Jeep Gladiator - happy owners? seeing scary stuff in the repair forums

[lo-fi]

Bought my first Jeep (Gladiator Mojave) over a week ago, however, I've been a long time sports car enthusiast. There is something you learn when actively participating in that world, which is that no manufacturer can get production right when dealing with what I'll call "niche" or purpose built vehicles. I think the Gladiator somewhat falls into this category (maybe it shouldn't) but lets review other vehicles I've dealt with.

BMW e46 m3? A car with a RACP (rear axle carrier panel), what the rear subframe attaches to and what holds your rear end to the car, could crack sufficiently such that your entire rear end could fall out. Yep.

Mercedes? They produced the w204 C63 AMG with a naturally aspirated 460 HP engine. Nice huh? Guess what? The head bolts could, and did, rust and break. Awesome.

Porsche? Read up on IMS bearings. Good times.

Mustangs? Read up on the MT82 transmission (plus a myriad of other somewhat common problems).

Heck, I bought my wife a brand new 2016 Honda Pilot back in the day. I'm a maintenance loving dude (you can tell by the cars above because I owned, or do own, them all) and that thing was gigantic pile of crap with respect to the transmisison. Would all the sudden go into limp mode and clunk (first time was at 25k miles under normal driving conditions and weren't towing, never did). Honda never had an answer, would just reset and tell me they applied a TSB (they didn't). I began to piece together on forums that the issue was wide spread.

I don't say all this to excuse auto manufacturers, the larger point is this, when you buy a car you must do your due diligence and decide what you can live with regards to risk and money. I wish this didn't have to be a consideration but it does.

Also this, reading forums like this one is required but unfortunately it very much is detrimental to your outlook about any car, trust me.

I like my Gladiator, bought it, hooked it up to a battery charger, and less than 12 hours later I was off trail at my favorite fishing put-in. DD'd to work for a week then checked the battery and yep there is a problem in that short drives don't adequately charge the battery and the drain seems excessive. LoL, at least this forum exists to let me know its common.

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[Gren71]

2020 Sport S w/max tow
Bought it in 2019
100,400 miles

some small issues along the way but nothing id consider major.

Worst was my rear diff blew a tooth. Asymptomatic for me but my dealer found metal in the fluid during a “4x4 oil change” i had requested at the end if my first towing year in 2021. They popped the cover and found the tooth and initiated the warranty fix that day. I had a loaner for 3-4 days while they got it parts and did the work.

other than that no huge issues my factory and/or extended warranty didn’t cover.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Mercedes? They produced the w204 C63 AMG with a naturally aspirated 460 HP engine. Nice huh? Guess what? The head bolts could, and did, rust and break. Awesome.

Not to mention recall on 1 million Mercedes vehicles because the sunroof can fly off while driving down the highway - and I mean CLEAR OFF.

 

[Stan H]

I bought a twice owned Gladiator this past June with just over 10k miles. So far I’ve put on just over 2k.

I usually put about 2000-2500 per month on mine. It is driven 2 weeks straight in a row then 2 weeks off with a few days of driving in there during that 2 week off period.

 

[BUZZHEAD]

Let me start with this .In 1989 bought a jeep commanche p/up 219,000 miles never in the shop for any repairs.
I have owned 7 two door wranglers all rubicon editions.
In JULY 2019 I was riding past my jeep dealer and seen the gladiator. Well then I traded my 2019 wrangler because I fell in love with the gladiator.Took ownership in less then two hours. Now has 53.,000 miles on it.Take in mind built during covid or on a hangover MONDAY or a hurry to leave on FRIDAY. Everything replaced under warranty so far.
THE LIST
steering box, valve cover gaskets, left turn signal housing full of water ,information center, door lock switch, brakes rotors,calipers,drums, ds inner fender,both batteries.
Going in next week - bubbling paint on hood,rust above rear tow hooks, leaking rear window, rotational squeak ps rear (axle ?).
WHY AM I STILL IN LOVE WITH THIS VEHICLE ?

 

[Maximus Gladius]

Let me start with this .In 1989 bought a jeep commanche p/up 219,000 miles never in the shop for any repairs.
I have owned 7 two door wranglers all rubicon editions.
In JULY 2019 I was riding past my jeep dealer and seen the gladiator. Well then I traded my 2019 wrangler because I fell in love with the gladiator.Took ownership in less then two hours. Now has 53.,000 miles on it.Take in mind built during covid or on a hangover MONDAY or a hurry to leave on FRIDAY. Everything replaced under warranty so far.
THE LIST
steering box, valve cover gaskets, left turn signal housing full of water ,information center, door lock switch, brakes rotors,calipers,drums, ds inner fender,both batteries.
Going in next week - bubbling paint on hood,rust above rear tow hooks, leaking rear window, rotational squeak ps rear (axle ?).
WHY AM I STILL IN LOVE WITH THIS VEHICLE ?

