List of Chrysler MS-12991 Engine Oil for the 3.0 EcoDiesel Jeep Wrangler

[driventoadventure]

I've read more bad than good on the Doc's oil filters... For how inexpensive a filter is, I would rather get something better like a Wix or OEM - I really wish there was a Fleetguard or similar pro-grade option.

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[BDinTX]

I have FINALLY found something that gives a glimpse into what MS-12991 is, on a Motul oil Technical data sheet.

The FIAT 9.55535-S2, T2 and GH2 performance level imposes the engine oil to combine both ACEA C3 standard and 5W-40 viscosity grade in order to perfectly lubricate some Gasoline engines of FIAT, ALFA-ROMEO, and LANCIA produced from July 2007.

The MS-12991 performance level mirrors these FIAT specifications for CHRYSLER vehicles.

 

[JEEP4U]

I have FINALLY found something that gives a glimpse into what MS-12991 is, on a Motul oil Technical data sheet.

The FIAT 9.55535-S2, T2 and GH2 performance level imposes the engine oil to combine both ACEA C3 standard and 5W-40 viscosity grade in order to perfectly lubricate some Gasoline engines of FIAT, ALFA-ROMEO, and LANCIA produced from July 2007.

The MS-12991 performance level mirrors these FIAT specifications for CHRYSLER vehicles.

Can't go wrong with Motul Oil

 

[JLeco2022]

I've read more bad than good on the Doc's oil filters... For how inexpensive a filter is, I would rather get something better like a Wix or OEM - I really wish there was a Fleetguard or similar pro-grade option.

I use WIX

 

[Wrangler man]

Can't go wrong with Motul Oil

I don't think FCA would agree if given the opportunity to find fault. The lack of support from FCA on the auxiliary battery ( to date no alternative we just took it upon ourselves to make the proper correction) and fuel pump issues (my dealership is now telling me July) would find ANY opportunity to anyone that deviated from the 2 suggestions. If one's given choice does not exactly meet "Their interpretation". The owner's manual specifically "calls out" those 2 oil choices.(which I cautiously adhere to and follow, knowing the proven and thorough testing and engineering of other competitive brands would be hard to argue which is superior. Now going into my extended warranty alleviates nonsensical argument from FCA. Leaves me baffled why so many are steadfast (while under warranty) on bettering that. Especially with the lack of support from most dealerships that see anything other than 33s and Mopar lift as the cause to anything out of the ordinary or common issues. With my EcoDiesel Wrangler I also own a 2008 BMW (daily) (manual recommends Castol) well out of warranty nearing 200,000 miles. And that's where I choose the proven extensively researched, tested, and engineered oils that are best suited for my engine.

 

[BDinTX]

The owner's manual specifically "calls out" those 2 oil choices.

What two choices are specified in your manual? Curious if the manual has changed.

Mine reads:

The Motul 8100 X-Clean 5w40 is the specified weight, API SN, and meets the MS-12991 spec.

 

[Wrangler man]

What two choices are specified in your manual? Curious if the manual has changed.

Mine reads:

The Motul 8100 X-Clean 5w40 is the specified weight, API SN, and meets the MS-12991 spec.

This is the exact quote, from the diesel supplemental manual.
"We recommend you use 5W-40 synthetic engine oil such as Mopar or Pennzoil Platinum Euro that meets FCA material standard MS-12991 and the API SN engine oil category is required"

My 2020 EcoDiesel came with 4 free wave oil changes which I opted for and used every 5,000 from a very competent dealership. Now I use Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5W-40 exclusively with the OEM Mopar oil filter.

 

[BDinTX]

Interesting. A little different wording but I think the intent is the same.

 

[Hookr26]

Ok, time to do my next 2021 Rubicon oil change. My last Wave was at 45,000 miles. I paid for my second one by purchasing the oil and filter in Seattle at different dealerships when my dealer couldn't seem to get it in.

In anticipation of said "first one I have to do", I purchased one of the larger containers on one of the Mopar online sites. I think I have 4 individual quarts left from my purchase back at the second change to have spare in case of need to top off between oil changes. At 52,000 i've never had to add a drop yet. (only had this happen on two other vehicles....2013 ram and 2010 Challenger 5.7's.) Ive got to go dig out my larger container and see if its 5qts or a gallon. Its the Mopar brand. I remember my jaw dropping when I saw what I had to give per quart back at that second oil change.

But despite having my transmission replaced at 45k its been issue free. Did the aux battery delete this week. After reading all the posts, it was most likely the main battery that died. I went with a costco class H7, pulled the aux and connected the positive and negative to the main battery posts as several posts have suggested along with pulling the fuse.

