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Chrysler Pentastar (3.2 and 3.6)

V6 · naturally aspirated · petrol · 2010–present

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Also known as: 3.6 pentastar v6, 3.6 v6, erb, eza, 3.2 pentastar, pentastar v6

The aluminium 60° V6 that replaced seven separate Chrysler V6 engines with one design, introduced for the 2011 model year and still in production. Dual overhead camshafts, 24 valves, and — unusually for the segment at launch — port injection rather than direct, which is why it does not accumulate intake-valve carbon the way its direct-injected contemporaries do.

The characteristic early fault is the left cylinder head. On 2011–2013 engines a rocker or the head itself could fail, producing a persistent misfire on one bank, usually cylinder 2 — a tick or misfire on that bank on an early Pentastar is a known pattern rather than a one-off, and the heads were revised in production.

The cooled-EGR version introduced later brought its own theme: EGR cooler blockage and the driveability complaints that follow. Later engines also carry eTorque belt-driven mild-hybrid hardware in some applications, which changes what a charging or start-stop complaint means on the same engine.

It is two engines, not one — the cars listed below run 3.2 and 3.6 litres, and the 3.2 is the Cherokee KL's. The recurring items above are common to the family, so they read across both; a part number does not.

Cars fitted with this engine

15 generations, across 4 makes. From the authored catalogue — an absent car means the catalogue has not reached it, not that the engine was never fitted.

Information, not instruction

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Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.

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  • The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
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