[1tg1]

Bring it in for recalls and when your engine oil life goes to 0.

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[Rus]

I was wondering the same thing. The dealer says 8000KM but everything else says 16000KM, about 5K miles and 10K miles. On the other hand the book also says the change oil indicator will come on so I think I'll just wait for that. Right now I'm at about 2500KM, 1500 miles and it says I have 70% oil life left.

 

[Johnnyma45]

Regarding the oil change meter in the car - when I took delivery of ours, it had 10 miles on the odometer and the oil change indicator was at 89%. Should I be concerned that it's not at 100%? I guess this would just encourage an earlier oil change, which I don't mind, but I wonder why it was already at 89% with almost no miles on it.

 

[Car Dr.]

I had the same questions all of you are asking when I hit the 10k mark. I work at a Chrysler dealer and talked to the shop foreman. There are many different statements regarding oil change frequencies. I personally think that if you never plugged in your van, you would end up changing the oil at 10k based on the oil life indicator on the dash. If you plug in on a regular basis, then oil changes of 20k could be reached based on that same indicator. Our shop foreman was told by Chrysler that the owner should follow the 10k maintenance schedule regardless of the oil life indicator. That means Chrysler just wants to cover their ass if a failure were to occur. Would they not cover a repair on your vehicle if you didn't follow it? That is a grey area especially since their manuals contradict each other. My advice, if you have a extended warranty (especially a Mopar one), follow the book. That way there is no denying a repair based on lack of maintenance. If you don't have additional coverage, change at your own digression.

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[Car Dr.]

Regarding the oil change meter in the car - when I took delivery of ours, it had 10 miles on the odometer and the oil change indicator was at 89%. Should I be concerned that it's not at 100%? I guess this would just encourage an earlier oil change, which I don't mind, but I wonder why it was already at 89% with almost no miles on it.

Sounds to me that the car did a lot of sitting with the car turned on. I wouldn't be that concerned. But I would look over the interior carefully for damage. Maybe that van was the dealership show car to potential buyers. Some dealers will pick one car (usually a fully loaded model) to show customers like a showroom car. Instead of letting people get in and out of all the cars on the lot, they pick one to take the abuse of different people climbing in and out.

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[Johnnyma45]

Sounds to me that the car did a lot of sitting with the car turned on. I wouldn't be that concerned. But I would look over the interior carefully for damage. Maybe that van was the dealership show car to potential buyers. Some dealers will pick one car (usually a fully loaded model) to show customers like a showroom car. Instead of letting people get in and out of all the cars on the lot, they pick one to take the abuse of different people climbing in and out.

Makes sense. Interior has no damage but was pretty dirty when I test drove it; it was fully detailed when I picked it up though.

 

[62408]

I’d change the oil and filter as soon as possible and put synthetic oil in it . The engine sits , runs, refresh cycles . When I bought mine I did the oil change to synthetic when I took delivery of it . And use the oem mopar filter so if anything happens to engine they can’t come back to filter for oil shenanigans. Good luck and hope you enjoy yours as much as I do .

 

[Mark-DavenportFL]

My dealer only uses synthetic now, I believe this is Chrysler wide. I still buy my own to save money. They also said it came from the factory with Synthetic. BTW they still say bring the car in weekly for an oil change(joking). The manual is not clear if those 10,000 miles are on the engine or vehicle. I reset my Trip Odometer shortly after I received it. The number of miles on battery account for the high percentage on the oil life. One dealer said specifically: change the oil when the oil life indicator indicates or yearly. I assume I will be bringing it in yearly. If the oil life indicator is broken in all the cars and we are being tricked into not getting oil changes and they deny coverage because of that defect, there will be a very fun class action.

 

[JBL]

I bought my PacHy at the end of September. In January I got a call from someone claiming to be my dealer, asking if I wanted to make an appointment for maintenance. I said that this seemed a little early, and she said that Chrysler recommended the first maintenance after six months. I told her I would call her in March. However, looking through my manual I see no such suggestion. Reading this thread seems validate that. Should I assume the dealer was not being entirely truthful in the hopes of drumming up a little extra business?

 

[PhilBr60]

DO NOT JUST FOLLOW THE OIL INDICATOR! I did that and got screwed when I changed it at the 43% life remaining when I was coming up on my first year. The overwhelming driving on my PacHy was in electric mode so I figured I was good on oil. Nope! I was over 10,000 when I finally changed the oil. I noticed the 10k limit in the manual when I was changing oil and contacted Chrysler on which of the stated manual limits I should follow. Their response is:

As stated in previous correspondence, your vehicle is equipped with an automatic oil change indicator system. The oil change indicator system will remind you that it is time to take your vehicle in for scheduled maintenance. Under no circumstances should oil change intervals exceed twelve months or 10,000 odometer miles.

