New York 2009: Chrysler's new flex-fuel V6 debuts in 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee
When Chrysler revealed the new Jeep Grand Cherokee this week in New York, it marked the first public appearance of the company's new V6 engine family. What had previously been referred to as the Phoenix is now officially dubbed the Pentastar V6. Over the next couple of years, variants of this engine will supplant all current 6 cylinder engines in Chrysler's lineup. Like its predecessors, the Pentastar has a 60 degree block angle but manufacturing process has been changed to high pressure diecasting. The initial 3.6-liter version has dual overhead camshafts with variable cam phasing.
The engines are designed to be lighter and more efficient than the units they replace. The first 3.6-liter is claimed to use eight percent less fuel than before, even with the port fuel injection it will have at launch. In the past, Chrysler has said these engines will also have direct injection which will probably appear on later variants. All of the Pentastar V6s will have flex fuel capability from launch.
[Source: Chrysler]
PRESS RELEASE:
Chrysler LLC Introduces All-new Pentastar V-6 Engine
Refined, more fuel-efficient V-6 engine to debut in all-new 2011 Jeep® Grand Cherokee
* The all-new Pentastar V-6 is the most advanced six-cylinder engine in the history of Chrysler, with an ideal integration of select technologies that deliver refinement, fuel efficiency and performance
* All-new flexible-fuel 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 to replace seven current V-6 engines, resulting in flexibility, efficient operations and significant cost savings to the company
* New Chrysler Pentastar V-6 to deliver fuel efficiency improvement of up to 8 percent on average compared with previous Chrysler V-6 engines
* New Pentastar V-6 will contribute a 2 mpg increase to Chrysler's CAFE by 2015
New York, Apr 8, 2009 - Chrysler LLC introduced today an all-new line of V-6 engines that will improve fuel efficiency across the Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge lineup by 8 percent on average compared with previous Chrysler V-6 engines. This more refined and fuel-efficient V-6 engine will ultimately replace seven current Chrysler V-6 engines.
The new 3.6-liter V-6 engine-named Pentastar-is part of the company's overall $3 billion powertrain offensive. It will first be offered in the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, unveiled today at the New York International Auto Show and at the Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah.
"Chrysler's all-new 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine will offer our customers improved fuel economy, refinement and increased performance across the Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicle lineup," said Frank Klegon, Executive Vice President-Product Development, Chrysler LLC. "At the same time, replacing seven current engines with one engine will result in increased flexibility, more efficient operations and significant cost savings to the company."
The Pentastar is an all-new design, featuring double-overhead camshafts (DOHC) and a high-pressure die-cast aluminum cylinder block in a 60-degree configuration.
In the all-new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee, the all-new 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine will deliver 280 horsepower (209 kW) at 6,400 rpm and 260 lb.-ft. (353 N•m) of torque at 4,800 rpm-an increase of 33 percent in horsepower and 11 percent in torque over its predecessor-while providing an 11 percent fuel economy improvement.
"The all-new Pentastar is the most advanced six-cylinder engine Chrysler has ever offered," said Bob Lee, Vice President-Powertrain Product Team. "This new family of engines uses an architecture conceived with future technology growth and integration in mind."
The new Pentastar V-6 also will contribute a 2 mpg increase to Chrysler's CAFE by 2015, resulting in fewer greenhouse gas emissions and a reduction in oil dependence.
Customers Benefit: Fuel Efficiency, Refinement, Quality, Low Cost of Ownership
During the initial goal setting for the Pentastar program, Chrysler engineers benchmarked the industry's leading engines to set functional targets. The result is an all-new engine that delivers truly world-class customer attributes.
Chrysler's all-new 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine design features a double-overhead cam (DOHC), narrow included valve angle, cylinder head and high-flow intake and exhaust ports. This design, combined with dual independent cam phasing, allows optimum volumetric and combustion efficiency over the full speed and load range, resulting in an exceptional, flat torque curve along with high specific power-the engine's torque exceeds 90 percent of its peak value from 1,600 to 6,400 rpm-which will provide customers with outstanding drivability and responsiveness, without the need for premium fuel.
"Similar to what we did with the HEMI® engine, our engineers used the best combination of design features and technologies to create an engine that satisfies customer requirements," Lee added. "The elegantly simple design maximizes the functionality of each design element rather than adding technology to claim a feature. The result gives our customers everything they demand from an engine today-class-leading levels of refinement, fuel-efficiency, performance and cost of ownership."
The advanced oil filter system eliminates oil spills and contains an incinerable filter element-more efficient disposal than the typical spin-on filters, which are disposed of in landfill sites. The use of long-life spark plugs and a high-energy coil-on-plug ignition system also helps to reduce cost of ownership.
The Pentastar V-6 is designed to run on regular gasoline, offering a 10 percent reduction in fuel cost compared with premium fueled engines. The engine also is fully flex fuel capable, offering consumers the choice of gasoline or E85 fuel without any degradation in performance or emissions.
