2011 Gr Cherokee fuel diluted?

[Cooper_D]

Just got this report from Blackstone Labs on my 2011 Gr Cherokee with V6:

There's nothing new or exciting to talk about in this report for your Jeep, and that's always good news for an engine. This 3.6L is still wearing really well, and the shorter oil changes you've been running
are keeping wear well below average, at least for iron and copper. There was some fuel (1.0%) in the
sample, but that's not enough to do any harm. The fuel may have thinned the viscosity down, or it could just
be from normal shearing like we've seen in the past. The TBN is still good at 3.5, so the oil is holding up
well for you

Yesterday the jeep had a cel the dealers finding:

Purge solenoid had internal failure - replaced solenoid

Codes for thermostat had fouled - replaced thermostat

Would either of these problems cause fuel dilution?

78,000 miles on engine oil changes every 3 k

 

[DonFitzwater]

Hell yes, the thermostat

 

[Cooper_D]

Hell yes, the thermostat

Thank you for your exuberant reply!

I was thinking it would but just wanted to be 100% sure.

 

[Bob4x4]

Just wondering why you have been spending the $ for checking the oil with doing the 3k oil changes

 

[Cooper_D]

Just wondering why you have been spending the $ for checking the oil with doing the 3k oil changes

Great question I've asked myself that and to make a short story long I will try to answer.

I like many here are old school, getting my first car back in 1971, and believed oil was cheep insurance so I changed my oil every 2000 miles. At that time oil (or the V I improves) would start to deteriorate after 2 k miles so I'd crawl under my clunker and change oil & filter. When you have very little you try to take care of what you do have.

For years I stuck to that routine and finally adapted to the 3 k mile oil changes until 2006, when I bought my first diesel, and changed oil every 5000 miles for it. I kept the Jeep at 3 k out of habit.

For the last 10 years I've gotten lazy, old really, and let someone else do the dirty work.

I started sending samples in on the 06 because I knew nothing about diesels except that I didn't have the money to rebuild one if I trashed it.

One day a sample came back on the 06 saything something like signs of antifreeze ingredients were in the oil but very small amounts nothing to worry about.

I decided to get off my dead end, raise the hood, craw under, find out what was wrong.

The antifreeze was just a little low in the overflow and since the engine was hot I noticed a drop of it coming from the radiator to the overflow hose and the air cleaner sucked it in.

Opening the air cleaner I found an area the size of a silver dollar on the filter where the antifreeze had soaked in. I had found the source of the leak and with a 25 cent clamp, new filter and no more bad reports.

Fast forward to the Grand Cherokee and the last report, see above, I knew something wasn't right but didn't know what until the cel.

It showed purge solenoid bad and a stored code for thermostat. A couple weeks before the cel popped up on the dash but went out after a restart and did not show a stored code, at least not on the dash.

The dealer said they are finding more cases where a problem appears and goes away one time it won't alert you until it happens again.
I dont know if it's true but if Chrysler can program it so they don't have to do "frivolous" warranty work by programming "a wait for second alert" warning I think they'll do it.

So is it a waste of money for oil sampling given that it gave me advanced notice to 2 problems? I'm not sure.

But every new vehicle I buy I think I'll keep it forever so I should take care of it.

What would you suggest.

 

[DonFitzwater]

Do what you feel is best. I only get oil analysis on vehicles new to me until I know they are likely solid mechanically.

 

[Cooper_D]

When I had my 06 diesel I bought new tires that came with 6 "free" oil changes and when I went to get my first one they showed me the fine print about free and diesel trucks.

The test oil sample that came back on the "free" oil was the worst I've ever had. The oil did not hold up well at all making me wonder if it was even rated for diesels.

And yes I know if it sounds to good to be true...

 

[Cooper_D]

Ok Jeep GC threw another CEL now they tell me head is bad on the V6.

Dealer states they've seen it before, something about a bad batch of heads during manufacturing.

It's covered under warranty but I would have thought it would have gone bad before 80k miles.