Many people who have had spun bearings on the 3.8L V6 had oil burning motors that ran the sump completely dry and this was the cause of oil starvation that caused the rod bearing(s) to spin. There are others however who have had motors that did not burn oil and had crankcases filled with the full 6 quarts of oil and still suffered oil starvation and spun bearings.

I came across the following article (see link below) that outlines how a fault with the oil pressure relief valves caused them to stick, starving the motor oil and causing spun bearings. According to the article the issue affected Chrysler 3.3L & 3.8L V6s built from 2001-2002, but it makes one wonder. The diagram shows the location of the valve on the timimg case.


http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Arti...l_engines.aspx

 

Interesting. One question to ask then would be if those will full crankcases who suffered spun bearings, at ANY point leading up to the failure, had intermittent or occasional low pressure indicators.

I wish it were more specific about the conditions of these failing valves - if there's any way to check for problems when I open her up to replace the timing chain.

Although, five years is a long lag time for this problem to be carrying over.

Probably not very likely, but interesting no less.