Now I’m not the only most unlucky guy @ShadowsPapa knows! We can hang together and be pals!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Now I’m not the only most unlucky guy @ShadowsPapa knows! We can hang together and be pals!

Misery loves company, as my mother used to say LOL

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Let me start with this .In 1989 bought a jeep commanche p/up 219,000 miles never in the shop for any repairs.
I have owned 7 two door wranglers all rubicon editions.
In JULY 2019 I was riding past my jeep dealer and seen the gladiator. Well then I traded my 2019 wrangler because I fell in love with the gladiator.Took ownership in less then two hours. Now has 53.,000 miles on it.Take in mind built during covid or on a hangover MONDAY or a hurry to leave on FRIDAY. Everything replaced under warranty so far.
THE LIST
steering box, valve cover gaskets, left turn signal housing full of water ,information center, door lock switch, brakes rotors,calipers,drums, ds inner fender,both batteries.
Going in next week - bubbling paint on hood,rust above rear tow hooks, leaking rear window, rotational squeak ps rear (axle ?).
WHY AM I STILL IN LOVE WITH THIS VEHICLE ?

 

[mtudb24]

Picked up Oct 2020. just under 40K miles. Only issue was some loose suspension components around the 30K mile mark. Other then that, no problems at all.
One of the first Jeeps I've gotten "lucky" with. Stop / Start sill works and still on the original windshield. Knock on wood

 

[BUZZHEAD]

Thanks papa

 

[Raven65]

Not to mention recall on 1 million Mercedes vehicles because the sunroof can fly off while driving down the highway - and I mean CLEAR OFF.

Reminds me of the issue Chevy had with the new C6 Corvette back in 2005 - where the outer skin of the targa roof panel would delaminate from the frame and fly off at speed like that. Apparently it was a problem with the adhesive they were using (either the adhesive itself or the way it was being applied). It was an easy fix, but definitely gave the new model a black eye for a bit. Never buy the first year of ANY new model.

 

[Raven65]

Bought my first Jeep (Gladiator Mojave) over a week ago, however, I've been a long time sports car enthusiast. There is something you learn when actively participating in that world, which is that no manufacturer can get production right when dealing with what I'll call "niche" or purpose built vehicles. I think the Gladiator somewhat falls into this category (maybe it shouldn't) but lets review other vehicles I've dealt with.

BMW e46 m3? A car with a RACP (rear axle carrier panel), what the rear subframe attaches to and what holds your rear end to the car, could crack sufficiently such that your entire rear end could fall out. Yep.

Mercedes? They produced the w204 C63 AMG with a naturally aspirated 460 HP engine. Nice huh? Guess what? The head bolts could, and did, rust and break. Awesome.

Porsche? Read up on IMS bearings. Good times.

Mustangs? Read up on the MT82 transmission (plus a myriad of other somewhat common problems).

Heck, I bought my wife a brand new 2016 Honda Pilot back in the day. I'm a maintenance loving dude (you can tell by the cars above because I owned, or do own, them all) and that thing was gigantic pile of crap with respect to the transmisison. Would all the sudden go into limp mode and clunk (first time was at 25k miles under normal driving conditions and weren't towing, never did). Honda never had an answer, would just reset and tell me they applied a TSB (they didn't). I began to piece together on forums that the issue was wide spread.

I don't say all this to excuse auto manufacturers, the larger point is this, when you buy a car you must do your due diligence and decide what you can live with regards to risk and money. I wish this didn't have to be a consideration but it does.

Also this, reading forums like this one is required but unfortunately it very much is detrimental to your outlook about any car, trust me.

I like my Gladiator, bought it, hooked it up to a battery charger, and less than 12 hours later I was off trail at my favorite fishing put-in. DD'd to work for a week then checked the battery and yep there is a problem in that short drives don't adequately charge the battery and the drain seems excessive. LoL, at least this forum exists to let me know its common.

I also come from the sports car world, but I don't think the Gladiator/Wrangler fits that niche vehicle category at all. They build a crap ton of them and they're pretty primitive compared to a modern sports car. FCA/Stellantis had built over 10,000,000 (10 MILLION) 3.6L Pentastar engines as of 2019, so they're probably over 15 million by now. There should be ZERO problems with it at this point, yet there still are for some people - even if they are a relatively small percentage of overall production. I think the design of the Gladiator overall is solid - and that the issues people have mostly comes down to lousy quality control at the plant/suppliers. Whether you get a "good one" or not comes down to a roll of dice. The issues so many people on here excuse as being "just a Jeep thing" amazes me considering how expensive these vehicles are! Luckily the factory warranty is pretty good, so most issues will reveal themselves before it expires. I love mine, but I will think long & hard about keeping it beyond the factory warranty period. I guess I'm spoiled by the 2009 Tacoma I used to own (which I'd still have if my daughter hadn't crashed/totaled it) that had over 230k miles on and had never seen the inside of a repair shop. Not once. The only actual repair it ever needed was a starter solenoid rebuild at just over 200k miles - which I did myself in about an hour with a $30 rebuild kit ordered from Amazon and a YouTube video/tutorial. Other than that, nothing but fluid changes, a battery or two, and a few sets of tires.

