Another One Bites The Dust - Tick Of Death

[Setec641A]

So, just went out to the garage, and was surprised to see that the 2018 JL does recommend 0W20 on the oil cap. My wife drives that thing like she's qualifying for Talledega, and only changes the oil when it tells her to. I'm guessing she must be on to something. I'm a traditional, "every 6,000 miles, no matter what", kind of guy. It's working for my 2018 F150 with the 2.7L EcoBoost with 137,000 miles, anyway.

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[Mad Mac]

Would 10W-40 help?

Down here in Texas
we ran that all the time
in the bad old days.
Never had no stinkin' ticking.

Is light oil prescribed
to try and meet
CAFE requirements?
Like the ill conceived auto Stop/start.

 

[NC_Overland]

Damn man. That’s horrible about the wife leaving like that after you just lost your dad. Best of luck in both regards.

 

[Figmo]

Damn man. That’s horrible about the wife leaving like that after you just lost your dad. Best of luck in both regards.

LOL - I guess I could have worded that better. Not like she ran out on me.

We were not scheduled to be here in AZ this long and she had obligations she needed to get back to. Whereas I work for myself so could take the time to get the Jeep and the dogs home. The up side is that I'm getting to spend an extra week with my mom during a time she really needs the company.

So, other than the Jeep dying, the dad dying and the feeling like I'm living on the surface of the sun in this 100 degree heat......it's actually turning out to be a good trip. (how's THAT for optimism)

But with all that said, I'm pretty sure wife's not shedding too many tears at having to miss all this excitement either.

 

[Bandit’s Lair]

My wife leaves me every day…………. To go to work. I think she’s conditioning me.

Condolences on your Dad. Went through the same a little over a year ago. Maybe the Jeep knew you needed to stick around there a bit longer.

 

[Mad Mac]

Condolences.

Took care of my Mom
for five years
after my Dad passed.

Good luck with that.

 

[Utahdirt]

Would 10W-40 help?

Down here in Texas
we ran that all the time
in the bad old days.
Never had no stinkin' ticking.

Is light oil prescribed
to try and meet
CAFE requirements?
Like the ill conceived auto Stop/start.

Have there been cam failure threads that poll for auto Stop/Start use?

 

[Mad Mac]

Does stop/start contribute to cam failure?
I found this.

In some vehicles, the frequent loss of oil pressure during engine restarts can accelerate wear on specific valvetrain components, such as cam phasers, lifters, and rockers.

How It Can Contribute to Wear

• Loss of Oil Pressure: Every time the engine stops, oil pressure drops. Upon restart, it takes a few seconds to rebuild full pressure, which can momentarily starve the camshaft and related components (like variable valve timing phasers) of vital lubrication.
• Cam Phaser Damage: The repeated cycling can wear out the locking pins in cam phasers. Without sufficient oil pressure during startup, this can cause the phaser to chatter or wobble, accelerating wear.
• Roller & Lifter Wear: Some mechanics note that the low oil pressure upon restart can cause the unbraced rollers on certain lifter designs to wobble or fail, grinding down the camshaft lobes.

Back to my original issue, I've found the following:

Yes. Automakers frequently prescribe and recommend low-viscosity, "light" engine oils (like 0W-20, 0W-16, or even 0W-8) explicitly to meet federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements.
How it works:

• Less Internal Friction: Thinner oils create less fluid resistance (parasitic the oil through the system.
• Measurable MPG Boost: While the increase might seem minor (e.g., a 1% to 1.5% gain in fuel efficiency), every fractional improvement helps manufacturers meet stringent, fleet-wide MPG averages and avoid massive regulatory fines
• While a lighter oil is excellent for cold starts and improving gas mileage, it can put higher-stress, tightly engineered engines at a greater risk of premature wear without advanced additive packages. Manufacturers often walk a fine line between designing engines for maximum durability and using thinner oils to secure CAFE regulatory credits.

In other words,
to meet short term political goals,
the CAFE standards
mandated by bureaucrats,
real world long-term complexity,
higher costs and decreased durability
are imposed on vehicle buyers.

There is some good news.

The EPA officially eliminated the regulatory credits that historically incentivized automakers to install automatic start/stop systems. While the technology itself isn't outright banned, the financial motivation for manufacturers to include it is gone.

But that still leaves the CAFE requirements.
Stop/start is probably here to stay.

 

[Setec641A]

I'll stick with my 5W30, and keep the ASS disabled, thank you very much. I'm alright with losing .15 MPG if it means that my engine will last over 100,000 miles without a tear down. Besides, can't use the ASS in AZ, cuz it kills the A/C!

 

[Mad Mac]

I love my auto Stop/start eliminator.
It's a PITA to plug in
but oh so satisfying.
Those 12-year old Chinese girls
do good work.

