RE: 99-02 Chrysler 2.7 motors had major oil sludge issues.
I thought the workaround for avoiding sludge in these “sludge-prone” engines was to change the oil more frequently. The OP says the oil was changed every 3K miles since it was new.
I haven’t followed every sludge-prone engine, but 3K oil changes is well within the intervals to overcome sludge for many of those problematic engines.