But back to the Mopar oil, i may have to find a couple more quarts. Any suggestion for getting without paying the crazy dealership prices? I don't want to mix?

Thanks for any help.
Love my 3.0. I'm going to have to become educated as I really like this power plant. Last full engine rebuild i did myself, was an chev 350 about 2003 back to stock in my shorty van before they all shrunk. Boy have they really got a lot of extra stuff these days.

Side note, my 1969 Chevelle Nomad Station wagon had a 307, 2 barrel Carter, 3 speed t350 turbo matic, I upgraded the distributor to a dual point fancy one and averaged 20 mpg in that quite heavy car. My first full car engine requild in 10th grade. I built a couple motorcycles from the ground up before that. Oh the days when mowing lawns could keep your car with the needed gas. I knew exactly how many miles I could get when that gauge hit E. Cause I had to grab my 1 gal gas can out of the back and walk to the station with my buck to get back on the road. No cell phones then. Ok showing my age if the cars age didnt. 64 and still going with God's Blessing each day. I'm in my retirement vocation now. Why didn't I stay retired? Good question, you'all would know. Wife bought a new Wrangler sport in 2020. Having built my own couple back in the 80's over to the candy store we go and add 8-10k to the price we already paid. Yep, more since then. Then a year later she decided I needed a jeep again. Looked at building/buying a CJ5 or CJ8 like the ol' days. Looked at the cost and work, decided on a jlu 2021 rubicon diesel, Oh boy. I waited a couple of years but now finally adding the fun stuff to mine. Trying to enjoy doing the installs myself again. Still 4 more years till we get the banks paid off, LOL.

Finally, think of all the money we have spent in PROGRESS to get the same mileage I had back then. Humm.......

 

[DewHawk]

Figured I would give some insight from my personal experience thus far on the whole "What oil to run?" debate.

To start, I have zero clue what oil was in this beast when I bought it. I can only assume it was mopar packaged Pennzoil 5w40. Didn't run it long enough to care though since I changed it pretty quickly after doing a deep dive on what the community here said to go for.

So, first oil change was an ecoguard filter with Castrol Euro 5w40. This stuff meets MS-12991 and can be had for fairly cheap locally. Great. Box ticked, we should be golden right?
Yeah...right. Some of you probably already know this or at least are maybe in the loop but I've been having a devil of a time trying to pin point what the hell was causing me to go into Regen so frequently. I tried running a fuel catalyst to try and ignite the soot faster in the DPF, I ran a tank of Hot Shots Extreme to see if my injectors were gummed up, I did a forced regen to see if there was an issue with the sensors. This was driving me bonkers. I basically had narrowed it down to 2 culprits after exhausting everything else (literally). 1) the DPF was trashed and needed to either be pulled and cleaned the old fashioned way or replaced. 2) the oil was causing excess soot formation.

Seeing as Oil was the cheapest fix, I figured it was worth at least eliminating it as a cause before jumping down a more expensive rabbit hole. I ended up jumping down a much more murky rabbit hole instead when I started digging up info from the Ram side of the house and looking at their oil analysis threads. Turns out the Castrol is great for keeping wear down and the metal counts in check...what does become an issue though is when you realize its a full saps oil....like ALOT of MS-12991 and ACEA A3/B4 oils.

Full Saps is the last damn thing anyone should be running on a motor equipped with a particulate filter unless they want to burn out their emissions system components early or straight pipe the nasties care free (I'd rather not feel the wrath of my CARB state emissions legally so option 2 is a no go). I've read a couple mixed reports saying the MS-12991 is supposed to be a "mid/low saps oil" but that's bull$hit if it's also meeting ACEA A3/B4 so I don't buy that argument at all.

What to do then? The Ram ecodiesel guys seem to be on to something with certain mid saps oils, particularly ones that meet BMW's Long Life 04 spec. The TL;DR version is the while BMW LL01 is meant for cars without particulate filters, BMW LL04 is. I've owned countless BMW's in my life so when it comes to an oil that meets their requirements, it's gotta be good stuff. The flavor the ram dudes are all bananas over is Amsoil MS 5W40 Euro spec (red label).

Yes, yes, I know, it's Amsoil. It's the nectar of the dorks that think Amsoil is the god of oils. I was skeptical as hell too, especially given that it doesn't meet ANY of the recommendations in the owners manual (there's plenty of Rotela T6 guys here that will tell you those recommendations are about as useful as the paper they're printed on). But given the data I was seeing in the oil analysis charts being posted, I couldn't find a reason to not give it a shot (other than the obvious "You'll void your warranty!" cricket on my shoulder). With less than 3000 miles on the Castrol, I said screw it, ordered it, and swapped it in with a fresh ecoguard filter.

