chrysler's best creation, I would stick with recommended motor oil. And for added security I would run a quality syn blend like MC 5w30, or a PYB 5w30 in it. Another great choice would be Chevron 5w30 as my understanding it is on the lighter "30" spectrum.

 

[440Magnum]

I wouldn't saddle that little motor with a thick oil- stick with the recommended grade (5w30 I believe.) Since the 2.7 does tend to dump a lot of heat into the oil and has a reduced PCV flow compared to other Chrysler engines, it probably is a good idea to stick with synthetics and not to push the OCIs out too long.

The 2.7 has a pretty bad reputation, and I myself have always looked down on it as a blemish on Chrysler's history of always building superb engines (even when they screwed up other parts of the car...). But truth be told, a LOT of them have gone a lot of miles without blowing up and with neglectful maintenance practices. The worst problem they had (and it was a bad one...) involved the timing chain tensioners which would come apart and cause the engine to jump time and then smash the valves. That was fixed within the first couple of years, so you should be OK on that score. In many ways its a nice little engine design- but its basically a one-off design that is unrelated to ANY other engine family that Chrysler builds, and its definitely had more than the average number of annoying problems.

 

[sparkplug]

2003+ do not have sludge problems. Any quality SM oil at a reasonable interval will be fine. I've run Valvoline 5w30 for 72k miles in my 04 Stratus with no problems. Clean inside too. Other than the early disasters in the early days of the the 2.7 it really is a great little motor. Good power and I can get 34 mpg out of it on a trip.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

rotella 10w-30 is plenty robust, anything thicker will kill the fuel mileage and engine response. Those cars are a big florida rental fleet car and there is your sludge story right there.

 

[Durango]

If your worried abut engine sludge in that motor I'd have it flushed real good and replace the oil/dino to a good synthetic. I believe the synthetic will over time clean the insides and keep it there until your next OCI.

I don't know what the weather is in your area but when the skies are clear I'd take it on a good hour and a half drive to get the oil hot and circulate the oil throughly so it can absorb and moisture build-up and continue to clean/melt that sludge.

That's what I do despite the over-priced gas these days.

For both my car/truck I use Mobil 1 5W-30.


Durango

 

[GoalieFergy53]

I'm just being cautious about the sludge potential since there's not previous maintenance records and the possibility that by the time my brother changed his oil, he could have been running it really low. I only see him a couple times a month, so I try to check it when I can.

The 5w-40 synthetic was appealing for the fact that it's a full synthetic, but I was unsure if the 40 weight would be too thick for the engine. I think I'll call around and see if anyone carries Rotella T5 Syn-Blend 10w30.

He commutes on the freeway probably about an hour each way every weekday, so at least it's now getting good highway driving.

 

[steve20]

as far as it being a good little motor giving up to 34 MPG.....................I beg to differ-I've rented plenty of Chargers with this boat anchor for an engine, and the experience was anything but 'great', in fact it is one of the most annoying cars I've driven in quite a long time


Steve

 

[sparkplug]

Dude, your driving a 2 ton boat with 190 hp. My Stratus barely tips 3100. Those Chargers are almost 1000 pounds heavier! Notice I said 34 mpg on a trip. Not pounding the pee-pee out of it like you probably did with those Chargers.

 

[dishdude]

I actually bought a used 1999 Intrepid on a whim without really looking into it, and as soon as I started reading up on the problems with the 2.7 and finding tons of cars with this engine on Ebay/Craigslist with blown engines, I dumped the thing. It has 96k on it, and was a ticking time bomb IMO

If I was stuck with one of these, I would run syn 5w-30 at a 3k interval. If you did this from new, I would think you would be ok. But on a car with an unknown maintenance history, no way!

 

[1nighttrain]

take a look under the oil cap on the cylinder head right below the cap are numbers , when i got my wife's 02 concord i could just barley read the numbers , i ran rotella 5w40 for 5000 miles found this site and freaked about all the hipe with this motor being a sludge monster , i changed the oil (10w30 is what my motor calls for) anyway the numbers are much easer to read i was running the rotella for a bit now i run what ever 10w30 even super tech , I've sent in a few oil samples to black stone all looks great i change the oil every 3500 to 4500 miles

 

[steve20]

I check the oil on each rental I get-more out of curiosity than anything else. The Charger is the exception to that rule--never check one of these---who cares if the motor blows??? one less ticking time bomb (borrowed from the dish guy)
Otherwise, I treat the rentals as if they were my own--the car will be someone's maybe only mode of transportation in a year or two-why f it up?


Steve

 

[sparkplug]

LOL!! That's pretty awesome. I wish more people were more responsible like that. My buddy got a rental after he totaled his truck. He beat the living snot out of that poor car. Granted is was like an 04 Aveo but still.