2006 Caravan Oil Use

[brakerf]

I have a 2006 Caravan and it uses oil a lot. It may go through 3-4 qts a change. 3000 miles. I do NOT have any oil on the garage floor and cannot see any blue smoke coming from the car. I have had it to Chrysler and they are scratching there heads. Any ideas?

[tempfixit]

How many miles on vehicle and has it been doing this since new. Sounds like the oil rings are lined up to me. Have they done a compression test?

[brakerf]

It has 36k miles. I did not buy it new it 12k when I bought it. I would think if the rings where bad it would smoke it does not

[MagicRat]

This consumption level is borderline acceptable.

As noted above, worn rings or valve guides tend to burn oil at certain times, such as decelleration (rings) or when pulling away from a traffic light (guides)
If there is no smoke, then it is consuming oil at a slow and steady pace. As noted above a fault with ring assembly or a sticking ring might do this.

If rings are sticking, sometimes they can be freed-up by pouring in a couple of ounces of ATF into each cylinder and let it soak for a few days. If you do this, remove the oil by spinning the engine over with the spark plugs removed, or else you will damage the engine.

Try pulling all the spark plugs. If one cylinder is responsible, that spark plug will be much darker at the tip than the others.

But realistically, unless the spark plugs are getting really black/sooty/fouled, I would not worry about it. Your engine is burning approx. 1 cc (a few drops) of oil each mile, which is not much. Yes, it is a bit annoying to add oil, but realistically, your engine will benefit from a quart of fresh oil being added to the crankcase periodically.

My '97 Cadillac has the same oil consumption rate that you have. Apparently, ALL Caddy Northstar engines (1994 and up) have similar oil consumption rates, It is just a quirk of the design; there is nothing actually going wrong, so all owners just live with it.

[vipergg]

Thats pretty unusual for the 3.3 or the 3.8 although Chrysler will tell you 1 quart per 1000 miles is within normal levels . You will have to push chrysler to fix this whether rebuild or replacement . Don't know what you have for a warranty on it.

[DJW000]

Join the club! My 2005 GC SXT started using oil at a rate of 1qt. every 1000 miles starting at 60k miles. It never used oil prior to this. Just when I think that there is no way this van could give me any more problems... it finds a new way to disappoint. BCM issues, yearly sway bar bushings, power door locks, lift gate locks, power sliding door motors, window regulators, the list goes on and on. Now this? I would be happier to see it totaled!!!

[automps]

Originally Posted by brakerf

I have a 2006 Caravan and it uses oil a lot. It may go through 3-4 qts a change. 3000 miles. I do NOT have any oil on the garage floor and cannot see any blue smoke coming from the car. I have had it to Chrysler and they are scratching there heads. Any ideas?

This is why the cats keep taking a crap on these caravans , there not made to have oil burning in them !

[tempfixit]

Originally Posted by automps

This is why the cats keep taking a crap on these caravans , there not made to have oil burning in them !

Have they done a compression test???

[automps]

I see alot of newer cars using oil , I use the lucas oil add in my caravan sames to help ..

[automps]

Originally Posted by brakerf

I have a 2006 Caravan and it uses oil a lot. It may go through 3-4 qts a change. 3000 miles. I do NOT have any oil on the garage floor and cannot see any blue smoke coming from the car. I have had it to Chrysler and they are scratching there heads. Any ideas?

Pcv valve is sucking the oil out of the valve cover and burning it ! Disconnect the pcv , it worked on my 2005 3.8 V6 ......

[DeltaP]

I second the PCV valve sticking.(my first thought also).I'ts the next logical step to take.Disconnect it...better yet replace it and the hose too.Its inexpensive and it's probably time for it anyway.See if the oil consumption stops.I've had this happen. Compression and leak down testing can come next if necessary.

[dj1111]

Originally Posted by automps

Disconnect the pcv , it worked on my 2005 3.8 V6 ......

But don't ever drive without a working PCV, especially at highway speeds.

[automps]

Originally Posted by automps

Pcv valve is sucking the oil out of the valve cover and burning it ! Disconnect the pcv , it worked on my 2005 3.8 V6 ......

Replaced the pvc valve later , Helped a lot ! Had a newer jeep doing the same thing