New to me 2018 Grand Caravan 3.6 weight questions.

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Hello everyone.

Yesterday my wife and I bought a 2018 Dodge Grand Caravan GT.

I will be doing the oil changes. It says 5w-20 in the online owners manual, but its a little confusing.

My question is can I use 0w-20 Supertech Synthetic in this engine? I bought a 6 gallon box a few weeks ago for $2.37.

We are in mid Mississippi, so it is very hot here. I was thinking of using this in the cooler months and a 5w-30 in the hot summer months. Obviously some overlap will occur. We only have a few days a year below 32f, but we have many over 90f.

I assume 5w-20 is in it now, so I will for sure run this change out. I haven't actually checked the monitor yet, but I feel certain the dealership serviced it before we got it.
 
We have talked about this before. The same engine in the Chrysler Pacifica calls for 0W20. General consensus is that the cheaper Dodge is mostly used in rental car fleets which like the cheaper 5W20 for maintenance, while the Pacifica is a slightly more premium car that calls for 10K mile oil changes, so a synthetic is more appropriate.

For what its worth, I run synthetic 5W30 in mine, in SW FL. Its sits idling the in car pickup lane at my kids school for hours and hours every week, so I prefer the 30 weight in there.
 
I suggest, don't overthink it.
That engine will outlast the car on 5W-20.
Just use a 5W-20 that meets the MS-6395 warranty requirements.
Enjoy the ride!
 
You will be fine with any 5W-20 or 0W-20 oil. 2018+ Pentastar 3.6L engines are the improved variant with a revised VVT system.

FWIW, I have run 5W-30 in my 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL with the 3.6L Pentastar also with no issue. That being said, for the Warrany Nazi's out there, I would say use whatever the manual calls out for in terms of weight and MS-6395 material spec FCA recommends when shopping for an oil.
 
My leased work vehicle for the last 15 yrs have been Caravans or Journeys with that very engine. It gets whatever cheap bulk 5w30/5w20 conventional that the authorized service place uses. All went over 100k HARD miles just great, the 3.6 is a trooper. Supertech 0w20 will work fine.
 
Anybody know if this 0w-20 supertech meets warranty specs? The MS-6395? I tried to look online, but was not successful.

I dont think I have the receipt for it. I don't think I'll have any warranty issues, but I'd like to cover my bases.

I can get Baldwin filters at work pretty cheap, I assume these will be fine?

Does warranty require receipts or would a recorded mileage be ok?


I did try to search for a lot of the questions I have asked and didn't really get what I'm looking for.
 
Use Valvoline 5W/20 and whatever filter you want. 5-6K mile interval is where I would land. if you want to extend to 10k miles or monitor recommendations then use the synthetic MS-6395 in 5W20 and probably a synthetic media filter. Buy a small notebook and tape the receipts in it along with any box ends with description/upc etc. Join carfax and upload the data if you are really paranoid. There are literally tens of thousands of these engines being used as taxis, airport transporters and ubers that have racked up well in excess of 100k miles using the cheapest approved oils.
 
Originally Posted by racinjason
Anybody know if this 0w-20 supertech meets warranty specs? The MS-6395? I tried to look online, but was not successful.

I dont think I have the receipt for it. I don't think I'll have any warranty issues, but I'd like to cover my bases.

I can get Baldwin filters at work pretty cheap, I assume these will be fine?

Does warranty require receipts or would a recorded mileage be ok?


I did try to search for a lot of the questions I have asked and didn't really get what I'm looking for.

No Supertech doesn't meet specs. I own a 2018 Grand Caravan and I used Havoline ProDS 5w20 6 qt. Box cause it was 19.95 with Mobil 1 filter that I picked up at Walmart for 2.00 I think. I change between 4 to 5k which is severe duty according to manual. This meets spec and best price.
 
Originally Posted by askani79705
My leased work vehicle for the last 15 yrs have been Caravans or Journeys with that very engine.


It has only been out since 2012

OP, You can trust the oil monitor, especially with synthetic, the Pentastar is very easy on oil. Ours goes about 7.5-8k OCI.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by Char Baby
From my understanding, we can alway replace a 5W with a 0W. Others will explain better than I can.


As long as Noack is not a concern
 
Originally Posted by PandaBear
Originally Posted by Char Baby
From my understanding, we can alway replace a 5W with a 0W. Others will explain better than I can.


As long as Noack is not a concern


Even then, it's going to depend on oil selection.

PQIA 5w-20 oil list:
http://www.pqiamerica.com/Feb2014/consolidated5w20ALL.html

Noack varies from 6.5% (Pennzoil) to 18.4% (Valvoline Nexgen), but many well-known brand names aren't showing amazing results here:
- Chevron is 14.6%
- Kendall is 15.1%
- Brad Penn is 15.2%
- Valvoline is 15.2%
- Castrol GTX is 14%
- Formula Shell is 15.1%

This, when compared to some 0w-20's:
http://www.pqiamerica.com/June 2014/consolidated 0W-20.html
- M1 AFE is 10.1%
- QS UD is 10.4%
- Castrol Edge is 13.2%
 
You have to compare apple to apple, synthetic 5w20 will likely have about 8-10% while dino is about 13-15%, vs 0w20 (only synthetic) being 10-12%.