Details from the manual are to change the oil if ANY of the following conditions exist:
1) When Oil Change Indicator (Life Remaining) notifies you.
2) 10,000 miles are reached in normal driving conditions
3) 12 Months since last oil change
4) 350 hours of engine run time (good luck finding that!)
5) 4,000 miles are reached in Severe Duty (vehicle is operated in a dusty and off road environment or is operated predominately at idle or only very low engine RPM’s)

I've owned and maintained a number of cars in my life and this is absolutely the most confusing instructions I've ever seen for changing oil. From my own perspective, I will be ignoring the Oil Life Remaining and only go by the mileage.

It has been said in previous posts that there is a place where the Gas and Electric miles overall are shown. I've never seen that going through the steering menus or the Apps. If this does exist, can you post specific directions where this is?

 

[AZBean]

DO NOT JUST FOLLOW THE OIL INDICATOR! I did that and got screwed when I changed it at the 43% life remaining when I was coming up on my first year. The overwhelming driving on my PacHy was in electric mode so I figured I was good on oil. Nope! I was over 10,000 when I finally changed the oil. I noticed the 10k limit in the manual when I was changing oil and contacted Chrysler on which of the stated manual limits I should follow. Their response is:

As stated in previous correspondence, your vehicle is equipped with an automatic oil change indicator system. The oil change indicator system will remind you that it is time to take your vehicle in for scheduled maintenance. Under no circumstances should oil change intervals exceed twelve months or 10,000 odometer miles.

Details from the manual are to change the oil if ANY of the following conditions exist:
1) When Oil Change Indicator (Life Remaining) notifies you.
2) 10,000 miles are reached in normal driving conditions
3) 12 Months since last oil change
4) 350 hours of engine run time (good luck finding that!)
5) 4,000 miles are reached in Severe Duty (vehicle is operated in a dusty and off road environment or is operated predominately at idle or only very low engine RPM’s)

I've owned and maintained a number of cars in my life and this is absolutely the most confusing instructions I've ever seen for changing oil. From my own perspective, I will be ignoring the Oil Life Remaining and only go by the mileage.

It has been said in previous posts that there is a place where the Gas and Electric miles overall are shown. I've never seen that going through the steering menus or the Apps. If this does exist, can you post specific directions where this is?

It seems simple enough to me. 10,000 miles, 12 months or when the oil life indicator tells you to, whichever comes first.

The only place that it separates gas and electric miles is on the two trip odometers. I avoid resetting one of them so that I can track that information. But you have to remember to record the data in a notebook just before it gets to 10,000 miles because the trip odometer will reset the gas and electric numbers when it rolls over 10,000 miles.

 

[tturkstra]

Old thread, but this is a huge issue. Why have an oil life indicator if it is not accurate?

There is no reason with modern computer programming that the computer could not track the three things (Date, gas miles driven, and total miles driven) since the last oil change reset, figure out the oil life % each way, and display the minimum value from the three calculations. This oil life indicator that cannot be trusted is DANGEROUS, since many people do not read the manual that thoroughly. Also, the dealers have no idea about the hybrid. My one local dealer told me that it needed to be changed every 6 months or 8000 km (5000 mi) and the other said just to use the oil life indicator on the dash, even if it meant changing it every 2 years! It's lucky I happened across this thread and reread my owners manual. I just hit about 10,000 miles since my last oil change (9 months) and my oil life indicator is still over 60%. To the dealer I go, but it's annoying because it's a long drive and I was just there 2 weeks ago for a recall and I could have done it at the same time if I'd known.

Time for a software update on this Chrysler. Would Chrysler Cares get involved in this?

 

[Johnnyma45]

Old thread, but this is a huge issue. Why have an oil life indicator if it is not accurate?

There is no reason with modern computer programming that the computer could not track the three things (Date, gas miles driven, and total miles driven) since the last oil change reset, figure out the oil life % each way, and display the minimum value from the three calculations. This oil life indicator that cannot be trusted is DANGEROUS, since many people do not read the manual that thoroughly. Also, the dealers have no idea about the hybrid. My one local dealer told me that it needed to be changed every 6 months or 8000 km (5000 mi) and the other said just to use the oil life indicator on the dash, even if it meant changing it every 2 years! It's lucky I happened across this thread and reread my owners manual. I just hit about 10,000 miles since my last oil change (9 months) and my oil life indicator is still over 60%. To the dealer I go, but it's annoying because it's a long drive and I was just there 2 weeks ago for a recall and I could have done it at the same time if I'd known.

