Recently purchased in 09 Aspen 5.7 Hemi with 120k miles on it, wondering if there any recommendations for oil whether it's conventional or synthetic.....a certain brand.....what are your thoughts?

 

I have an 09 Hemi as well, not sure what was ran in it's first 130K miles of life, proabably conventional as it was serviced at the dealership every 3k per the carfax. However, now that it is mine, it gets Amsoil Signature Series full synthetic and a Wix Filter (as do all my vehicles).

 

You are going to get mixed opinions on this subject. However, I agree with Rawyzf. I bought my 08 with just over 82,000 miles and I'm sure it was serviced with conventional as well. I also run Amsoil in all my vehicles. Within a month of owning it, I switched out the oil, transmission, front and rear diffs and transfer case to Amsoil. Just make sure you run the recommended 5w-20 weight or else you will have issues with the MDS system.

 

I was searching for info on oil and filters for mines and came across this thread. Besides Amsoil which I believe you have to order any off the shelf synthetics you could also recommend? What about off the shelf filters? I read in Durango forum that cheaper quality filters don't have drain back protection and that contributes to the lifter tick that many hear on start up (me included).

 

I use Amsoil and then Wix filter.
I have an Amsoil account, and can ship anywhere directly through them, if you decide you want to go that route.

Also, Fleet Farm has Amsoil, If you have any of them local to you.

 

Like I mentioned in my previous post, you are going to get mixed opinions as far as what to use. I prefer the Amsoil over all. My second choice would be Castrol as I ran it for years before I found Amsoil. Never had any issues with it and got well over 100K on two vehicles.

Like Rawyzf said, some local dealers sell Amsoil. I've even found it at a NAPA store in Colorado once. Go to their website Amsoil.com and search for dealers (find Amsoil near you). Otherwise, you can get your own preferred membership (which I have and I'm guessing Rawyzf has as well) or get someone who has this to ship directly to you. Membership runs about $20 a year and gets you dealer pricing on the products. You just can't sell for a profit if you have a preferred membership. Must have dealer membership to sell for profit. They even have specials for free shipping at times.

I've also recently found Mopar filters for the Aspen at Wal-mart. So you can go that route if you want.

As for the drain back issue, I've only worried about that on vehicles that have their filter mounted sideways or on top of the motor. Since ours mount on the bottom of the engine facing upward, you should not worry about drain back. Every time I've removed mine, I got a heavy dose of oil running down my arm because it was full. If it was mounted on the side or top, it would be almost empty.

 

I've seen Amsoil 5qts at Walmart around here. Around 40 bucks.

Never-mind I'm dumb. It was Royal Purple.