oil recomendations for 2006 Caravan

[DanielinTheLions]

I just bought a 2006 Grand Cavaran with the 3.8 V6 and 108,000 miles on it and am curious what oils everyone is having the most success with for this engine. Also looking for opinions in a couple other areas. I've been told that the 3.8 V6 is know for consuming a little oil and it was suggested to me that it might be worth while to use 5W-30 instead of the recommended 5W-20 because that might help with the consumption. I'm also wondering what the opinions are on synthetic vs conventional. The driving condions for this van will be mostly short drive (around 5 miles) with a few longer drives here and there and three to four trips of greater than 600 miles per year. Right now I'm leaning toward 3,000 mile OCI with conventional. Any thoughts and recommendations on brand, synthetic vs conventional, weight, and OCI?

 

[rfeir]

I have a 2007 3.8 and the recommended oil is 10W-30. It does use a little oil. I run Mobil 1 EP and change it once a year. It runs about 10,000 miles in a year.

 

[MrQuackers]

My brother has an '04 with the same engine and goes ~10k on Walmart/JiffyLube cheapy changes, crazy I know but that thing just keeps on ticking at around 218k right now. I drove it myself recently so I know that engine is solid. It says in his manual to use 5w-30 and maximum 6k oci. It does not seem to use much oil until midway through the oci, or if driving aggressively.

 

[KD0AXS]

Yes, the 3.8s are known for oil consumption. Mostly the ones that had the piston rings installed upside down. I'd start with the recommended 5W-20 and see what happens. If you don't have excessive consumption with 5W-20, then there's no reason to go with anything else. If you do have consumption problems, you could try going up to 5W-30 or 10W-30 but that might not even help much. I wouldn't even consider synthetic for a 3000 mile OCI. Even a good name brand dino oil will be good for a minimum of 5000 miles.

 

[JR]

Mechanic for neighbor. She owned two 3.8's. No need to change the oil. Just fix it she would say. It uses oil so i dont have to change it. First one made over 350k with no maintence except filter only changes from son. The second one had 390k. Second one got 2k m1 10w-30 pampered corvette drain oil and fram hm filters every 12 months.

I dont suggest that abuse.

Any 5w20 will do just great 4k+ oci's city/ 5k+ mix/ 6k+ o i's full temps and highways.

 

[DanielinTheLions]

Seems everyone is recommending much longer OCIs than what the book recommends. It seems crazy too how much the recommended weight for the same engine jumps around from year to year, 5W-30, 5W-20, 10W-30.....really??!! did they really change the clearances that much from one year to the next.

 

[Nyquist]

I take care of a friend's 2008 Caravan. It seems to do well on Mobil 1 5w20.

 

[GSCJR]

Start with 5w-20 and monitor for consumption, if any. OCI are 3k for severe or 6k for normal.

 

[901Memphis]

5w30 high mileage. You'll probably need it.

 

[fisher83]

I have Castrol GTX 5w20 in mine right now and so far I like this oil quite a bit. I have tried numerous oils in this engine. I have used conventional and synthetics in 5w20 and 5w30. My OCI is usually around 4500 to 5,000 miles. I usually add about 1/4 to 1/2 qt over the OCI. I don't know why but to me the GTX seems to be the quietest so far. The 3.3 and 3.8 are good engines and have been in production for a long time. Compared to a lot of the other engines out there it is pretty low tech and doesn't require anything special. I do highly recommend changing the transmission fluid and filter though if it hasn't been done recently and use ATF+4 only. A simple pan drop and filter change will only set you back about $40 if you do it yourself.

 

[otis24]

I purchased my 2005 Grand Caravan with 3.8 new. From the start, it would use about .75 quart of oil in about 1200 miles. At about 36k miles, I discovered this site. I switched to synthetic oil and consumption went to about a half quart in 2300 miles (doing 5k to 6k mile OCIs). Oil was mostly Pennzoil Platinum 5w/20 and occasionally I would use Mobil1 5w/20.

Currently, I have about 174k on the odometer. Two changes ago, I used the bulk 5w/20 at the GM dealership where I work. This last oil change, I went back to Mobil1 5w/30 High Mileage. I checked today and was surprised to see that I've used almost a quart in about 2000 miles. I would attribute that to having used the bulk conventional and would suspect that that will even out once the van gets "used" to being back on synthetic. The synthetic definitely helped with the oil consumption in the earlier years of ownership.

