My wife has a 2006 Grand Caravan 3.8L with a little over 50,000 miles on it. The van is currently using approximately 1 quart of oil every 500 miles!!!???? We are in the process of going through oil consumption testing at the dealer, and have taken it back 3 times so far for them to check the level, add oil and record the mileage.

Anyways, a few months ago we had to get the catalytic converter replaced, which I am assuming was due to the excessive amount of oil that the van is burning. And it is burning and not leaking. The motor is clean, and the van does smoke when you kick it down on the highway.

The same day we brought the van home from having the catalytic converter replaced, the check engine light came on. The diagnostic code indicated that it is the EGR valve.

Could the excessive oil that is blowing by, burning, etc, have caused the egr valve to fail? The dealer said that there is no way that the oil consumption could have caused problems with the egr valve.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

 

Welcome to DF
You could have piston ring problems or valve seals. And it could cause the EGR to fail, the dealer said as i read it, was the oil comsuption could have been cause by the EGR valve. Thats true.

 

Thanks Master Tech,

The dealer's actual comment was that "my oil consumption problem would not have caused the EGR valve to fail."

I was curious to see what others think. I believe that the excessive oil consumption caused the catalytic converter to fail prematurely, and I would think that it could also have caused the EGR valve to fail, but wasn't sure about this.

I hope to have a resolution on the oil consumption real soon. I have changed the oil and filter on this van approx every 3000 miles since the van was brand new

I have seen vehicles with over 200,000 miles on them that didn't use oil like this..........

Steve

 

I would think it is possible that the oil consumption could have caused the EGR to carbon up. If that's the case, as far as the computer is concerned, the valve has failed but it may be that if you pull it, you can clean it up so that it works properly. It's certainly worth 30 minutes of your time to try it.

 

Try replacing your PCV valve, you'd be ammazed at the amount of oil these go through if it is bad. And EGR failure on the minivan is fairly common.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I may try removing and cleaning the EGR valve.

I just read where someone else had changed the PCV Valve and it resolved their oil consumption issues. That sure would be nice if it something this simple would take care of the oil usage...hopefully that's all it is.

Steve

 

Just wanted to update folks on the oil consumption issues with our van. The most recent consumpion record showed that it burned 1.5 quarts in 500 miles. Chrysler is working with us on this issue and we are taking the van to the dealer next week to have it torn down. I am pleased that they are working with us on resolving this issue.....Sure hope they can solve the problem.

Steve

 

Hey Nitro, Just wondering if this was resolved. I have the exact same problem with a 2007 3.8 Caravan with about 54000. I didn't really notice the oil usage until it was past the 30000 mile warranty. If this is an issue with the rings or valve seals I won't be too happy.

 

Well......according to the dealer report after the tear down, the gaps in some of the rings were not staggered as they should have been. Compression and oil ring gaps were lined up with each other allowing oil blow-by, and loss of compression.

I thought rings were pinned so that they could only go in one way, which kept the gaps staggered?? Anyway, they replaced all of the rings, lined them up properly, and they also replaced all of the valve seals.

So far this seems to have taken care of the problem as I am not seeing near the oil consumption. The oil level has only dropped a tiny bit since the work was done, but not that much. I'll know more in another month or so after we put some more miles on it. Prior to this work being done it was getting to the point where we were down well over a quart in 450-500 miles, it was ridiculous!!

We worked through Chrysler on this, and they were able to help us since the original visit to the dealer for this problem was just prior to the warranty expiring, that is what saved us. Had there been no record of a dealer visit for oil consumption problems prior to the warranty running out we would have been in trouble.

Steve

 

2007 van and you don't have 7/70 powertrain coverage?