My absolute nightmare Jeep Gladiator Experience over the last 20 months

[Stan H]

Check the oil lipstick that's priority #1 if oil is at regular level then it was probably not burped correctly .
#2 if oil level is correct and no antifreeze has gotten into the oil then fill it with antifreeze try doing this with out it running.
#3 look up online proper burping procedure .

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[Stan H]

Do not run it until it is full.

 

[hemigeno]

This may or may not apply to your situation, but my 2021 had a new 3.6 long block installed just a few months ago (96k miles at the time). Right away, I started noticing a coolant smell when walking past the grille after a drive, and there would be a small amount of coolant beneath it. Nothing major and nothing that would cause overheating right away - but I still wanted it fixed. The dealership told me they were not surprised, because the extended service contract (that I purchased from the same dealer doing the service work) did not cover a new water pump as part of the long block swap. I had to take it back in to have the water pump replaced under a separate claim.

My long-time friend and fellow Mopar gearhead at the dealership says they see the original 3.6 water pumps fail quite often when reinstalled on a new long block, but the service contract provider still insists on reinstalling the old pumps. Maybe Stellantis required the same thing with yours?

 

[adamjedgar]

More images of underneath..i cant seem to find any evidence of coolant leak
You will also see the evidence of "shiny" new stuff on the car (long block engine, transmission, water pump, thermostat etc.)

 

[Stan H]

More images of underneath..i cant seem to find any evidence of coolant leak

Yep make sure oil level is normal if so get aintifreeze in that Beast

 

[Stan H]

I definitely see evidence of your previous water fording adventure . From your avatar pic.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

Air lock = overheating?? Air lock then moved out and level dropped. ?? Fill it back up and hope for the best. Hope the lost antifreeze isn’t in the oil.!!

 

[adamjedgar]

I'm going to completely replace the coolant in system. I don't have any MOPAR coolant..ive purchased the Penrite recommended one for jt gladiator (purple)...they checked via my rego.
I've gone for Penrite because of two things:
1. Its expensive (I don't intentionally cheap ass on fuel, oil, so same philosophy with coolant)
2. My understanding is Penrite is a high end product with a sound reputation (I've used Penrite oil in front diff as well)

I'm open to correction on the above?

Is there anything special in the way JTs need air purging out of system?

Do I need to vacume purge it or can it be burped the same as they do JKs (except obviously through the reservoir because thats where the cap is)?

 

[Coldjensens]

Ethanol has 15% less energy. And yes it will not burn clean in a car that is not designed to use it. That is why you do not use E85 unless your car is made to run it. You will foul your plugs among other things. (i.e. Carbon build up). Ethanol does not burn as hot as gasoline, and without adequate compression, it does not burn clean. 100% gasoline is hard to find and expensive here, so you are always going to be burning some ethanol. Some Ethanol is fine, but when you get to the higher percentages (as in super high octane), it is not fine to run unless your engine is designed for it. So, if they are running super high octane gas, with a lot of Ethanol, yes, that may be the source, or part of the source of high carbon build up.

You can get what they call a "Monday car" Not necessarily an actual Monday, but sometimes a factory will have a bad day/week for various reasons. However. normally you will get engine problems, or transmission problems, or electrical problems, or assembly issues. Not normally problems in all areas because the components are made in completely different locations and even by different companies (Transmissions are made by ZF in South Carolina, engines are made in Trenton MI, assembly is in Toledo, Mobis (Hyundai) makes the chassis in a factory on the Jeep Campus}. So it is usual to have rare major repeated problems with all components of a new vehicle like this, unless something happened to it after manufacture.

 

[Stan H]

I'm going to completely replace the coolant in system. I don't have any MOPAR coolant..ive purchased the Penrite recommended one for jt gladiator (purple)...they checked via my rego.
I've gone for Penrite because of two things:
1. Its expensive (I don't intentionally cheap ass on fuel, oil, so same philosophy with coolant)
2. My understanding is Penrite is a high end product with a sound reputation (I've used Penrite oil in front diff as well)

I'm open to correction on the above?

Is there anything special in the way JTs need air purging out of system?

Do I need to vacume purge it or can it be burped the same as they do JKs (except obviously through the reservoir because thats where the cap is)?

Okay going to defer to @ShadowsPapa on the correct burping procedure for the antifreeze fill.
Did you verify the oil is at normal level and not overly full.??
Check engine oil if it is normal and contains No anticreeze ..next step is getting the antifreeze in it . I have only placed antifreeze in the reservoir and not had to do the burping as I have not had that situation with this engine. @WILDHOBO or @Hootbro or @ShadowsPapa probably know how this is performed .
Calling out for the experienced Jeepers on that one. I have done alot of mechanics in my life but I have performed this task differently on different types of motors.

 

[adamjedgar]

Air lock = overheating?? Air lock then moved out and level dropped. ?? Fill it back up and hope for the best. Hope the lost antifreeze isn’t in the oil.!!

I lts 2am in the morning here...i couldnt sleep and in my pyjamas ventured out to check...its dark obviously ...under torch light and with my poor eyesight (using magnifilying glasses) as far as i can tell, it doesnt appear that there is any water contamination in the oil or that the oil level has changed.

I checked the front of the ENGINE V by shining a torch down there...i cant see any oil or water residue or coolant staining (at the front of engine v...the back i cant get too)

Soooo...

Im pretty sure that either...

1. My brand new engine has injested the mysteriously missing water straight into combustion chamber and sent it out the tail pipes or
2. Mechanics didnt bleed it properly and somehow its done over 500km without overheating whilst also having a large enough airbubble in the system, that has founds its way out to the reservoir and now....its then drained the reservoir completely and now that is empty...its overheating

As i re read option 2 above...i feel like im an imbocile talking nonsense. Am i talking nonsense given ive just driven over 500km with it like that and the temperature has been absolutely perfect until 1 day ago?

