I used to call the 3.6 Pentastar a solid engine, then I did my own oil changes for 4 years

Ryan Anderson · 2026-10-26T15:15:05.419752+00:00

I put 140,000 miles on a 2014 Grand Caravan and swore that engine was bulletproof, because a shop did all my service and I never looked under the hood. Then I started doing my own oil changes in my driveway and found out the oil filter housing sits right in the valley under a plastic cover that gets brittle from heat, and mine cracked at 118,000 miles and dumped coolant into the oil. Turns out that housing is a known weak point, and my old "reliable" feeling was really just me not seeing the leaks. Same thing with the rear brake lines on my truck, they looked fine from the top and were rusted half through where they run along the frame. Doing my own work did not make me love these cars more, it made me trust them way less. What is the part on your car that was hiding a problem until you finally crawled underneath?

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I used to call the 3.6 Pentastar a solid engine, then I did my own oil changes for 4 years | Cars That Were Built Wrong - Rigidtalk