Oil Recommendations - 2001 Dodge Dakota

[DaSoul]

All,

Looking for information in regards to what oil to put in. I appreciate the help in my other thread this is one is for my truck.

1. What kind of vehicle you have
2001 Dodge Dakota

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

Grade: Manual just mentions API and that is it as far as grade

Viscosity: 10w-30 preferred for the 3.9L but says I can use 5w-30 if temperature range anticipated before next oil change is -20 to 32 degrees. I would assume if for this next change I should go 10w-30. I doubt we will see much below 0 temps until the next winter

Change Interval: 7500 on schedule A and 3000 on schedule B
Schedule B says if you meet any of the following:

Day or night temperatures are below 32 degrees
Stop and go driving
Extensive engine idling
Driving in dusty conditions
Short trips of less than 10 miles
More than 50% of your drive is at sustained high speeds during hot weather above 90 degrees
Trailer towing
Taxi, Police or delivery services
Off-road or desert operation

While my trips are short the truck is not driving much as I work from home. I might drive it once every month to a month and a half. So I wouldn't think of putting it off as far as mileage goes. 3k or 7500 is going to be way too long. But can I get away with once every 4,5, or 6 months?

3. Where you live

Minneapolis, MN

4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)

I drive a bit harder than what I would consider normal but not all that hard.

5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)

Short trips most are probably under 10 minutes and most are the city. On occasion highway miles

6. Whether your car has any known problems

Slight oil leaking from what I assume are valve covers

The truck has around 100k miles on it

Appreciate the responses.

Thanks,

Scott

 

[901Memphis]

Due to the slight leak I would suggest a high mileage 5w30 like Maxlife, Pennzoil HM, or Quaker State defy.

 

[salv]

QS Defy 10w30. It is thick in grade, has seal conditioners, is semi-synthetic, and best yet, cheap.

 

[Garak]

I'd lean towards any of the HM oils already mentioned, including Defy. I'd also lean towards the 5w-30 all year, given the winters you face.

 

[95busa]

Rotella syn 10w-30 HDEO. I always ran 10w-30 in my cam in block Magnum engines, and the Rotella stuff is about the best out there. Slam some new valve cover gaskets on it and she will be good to go. Those engines are pretty tough. My buddy has 170k abusive miles on an 01 Ram 4x4 5.2 magnum. Still running strong. Two tune ups in that time....

 

[DaSoul]

Opinions on if I can extend out to 6 months on my OCI?

 

[Jimmy9190]

First replace the valve cover gaskets. It is a fairly easy job. Get yourself a good inch-pounds torque wrench, the correct spec is 95 inch-lbs. You can buy a decent inch-lbs torque wrench at Harbor Freight for less than $20.00 on sale and with a coupon, or you can even rent an inch pounds torque wrench at Autozone for free. The gasket set here in Florida costs $19.00 at AAP. I would hope the price would be about the same in Minnesota. I just replaced my own valve cover gaskets about 2 months ago, there was a slight leak and I could smell oil burning when I shut off the engine. Each gasket had a bad spot in roughly the same area. The new gasket set took care of the problem.

After replacing the valve cover gaskets there should be no need for a high mileage oil. Personally I don't believe in HM oil but if you did use one the better one of the bunch is Maxlife. There are a lot of good reviews on Maxlife here. I have never used Defy but it also gets good reviews here.

The 3.9 is not particular at all about oil, use whatever brand you like. In my own 3.9 I had a little more engine noise with Kendall GT-1 Syn Blend than I did with regular conventional. I am currently using Peak Conventional in my truck, before that I used Quaker State Conventional and Valvoline/Napa/Carquest store brands. My truck ran fine on all of those.

I use 10W30, but I live in Florida. In Minnesota I would use 5W30 year round just because of the cold weather up there. I used to be lucky enough to work from home too. Back then I changed my oil every 6 months, regardless of mileage. I did that primarily because of moisture and condensation and to prevent sludge. Back then I usually would put on about 1500 miles in a 6 month period and even when I did drive my truck it was mostly short trips. I tried to get it out for a good highway run at least once a week.

 

[HangFire]

My 3.9L V6 always consumed lots of oil until the heads cracked between the intake and exhaust valves, then it consumed crazy amounts of oil. It seems to be OK now with new/refurb heads, but I don't use it enough to really say. I'm not sure how long you've had yours, or how much oil it uses.


I used QSUD (Quaker State "Full Synthetic" "Ultimate Durability") 5w-30, which has had many names over the years, for 110K miles with good results. Now I'm experimenting.

 

[VNTS]

Just about any xw-30 will work.

If your leak is from the valve covers fix it, also has the plenum gasket been fixed? If your using lots of oil, yank the TB and take a look down the intake.

I run xw-30 synthetic, what ever is on sale.

How is the rest of the drivetrain, trans, t-case, diffs, power steering and coolant?
I would be more concern about maintaining the fluids in those.
If given a little TLC they are pretty much bullet proof.

 

[HangFire]

Originally Posted By: VNTS
Just about any xw-30 will work.

If your leak is from the valve covers fix it, also has the plenum gasket been fixed? If your using lots of oil, yank the TB and take a look down the intake.

I run xw-30 synthetic, what ever is on sale.

How is the rest of the drivetrain, trans, t-case, diffs, power steering and coolant?
I would be more concern about maintaining the fluids in those.
If given a little TLC they are pretty much bullet proof.


I just looked at the TB and it was issued in 2000 and applies through 1999 model year, so I didn't mention it. Still, it seems some people have had this problem on Dak's later than 1999.

http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68739

As for bullet-proof, the front differential on the 4WD will not survive long being yanked around with oversized tires, as happens off-road. Within normal use it should last a very long time.

 

[VNTS]

Dodge used the same [censored] tin plenum all the way thru to the end in 2002 on the magnum engines, they can fail anytime. My 00 5.9 Durango is still hanging in but at some point the gasket blows and they start sucking oil.

per the front diff, never scene one fail as long as gear lube gets changed and not run low due to a leak, I have the corp 205 front diff which is stronger than the earlier dana 30/35 used in the 98 and 99 D's