When I traded in my 2010 it was going through over a quart of oil at about 2-3k miles, with only 11k on the clock.(I was running Valvaline Synpower Full synthetic 5-20 oil) Thats part of the reason I traded it in, loved that jeep but hated the engine and didn't want to deal with the issues down the road. In an 07 going through 6 quarts of oil in around 3k miles sounds very plausible if you never looked at it. Have you never checked your oil before this happened since you have owned it? You should have been able to notice some oil consumption to this point. Those 3.8L engines have almost a 100% chance of consuming oil, and a lot of it, and it doesn't leak or seem to be burnt. Now I don't know your Jeep or the people at the shop you went to, but I also believe there no way you can drive 3000 miles with no oil before you notice that. Sounds like you had been consuming oil for a while and this is finally when the engine took the last chomp, might have been slowly getting worse especially if you never checked the oil over the years you have been more than likely running on low oil for a long time which led to this event. Prob not what you want to hear but that does sound like the clear answer to me. Good luck on your endeavor and hope it all works out in your favor tho.

 

I think that what you've said is definitely a possible scenario. I guess I'm fortunate that the mechanics can't wrap their mind around 6QTS being burnt in 3,000 miles without some evidence that it had been doing so at such a high rate. I called and spoke with the Jeep service center manager, and asked if he'd every heard of 3.8 Wranglers doing anything like that, and his reaction was consistant with the mechs at my shop. That was enough for the Geico adjuster to decide in favor of me. They're gonna cover it. I'm gonna move forward from this feeling extremely fortunate, and I will be a paranoid old man when it comes to checking my oil from here on out.

 

Isn't there 3 to 5 pages of you telling us the state of your engine ?

You clearly state that ever since buying your Jeep you have had disappearing coolant and above average engine operating temperatures than what you believe is normal.

I'm not going to take this into a fancy higher standard argument in your wishes.

1. 07 to 08 and some other Chrysler 3.8 V-6's are known and common to have excessive oil consumption issues.
2. Engines running hotter than normal can and most of the time burn oil or burn more oil than the average good running condition engine.
3. Honda Accords have proven very well that most of the times there are no obvious signs to the average car owner (non mechanic) for engines burning 2 to 4 quarts of oil in 2,000 miles.
3A. What does that have to do with anything ? 1990 - 1993 Honda Accords and some of the civics a few years ago started to have serious piston ring issues resulting in serious consumption issues. Pissed many owners off at the same time.
4. A reasonable mechanic would tell you leaving an engine dry whether or not you have regular oil or synthetic oil will not last more than very long before self destructing itself.
5. Normal practice at there "oil change places" they will check the stick before you leave" but this can get forgotten from time to time.
6. IMPO even if your engine was filled with two to three qts of oil you would have noticed serious running issues way before the 3,000mile mark.

So based upon the now 5 pages of information replied back and fourth and based upon the information of Feb to May 3,000miles of operation and coolant loss and engine temp issues since day one

I believe you have been having engine issues you were unaware of or failed to discover after several red flags and in the end this incident happened.

But your statement in the beginning where you said Feeling like there's a level of responsibility a business takes on when they accept your money for a service ??

How can you hold a business responsible when you yourself the owner didn't even do the necessary service checks or respond to your coolant or temperature issues ?

 

i agree with you and to the OP if you search on here 3.8l oil consumption you will get tons of threads on the issue. You would not have made it far with low amount of oil not 3k miles if your jeep was already burning it. Thankfully in my case I checked my oil and caught it early when I had my 3.6l burning oil there was non on the dipstick at the time but it did only have 2-3qrts left in the motor at 2k miles

 

Be curious to see if the old engine is torn down and there is a blown head gasket, sure sounds like it to me. Did you ever have a smoke trail behind you while driving?

 

Alright so I had oil burning issues after switching to synthetic. Switched back to regular ol 5w20 and no more burning oil. Lot of other people experienced the same thing.

 

Well Im glad it worked out for you, just let this be a good lesson to check your oil from time to time no matter what!!

 

Chrysler says that "normal oil usage" is 1 quart every 1,000 miles according to the Service Manager of the dealership I go to...my 09 burned about 2 quarts per oil change, I added oil as needed, and there was never a sign of any burning oil but as a responsible vehicle owner I check all my fluids monthly. My sister neglects this and I have put 2 engines in her 03 due to no oil and blowing up...since she treats her Jeep so poorly she has been banned from the family...lol