Got a 2006 stratus sxt sedan with the 2.4 dohc. Seems to have a little lifter tick I guess. It was half a quart low, so I topped off the oil, and no noise. Got home, shut the car off, wife wanted me to run to store, tick was back after it sat a few minutes.

Car has 143,000. We've had the car since 89,000. So far we've always run dino oil. Called a dodge dealer and talked to someone in service dept, asking if I need to run synthetic or if that would cause issues. The guy said I would see a benefit from synthetic and pretty much if it was going to keep it was going to leak with normal oil or synthetic.

So I'm asking, in a couple weeks or so it's due for a change. Should I keep running dino oil or should I switch to synthetic? High mileage? Synthetic blend maybe? The possible lifter tick is concerning. Wonder if this would help since the synthetic should be able to penetrate better?

Currently the car uses a quart about every 2000. Don't see leaks unless it's burning it? Been running stock 5w30.

 

Go ahead and switch. Don't waste money on blend. That's a marketing gimmick. Straight synthetic or conventional. Like the service guy said. If it's going to leak, it's going to leak. Personally I would not switch to synthetic on a high mileage vehicle that's had dino all its life but that's just my personal choice. Might switch to a 10w-30 dino and see if that helps the tick.

 

So you don't think 10w30 would be bad for it? I know the cap and manual seem to specify 5w30. Guessing 10w40 would be too thick.

Consensus is no synthetic blend. OK. Anything good or bad about high mileage oil? If I can get more time from this car great, it is now getting mostly highway miles. Trying to get another year or two until it's paid off or nearly there. We got 2013 Ford focus for my wife, so I got the stratus to replace my Taurus. Like the focus. But for the stratus, if it will run a while after its paid off I'm good with that also.

 

I don't buy into the synthetic hype. Been running conventional for years, many of which had well over 250k.
Spend an extra $20 on an oil change if you feel the need, but our stratus never made more then 3k on an oil change from synthetic, so it was just money down the drain.
Changing it at (can't believe I'm going to say this about 140k) high mileage will cause more issues. It will develop more leaks as the synthetic eats the seals, and starts cleaning out stuff that is holding it together.

Figuring out where your oil is going makes more sense then switching oil to try to stop it (which will make it worse). Both my daily drivers have over 200k, neither one use oil, so if you are not leaking, you have an internal issue (valve seals, rings, etc), fixing that issue may be costly now, but it will prolong the life of your car more then switching oils.

 

Ok. And the engine does tick a little, I'm noticing it even when it's warmed up. The car seems to run fine, as in no loss of power, etc. And if I keep the oil topped off toward the fill mark, that seems to lessen the tick/tap sound, sounds like it's coming from the top end of the motor on the passenger side. Since I'm mainly trying to get another year or 2 out of it, maybe I'll go with 10w30 on the next change as suggested. Or perhaps I'll stay with 5w30 and maybe switch to high mileage, like pennzoil or quaker state defy, but I think pennzoil has been it's normal diet, just in the regular form, so pennzoil high mileage might be the good choice for it.

It really is a nice little car, the big kicker for me is the head room. Seems like I'm just tall enough, no matter how I position the seat, I seem to always feel out of position, either to close to the roof, or sitting too far back and stretching my arms too far for the wheel. I'm not even that tall. Maybe 5'9 or 5'10? But I feel like I'm always looking under the headliner. The head room thing is enough that I even took out the driver side sun visor just to get the extra 1/4-1/2 inch of view, and if I used the visor anyway, I could not see. Is that a common complaint on these? Other than that, I've decided I think I like the little car, but that it probably got neglected and needs TLC. I at first didn't like the car because when we first got it, it had 89,000 miles on it, and was about 9,000 which seemed steep to me. It was during a time we just needed a car though as a cavalier we had jumped time and basically the engine pummeled itself to death. And basically she and her dad went shopping while I was at work, and the only thing the dealer had on the lot that fit the budget was the stratus. However, when we first got it, I'd say the first 3-4 months it was in the shop more than being driven, thankfully the dealer had a warranty. But the car would just put the tranny into limp mode. It would go into first and not let you out of first, or you'd be driving and it would suddenly downshift and slow you down and shake. My wife later tracked things down. The dealer would send it to a dodge dealer in town, who reset the computer and things. But that's what they basically seemed to do. Even found out they had notes stating that their tech felt the transmission would fail soon, we were never told that at the time. They'd just give the car back stating it was ok, and then we'd have issues later. In fact, at one point they told us oh the tranny cooler lines are leaking and something else, selenoid pack I think, but that they were not going cover that(since we had so many tranny issues in their warranty, and had more just outside the warranty) so gotta get my mechanic to look at that. So I've had a love hate relationship with this car. More so used to hate this car, but now getting to like it more.

