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First JL OIL CHANGE.... , COMPLETED W/ DIY INSTRUCTIONS AND PICS

DozierJLUS

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Anyone use RedLine oil in the 3.6?

I have the 2018 JLU 3.6
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Kluk Ztopolovky

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nice job but I wonder if these self oil changes won't effect the warranty ?
 

DanW

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nice job but I wonder if these self oil changes won't effect the warranty ?
I'm 50 years old and have owned more cars than I can remember. I've always, always changed my own oil, except in a very few cases. Not once has changing my own oil cost me any kind of warranty work. Not once, even if there was an engine issue. Heck, I was never even asked to show my oil change records or maintenance records of any kind. However, having my oil changed by a "professional" almost cost me $12,000 for a new Ecoboost engine in my wife's Transit van. Thankfully, the business's insurance covered their error and replaced the engine.

I've kept records of my oil changes, which is not extra work, because you should be doing that anyway. I've seen dealerships and oil change shops fail to make a record of a change. Sure, they give you a receipt, but they sometimes don't enter it into the computer. By law, in order to deny you a warranty claim, they must have evidence that something you did wrong caused the issue.

In my experience, and judging from what I've seen with others, having a dealership do your oil change causes more risk of issues than doing it yourself. Also, odds are that if you have an engine failure of some kind, it won't be oil related and it will involve a known issue or defect.

I had the transmission replaced on my JK at 116k miles. The issues it was having were well known with the NSG 370. They never once asked me if I ever changed the transmission fluid. (I did, 4 times). They never asked me what brand of gear oil I used. They loaned me a badass lifted JK to drive around while they made the swap. I'd bet, though, that if they drained the fluid and saw that it was burnt, dirty, and broken down, then they might have gone down that road.

When have you EVER heard of an engine being destroyed by oil? Lack of oil? Yes. Oil breakdown? I haven't. My buddy has a 97 Tahoe with about 300k on the Chevy 5.7. He hasn't changed the oil in probably 20 years. He just keeps adding it. The darned thing still runs. It has oil in it, but it looks TERRIBLE, being black and thick. On the other hand, I have another friend that had a 3.8 JK. He never checked the oil and went way beyond the 6k mile oil change inteval. The engine burned oil (as my 3.8 does) and it ran dry and siezed up. Jeep installed a new engine, under warranty. They never asked him to show oil change records, which honestly shocks me.

My advice: Again, don't lose sleep over it. Change your oil and keep records. Or, have it done, but check their work, and again, keep records. As long as you are using the proper viscosity API SN or SN+ certified brand name oil, they aren't going to use that MS6395 bullshit to deny coverage. FCA knows better than anyone that MS6395 is a ridiculously easy standard and they only permit the brands they want to have it. I've never heard of them denying a claim to someone for using Mobil 1, or any other reputable brand of oil. Never. My own dealership's service manager uses it in his FCA vehicles. If that worries you, though, just run Pennzoil Platinum 0w20 (or 5w30 in the 2.0) and be happy you are running a great oil that is MS6395 certified.
 

roaniecowpony

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Just changed my JL's oil for the first time. Somewhere around 5k miles and still 20% on the OLM. Mobil 1 0W-20wt Extended Performance High Mileage and a Wix XP synthetic media filter. That should carry it through the hunting season. Not loosing sleep about lack of MS6395 cert. Mobil 1 has been in 5 of my vehicles for around 500,000 miles total. One truck is still going fine at around 300,000. I see no need for me to spend more on boutique oils with the promise of better engine life. They last longer than the vehicle ever stays with me by about double or more.
 
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WXman

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When have you EVER heard of an engine being destroyed by oil? Lack of oil? Yes. Oil breakdown?
Since you asked, yes.

I've seen cylinders scored really bad from using crap oil. I've seen valvetrains wear out due to improper protection for the tappets, cam lobes, etc. Fords are also bad about eating timing sets if thin oil is used. I opened up a buddy's '98 Toyota Tacoma I-4 engine and found a mess that resembled chocolate pudding, despite the fact that he did perform regular oil changes. Oil brand and oil viscosity used to matter a lot more than it does today, but even today it still matters.

Again, just because a guy gets X amount of miles out of an engine on Y oil, that does not mean that he couldn't have gotten even more miles out of that engine if he'd been using Z oil.
 

DanW

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Since you asked, yes.

I've seen cylinders scored really bad from using crap oil. I've seen valvetrains wear out due to improper protection for the tappets, cam lobes, etc. Fords are also bad about eating timing sets if thin oil is used. I opened up a buddy's '98 Toyota Tacoma I-4 engine and found a mess that resembled chocolate pudding, despite the fact that he did perform regular oil changes. Oil brand and oil viscosity used to matter a lot more than it does today, but even today it still matters.

