Me and my "New to Me"...Diesel Gladiator

[70sByproduct]

Hello All... I am new to this group.

I will take delivery this week of a '21 a Willys Gladiator with the 3.0 diesel. Originally, I was about to pull the trigger on a Willy's manual gas... then I saw the diesel, and I took better aim on that one!
I have had a lot of experience with euro diesels. My previous career I was a VW technician and worked on everything from old rabbit oil burners to the ones the VW got cought cheating on. ( I was out of the business when they got a spanking. ) They all had issues, but in the long run they were pretty damn reliable.
My experience also tells me to change the fuel filter religiously, and I am not a huge fan of the 10k oil change interval..
Any thought on that??
TheJeep I am getting has the open recall for the fuel pump, inwhich I'll make an appointment for and have it done. ( I will make marks on the engine to make sure the work is actually done, I'm a jerk like that) I am not too worried about it. I think this will tow a 18 to 20 ft boat with out issue, or an open motorcycle trailer.

I had a 2000 Cherokee I put well over 300k, original powertrain. I don't off road but it was reliable with many road trips and fishing adventures, or nasty snow storms - I hope the new one is as strong as it's older cousin.

Anyway.. thanks for reading

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[22EcoDs]

Congrats, welcome to the club

 

[yoda13]

Congratulations! Hope you love it

 

[Jack D]

Welcome to forum. I have a 22 diesel Gladiator Sport S and love the engine. On the stock wheels I average 30-33 mpg on highway trips. I have 29k miles and averaged 29 mpg so far since new. I have gotten 600 miles from a tank of fuel but it was in the Florida Keys where it is flat as can be. i take the jeep for the 3 free oil changes to dealer every 10k miles but do dump the oil (not filter) in between at the 5k intervals to keep it fresh. Call ahead about recall pump because it took them 3 weeks to get the part in stock.

 

[Jesnamy01]

Congrats on your new ride. Enjoy it and welcome to the club.

 

[NotSo Bright White]

Hopefully you love your diesel as much as I enjoy mine. Welcome.

 

[Rusty PW]

Welcome to the forum and to the oil burner club.

I have a 2022 JTRD with over 40,000 trouble free miles. I really love this thing. You will love yours's too I hope.

On this forum..........you will learn on what JEEP really means. Just Empty Every Pocket when it comes to doing mods.

 

[70sByproduct]

Welcome to forum. I have a 22 diesel Gladiator Sport S and love the engine. On the stock wheels I average 30-33 mpg on highway trips. I have 29k miles and averaged 29 mpg so far since new. I have gotten 600 miles from a tank of fuel but it was in the Florida Keys where it is flat as can be. i take the jeep for the 3 free oil changes to dealer every 10k miles but do dump the oil (not filter) in between at the 5k intervals to keep it fresh. Call ahead about recall pump because it took them 3 weeks to get the part in stock.

Thanks! Will do with the recall, and that makes sense with the oil. Even if the oil can handle the 10k, there are still engine deposits and other nasty stuff in the older oil.

 

[Jteakus]

There are quite a few of us who change the oil around the 7,500 mark. Based on reports from those that do the oil analysis this seems to be a "sweet spot".

 

[70sByproduct]

There are quite a few of us who change the oil around the 7,500 mark. Based on reports from those that do the oil analysis this seems to be a "sweet spot".

That milage makes sense. Most likely will do a fuel filter at that time too. Cheap insurance, I have seen what a clogged filter can do. I read a ton of reviews on this engine, lots of praise and lot of haters, including a which-hunt lawyer firm claiming how dangerous they are. Like anything, I tend to listen more to the people who drive them every day.
I appreciate your feed back. Thanks!

 

[biodiesel]

The 3rd gen EcoDiesel is a good engine. We are now seeing a few of them with over 200,000 miles in the Ram 1500 with very few problems. The oil spec for the gen 3 engine produces higher levels of ash, therefore many are seeing regens becoming more frequent at higher mileage, and some have needed to replace their DPF. Otherwise, it appears to be a fairly solid engine.

 

[70sByproduct]

Thanks for the info, I agree that 10k is too long. If they are hitting 200k then I'm happy with my choice. I remember older VW diesels ( when I was a tech) hitting the 300k mark, and that was with conventional oil at the time. Some did have coking issues around the valves.
Have you heard of any turbo issues??

Thanks I appreciate your response.

 

[Rusty PW]

Think there was 2 reports on the actuator having issues. Turbo replacement was the fix.

The earlier Eco's. The wiring harness was laying against a bracket for the exhaust and rubbing through causing the dash to light up and throw all kinds of codes.

 

[HorsesRear]

Welcome to the forum. You are really going to like it here.

 

[biodiesel]

The earlier Eco's. The wiring harness was laying against a bracket for the exhaust and rubbing through causing the dash to light up and throw all kinds of codes.

I assume that my 2023 (December build date) doesn't have that issue?

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