First 20 or so miles seemed like nothing changed. No new noises (if anything it sounds a little quieter), no weird vibrations. Soot accumulation was still sky rocketing like crazy. I figured it might take a bit to show any signs of improvement so I ignored it. Sure enough, within 50 miles passive regen was actually making a noticeable difference for a change. Before this I could run for 100's of miles and barely burn off 30%. Now I was burning 10% every 15-20 miles like it was effortless. The soot accumulation is now WAY more in line with what I would expect for normal operation, even with mostly city driving. It's literally a night and day difference. How much of this is down to Amsoil's blend or just changing to an ACEA C3 oil with LL04 specs is up in the air for me. One thing is for damn certain though, I'm staying the hell away from MS-12991 from now on.

I'll run this oil for 5000 miles and report back with a no BS sample report to show whether or not I'm killing my internals by intentionally ignoring the owners manual. The initial results though are down right amazing to see with my Scangauge. Oil temps are still right on the money like they were before and pressure (as accurate as the dash is anyway) hasn't changed a bit. So far so good.

 

[BDinTX]

@DewHawk interesting write up and something to think about. I took a far less analytical approach when I settled on an oil back in 2021. I wanted something that was MS-12991 compliant and more importantly - available.

At that time the only thing I could actually buy was Motul. I'd never heard of them before so I was a little hesitant but I'd rather have something than not. It turns out it's also ACEA C3, mid SAPS, the right weight, and also happens to meet MS-12991. On my Banks I've seen my soot load go all the way down during highway driving.

8100 X-CLEAN 5W-40 Motor Oil Motul 102051 (shopmotul.com)

 

[DewHawk]

@DewHawk interesting write up and something to think about. I took a far less analytical approach when I settled on an oil back in 2021. I wanted something that was MS-12991 compliant and more importantly - available.

At that time the only thing I could actually buy was Motul. I'd never heard of them before so I was a little hesitant but I'd rather have something than not. It turns out it's also ACEA C3, mid SAPS, the right weight, and also happens to meet MS-12991. On my Banks I've seen my soot load go all the way down during highway driving.

8100 X-CLEAN 5W-40 Motor Oil Motul 102051 (shopmotul.com)

Interesting. If you read the manual for 2023 (I think it’s page 327 but don’t quote me on that), it’s very specific about meeting ACEA A3/B4 but recommends 12991. Having an oil that’s a C3 with 12991 makes me wonder wtf 12991 really is (first) and why they’re so adamant about the ACEA rating in later years vs early EcoDiesel gen3 (second).
Oh well. I’ve heard X-Clean is good stuff but never bothered to look into it. I used to run Motul a long time ago but have since moved on to LiquiMoly for my European cars. If I can find one of their oils that meets the needs of my Jeep, it’ll probably be on my short list to try it.

 

[Kleiss1]

How do you do a forced regen? Didn’t know it was possible. Thanks

 

[BDinTX]

Interesting. If you read the manual for 2023 (I think it’s page 327 but don’t quote me on that), it’s very specific about meeting ACEA A3/B4 but recommends 12991. Having an oil that’s a C3 with 12991 makes me wonder wtf 12991 really is (first) and why they’re so adamant about the ACEA rating in later years vs early EcoDiesel gen3 (second).
Oh well. I’ve heard X-Clean is good stuff but never bothered to look into it. I used to run Motul a long time ago but have since moved on to LiquiMoly for my European cars. If I can find one of their oils that meets the needs of my Jeep, it’ll probably be on my short list to try it.

I think MS-12991 is basically the ACEA C3 standard in a weight that it didn't originally include. Decoding this crap is almost impossible though...

Copied from above:
The FIAT 9.55535-S2, T2 and GH2 performance level imposes the engine oil to combine both ACEA C3 standard and 5W-40 viscosity grade in order to perfectly lubricate some Gasoline engines of FIAT, ALFA-ROMEO, and LANCIA produced from July 2007.

The MS-12991 performance level mirrors these FIAT specifications for CHRYSLER vehicles.

 

[DewHawk]

How do you do a forced regen? Didn’t know it was possible. Thanks

JScan has an adaptation function that will allow you to access it. You’ll need the SGW cable in order for it to actually trigger. It’s not advisable to do unless you’re trying to diagnose an issue or unplug a DPF that’s not clearing from normal active regens. Make sure it’s parked outside, at normal operating temps, and expect it to last about 20 minutes.

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