Im actually really worried the reason a system low on water wouldnt read as hot is because of air in the system right where the temperature probe is on the engine...ive seen that before on another car (a subaru brumby i used to own 20 years ago) If so...this would have potentially severly damged the engine and would account for the unexplained hot coolant smell from the time i left the jeep dealership workshop amd drove home.

I swear...if this brand new engine has been damaged because of the air purge not actually being done properly...im going to get myself a passport, book a ticket to an asian country, fly over there, find a monkey, and literally spank it!

Anyone know how to purge air on a JT? can i do it same way as a JK?

 

[LouisvEarlleJT]

As for burping I would think you just un cap it, fill, give the top hose a squeeze to “pump” the coolant in, once the level stops dropping in the reservoir fill it back up, start it with the cap off and run until it reaches operating temp (or close to it). Let it cool down and suck the reservoir dry, repeat until it doesn’t drop when cool.

The air bubbles should work their way out into the overflow since it’s a pressurized system.

 

[Maximus Gladius]

I'm going to completely replace the coolant in system. I don't have any MOPAR coolant..ive purchased the Penrite recommended one for jt gladiator (purple)...they checked via my rego.
I've gone for Penrite because of two things:
1. Its expensive (I don't intentionally cheap ass on fuel, oil, so same philosophy with coolant)
2. My understanding is Penrite is a high end product with a sound reputation (I've used Penrite oil in front diff as well)

I'm open to correction on the above?

Is there anything special in the way JTs need air purging out of system?

Do I need to vacume purge it or can it be burped the same as they do JKs (except obviously through the reservoir because thats where the cap is)?

Back in May of 2023 I flushed the coolant from my second engine (roughly 21k kms on the new engine) and I was surprised to see the techs used the old coolant from the first old engine for the new one! I knew they did because they put a dye in the old engine to find where the engine was consuming coolant (1 ounce/1000 kms) but when that investigation was going to move forward, my insurance stepped in and paid for a new engine.

The coolant I use is the OAT brand Cummins has designed for use in the Cummins fleet. If it’s tough enough for those engines, I approved it for mine.

I used distilled water with part mix of Calgon water softener to flush with which this little secret I’ve done all my years of flushing the coolant and debris out with. It kicks the crap off, descales anything that may have formed and helps rid any assembly and machining sands in the system.

After refilling the system with my flush mix and running it up to temp at least approximately 6 times, I was done and filled it up with the Cummins OAT coolant. I was quite surprised to see what debris had filtered out when I was done.

 

[Stan H]

I lts 2am in the morning here...i couldnt sleep and in my pyjamas ventured out to check...its dark obviously ...under torch light and with my poor eyesight (using magnifilying glasses) as far as i can tell, it doesnt appear that there is any water contamination in the oil or that the oil level has changed.

I checked the front of the ENGINE V by shining a torch down there...i cant see any oil or water residue or coolant staining (at the front of engine v...the back i cant get too)

Soooo...

Im pretty sure that either...

1. My brand new engine has injested the mysteriously missing water straight into combustion chamber and sent it out the tail pipes or
2. Mechanics didnt bleed it properly and somehow its done over 500km without overheating whilst also having a large enough airbubble in the system, that has founds its way out to the reservoir and now....its then drained the reservoir completely and now that is empty...its overheating

As i re read option 2 above...i feel like im an imbocile talking nonsense. Am i talking nonsense given ive just driven over 500km with it like that and the temperature has been absolutely perfect until 1 day ago?

Im actually really worried the reason a system low on water wouldnt read as hot is because of air in the system right where the temperature probe is on the engine...ive seen that before on another car (a subaru brumby i used to own 20 years ago) If so...this would have potentially severly damged the engine and would account for the unexplained hot coolant smell from the time i left the jeep dealership workshop amd drove home.

I swear...if this brand new engine has been damaged because of the air purge not actually being done properly...im going to get myself a passport, book a ticket to an asian country, fly over there, find a monkey, and literally spank it!

Anyone know how to purge air on a JT? can i do it same way as a JK?

It could be that the air bubble is around where the sensor is. Also the reservoir does have a bleed out port so it could be the super heated air forced out some fluid through that bleed out and now brought this to fruition. Start filling it as suggested and follow that procedure till it won't take anymore.

 

[adamjedgar]

Back in May of 2023 I flushed the coolant from my second engine (roughly 21k kms on the new engine) and I was surprised to see the techs used the old coolant from the first old engine for the new one! I knew they did because they put a dye in the old engine to find where the engine was consuming coolant (1 ounce/1000 kms) but when that investigation was going to move forward, my insurance stepped in and paid for a new engine.

The coolant I use is the OAT brand Cummins has designed for use in the Cummins fleet. If it’s tough enough for those engines, I approved it for mine.

I used distilled water with part mix of Calgon water softener to flush with which this little secret I’ve done all my years of flushing the coolant and debris out with. It kicks the crap off, descales anything that may have formed and helps rid any assembly and machining sands in the system.

After refilling the system with my flush mix and running it up to temp at least approximately 6 times, I was done and filled it up with the Cummins OAT coolant. I was quite surprised to see what debris had filtered out when I was done.

So tell me, after doing all this, were your clothes also whiter and brighter?

I only ask because if so, then the next time my wife whinges at me for getting grease and oil on my good clothes because ive been caught a number of time wearing them fixing my car, i can assure her not to worry, the clothes will be fine cause ive added Calgon to the car radiator

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