I thought I would put up a few thoughts on how my Van is set up and help out a few people who come across the same problems.

these tips are fairly inexpensive but make a whole lot of diffenece to your vehicle

I must point out that got this vehicle used and the previous person has done some interesting repairs and trying to sort things out that have already being replaced is quite fun.

The first thing I did was put on a new radiator cap
http://www.stant.com/modules/partLoc...m.cfm?id=10231
I had coolant flowing into the reserve tank, plus there was also a leak somewhere in the system and seal that with some silver.

The next was an oil change. I used Valvoline Next Generation High Mileage and a premium oil filter from Fram
http://www.framcatalog.com/PartDetail.aspx?b=F&pn=TG16
and is good for 7500 miles only costs an extra $4 and you actually save or same price if you are doing oil changes every 3000 miles from a standard filter

This change was from a Valvoline Max life and standard filter, even though I thought I asked for Max life by mistake they gave me high mileage. However this has restored many horses back into the engine. The other thing that changed is that on startup I don't get a whole lot of burn off in the morning from a cold start.

Thermostat - seems to be working good after upgrading the Oil filter keeping temperatures down, no more spiking has occured

Ignition Coil - This was warped so have replaced it with a new one, seems to be smoother running engine. Increased horse power and electrical running of the vehicle quite a lot!

Battery - put in correct size battery CCA 770, work like a charm if you have a smaller battery you will eventually have starting problems

Plugs are next. (still waiting to do this)

So my thoughts on the B series Van is that they are heavier duty vehicles and that by using slightly better products which in the automotive world is usually no more than $5 you can get better performance out of them.

Hope this helps and look forward to any comments.

 

For the rear, use synthetic 75W90 with friction modifier. Redline makes a great product for the Chrysler rears. Chrysler put out a TSB in the early 00's to switch from 80W90 to 75W90 synthetic for better MPG.

Also, cleaning the IAC, IAC ports and doing the TB wall grind mod on the Map sensor side gives a few extra ponies and improved MPG.

5W30 runs really well in cool and cold weather for our vans. I'm using the Castrol brand and a Purolator large capacity oil filter. Much discussion has been done here about various filters and sizes along with data and charts. Seems the Purolator has the upper hand then the WIX. Search this Van forum for the thread on that.

As for cap-n-rotor, avoid Duralast and avoid types that use aluminum contacts. Only settle for copper/brass contact types.

Bummer that the overflow tank was leaking. Good that you found the leak.

 

So the thermostat issue I had seems to be fixed, from changing the oil and filter, The low pressure I had on the gauge was a faulty sender leaking oil. all because cheaps parts were used to fix these things.

@Stev I have seen a lot of your wriitngs and would be interested to see if you would give Valvoline a try, I have liked it a lot since changing from Castrol. I will do some more research on those filters and see what they come up with. the biggest thing I know is that you want to trap as much particals as possible.

 

Just put in a new Ignition Coil, the old one was warped, along with a new S belt. Running really good now. Also had put in stock ACDelco plugs earlier in the year and replaced leads (use di-electric). I am looking at changing these on what I have read since they were done.

 

I would not trust that fram filter for 7500 miles. That model still has the fiberboard endcaps which allow the media to warp under the pressure of cold oil and high oil pressures.

The Fram orange can of death and the Fram tough guard are regarded as jokes over on the Bitog forums. The Fram Extended Guard IS a well made filter, but at 12$+ there are many other very good choices too.

When I first read about fram filters I removed mine, opened it up and found the media had separated from the fiberboard endcap and was doing no filtering whatsoever, 500 miles into an oil change.

Also that filter is tiny. Much larger Filters can be used. Larger filter equates to more debris can be caught before the filter goes into bypass mode. Also more filter media means less pressure drop across the filter. Stev has reported higher oil pressures using the larger filters.



Purolator classic 30001 is about 4$ and the pure1 30001 which uses synthetic media and a silicone anti drain back valve is about 7.50 and either is a much better choice than the tiny cardboard endcapped joke of a fram you used. If you really want to go the extra mile, pull some magnets from an old hard drive and stick them on the outside of the filter.



