Be under no illusion, the Pentastar is a very good engine. It has been on the Wards best engine list for 4 years. The problems that did occur in early years were a tiny percentage of units and were not too hard to fix. It is incredibly durable, being able to cover 600k miles before overhaul. It has stood the test of time now.

LOVE my 3.6L Pentastar!

If the owner is capable of intermediate work, I replaced that terrible oil cooler with an all-aluminum one and while I already had the upper and lower intake off, I replaced the plastic fuel rail with aluminum and also gave it a set of Ruthenium plugs. After all that I am ecstatic with the motor. It has well over 325,000miles in my Caravan and it doesn't use oil! To me, that's a great v6 motor!. So it isn't done by a longshot...thanks for covering this really great motor!

I have a 2014 DURANGO. Only use full synthetic oil. 120k miles and get 21MPG. No engine issues.

Have a 14 Wrangler, changed out plastic oil cooler before it failed with a aluminum unit at 90k, now 130k, no rocker issues yet, don't know if people don't realize soon enough when the oil cooler fails and keep running with low or contaminated oil causing rocker and cam failure.

I’ve only driven the 3.6 in front of the 8HP50 (zF 8speed) and haven’t had a complaint about power. The gladiator’s 4.10 and the 8 speed’s ratios make for a solid drivetrain. Towing over western passes with a loaded bed and passengers it didn’t struggle or complain. Even better, the TCM manages engine braking well and holds back speed on the downgrades without resorting to manual shifting. It is really a fantastic transmission that pairs well with the pentastar.

Have one in a ‘17 Caravan with about 80k, no problems so far.

My moms 12 town and country Tipm fuel pump failed. I bypassed it. And i t has a pretty serious cylinder head issue . But no less the vehicle has never left her stranded.

Great video! Love your content.

I used brand name synthetic oil in my 2015 caravan and had a rocker arm tick at 130,000 miles.

Own a 2014 T&C since new. Had the oil cooler and cylinder head problem. Maintained per the manual. $17,000 in warranty work since new. My neighbor has a 2014 since new. Zero warranty work. My T&C is covered by the no longer available lifetime maximum warranty.

Bought my 2011 Chrysler 200 3.6 v6 at 85k miles had it almost 5 years just had to replace the lifters day before yesterday at 120k miles $1200 dollars

I love em Oil coolers have made us like $10k in the last quarter

Have a 2017 Grand Cherokee Overland. It runs great. The only issue so far is I had to change the ESIM module. Easy to change. To extend the life of the EISM module, Prevent fueling the car after the first click on the gas nozzle. ESIM (EVAP System Integrity Module). Easy to change. It's behind the left rear fender well, towards the rear of the well. About $70.00 for the part. The code will show up as a small leak in the EVAP system. Thanks! Great video.

It's human nature to complain over praising. Angry people want to feel validated and be heard. I'm not saying the Pentastar engines are flawless, but the reality is the vast majority work just fine. Crap happens to all engines, and it sucks when it does. Besides a failed flywheel on my 2017 Journey, she's at 217k miles and still going strong. Change your oil on schedule, and don't over tighten the filter housing when installing a new filter. Over tightening, and pressing down on the filter housing when recapping are things you shouldn't do.

Have a 16 Wrangler, rocker went at 50k miles, starter went at 55k miles, Oil cooler just went at 75k miles. Owning this 3.6 feels like just waiting for the next thing to go wrong. Going with a Toyota 4Runner or Tacoma for my next ride.

Had a 2012 Dodge Durango with the 3.6 and 5sp trans. VERY underpowered. I have a 2017 Chrysler 300 (8Sp) with it also. It’s been great. Very smooth with adequate power. Don’t know if thats because of the 8 speed or because the Durango was too heavy for it.

Get some lights in there brotha😂

That rocker failure tho!