The new state-of-the-art Trenton (Mich.) Engine South Plant will be the lead facility for production of the Pentastar V-6 engine. A duplicate, new facility in Saltillo, Mexico, will ramp up for the 2012 model year.
All-new Chrysler 3.6-liter, DOHC, 24-valve Pentastar V-6 Technical Specifications
Displacement: 3.6 liters
Bore x stroke: 96 x 83 mm
Valve train system: Double-overhead cam with roller finger followers and hydraulic lash adjusters. Dual independent cam-torque actuated phasers
Fuel injection: Multi-point port fuel injection
Construction: High-pressure die-cast aluminum cylinder block and semi-permanent mold aluminum cylinder head
Maximum engine speed: 7200 rpm
Fuel requirement: E85 (Ethanol) or unleaded regular, 87 octane (R+M)/2
Emission capability: PZEV
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
f1tifoso 1:20PM (4/11/2009)
No direct injection -
they're 5 miles behind the rest of the pack then...
but that's Chrysler for you!
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Jimbo 2:58PM (4/11/2009)
GM is is the only real competitor to Chrysler that has DI V6s. So they're hardly behind the competition. They even said that this architecture will have DI in the future. Should it have had it at launch? Sure. But that doesn't mean they're behind the competition.
MikeW 5:55PM (4/11/2009)
The decision to use a 5 speed automatic in a 2011 model year is.
Jimbo 7:40PM (4/11/2009)
MikeW: Again, they're still not completely behind the competition. Honda and Toyota both use 5-speed autos. Chrysler was supposed to have a 7-speed dual-clutch transmission to go along with this engine but that program fell apart as Chrysler ran out of money. That would have leapfrogged them to the top technology-wise.
I'm not a Chrysler sympathizer by any means but there does seem to be a lot of misinformation out there.
MikeW 7:13PM (4/12/2009)
Toyota has 6 speed autos to replace the 5 speed they are still using. (and CVTs)
They are being cheap.
Honda says that there isn't anything wrong with 5 speed autos, they are wrong.
When the 2011 model year vehicles are out, I wouldn't take a used vehicle without a 6 speed auto.
The Explorer has used the ZF 6 speed auto since the '06 model year. So Chrysler is launching a new product that is about a half-decade full decade behind the competition [depending on how you look at it]. ('02 Explorer had '5' speed auto for both V8 & V6, prior to '02 only V6 had '5' speed auto)
freshforged 2:48PM (4/11/2009)
Looks like a top notch engine--I can see why fiat is interested in getting its hands on this.
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gorr 4:03PM (4/11/2009)
Look at this picture, wouacchh, polluting technology that can suffocate you more then 100 000 times in it's lifetime and this is not to say how much money it will cost you and taxpayers to run for 10-20 years. Car manufacturers are just subsidized criminals like big-oil and banks and goverment peoples, that's all. They known from the start that this s&it engine was toxic and they sold it to goverment and big-oil and the illicit profit ends in protected private kingdom in saudi-arabia.
They had numerous occasions to use natural gas or butanol from green algae farming or hydrogen but they prefer selling poison at high cost. Consumers are alone these days and it's not the limp 'new start-ups' that will propose green cars because they are limp or bouth by big-oil or banned by goverment.
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gorr 4:53PM (4/11/2009)
These engines needs after-treatment in the form of catalytics converters that add weight and restriction to the engine because the engine cannot burn completelly the gasoline that you paid for and that the goverment and big-oil have said many times from long time ago that there is few petrol left and they have to jack up the price to keep it and starve you by the way even if there is enouph petrol and natural gas for more then 200 years and they sell you with it unneeded platinum in the convecter all for nothing except paying further more the natural ressources cartel that control the usa army and each and every state employee, magazine, tv stations. They even put petrol under the protection of the law in national security mandate, petrol reserves, etc, etc.
Ford, gm, ferrari, peugeot, chrsler, toyota, honda are just protected criminals and incompetants, unfortunatelly under the protection of state. They sell cancer.
stas peterson 1:14PM (4/16/2009)
In addition to being a all aluminum, DOHC, dual VVT design, it has some other nice features. Ford made a big issue of using Cam torque to rapidly alter cam phasing on it's new Duratec Eco-boost engines, and the non boosted v6s for its new Fusion. Chrysler has employed similar technology, so adaptation to Atkinson and Miller cycle is no problem. Ford emphasized that the same rapid torque cam phasing is a necessary sina qua non for tomorrow's HCCI operation. So these Pentastars are designed to adapt to HCCI operation.
The GEMA I-4 "World" engine family that Chrysler introduced a few years ago were criticized for being noisy, so Chrysler is going out of its way to emphasize the silence of these engines. The absence of DI is due to a noise issue. They have DI, and will use it on their truck applications while further work continues but awaits progress from suppliers in quieting their DI components.
Chrysler wishes to sell the Grand Cherokee as a competitor to Land Rover and refinement and NVH are important in how these platforms are first perceived.
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Guy 10:13PM (4/18/2009)
I have 171,000 km on my 2002 Grand Cherokee.If I need a new engine,what engine should I ask for?
Guy
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