Reliability concerns

[cutter1138]

Hello all, I hope everyone is having a good Christmas and new years season.

I have been concerned about reliability with the gladiators and now Jeep brand in general. I have a 2021 JT Rubicon. I have been using it some, by no means is it a pavement queen. However, I feel that I do my best to take care of it and am admittedly a maintenance fiend. Despite this I have been disappointed with my JT. This from a 3rd time Jeep owner. My old ZJ was great back in the day and I drove that for 10 years as a daily. Then I got a JK Rubicon and put 150,000 miles on it with zero issues except a door lock on the drivers door causing an issue that was easily remedied.

So with that previous experience I got my JT and was quite happy thinking I would know what to expect. I have been disappointed with the fuel economy, multiple check engine lights, an oil leak, a gear box that just seems to act strangely, a failed alternator, and according to the dealer a problem with the front diff. This is all in one year of ownership.

So the check engine lights have happened twice now. Once it corrected itself in about a day. It was a P0300 indicating multiple misfires, it had been raining and I thought I probably got a little water in the fuel at a gas station. no further issues until last night I got the P0300 and the P0101 indicating an issue with the mass airflow sensor. Granted its super cold right now but still. Also I am averaging about 14MPG.

So far everything has been warranty work, but I am growing concerned about the reliability and that makes me a little standoffish about going out into the back country.

So my question t everyone is am I being overly worried or is this a common experience for every one. It has been more go wrong with a new vehicle than I have ever experienced.

Thanks

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[Prescottmojave]

15000 miles on my 22 JTM with zero issues.

 

[cutter1138]

15000 miles on my 22 JTM with zero issues.

I sitting at 26k. The thing that has bothered me the most is my local dealer has kind of ignored my concerns. They have fixed everything so far, but I have been concerned about the fuel economy and gearbox for a while and they just pulled codes (there were none) and said just drive it and it will "learn" what ever that means.

 

[JTenn]

Your issues suck for sure! I don't think the Jeep brand is suffering from any more reliability issues than any other manufacturer. It is a huge problem when it happens to be occurring on "your" vehicle. These trucks and all new vehicles today are electronic nightmares that require a great deal of troubleshooting from smart techs. Guess what's systematically missing from the picture. Your issues are very correctable if the root cause can be identified correctly. I read an article that the gladiator was one of the highest rated for quality although I don't have the link and I realize just because I read it doesn't make it true. Point is the vast majority of JT owners don't have the same experience as you. I hate that You're experience is not a good one but again I feel it is correctable with the right support. Good luck with it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

There's 2 or 3 threads with dozens of pages where many people are talking "no problems".

My 2020 was truly trouble-free once they replaced the tonneau cover (not a Jeep problem).
My 2022 had a weird misfire issue under very very specific conditions and circumstances - dealer seems to have resolved that.
It had some weird CAN bus communication issue errors - so far, unless warm weather brings it back, they seem to have fixed that as well.

You have a Rubicon - don't expect stellar MPG - especially in cold weather with the winter fuel blends being sold.
That's a big duh - it's to be expected with any pickup or typical car. Even my wife's Grand Cherokee drops about 2 mpg in the winter. And how YOU drive and where YOU live matters - it's the driver as much as the truck as far as MPG. You bought a brick. Bricks are horribly inefficient in the wind - and going over 60-65 is like putting up a sail in the wind.
26,000 miles it's learned all it's going to. How you drove it on the first days determined how an automatic behaves later. You can change the automatic transmission and make it relearn, though, make it start over.
The engine is done learning, or should be done learning, before you even hit 10,000 miles and it is more than done "breaking in" by then.
Don't expect mpg to do better after 26,000 unless YOU change habits.

These are still pretty highly rated (in a good way) for initial troubles.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Your issues suck for sure! I don't think the Jeep brand is suffering from any more reliability issues than any other manufacturer. It is a huge problem when it happens to be occurring on "your" vehicle. These trucks and all new vehicles today are electronic nightmares that require a great deal of troubleshooting from smart techs. Guess what's systematically missing from the picture. Your issues are very correctable if the root cause can be identified correctly. I read an article that the gladiator was one of the highest rated for quality although I don't have the link and I realize just because I read it doesn't make it true. Point is the vast majority of JT owners don't have the same experience as you. I hate that You're experience is not a good one but again I feel it is correctable with the right support. Good luck with it.

We're already talking about taking my JT for another cross-country trek - back to FL, maybe even to see the swamps of LA, over to TN, whatever. We've taken it down to Sarasota and St. Augustine and back. We had my 2020 in Colorado Springs and Fort Wayne and other places and not even a hiccup with it (well, I did forget about the steering gear replacement, no biggy, they fixed that)
But it appears they resolved my weird misfire issues on the 2022 by forcing the cam/crank difference learning. I just did some playing around in the snow with the snow plow, taxing the electric system and it did fine with that.

