Help 3.9L oil capacity issue

Possibly the oil pan is dented? I'd have a look underneath.

That'd be a heck of a dent, so it should b e obvious ;-)

My guess is its got the wrong dipstick.

Engine oil with filter change 4.0 qts, Without filter change 3.5 qt

Glenn Beasley Chrysler Tech

Why oh why does anyone use Haynes manuals?

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Wait a minute Bill those manuals are good to have, just the other day I was trying to burn a brush pile in the back yard and the pages I pulled out made the fire start really fast. Thanx to Haynes I got the fire started fast. I still have many pages left for the next time

Glenn

you just wait till your car breaks down on some country road and you don't have your Haynes manual,what are you going to wipe with if you have to poop?

i've always liked the Robert Bentley manuals. Seems like sometimes they are comparable, if not better than some FSMs.

And why oh why didn't Chrysler give the 3.9 a decent oil capacity?!? I guess because it was a shortened LA block and they didn't want to deepen the sump. But hell, even the contemporary 3.5 v6 had a 5.5 quart capacity (with stock filter, 6.0 quart if you use the FL1A/PH8/PF2 size filter).

The answer is easy... it would have lasted too long with more oil. not to mention people would have been bitching when Jiffy Lube charged them for extra quarts of oil not included in the standard deal.

My '99 3.9 ram van has 118,000 miles on it and it behaves like the oil was changed maybe three or four times before I got it. Once I got it, I changed the oil immediately... ran it with a quart of marvel mystery and the rest oil for 100 miles, then changed the oil and filter again. Ran it another 1000 miles, changed the oil and filter again. It's running reasonably well, but smells of oil at idle and has a "tap tap tap" at idle as well... my first guess would be a hydraulic unit... but I don't really know for sure. It has become less of a noise, but I really don't have confidence that it's not going to be a problem in the next 40k or so.

The check engine light comes on after about 30 miles on the highway.. every time. The coolant temp starts to climb about that time as well. I am thinking water pump. Can the water pump set the check engine light? I get no meaningful codes... I brought it to the advance auto store and the f*cker scanned it with the piece of $hit and told me it was the O2 sensors... well.. replaced those things and

30 miles down the road *BAM*.... check engine again. LOL

Those stupid bastards have cost me more money .... one time I was sold a 351 Windsor thermostat when I asked for a 351 cleveland thermostat. 10 miles later, the original engine in my brother's '71 Mustang 'vert was overheated. Love it!

That may very well be the oil pressure switch in need of replacement rather than actual low oil pressure. Less than $20 for the part. That is one part you should get from the dealer - aftermarket pressure switches are often so far out of cal right out of the box as to give false low oil pressure indication. OEM parts generally at least start out having been tested to higher standards (tighter tolerances).

Anyway - very common for these switches to fail on Chrysler vehicles - and when they do, it seeems it's always in the direction of falsely indicating low pressure - and often leaking oil too.

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Thanks Bill, will get one of those soon.

That doesn't explain the rise in temperature, though.. turning on the heater to max heat brings the temp back down a bit and keeps it at bay (on a long highway drive). I haven't tried it on a long drive since it's been 90+ outside, though.

Only indirectly by causing an over-temp that might set the light.

Overheating after prolonged operation usually comes down to lack of coolant flow or lack of air flow. Since this happens on the highway, its

*probably* not an air flow issue, but some cars don't flow enough air through the radiator without a good fan even at highway speeds. Just to be sure, check the fan clutch and check the radiator and condensor fins for dead bugs, grass, dirt, leaves, etc. For water flow, make sure the radiator isn't clogged (if the oil was neglected, I'll bet the coolant was also!). Make sure the thermostat opens and opens all the way, and make sure the lower hose doesn't collapse. Also make sure the radiator cap pressurizes the system fully.

ok i'll check all those... now that you remind me, the radiator is pretty scaly inside. The coolant was brown when I first got it because it was just water..

I will definitely check the fan clutch as well. It's amazing how quickly all this troubleshooting ability seems to disappear now that i don't do it every day for a paycheck...

I think you just identified the problem... :-p

The question now is whether just a rigorous flushing will clear it up enough, or whether you'll have to have the radiator rodded out.