One more question then. I said we got a 2013 ford focus. Which the focus only has about 17,000 on it. It's my wife's car. However, she is off mondays. She works Tuesday-Saturday. Which leaves her car mostly not driven on Monday. She mostly does city driving, which I know can be hard on a car as she drives maybe 7-8 miles, 10 tops to work. So the car probably isn't even warmed up when she stops. I'm contemplating taking her car to work on mondays or another day each week, my drive is 30-40 miles, so it gets the car up to full operating temps, etc. Just wondering if that would be beneficial to prevent oil sludge and let the oil really run through the motor to help things stay cleaned out etc. Thanks for all the replies.

I'll probably need to get it to the mechanic in the next month or two, as I think it needs a coolant flush anyway, just paid some money down on the newer vehicle, but then at least maybe get his opinion on what to do with it.

 

Ever think the Penzoil could be causing issues?
Not trying to rip on your oil choice, but when I drained the Penzoil out of my car when we got it, I might as well have been running grease for oil. It drained out in chunks literally, stunk like it was burned, and my lifters were LOUD on a cold start (continued ticking once warm). Had the same kind of results with QS.
I switched mine for Valvoline 5w30. After my 2nd change on that my top end stopped ticking, and my oil looked normal when I changed it. Now I can go 3k and it still looks smells normal.
Switching it to Synthetic at this point in its life is a waste of money, get yourself a decent conventional, change it regularly.

The ticking you're hearing is most likely lifters. Don't remember off hand, but they should be adjustable (aka may need to just be snugged up).

As far as your wife's car, you taking it to work once a week will help prolong it's life as well. Short trips lead to moisture in the oil, exhaust rotting from moisture, along with a lot of other issues. Get it out and get it up to temp, even if that means driving her car on the weekends.

 

Ok, will do. Pennzoil really? Hm. Would not have imagined that. Had not heard anyhthing bad about pennzoil. Quaker state I'd heard things about before. Admittedly I don't know as much about working on cars, plus we live in a town home, so the driveway is gravel etc. Plus in winter, not ideal to be on your back changing oil lol. So I typically take it to a shop. A friend of mine had a walmart store install the wrong filter and toasted the engine.

I took it to midas last change, and that is what they put in, which I think is what most places were using. So valvoline might be a better choice. Ok, may ask them for valvoline, or start taking it to the valvoline place.

 

I tried many different oils in our 06 Stratus (2.7L) trying to get more out of it, Royal Purple (3k, black/burned), Redline (3k, black/burned), AMSoil (made 5k before that was junk), went to Valvoline SynPower (3k, looked decent on the 1st change, looked perfect every change after). That car had 217k when we sold it, had 12k when we bought it.
I don't necessarily like laying on the ground either, but $15 is better then $30. LOL. That way I know it's getting done right.

 

So you aren't just using any valvoline. Valvoline synpower. Guessing that is their synthetic. Wonder if their dino oil is ok. What are they pushing these days the recycled oil?

 

My daily drivers run straight Valvoline. 5w30 in my car, 10w30 in the van. Their basic oil is good from my experience. The Stratus we sold ran Synpower, just because it had synthetic from day one.