 

[DAVECS2]

Change the oil a couple time within 3000 miles and use Quaker State or Penzoil ULTRA. Also use a wide or Mopar filter. Chances are you variable lift solenoids and cam phasers are running slow or sometimes not at all. This gets worse when it is colder out. The variable lift solenoids are on at start up and turn off at 2800 rpm. If they are clogged or not flowing well your high RPM cam comes on at lower engine speeds, causing the engine to get the incorrect aircharge and misfire.

Add to that slow cam timing due to slow or poor flowing oil and the issue is compounded. There is no good diagnostics for faulty cam oil pressure issues, so it manifests itself in misfires and airflow codes.

I personally would use 5w30 in these engines, but that goes against warranty and all.

The JT is a good truck. I think they got ahead of themselves on the 3.6L. The axles and such are quality issues from Dana, that can be fixed, by just getting things assembled right.

Chances are the 3.6 will keep running even with these issues, it just is going to throw lights from time to time. Super clean oil is highly important on these engines. Be nice to get a bypass system released for these things.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Change the oil a couple time within 3000 miles and use Quaker State or Penzoil ULTRA. Also use a wide or Mopar filter. Chances are you variable lift solenoids and cam phasers are running slow or sometimes not at all. This gets worse when it is colder out. The variable lift solenoids are on at start up and turn off at 2800 rpm. If they are clogged or not flowing well your high RPM cam comes on at lower engine speeds, causing the engine to get the incorrect aircharge and misfire.

Add to that slow cam timing due to slow or poor flowing oil and the issue is compounded. There is no good diagnostics for faulty cam oil pressure issues, so it manifests itself in misfires and airflow codes.

I personally would use 5w30 in these engines, but that goes against warranty and all.

The JT is a good truck. I think they got ahead of themselves on the 3.6L. The axles and such are quality issues from Dana, that can be fixed, by just getting things assembled right.

Chances are the 3.6 will keep running even with these issues, it just is going to throw lights from time to time. Super clean oil is highly important on these engines. Be nice to get a bypass system released for these things.

One reason I like oil changes going into winter.
You get the clean oil but also the viscosity control back to new levels.
Even if I'm not even close on miles for an oil change, I tell my wife - winter is nigh, time for oil changes.

See, you can't leave - we sort of need you around here, JT or not.

 

[jac04]

It has been more go wrong with a new vehicle than I have ever experienced.

I'm struggling with this as well. This is my worst experience ever with a new vehicle, and I've bought a LOT of new vehicles over the years. Wind noise, rear window leak, resonance noise, driveshaft threw a weight, and now it's in the shop for the 4th time for my 4WD not working, and they are still trying to figure it out. Only 11k miles over 18 months.

I have a 'toy' JK that I bought in 2014, and I went in eyes wide open after researching them. Oil pressure sensor failure is the only thing significant that has gone wrong so far, but that went at like 24k miles so it didn't exactly last a long time.

So, I kinda knew what I was getting myself into with the JT, but as my daily driver I'd be lying if I said I was still confident in the vehicle, especially with it sitting in the shop with some unknown electrical issue.

But, what am I going to do? I love my JTM. I have little interest in anything like a Tacoma or Canyon/Colorado or Bronco or Ranger. The most practical replacement for it (based on how I use it) would be a Ridgeline, but can I put up with being ridiculed by my own family and coworkers on a daily basis? No.

So, is this a common expereince for others? Yes, for some of us. You are obviously concerned about reliability, and rightfully so. The question is, can you live with your concerns about reliability? If not, cut it loose and get something else.

 

[JTenn]

We're already talking about taking my JT for another cross-country trek - back to FL, maybe even to see the swamps of LA, over to TN, whatever. We've taken it down to Sarasota and St. Augustine and back. We had my 2020 in Colorado Springs and Fort Wayne and other places and not even a hiccup with it (well, I did forget about the steering gear replacement, no biggy, they fixed that)
But it appears they resolved my weird misfire issues on the 2022 by forcing the cam/crank difference learning. I just did some playing around in the snow with the snow plow, taxing the electric system and it did fine with that.