Any high mileage oil is a good oil to run as they have higher flashpoints to reduce burn off, and also more detergents ingredients like calcium or magnesium, as well as more anti wear agents like moly, boron and ZDDP.

Most HM oils are not 'resourse conserving' and also the higher levels of ZDDP can contaminate the catcon if the engine burns a lot of oil. This is why newer non HM formulations have reduced these additives.

Valvoline is a good oil. People have had virgin oil analysis done on valvoline oils and they are always low on the the detergents and anti wear additives and the Total base number which indicates how good an oil is at fighting the increasing acidity cause by byproducts of combustion and short trip driving.

But Valvoline oils always return good used oil analysis reports suggesting there is something more to their oils which does not show up in a regular analysis.

Right now I am using Mobil one Turbo Diesel Truck 5w 40 cause I got a good deal on it, but as my mechanical oil pressure gauge maxes out at 68 psi (oil pump bypass setting) at 2400 rpm when hot suggests the oil is thicker than it needs to be and the next oil change I will be going to a 5w 30.

Diesel oils are exempt from lowering their ZDDP levels and also have higher levels of detergents than passenger car motor oils and are better at holding soot in suspension. Since my engine burns very little oil I am not worried about contaminating my catcon with this higher ZDDP oil.

If you are really interested in engine lubrication, the Bitog forums have more info that a person can process.

Start here:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/

And don't be one of those people who continue to think thicker oil is always better

 

So I have not had improvement in MPG (most likely to cold weather ATM) but I have increased the horse power, I now have my 3.9L V6 acting as it should, It takes off quicker and burns fuels better from startup and going up them hills, I can now maintain 55 as opposed to 45. The biggest change came from the ignition coil and judging by a series of postings later someone should write up a sticky on changing it as it is easy thing to change.

 

Look in this thread forum for a posting I have called, MPG Improvements. This covers all sorts of items relating to getting good MPG and even a few Hp ponies back and then some.

A few years back, my van was doing around 12MPG. Got it up to about 14MPG thinking I had hit the ceiling. But, when the exhaust and CAT went, the replacement really helped getting the van up to 16MPG. The van is now pushing about 18.5+MPG on the hwy. not bad for a 1-on B2500 with 8-lug wheels and seating for 12-passengers. haha

 

Diesel grade oil (like 15W-40) manufacturers still desire to meet the requirement of flat tappet camshaft engines, many of which are still on the road because of their incredible durability. So, ZDDP in these oils will likely remain in order to keep engines from imploding. Without ZDDP many of these Diesels would eventually grind themselves to bits.

I pity the M-B guys who think that running Mobil1 in their 300D engines is a good thing -- they couldn't be more wrong.

 

Yes totally agree with the exhaust, it does make a difference to MPG and performance the only thing holding me back on this is expense, but I will talk to my mechanic and discuss how viable this is. But your post on the scan gauge has made me think about removing the mechanical fan, trying to keep the temp warm as there should be enough natural cooling (I have driven a 91 subaru for 8 hours on an Interstate mid April, lifted the hood and being able to touch the engine without any temp problems, surprised me) and as you said 186 seems to be the sweet spot for MPG hopefully the van will keep cool enough without the Fan as there is enough natural cooling through the radiator and current outside temp below 32! (also currently have cardboard blocking most of the flow across the RAD) I have no start stop issues where I live! The only other issue is that I don't have O/D which is where you would also gain an extra MPG!

So what I have done so far has increased HP but that really only helps going over Vail Pass which is about 10 minutes up and 10 down. I am more efficient there. there must also be a small increase in running around but not enough to really be noticable in the way I am measuring MPG.

BTW what exhaust system did you use?

 

I'd argue that it depends on which grade of Mobil 1 they use. M1 10w 40 High Mileage still has 1100 PPM of Zinc, which is about the same as all Rotella grades, which is specified/ marketed as a Diesel oil.

I'm still looking for a virgin oil analysis of the M1 TDT 5w 40 I am now using, but I am assuming it also has at least 1100 ppm of zinc too.