I just want to add to one thing you said, don't just keep up on maintenance with these cars, do oil changes early and use good high quality synthetic oil. These things sludge like crazy as well and because they don't have a drain back valve in the oil filter, cold starts are dry for the valve train. You can hear a bit of a rattle coming from the engines when it's a really cold start, but it goes away after 2 to 3 seconds. I tend to do my oil changes when the oil life monitor hits 40% which is about 5,000 to 6,000 miles. Also, I know these things lack power but they can still tow. I use my pentastar Grand Cherokee L to tow a U-Haul trailer and my older cars when they need a tow. You really got to push the heck out of it but it gets the job done. Thanks for the video, I enjoyed it and learned a lot too.

Why doesn't someone produce upgraded, reliable versions of the high-failure parts on the Pentastar? E.g., Oil cooler, thermostat, fuel injectors, motor mounts... the list goes on. Would be great to offer them for sale in one place, or maybe sell them as a kit. Over time, I've replaced all these parts in my 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Would have been nice to do it all at once as a kit for a much more reliable engine.

Their bad rap comes from their intolerance to poor maintenance.

What kind of engineer makes plastic components for a hot engine? One that wants your money and wants you to fix your engine just after the warranty fails. Designed to fail!. That plastic oil cooler is a real engineering gem. I am done with Stellantis products. I just traded my Gladiator for a Hybrid Maverick.

So Chrysler isn't perfect? Rollers and oil cooler can go bad, some early ones (back 2012! when it was introduced) had issues, and it's not a GDI. The reality is that while made from ABS, the oil cooler usually lasts past 150,000 km. Which means at that interval you'd be changing sparkplugs and leveraging the same labor to take apart basically the same stuff. Doing plugs? Change the cooler. Not being a GDI? Most people would consider that a benefit. Having walnut cleaning on your inside of your engine is fun stuff. You want crazy stuff? Try the Porsche 4.5 v8. Plastic coolant pipes in the "v" of the engine, and a starter motor mounted right under them so that when they fail it drowns in coolant and best case leaves you with 2-3k in repairs due to amateurish engineering. The reality is the pentastar engine would rarely fail in a way that would leave you stranded, parts are plentiful both new and used, and as you admitted, the key elements like timing chains are bullet proof. Most owners will appreciate the negligible oil consumption and perfectly adequate power. If anything, the biggest nuisance is the integrated power module between 07-18 Chryslers depending on the model. That isn't part of the engine, but that *will* leave you stranded. If you are travelling in an older caravan or jeep, you should carry a TIPM Plug-In Relay from vertical visions in a cubby just in case the fuel-relay portion of power module fails.

A lot of Direct Injection engines aren’t anywhere near as efficient as they claim

I had 62k miles and the rocker arms, lifters and intake cam on the passenger side failed!!! This is crap on a vehicle so expensive as the JT Rubicon. A know problem on the 5.7 and others. I was mad, I AM MAD and disappointed to say the least. I got rid of my favorite vehicle ever. 😞 Problem is oil starvation. Replace the parts and it will happen again.

I’ve had two pentastars. First one made it to 100k without any issues and I’m currently in a 23 Rubi gladiator with the 6 speed manual. Getting 17.5mpg mostly city manually measured in a 5,200+ lb vehicle with no direct injection. All around decent engine that gets a lot of flack due to the early issues with the heads and the rocker arms. Oil cooler issues can be prevented by tightening the oil filter cap to no more than 10 lb ft. 18 lb ft is just way too much. If it does go, DIY replace it with a full metal body one and no more issues. Takes just about an hour of work.

I am looking for a minivan. My limit is $22,000. I keep hearing these stories about this engine (I am thinking of Chrysler Pacifica). What is an alternative? The Toyota Sienna is out of my price range. What do you think?

What year were all the problems ironed out?

Changing the oil cooler is not that difficult. I have done two of them and it can be done in about 7 hrs. This engine is easy to work on

Can you add a turbo charger on a 2025 1500 big horn ram

Sons is in shop, dealer wants 12,000 for new engine!, BS

The main known issue with this engine is it's garbage.

If you don't keep up with maintenance any engine will fail