All that said, my Gladiator Sport S was bought new and was built mid-2022 - hopefully after most of the COVID disruptions had been resolved. I've had it just under a year/12k miles. Only mods are Rubicon take-off wheels/tires and a 1.5" Teraflex leveling spacer lift up front. No real "wheeling" yet. My only issues so far:

• Apple CarPlay doesn't work reliably when connected to the center console port (even with a new genuine Apple cable connected to my iPhone 14 Pro Max). It craps out after just a few minutes when I plug it in there. Dealer found that Uconnect software was current and there were no TSBs out about it at the time, so I gave up on it and just use the port on the dash instead. It works flawlessly there, but per the manual, it should work in the center console as well. Not a huge deal, but I'd rather use the center console port because I hate having cables hanging out of the dash. Meh.
  
  
• Electric power steering stopped working for a few miles back around the 4,000-mile mark while it was still bone stock. Luckily, I was on a straight just after having taken an interstate off-ramp at the time. If it had happened just before I took the ramp or near the sharp curve at the end of it (or worse - just before a big curve on a wooded backroad somewhere), it could have been bad. Took it back to the dealer, but they found no issues or codes thrown, so there was nothing they could do. Not cool at all... but it hasn't happened again, so hopefully it was just a one-time glitch - but it certainly doesn't inspire confidence.

I fully expect the batteries to crap out before the 3-year mark, which they shouldn't, but I can deal with that. Other than that, here's to hoping for no more issues - or at least no major ones.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

They build a crap ton of them and they're pretty primitive compared to a modern sports car. FCA/Stellantis had built over 10,000,000 (10 MILLION) 3.6L Pentastar engines as of 2019, so they're probably over 15 million by now. There should be ZERO problems with it at this point, yet there still are for some people

From 2011 model year (2010 calendar year) to 2019 they made 10,000,000 3.6 Pentastars. So it's reasonable to assume over 15 million at this point, 4 years after that 2019 mark. And since they are in more vehicles now than in the first half of the 2010s, it's a very safe assumption.
Of course they aren't all built in the same plant by the same people and the same equipment.
Then we have the issue of the first generation (2011-2015) vs. the 2nd generation or the "upgrade" Pentastar which is really a very different engine in so many ways.
So really, we are only talking about the upgrade or PUG, engines since the 2016 model year.
Different timing chains, different sprockets, different heads, different oil pumps and so on.
From there, we also deal with changes to lash adjusters and valve covers and PCV valves and other parts. Each time a change is introduced, we can see repercussions from that change, or, we can see supplier issues.
FCA doesn't make every single part themselves (few automakers have).
There are material and supply issues, supplier issues, process errors or issues, and the fact that regardless of how much automation there is, they are still made by humans. Even the robots that weld the seams are made and programmed and maintained by humans.
(Raise your hand if you have never in your life made a mistake and can swear you've always done everything perfectly........) Consider the number of humans involved, it's amazing the stuff works as well as it does, IMO.
Inspectors are forced to check or spot check how many units an hour, or a day? Ever miss seeing something?
Of course there's the thing that every problem with an engine running gets lumped into the "engine trouble" category when in fact, it's not. Misfires on hot starts? It's a misfire - that damned Pentastar! It misfires! But it's not engine related, it's PCM related.
Coil pack issue? Who makes those?
Spark plug issue? Yeah, there was a run of bad plugs around the 2021 model year and because it was an "engine misfire" it's an engine problem - even though it's not at all.

I guess I'm suggesting that these are not at all the same Pentastar 3.6 engines that are in that 15,000,000 list.

And also saying that not all engine problems ARE engine problems. Misfires can be totally unrelated to the engine.
Engine problems are cams being wiped out (unless it's due to a control issue where the PCM does something to cause the destruction), or valve cover leaks (they changed the gasket mounting area to resolve that one) or a busted piston or ring or rod. But was it an engine only issue? Or - did the PCM mess up and allow that cylinder to detonate?

And engine problem today may actually be caused by non-engine parts.