FCA sent me a letter a couple weeks ago to get the latest ecm flash. I guess that's for the misfire issue. I'll eventually take it in but I need to remove the tazer first. But I haven't had any issues and feel a bit reluctant to make changes that could induce an issue. I'm sure I'm over thinking it though.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I'm the sort that likes to keep up with flashes for ECM/PCM and so on.
Granted, as with any change there's a slight risk of introducing issues, but on the other hand, they keep making changes anyway as the months go by. For example, mine runs a lot higher voltages in cold weather than my 2020 ever did. Was that a change? Luck? Just because of something else?
I can't say - but if I had heard that some other 2022s were running higher voltages and I still had a 2020 or 2021, I'd want to know and would hope it possible to get the latest revs.
Then, that's just me.

(If it started the cluster POST with the Microsoft logo - and I was at version 1.x I'd say wait for version 4.0 at least!)

 

[ShadowsPapa]

So, I kinda knew what I was getting myself into with the JT, but as my daily driver I'd be lying if I said I was still confident in the vehicle, especially with it sitting in the shop with some unknown electrical issue.

THAT is the part that would bug me, knowing what I know about what "other mechanics" know about electrical even from the 90s and before.
I cringe when I see the stuff out there for diagnosing 20-40 year old vehicles and think to myself- and some of these guys work on this century's stuff???

 

[FloridaMan655321]

24k miles and zero issues on a 2021 Mojave. No mods, which helps with a good amount of problems that I’ve seen on this forum. I am a bit concerned with the rear window issue that I’ve seen, as well as the misfires or ticking in the engine. I guess I’m more concerned on the engine, but then I think about how many vehicles the engine is placed in and have 200k+ miles on.

 

[cutter1138]

There's 2 or 3 threads with dozens of pages where many people are talking "no problems".

My 2020 was truly trouble-free once they replaced the tonneau cover (not a Jeep problem).
My 2022 had a weird misfire issue under very very specific conditions and circumstances - dealer seems to have resolved that.
It had some weird CAN bus communication issue errors - so far, unless warm weather brings it back, they seem to have fixed that as well.

You have a Rubicon - don't expect stellar MPG - especially in cold weather with the winter fuel blends being sold.
That's a big duh - it's to be expected with any pickup or typical car. Even my wife's Grand Cherokee drops about 2 mpg in the winter. And how YOU drive and where YOU live matters - it's the driver as much as the truck as far as MPG. You bought a brick. Bricks are horribly inefficient in the wind - and going over 60-65 is like putting up a sail in the wind.
26,000 miles it's learned all it's going to. How you drove it on the first days determined how an automatic behaves later. You can change the automatic transmission and make it relearn, though, make it start over.
The engine is done learning, or should be done learning, before you even hit 10,000 miles and it is more than done "breaking in" by then.
Don't expect mpg to do better after 26,000 unless YOU change habits.

These are still pretty highly rated (in a good way) for initial troubles.

I never expected to see "great fuel economy" but I had hopped it would do at least as well as my JT, which it does not presently. Its not a huge concern, as to your point I knew what I was getting into, however I would have hoped for slightly more range as the point of this rig was long distance overland trips. I can solve the issue with aux fuel tanks when I need them but that's not really the point. I really do try to baby the truck to get optimal fuel economy, I drive interstate to and from work but stay in the right lane and set the cruse for 70. The winter fuel lends are not helping me either thats actually a good point.

 

[Snake Eyes]

Hello all, I hope everyone is having a good Christmas and new years season.

I have been concerned about reliability with the gladiators and now Jeep brand in general. I have a 2021 JT Rubicon. I have been using it some, by no means is it a pavement queen. However, I feel that I do my best to take care of it and am admittedly a maintenance fiend. Despite this I have been disappointed with my JT. This from a 3rd time Jeep owner. My old ZJ was great back in the day and I drove that for 10 years as a daily. Then I got a JK Rubicon and put 150,000 miles on it with zero issues except a door lock on the drivers door causing an issue that was easily remedied.

So with that previous experience I got my JT and was quite happy thinking I would know what to expect. I have been disappointed with the fuel economy, multiple check engine lights, an oil leak, a gear box that just seems to act strangely, a failed alternator, and according to the dealer a problem with the front diff. This is all in one year of ownership.

So the check engine lights have happened twice now. Once it corrected itself in about a day. It was a P0300 indicating multiple misfires, it had been raining and I thought I probably got a little water in the fuel at a gas station. no further issues until last night I got the P0300 and the P0101 indicating an issue with the mass airflow sensor. Granted its super cold right now but still. Also I am averaging about 14MPG.

So far everything has been warranty work, but I am growing concerned about the reliability and that makes me a little standoffish about going out into the back country.

So my question t everyone is am I being overly worried or is this a common experience for every one. It has been more go wrong with a new vehicle than I have ever experienced.

Thanks

Sometimes it is not the brand but an individual vehicle. It can happen to anyone. My JT is coming up on a year and only oil changes. Not a single issue.

As for as MPG?….

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