99 Caravan 3.0 Engine

[GeorgeWinters]

Hey there..anyone got any issues with a 3.0 engine? I'm thinking of buying one and have heard that 3.0 are not the best..any advice??

Thanks!

[vipergg]

They take a little more maintenance . The timing belt should be changed by 100K and the water pump is reccomended to be done at the same time because it is in the same general area . If you keep the oil changed at 4k intervals you shouldn't have many problems , also keep an eye on the pvc valve , i had mine freeze up and it basically increased crankcase pressure so much it blew out a lot of the oil seals , ended up being almost 1K to get those all replaced . Just had to replace the oil pan due to corrosion after 10 years , can't really fault them for that if you saw how much salt they put on roads around here . Have 111000 miles on our 96 at this point and it still runs pretty good, i have the 3 speed auto not the 4 speed in ours , great tranny . It's not overly powerful , it's only rated at 150 HP but it gets the job done . Its been a pretty good engine other than the pcv problem . If the 99 has the 3 speed auto thats a plus because they are much less troublesome than the 4 speed autos that come with the other V6's .

[neon_rt]

The 3.0l engine is more fragile than the 3.3/3.8l engines. If they are ran very long with dirty oil, it will ruin them and they will burn oil like you wouldn't believe (quart every 300 to 500 miles in some cases).