Yeah it would be bad publicity for an already tarnished brand (Chrysler as a whole). They barely stand up for the quality of vehicles just rolling off the assembly line. That's why they are trying to get "lifetime warranty" jeeps traded in on new ones. They know they'll eat their lunch on those vehicles coming in for warranty work for major powertrain related fixes like new engines or tranny's.
I knew all this when I bought my jeep. I love it and don't want to part with it. Hemi would be great but too much money. Desiel would be great too except the USA looks down on them as a "dirty" engine and bad for environment. My 3.8 does me just fine for right now but the uncertainty of how long my motor will last me bugs the living $hit out of me. I don't like walking on eggshells when it comes to babying this engine. Wrangler were made to take a beating the engine should have been made that way as well.

 

That's strange because diesel is better for the environment. I learned that in my 3rd year of automotive mechanics in school. It's all about taking your money bottom line. We pay through the teeth for fuel in Canada 1.25 per liter I you do the conversion you will be blown away by how stupid that it's 70% of the fuel cost is tax.. But I digress

 

Just a thought, put a ls1 in the jeep and junk the idea of a 3.8?

 

Hell yeah and it's been done but the cost of a V8 swap is out of the picture for my wallet.

 

A tad off topic but...

For people with unexplained oil loss Chrysler techs are recommending you use "5W30" motor oil... Apparently it's solved many peoples oil loss and has been approved for use in our engines without voiding warranty. Check with your dealer and I'm sure they will pass you the same info.

 

We've been through them and they have sturdy stuff... flat top pistons with Teflon coated skirts, metal head gaskets, thick rods with floating wrist pins. It has extra oilers for the big end of the rod, a large oil pick with a fine screen...

We think the 20min oil changes kill these things - we've never run the thin oil in ours, always 10/40 from the first oil change at 1500 miles. At 1700 she was supercharged and we never looked back... we've pumped a solid amount of boost through it and feel good about it - We also took one apart with 26000 boosted miles and it looked good, still have the cross hatch in the cylinders, the rings weren't tempered and there was no ash on the piston tops. If we had to nit-pick we would like a head stud - but thats about it on our side.

RIPPTECH

 

What, exactly, does that mean?

 

I bet 20W oil; 10W40 is heavier but better protection

 

Isn't the higher viscosity oils harmful to tight tolerance engines?

 

I don't think so, but it's looking like the thinner oil is harmful to these engines.