 

[Capa]

I have a 2006 Grand Caravan with the same 3.8 engine and I do a yearly OCI, which averages between 8000-10,000 miles. I have almost always used synthetics. The manual calls for a 5W-20, which is what I typically use. Well, for the last OCI I used a 0W-20 and it went from consuming about 3/4 of a quart of oil in a year to about two quarts. I'm not sure why but right now I'm back to a syn 5W-20 to see if that fixes anything.

 

[blupupher]

I had an '05 Grand with the 3.8 and was about 1/2-3/4 qt low at each oil change. I did 6 month oil changes (usually around 4500 miles).
I used mostly Motorcraft 5w-20 (I got a few bottles when it was $12/5 qt jug), PP 5w-20 a few times, I think 1 round of Mobil 1 5w-20 and 2 changes with NextGen 5w-20. Never saw a difference in oil loss between them. Never tried a heavier oil either.
I had similar driving as you, mostly local driving, occasional 50 mile trips (monthly) and 2x a year a 900 mile round trip drive to the inlaws.

 

[DanielinTheLions]

Well it seems like the general consensus here is that there's no need to limit the OCI to 3,000. I'm thinking I might shoot for the 4,500 mark with conventional.

 

[MrQuackers]

I changed the oil in my brother's 2004 SXT today. He got his oil changed at JiffyLube about 7000 miles ago, using PYB and a ProMotive PH195 made by Purolator and looks pretty good for the mileage. I'll cut open the filter in a short while. My brother said he added 3 quarts of oil over the 7k period.

Here is the filter. Strangely this crosses to a L20195 which is not the speced filter

I used Peak 5w-30 and a Fram PH16 filter

 

[caravanmike]

Isn't promotive a advanced auto commercial brand. Whats jiffy lube selling it for?
Common for quick lubes to use a universal smaller filter to replace 5 others with the same base plates and threads.

 

[MrQuackers]

No idea, never noticed this filter from JiffyLube. But it does say right on the filter "by Purolator"

 

[Hokiefyd]

We had a 2003 with the 3.3L and a 2007 with the 3.8L. The 2003 called for 5W-30 and the 2007 called for 5W-20. I ran multiple oil types in each and never experienced any consumption issues, even with the 3.8L. If you're going to go to a 4,500 mile OCI, why not just make it easy and stick with 5,000 mile OCIs, on 5,000 mile increments (110k, 115k, 120k, 125k, etc)?

I did 5k mile OCIs with both of our vans and I think that was still way conservative. I used a variety of filters as well, including oversized Motorcraft FL-1As.

 

[CMNT]

Well, here is my tale of woe...

I have a 2007 Chrysler Town & Country Limited. The same 3.8L V6 as you do and it is recommended for 5W-20. Since day one, I have used Valvoline conventional 5W-20, and either a Pure One L10241 or PL10241 (whichever was available), OR if they had an OEM MO409, I'd use that.

About 30,000 miles, I started to notice the infamous 3.8L oil consumption. Over the course of two or three oil change cycles it was consistently down to the "Add" line, which is about 1 qt. Brought it to the Chrysler dealer which they noted it, changed the oil and started oil consumption test #1. I followed their letter to the law on what they and Chrysler wanted, and of course it wasn't deemed sufficient and was "within spec" for an engine with the mileage it had on it.

Essentially it took me, 50,000 miles, 3 dealerships, 8 case managers (one included me in a screaming rage on the phone with another customer service rep...), two case numbers and 8 total oil consumption tests to prove that it was burning oil. At the height of the whole situation, within 2,000 miles, it had sucked down 4 quarts of oil on a 5 quart sump. In one of those calls that are recorded for quality assurance, I made the wise crack to the rep that I don't even need to change the oil on this thing, it'll just burn it all by 3k. She found NO amusement in it. Eventually they finally agreed that "it is using more than normal..." and replaced the engine (shortblock). Funny thing, while in for this, I made the comment that they might as well replace the trans too because since day one and multiple reflashes, it's always shifted funny. No, no, no... Sure enough about month later, the trans died... but that's another story!

Anyway, a new shortblock with 14k on it later, all is well. Same diet of Valvoline conventional 5W-20 and PureOne or Mopar filters and it doesn't burn a drop. So, OP, I don't know what else can be done. Just use what they tell you to use and if it burns, it burns. Turns out the oil control rings weren't seated properly once they tore the original block down.

I have made my money's worth with the Lifetime Powertrain warranty I got on this vehicle.

 

[StevieBoy]

OK, my 2 cents. I would try Valvoline HM or Next Gen HM in the appropriate viscosity (5W-20) as fist priority. They are syn-blends, will give you great service, and should help address any minor oil use you may be having. Other HM's may do the same.