That's why you should only compare the same brand in synthetic.
 
Originally Posted by PandaBear
You have to compare apple to apple, synthetic 5w20 will likely have about 8-10% while dino is about 13-15%, vs 0w20 (only synthetic) being 10-12%.

That's why you should only compare the same brand in synthetic.


But people don't do that. You'll have somebody going from 5w-20 conventional to 0w-20 synthetic because it's an "upgrade". And it's also an upgrade in Noack in this case, per the examples I've posted.

As noted, even those encapsulated within the "conventional" moniker, the difference can be massive, per the range I presented.

Your response was "as long as Noack isn't a concern", which implied, without any respect to the nuance I've articulated here, that the 0w-20 was going to be a Noack downgrade. It's hardly that simple, which is why I broke it out in the manner in which I did.

Ravenol ECS 0w-20 has an Noack of 7.4%:
https://www.ravenol.de/en/products/usage/d/Product/show/p/ravenol-ecs-sae-0w-20.html

Ravenol SFE 5w-20 has a Noack of 8.3%:
https://www.ravenol.de/en/products/usage/d/Product/show/p/ravenol-sfe-sae-5w-20.html

Quaker State Ultimate Durability (synthetic) 5w-20 has a Noack of 9%:
https://www.shell-livedocs.com/data/published/en/85d1c2c4-fb20-4651-9540-ce084c6fcaad.pdf

Valvoline is consistent with your statement, with their 0w-20 having a Noack of 11.1% and their 5w-20 with a Noack of 7.6%, but the point is that this is far from universal and the actual range in Noack, across both grades, is quite broad, so we should avoid using sweeping generalizations.
 
Originally Posted by Hootbro

FWIW, I have run 5W-30 in my 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL with the 3.6L Pentastar also with no issue.

thumbsup2.gif
I've been running my 2016 JK Rubicon on 5w30 since the first oil change. Currently I'm using 0w30. No regrets.
 
The Supertech will be fine. You can always exchange it for 5W-20. I'd just use what you got, a good filter and don't lose sleep over it.
 
Originally Posted by OVERKILL


But people don't do that. You'll have somebody going from 5w-20 conventional to 0w-20 synthetic because it's an "upgrade". And it's also an upgrade in Noack in this case, per the examples I've posted.

As noted, even those encapsulated within the "conventional" moniker, the difference can be massive, per the range I presented.

Your response was "as long as Noack isn't a concern", which implied, without any respect to the nuance I've articulated here, that the 0w-20 was going to be a Noack downgrade. It's hardly that simple, which is why I broke it out in the manner in which I did.

Ravenol ECS 0w-20 has an Noack of 7.4%:
https://www.ravenol.de/en/products/usage/d/Product/show/p/ravenol-ecs-sae-0w-20.html

Ravenol SFE 5w-20 has a Noack of 8.3%:
https://www.ravenol.de/en/products/usage/d/Product/show/p/ravenol-sfe-sae-5w-20.html

Quaker State Ultimate Durability (synthetic) 5w-20 has a Noack of 9%:
https://www.shell-livedocs.com/data/published/en/85d1c2c4-fb20-4651-9540-ce084c6fcaad.pdf

Valvoline is consistent with your statement, with their 0w-20 having a Noack of 11.1% and their 5w-20 with a Noack of 7.6%, but the point is that this is far from universal and the actual range in Noack, across both grades, is quite broad, so we should avoid using sweeping generalizations.


Typically, when people ask me question like this, I assume they are using the same oil between 2 grades as a comparison. They are not asking syn vs dino, or QS vs Valvoline, or even Mobil1 AFE vs EP vs HM, or even Ravenol ECS vs SFE. I assume this is a pretty straight forward apple to apple comparison.

You can always pick corner cases and just make every single question an "it depends" argument, and you get nothing out of any question or answer.
 
Originally Posted by tiger862
Originally Posted by racinjason
Anybody know if this 0w-20 supertech meets warranty specs? The MS-6395? I tried to look online, but was not successful.

I dont think I have the receipt for it. I don't think I'll have any warranty issues, but I'd like to cover my bases.

I can get Baldwin filters at work pretty cheap, I assume these will be fine?

Does warranty require receipts or would a recorded mileage be ok?


I did try to search for a lot of the questions I have asked and didn't really get what I'm looking for.

No Supertech doesn't meet specs. I own a 2018 Grand Caravan and I used Havoline ProDS 5w20 6 qt. Box cause it was 19.95 with Mobil 1 filter that I picked up at Walmart for 2.00 I think. I change between 4 to 5k which is severe duty according to manual. This meets spec and best price.


I'd bet all major brands actually meet MS6395. The question is if FCA certified it. For example, Mobil 1 EP and AP 0w20 are not MS6395 certified, but Mobil 1 told me they easily exceed the requirements. FCA won't offer them the opportunity, due to marketplace politics. They said the standard is actually not very demanding.

I'd be shocked if Supertech 0w20 didn't exceed MS6395.
 
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