A few questions on the 3.6L Pentastar engine:

1. How many lifters are in this engine?

2. How many rocker arms are in this engine?

3. Typically, how many miles are the ignition coils good for?
4. Fuel injector life expectancy?

5. Generally, at what mileage will the starter and belt tensioner fail?

I know questions 3 & 4, are hard to answer due to too many variables, but I'm interested to hear opinions. If you have a Pentastar with a lot of miles and have replaced, or not replaced parts, I would love to hear your experience.

 

1 & 2) The illustration below is of the left cylinder head with the cover removed. There’s 1 lifter per rocker arm and the number of lifters and rockers is the same for each cylinder head. Are there some problems you’re having that have you contemplating replacing these or removing the heads or cams?

3, 4 & 5) All subjective to individual circumstances. Annual mileage, frequency of maintenance, and general vehicle care will all impact the life of these components. That said, a couple general rules are as follows:

-Using cleaners such as seafoam, marvels mystery oil, etc once a year won’t hurt anything. More frequent use would depend on how the van is being driven.
-Fuel injectors and ignition coils are expected to last the life of the vehicle and don’t need to be replaced in pairs/sets, however if you remove the fuel rail to replace one injector, replacing the o-rings on the other injectors is recommended.
-Starters are also expected to last the life of the vehicle, however if there’s been damage to the flex plate from the starter (chipped or worn teeth) but no damage to the starter itself, and I’m going to be replacing the flex plate, I’d replace the starter too as a preventative measure.
-There’s no guidelines from Dodge on belt tensioner replacement. Dodge maintenance schedule on pro demand shows replacement of the serpentine belt at 120k, but I was taught the general recommendation is to replace the belt and tensioner at the same time, usually around 50k-60k so that’s when I replaced the belt and tensioner on mine. Most tensioners now have wear indicators to tell you whether or not it’s due for replacement. As for belt inspection, cracks and chips are the primary indicators, but you can also measure belt depth with a gauge available from Gates - just google “Gates belt wear gauge” for several results.

My 2016 has just over 65k on it now. I’ve replaced the belt and tensioner, spark plugs and coil boots (I think - can’t remember if the boots could be replaced separately or not), transmission cooler lines, and new tires about 10k miles ago. I’m gonna be doing the transmission fluid and filter at the next oil change because I don’t trust Dodge’s recommendation of 160k. Otherwise it’s been a very good, dependable van.


#1 are rocker arms

 

Thanks for the reply GumbyRT, I've been offline for a while. My engine has 110K, I've replaced the belt, but the tensioner doesn't seem to have a line, or an arrow as a wear indicator, but according to your recommendation, I'll replace it very soon.
I was asking about rocker arms because I've had to take the intake apart twice to replace ticking rocker arms, and have to take it apart it again soon, and thought it might be a good idea to replace as many as I can while I am in there, and put in new lifters too. I have this mentality where, I think nearly every small component will be near the end of its useful life by 100K, and if I can replace that part while I am in that area replacing another part, why not replace it under preventative maintenance? Since I am at 110K, I feel like my starter could give at any moment. I grew up in the 70's, & 80's, & by 100K, cars were nearly shot. I know times have improved, but it's hard to know by how much exactly, especially when you hear phrases such as, "They don't build them anymore like they used to!"

 

Wonder what brand of oil you're using my 2013 has 201750 km or 125362 miles I never replace any lifters and my engine is as quiet as the day I bought it. When I got my spark plugs and transmission oil and filter change at 160000 km the service tech commented on how well kept the van was on how quiet the engine sounded. I used nothing but Castrol Edge Synthetic 5w-20 with change interval as per the oil life indicator.

 

I use both Mobil 1 & Penzoil synthetic 5w30, and change about every 3500 miles.

What weight oil does your engine call for?

 

3.6L pentastar call for 5w-20 as per Chrysler.

Mobil 1 is one of the worst oil anybody can put in an engine not by opinion but by oil testing DATA done by an independent lab test.

 

Hmmm, my cap and booklet says 5w30. I wonder if they figured 5w20 was better, and if I should switch. Do you have the 3.6L?

 

I'm going by 2013 manual 5w-20

Depends what year is your van 2011-2012 5w-30 2013-2019 5w-20.

You should always used the oil viscosity grade recommended in your manual.

3.6 L pentastar engine was used in the Grand Caravans beginning in 2011.

Mobil 1 with it's low anti-wear properties is the likely cause of the noticeable wear in your engine.