Hello,

Great input from Phil. My 98 Gd. Caravan that I have with a 3.0 liter
had valve noise, somewhat severe on cold starts when I bought it at
83,000 miles. I switched to 5W-40 sythetic oil (Shell Rotello T). It
cleared up almost all of the noise. It now has 101,000 on it, and it
hasnt gotten worse. Things are much quieter now. Dont know if this
would help, but maybe.

Take care, and good luck,

Bill


On Tue, 30 May 2006 20:17:35 -0400, "M100C" >
wrote:

>All,
>I suspect this post may generate as many different answers as those that
>reply ... :-)
>
>I had an '03 Dodge Grand Caravan w/ the 3.3L. The manual called for two
>oils: 10W-30 and 5W-30. The 10W-30 was for use at temperatures above 0 F,
>whereas the 5W-30 (which is recommended) is for use at temperatures below
>100 F; the overlap being between 0F and 100F.
>
>Being in MI, I could run either all year long, but I chose to use Mobil1
>5W-30 synthetic oil, hoping to get better economy and cold-weather starting.
>At operating temperature, the van would develop minor tappet noise, and the
>dealership felt it was best to replace the lifters and change the oil (to
>regular 10W-30). When the oil change interval came due, I reverted back to
>synthetic 5W-30 ... and the tappet noise came back also.
>
>Now, I have an '05 w/ the 3.8L, which has the same oil recommendations. I'm
>planning to use 5W-30 at the next change interval, but let's assume the
>engine develops some tappet noise at operating temperatures:
>
>With synthetic grades, has anyone ever mixed grades ... say 1:1 10W-30 and
>5W-30? Any reason this should be a concern? I cannot understand why an
>engine (designed to run with either viscosity) would object. I also would
>not anticipate an adverse interaction between the oils. I would think that
>the resulting viscosity would be ideal.
>
>Thanks,
>Chris
>
>