Apple CarPlay doesn't work reliably when connected to the center console port (even with a new genuine Apple cable connected to my iPhone 14 Pro Max). It craps out after just a few minutes when I plug it in there. Dealer found that Uconnect software was current and there were no TSBs out about it at the time, so I gave up on it and just use the port on the dash instead. It works flawlessly there, but per the manual, it should work in the center console as well. Not a huge deal, but I'd rather use the center console port because I hate having cables hanging out of the dash. Meh.

"Infotainment" issues are among the top complaints, if not the top complaint, among all vehicle makers. Ford, GM, you name it - complaints are piled up related to the infotainment systems in modern vehicles. People are starting to hate them.

I have stuff in my console - takes time to remove the tray and dig into the console port to plug in and there's no room for a phone there. My solution was a 90 degree USB C cable up to my phone on the dash.
I'm wondering how many people really can even easily access the port inside the console for a cable to plug in or do they have it plugged in and just hanging out to connect a phone to - then where does the phone go? I stick a tiny UBS drive in that slot and if I ever need to access that drive, it takes a bit to remove the tray, remove some stuff, to get to it.
If I ever decide to use Android Auto - it will be some wireless method as that plugging in, no matter where (and the console access is a pain in the a##) for now I load up that little USB stick.
Luckily in the future, it will be wireless in these things. But since i always leave WiFi off on my phone, that will be a pain in the butt, too. And if they use BT, then I'll have to deal with constantly reconnecting my hearing aids to the phone each time I leave the vehicle as right now, the Jeep kicks my hearing aids off and takes over BT and when I leave the Jeep, I have to reconnect BT stuff.

 

[Raven65]

"Infotainment" issues are among the top complaints, if not the top complaint, among all vehicle makers. Ford, GM, you name it - complaints are piled up related to the infotainment systems in modern vehicles. People are starting to hate them.

I have stuff in my console - takes time to remove the tray and dig into the console port to plug in and there's no room for a phone there. My solution was a 90 degree USB C cable up to my phone on the dash.
I'm wondering how many people really can even easily access the port inside the console for a cable to plug in or do they have it plugged in and just hanging out to connect a phone to - then where does the phone go? I stick a tiny UBS drive in that slot and if I ever need to access that drive, it takes a bit to remove the tray, remove some stuff, to get to it.
If I ever decide to use Android Auto - it will be some wireless method as that plugging in, no matter where (and the console access is a pain in the a##) for now I load up that little USB stick.
Luckily in the future, it will be wireless in these things. But since i always leave WiFi off on my phone, that will be a pain in the butt, too. And if they use BT, then I'll have to deal with constantly reconnecting my hearing aids to the phone each time I leave the vehicle as right now, the Jeep kicks my hearing aids off and takes over BT and when I leave the Jeep, I have to reconnect BT stuff.

I have an aftermarket tray in the top of my console that has a slot designed into it to allow a cable to pass through the rear edge of it - and there's a similar indention made into the console/lid. I originally had a nice short cable plugged in there and running out the side of the console to my phone - where it fit perfectly in the slot between the two cup holders. No need to ever open the console to fool with the cable or the phone and the cable was relatively out of sight down between the console and the passenger seat. When that method failed to work, I had to fall back to the dash. I also ended up buying a cable with 90-degree connectors, so I can at least close (mostly) the little lid over the USB ports on the dash and the cable is angled away from the shifter. It's not ideal, but I can live with it. The USB port in the console should work, but doesn't. The salesman at my dealership tried to tell me that port is only for charging, but he's full of crap. I showed him in the manual where it clearly states that it can be used for Apple Carplay/Android Auto. Meh... whatever.

[edit] I should add that other than this glitch, I've been very happy with the Uconnect infotainment system so far. It works much better than many others I've used. Flawlessly really. I really have no complaints about it besides that bad center console port. Some have said their dealer replaced the port in their console and that fixed it. Others say it didn't for them. I don't know if I'll pursue that or not... probably not.

 

[John in the Woods]

2021 JTRD, built July 2020 and picked up that October. Nothing fancy. Added the Mopar 2" lift, some AEV wheels and KO2s (35) then Mickey Thompsons (37) and some beefed-up skids and sliders. Dropped a rack and a RTT on it back in January. I just passed 70K, with about 10 percent of that off-road. Other than some codes from what I suspect was bad diesel, which a Jscan and some advice here helped me clear, I've had no issues.

There are definitely a few quirks, a slight pull left at times and a few grunts and pings under heavy stress; but every time I run a blue trail while loaded for travel, or eat up a long logging road, and then drive another 200 highway miles to the next camp, I just shake my head in amazement at what this machine can do.

I leave from Southern California for South Florida tomorrow morning, with a few BoH trails along the way. Looking forward to every mile.

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