 

[moparnut72]

My Gladiator is only 2 months old. I changed oil at 500 miles like we do with new motorcycles. I put 5-30 in it. It has been mentioned that dealerships can tell from the computer what weight oil is in the engine. Is this in fact true? I also don't let my engines idle for extended periods. This is a killer in the 5.7 Hemis due to the high cam design which substantially reduced the amount of oil dropping on the cam from the rocker boxes. THis wouldn't be a problem with the Pentastars but the dry starts from the ASS system makes a lot of sense to me. We have had two Pentastars prior to this one, one in a Durango and the other in a Grand Cherokee with no issues with either. I have no real concerns with this one. I am in my early 80's and don't put a lot of mileage on my 4 wheelers, I do most of my mileage on a motorcycle so I will probably be gone before any issues. I also believe in frequent oil changes.
kk

 

[DanW]

Just sharing my thoughts here... which are 4 fold...

1) no motor likes "dry starts"
2) overhead cam motors dont like to be "idled" too much
3) over head cam motors need much more frequent oil changes
4) Oil viscosity permanently & steadily drops as you drive (viscosity break down is a very real thing)

So... as much as possible... hiway drive it, change oil more frequently than recommended, consider running one grade higher oil (5w30 instead of 0w20)... especially after it comes off warranty.

Thats all you can do really... the rest is up to fate. That or trade it off the moment they go off warranty... but now youre spending $100 to fix a $10 problem so to speak.

If dry starts are the problem, then going away from 0w20 would do more harm than good. It flows more quickly when cold.

I also don´t think idling does it. I see many ex cop cars with 3.6 engines with over 200k that didn´t have the failure, while others did.

0w20 doesn´t shear as much as 5w30, in my experience. Most 5w30´s shear into the 20 weight range but I´ve not yet had a 0w20 or even a 5w20 shear out of grade.

It´d be nice for Stellantis to give some clues to the reasons for this issue. But they keep that stuff secret. You can usually spot it in design changes or spec changes, but those may be hard to spot.

If we see a model year that marks a sharp decline in the number of issues, then we could see some clues in part numbers or spec changes.

Maybe we should start a poll as to model years and how many have experienced it and at what mileage. That would not be scientific, but it could give us a hint....for example if those with 2024 and beyond models show a sharp decline and it holds up for a few years, we may know that there was a change made.

 

[biodiesel]

The EcoDiesel has its fair share of problems, but I'm glad it's not a finicky as the Pentastar. The diesel folks can run 0W-40, 5W-30, 10W-30, 5W-40, 10W-40, etc.

 

[Vanderberg]

If dry starts are the problem, then going away from 0w20 would do more harm than good. It flows more quickly when cold.

I also don´t think idling does it. I see many ex cop cars with 3.6 engines with over 200k that didn´t have the failure, while others did.

0w20 doesn´t shear as much as 5w30, in my experience. Most 5w30´s shear into the 20 weight range but I´ve not yet had a 0w20 or even a 5w20 shear out of grade.

It´d be nice for Stellantis to give some clues to the reasons for this issue. But they keep that stuff secret. You can usually spot it in design changes or spec changes, but those may be hard to spot.

If we see a model year that marks a sharp decline in the number of issues, then we could see some clues in part numbers or spec changes.

Maybe we should start a poll as to model years and how many have experienced it and at what mileage. That would not be scientific, but it could give us a hint....for example if those with 2024 and beyond models show a sharp decline and it holds up for a few years, we may know that there was a change made.

Lots of

If dry starts are the problem, then going away from 0w20 would do more harm than good. It flows more quickly when cold.

I also don´t think idling does it. I see many ex cop cars with 3.6 engines with over 200k that didn´t have the failure, while others did.

0w20 doesn´t shear as much as 5w30, in my experience. Most 5w30´s shear into the 20 weight range but I´ve not yet had a 0w20 or even a 5w20 shear out of grade.

It´d be nice for Stellantis to give some clues to the reasons for this issue. But they keep that stuff secret. You can usually spot it in design changes or spec changes, but those may be hard to spot.

If we see a model year that marks a sharp decline in the number of issues, then we could see some clues in part numbers or spec changes.

Maybe we should start a poll as to model years and how many have experienced it and at what mileage. That would not be scientific, but it could give us a hint....for example if those with 2024 and beyond models show a sharp decline and it holds up for a few years, we may know that there was a change made.

It all depends on what you think the biggest contributor is to the problem. I think the dry start is the lesser of the evil; therefore, I choose to buffer viscosity drop with both a 5W30 and dump the oil every 4,000km.

If a person were to prioritize/identify dry starts as the problem... then it would be reasonable to install the Baxter oil filter system.

I forgot to add that I primarily hiway drive mtmy JT and have my auto start-stop disabled with my Tazer.

Hope that better explains my approach.

 

[JTGuy]

If I ever hear a tick I'll dump my Torco full synthetic and put some 0-20 in it then take it in. I am not worried about the cams for now with the Torco 5-30.

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