Again, just because a guy gets X amount of miles out of an engine on Y oil, that does not mean that he couldn't have gotten even more miles out of that engine if he'd been using Z oil.
Ok, maybe the statement was too broad, since it opened the possibility of non-API certified oil or the wrong weight or wrong specification (SM, SN, SN+, etc.)

The cams and tappets sound like a situation where the wrong oil was used. As for Fords, which ones? I just sold a 2001 F150 with a 5.4 that ran its life on major brand (Pennzoil, Mobil 1, Quaker State) 5w20, changed at the proper intervals. That engine runs like new and it was used to tow and haul at its limits quite a bit. Now I know of Fords with timing chain issues, but those had more to do with the plastic runners and not the fault of the oil. My brother's company had an F250 with that same 5.4. It had over 500,000 miles on it. (Yes, 1/2 million) on conventional 5w20 and I don't think even 10% of those miles happened without a heavy trailer in tow.

Also, Toyota sludging is a major issue with a number of their engines and it has more to do with design than failed oil. I had two Toyota 3.4's and they were both inspected by the dealership as they were identified as the sludge engines. Fortunately, I ran Mobil 1 and they never sludged, as they often did with conventional oil. Toyota acknowledged that they were flawed, though, and would have rebuilt or replaced them had they sludged up.

If you want to incude "crap oil" ok, I'll concede that. But what defines crap oil? Again, I'd say no API certification. (Dollar General oil??) Otherwise, maybe the wrong certification, which is often the issue with those flat tappet engines. Not the fault of the oil, but rather the person who put the wrong oil in it.

Thin oils are fine in engines designed for them. There are now cars running 0w16 that are hitting 200k and are running well. Now if you put that oil in an engine that specifies thicker oil, sure, it will likely cause a problem. Conversely, if you put a thicker oil in an engine designed for 0w16, you'll likely have a problem.

As for the 3.6, I doubt anyone would have a problem running a 5w30, but I won't be the guinea pig. The whole valve train was redesigned and it was designed from the start for 0w20, so that's what I'll run.

Btw, my JK's 3.8 is at 133k and running like new on a lifetime of 5w20. (Full synthetic 5w20, that is.)
 
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D60

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If you have any FLAPS that do the spring & fall Wix filter sale (typically Need A Part Asshole, Carquest, Parts City etc), the WL10010 was $3.80 at my store.....FYI
 

Dave91gt

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I just did the second oil change on my wife’s 18 JLU Sahara v6. We bought it used last year with 5200 miles and oil was original. I did it’s first change at 6,000 and tonight’s change was right at 8k on the oil. OLM said 6% or so remaining.
I am a Rotella fan and run their new gas engine oil 0W20 synthetic. I used a K&N filter this time as every Mopar filter on Walmart’s shelf had a damaged box. The K&N looked to be good quality.
I also just changed oil in my 18 F250 diesel. It gets 5W40 Rotella synthetic.
I must say, these two vehicles are the easiest I’ve ever owned to do an oil change. The JL is literally 10 minutes. I use a torque wrench on the filter housing and drain plug. While the oil is draining, I go up top and swap the filter. By the time that’s finished, I’m under it torquing the drain plug. Dump 5Qts in, reset OLM, and reset trip B mileage and all done. Truly easy.
The diesel is an extra step as I punch a hole in the filter to drain it along with the 13 qts of oil. Just makes less of a mess.
Now my father in laws new RAM Cummins had him cussing with the filter placement. I guess you have to be a contortionist to get to it.
 

jthoms1

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Here’s my first Blackstone report on this vehicle. I changed the oil at 2k miles the first time. This was the second change. Thought folks might want to see the results.

D1620B5B-E414-4A03-AF31-555B94A1316C.jpeg
 

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DanW

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If that is 9,000 miles on that oil, it looks GREAT, especially for just the 2nd oil change. My engine still had lots of crap in it from assembly on the 2nd oil change, and I didn't go nearly that far on it.
 

jthoms1

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If that is 9,000 miles on that oil, it looks GREAT, especially for just the 2nd oil change. My engine still had lots of crap in it from assembly on the 2nd oil change, and I didn't go nearly that far on it.
That was 7k miles on that oil. I did the first change of the factory oil at 2k miles. Overall looks great though.
 

DanW

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That was 7k miles on that oil. I did the first change of the factory oil at 2k miles. Overall looks great though.
Yep, that's a great report! I think it would be great at that point even with 4k on it. It took a good while for the break-in and assembly crap to get flushed out of my engine.
 

The Last Cowboy

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Who wants my free oil changes? I’ll never use them. To bad they’re not actually transferable.
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