Time for a software update on this Chrysler. Would Chrysler Cares get involved in this?

It's as accurate as it can get. People's usage is wildly varied even on gas vehicles - throw in a hybrid powertrain and some people don't touch the gas engine at all. You now have to consider dormant engine oil life, as well as idle time. There are a lot of factors involved. As for dealers, they're usually the least knowledgeable people - this whole "every X months" is old world thinking.

 

[62408]

I’d say use the one year as a indicator . As soon as I took delivery of my vehicle I put synthetic in it . It’s a personal thing dependant on driving mileage, usage, style and ice/electric ratio of usage . Use a good oil and filter ( mopar oem ) and keep receipts just in case . Any manufacturer will try and look for the oi/filter loophole to void and warranty work . Just my three cents .

 

[Frig]

I’d say use the one year as a indicator . As soon as I took delivery of my vehicle I put synthetic in it . It’s a personal thing dependant on driving mileage, usage, style and ice/electric ratio of usage . Use a good oil and filter ( mopar oem ) and keep receipts just in case . Any manufacturer will try and look for the oi/filter loophole to void and warranty work . Just my three cents .

I thought it comes stock with synthetic, no?

 

[PacDave]

Old thread, but this is a huge issue. Why have an oil life indicator if it is not accurate?

There is no reason with modern computer programming that the computer could not track the three things (Date, gas miles driven, and total miles driven) since the last oil change reset, figure out the oil life % each way, and display the minimum value from the three calculations. This oil life indicator that cannot be trusted is DANGEROUS, since many people do not read the manual that thoroughly. Also, the dealers have no idea about the hybrid. My one local dealer told me that it needed to be changed every 6 months or 8000 km (5000 mi) and the other said just to use the oil life indicator on the dash, even if it meant changing it every 2 years! It's lucky I happened across this thread and reread my owners manual. I just hit about 10,000 miles since my last oil change (9 months) and my oil life indicator is still over 60%. To the dealer I go, but it's annoying because it's a long drive and I was just there 2 weeks ago for a recall and I could have done it at the same time if I'd known.

Time for a software update on this Chrysler. Would Chrysler Cares get involved in this?

One thing to remember is that it’s not necessarily as simple as just tracking date, gas miles driven, and total miles driven. The need to change the oil can vary based upon many criteria including outside temperature, humidity, oil temperature, the amount of time that the engine sits idle without running, etc.

I think that the oil life indicator is probably pretty accurate but unfortunately the engineers who were involved in having the manual written weren’t quite ready to trust it completely. They’re still attached to the ‘old way’ which is determining oil change interval by miles driven. That method should really be thrown out completely with the PacHy as there is no correlation between the number of miles driven and oil wear.

But since the warranty could become invalid if we ignore what the manual says, we change the oil according to the manual and not the oil life indicator. I did my first oil change at just over 10,000 miles but the oil life indicator was likely more correct indicating that the oil had 70+% life left in it.

 

[62408]

Only srt cars come with Pennzoil synthetic

 

[scudlaunch]

I thought it comes stock with synthetic, no?

I asked for an oil change on my 2018 hybrid before I took delivery since it was on their lot for 15 months. They did use full synthetic oil even though I did not specifically ask for it so I guess the stock/recommended oil is full synthetic.

 

[MLambert]

Other owners posted the analysis of their engine oil after getting it changed, and the first change tended to have a lot of particulates from engine break-in but the rest were pretty normal. Based on those posts and having heard similar stories for a number of years, I did my first oil change a little early.

For the subsequent ones, while I'm under warranty I change my oil every 10,000 miles (total miles... not just ICE miles). I take a lot of road-trips in my Pacifica, so that's about every 6 months for me and the oil life indicator has tended to be somewhere between 30-50%. My dealer keeps telling me that it's recommended every 5,000 miles. Pretty sure he's just parroting what he says for ICE vehicles, so I just smile at him and say "Mine's a hybrid and I'll follow the owners manual".

 

[62408]

Actually PDF manual just states 0w20 oil and not a synthetic . I’d probably say dealer roped you into a oil change for added cost and didn’t give you the full info . Another dealer truck to make some more money .