 The Airport Shuttle Service started in April of 1995, with the purchase of 3-1995 Plymouth Voyagers all with the 3.0 L engines.
Having had prior experience using Archer Oil in aircraft as far back as 1949, I was convinced that Archer Oil could be of benefit to us in these vehicles. We therefore opted to use Archer Arpeco 10w30 oil in these vans now having 30,000 miles on them. One of the three vans was wrecked and totaled at 226,000 miles. Van #2 was apparently a “lemon” engine. We replaced 3 cylinder heads and several head gaskets. When the engine was torn down we found the bottom end and valve trains in excellent condition and very clean. Eldon Hosek and I had the opportunity to look at it. We could rub the bottom of the oil pan and come up with nothing but oil. The third van was phased out with just under 415,000 miles, the fan had failed and the engine had overheated, we thought it may have broken a compression ring causing #2 cylinder to lose compression. Using the oil Analysis program, which is a service that Archer provides, we determined by the analysis results the oil and filter should be changed at 7,000 - 7,500 miles and have been consistent at 7,500 miles. Having experienced rattling lifters with our previous oil, we were pleased when this problem was corrected after a couple of thousand miles use of the Arpeco 10w30. We also had some experience with high oil consumption which was reduced by two-third’s after using the Arpeco 10w30 for about 10,000 miles. Since using the Archer oil we have had no problems with the valve train or in the lower end. To date we have had no problems with the timing chains in our newer 3.3 L engines, with mileage ranging from 91,000 to 316,000 miles. They all have Archer oil in them and will continue to do so as we will continue with the 7,500 mile drain interval. Based on our experiences with Archer, I feel Archer should receive most of the credit for the long, long mileage that we are getting from these vehicles. |
