Service schedule for 100,000+ miles

My 2002 (Dodge) GC ES with 3.8L has just passed 110,000 miles.
Does anyone have a maintenance guideline/schedule that should be
followed with the higher miles on the engine/tranny?

For the 3.8L engine, what is the recommended time to replace the timing
belt/chain? If the engine has not been stressed, what would be a safe delay
in replacing it? what other work should be rolled into the timing belt
replacement?

Any other tips for keeping this thing going another couple years?

 

Follow the same mileage/time intervals that were recommended prior to
100k miles.

The 3.8 has a timing chain, not a belt. I would only replace it if some
other service needs to be performed in that area, such as replacing a
gasket on the timing case cover. It may develop some slack at very high
mileage so that the valve timing isn't as stable and precise as it was
early on, but it is very unlikely to jump time because it uses metal gears.

Just keep taking care of it. Change the oil, coolant, and other fluids
as you always have. Don't neglect it or put off maintenance on the
assumption that "it won't last long enough to really need that" because
that tends to become a self-fulfilling prophecy We just retired my
wife's Chrysler LH car with 256,000 miles on it, and I suspect whoever
buys it will get a few more years good service out of it.

 

Steve - I don't know this engine, so I'm asking for my learning (or
maybe to catch you in a mistake - Ha - not likely!): Is the water pump
on that engine driven by the timing chain? I'm curious as The 2.7L
engine in my Concorde has a timing chain (I know it's not the same
engine) - nice, since timing chains generally last the life of the
vehicle - EXCEPT they have the water pump driven by the chain, and of
course water pumps do fail. (I did the timing chain, water pump, and
oil pump about 3 months ago at 207k miles as a preventative - I was
probably lucky the water pump lasted that long - they have been known to
come apart and do damage (if not bearing damage from leaking coolant
into the engine if the owner/driver was not paying attention, then
suddenly locking up and pretty much doing catastrophic damage to the
engine).

Anyway - I mainly just wanted to get confirmed for the OP that the water
pump was not driven off the timing chain on that GC.

 

No, the 3.3 and 3.8 are close cousins, and they have a traditional
belt-driven waterpump. The timing chain drive is similar to the 318 v8,
the slant-6, the 440, smallblock Chevy, and all the other old-school
engines- just a sprocket on the crank and one on the cam connected by a
chain, no idlers, no tensioners, no waterpump.

Right- its very different from both the pushrod v6 engines like the 3.3
and 3.8 and from the other OHC v6 family (the 3.5 and 4.0 belt-timed
SOHC engines. Its truly a one-of-one engine in the Chrysler family. Even
the similarly oddball 4.7 v8 has a related v6 version (the 3.7).

Not unless they've radically changed the 3.3/3.8 in ways of which I'm
unaware. I'm sure one of the dealer techs will pipe up if I got it
wrong. ;-)

 

Right. Not sure about your 2k2 but on the '90s 3.3/3.8 to remove the water
pump you:
drain the coolant

remove the serpentine belt

wrap the belt around the water pump pulley strap wrench style and remove the
3 bolts holding the pulley on

remove the 5 bolts holding the water pump to the volute cast into the timing
cover.

The pump seals to the timing cover with a large O-ring and in my case I
didn't even have to remove the wheel well splash shield although that
probably would have made the job slightly easier.

 

Doing a water pump on the 3.3 or 3.8L is very simple, but I never removed
the belt pulley. I simply removed the entire belt by simply de-tensioning
the belt tensioner (15mm bolt head as I recall).

Also, access is much, much easier through the passenger side front wheel
well after removing the wheel and the plastic inner fender shield. My last
comment is that at 100K+ miles, if you are replacing the pump, it is a very
good idea to replace the serpentine belt and also consider replacing the
tensioner and idler too if they are making any noise at all.

Bob

 

Thanks everyone!
I posted this in the Dodge usenet group and got nothing.

The van just turned over 110,000 miles.
On very cold mornings it does make a slight squeak squeak for a few
minutes. I figure it is the serpentine tensioner. The serpentine belt is
still in good shape - and as far as I know the water pump is still good.

My 97 3.8L engine didn't fair so well, but other than a tranny rebuild at
12,000 and again at 30,000 (don't ask!) and then a A/C condenser and oil
pan replacement it has been good and strong.

It is in desperate need of a oil change and probably could use a throttle
body service soon as well.

I was just trying to get an idea of what servies should be done and when.