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

ShadowsPapa

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DaveFrat

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Bought my Gladiator in July. It's been in for service for the engine light and start/stop issue 3 times so far. First time for 2 days, 3 days the second time, and now for a week and a half. Just got a text from the dealer stating "engineering is having the tech replace several lash adjusters and some internal cylinder components. Parts on order but don't expect arrival for a few days." I'll post the results of the repairs.

On Friday I was notified by the dealer that engineering instructed the dealer to put a completely new engine in my truck. Dealer ordered the new engine the same day and they expect to have all work completed this coming Thursday. Certainly points to some number of defective engines. A recall may be coming. I'll post the results of performance of the truck with the new engine. Looks like a recall may be coming.......

Just got my truck back after 3 weeks. I was told that the engine light and start/stop issues are related to engine block casting flaws that affect oil flow through the engine. I'll continue to report engine performance and advise of any more issues.
Thanks for the info. Please keep us informed
 

dgulia

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Less then 100 miles and ESS and check engine light on. Taking it to the dealer on Tuesday
 

xpcdoojk

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I got mine In January a December build. So, I am in the ”boring” window. What problems that I don’t seem to have with my engine should I have, per someone knowing this boring issue affected all engines built at this time?
 

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ShadowsPapa

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I got mine In January a December build. So, I am in the ”boring” window. What problems that I don’t seem to have with my engine should I have, per someone knowing this boring issue affected all engines built at this time?
NOT to suggest anyone is making something up, or worse yet, outright lying, not any accusations at all - however - do we have this substantiated independently that this is exactly what the issue is or was?
I'm wondering why it's not been brought up as a bulliten, or some other source.
I ask because as a mechanic who owns boring and honing equipment and has done boring and engine building, if a MODERN piece of equipment is defective - it won't hit and miss - it will miss - every piece coming down the line.
Supposedly this is October through what? We have no clue, really - nothing PROVEN or shown in a reliable study with real numbers.
I'd like to see independent confirmation that the issue with all of these IS the result of "malfunctioning boring tools", a date range that's more than speculation based on posts "that seem to fit".
And then why are some of the thousands who bought in that same time period having no issues after, as in my case, just shy of 10,000 miles. Granted, it could come later at say, 35,000 miles, but so far.......
We have people reporting this issue with October builds, November builds, clear into March if I recall correctly. That's tens of thousands of trucks.
Where did the "it was boring equipment" statement come from? (not the forum member necessarily - was it a Jeep factory employee, or a dealership tech?)
And if it came from a dealer- why don't all dealers know this and why does that one?

This stuff is CNC basically - meaning once the block is in the jig and the thing started, that's that. If it's wrong, it's wrong. If the tool is damaged, it's damaged - but finding damage months later is also weird. Equipment is checked more often than that, cutting tools replaced like a commodity item, etc.
Back in the 1980s, AMC had a piece of equipment that all engine assemblies went onto. It tied into the oiling system, and the timing marks so at any given time the machine knew the EXACT orientation of every moving part in that engine. It measured oil pressure pulsations too fine to find with a mechanical gauge. If anything was off, it was pulled. They knew where the pulses belonged and how far apart and the amplitude of the pulses based on how the oiling holes lined up.
Is the hole in the front of the camshaft that lubes the distributor gear lined up with the hole in the block at 180 degrees ATDC? They knew that. If the pulses were off at all, that engine was pulled and looked at further.
We're saying that these blocks were bored wrong, 40 years later and it wasn't caught, for month after month, by a company as big as FCA, when AMC had only 1980s technology and very limited resources? (especially after Renault raped and pillaged them for all their cash)
 

Dallas91

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13 months 7500 on the clock. Not one issue. Rubicon manual trans.
 

flipflopfarmer

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Manual Transmission JT Rubicon with 13K miles and no issues. Lots of wheeling - dirt, mud, snow, rocks, sand. I have used the lockers and sway bar disconnect many times. I did 4 oil changes or so, and one front and back gear oil change when I went with the Metalcloak diff covers. So, far, I have done everything myself. I have never been back to the dealer since purchase. There is a recall on my clutch, but, it feels great and I have not gone back to the dealer for it.
Saw a facebook post of a jeep that had manual and caught fire yesterday. I would get that clutch fixed. It could kill someone.
 

ShadowsPapa

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Saw a facebook post of a jeep that had manual and caught fire yesterday. I would get that clutch fixed. It could kill someone.
That one is actually a recall listed on the NHTSA site - it's paid for by FCA even if out of original warranty.
In other words - yeah, what you said...........
 

xpcdoojk

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NOT to suggest anyone is making something up, or worse yet, outright lying, not any accusations at all - however - do we have this substantiated independently that this is exactly what the issue is or was?
I'm wondering why it's not been brought up as a bulliten, or some other source.
I ask because as a mechanic who owns boring and honing equipment and has done boring and engine building, if a MODERN piece of equipment is defective - it won't hit and miss - it will miss - every piece coming down the line.
Supposedly this is October through what? We have no clue, really - nothing PROVEN or shown in a reliable study with real numbers.
I'd like to see independent confirmation that the issue with all of these IS the result of "malfunctioning boring tools", a date range that's more than speculation based on posts "that seem to fit".
And then why are some of the thousands who bought in that same time period having no issues after, as in my case, just shy of 10,000 miles. Granted, it could come later at say, 35,000 miles, but so far.......
We have people reporting this issue with October builds, November builds, clear into March if I recall correctly. That's tens of thousands of trucks.
Where did the "it was boring equipment" statement come from? (not the forum member necessarily - was it a Jeep factory employee, or a dealership tech?)
And if it came from a dealer- why don't all dealers know this and why does that one?

This stuff is CNC basically - meaning once the block is in the jig and the thing started, that's that. If it's wrong, it's wrong. If the tool is damaged, it's damaged - but finding damage months later is also weird. Equipment is checked more often than that, cutting tools replaced like a commodity item, etc.
Back in the 1980s, AMC had a piece of equipment that all engine assemblies went onto. It tied into the oiling system, and the timing marks so at any given time the machine knew the EXACT orientation of every moving part in that engine. It measured oil pressure pulsations too fine to find with a mechanical gauge. If anything was off, it was pulled. They knew where the pulses belonged and how far apart and the amplitude of the pulses based on how the oiling holes lined up.
Is the hole in the front of the camshaft that lubes the distributor gear lined up with the hole in the block at 180 degrees ATDC? They knew that. If the pulses were off at all, that engine was pulled and looked at further.
We're saying that these blocks were bored wrong, 40 years later and it wasn't caught, for month after month, by a company as big as FCA, when AMC had only 1980s technology and very limited resources? (especially after Renault raped and pillaged them for all their cash)
Apparently, I own a ticking time bomb.

I do believe that the computer driven machines that make almost everything these days would have created the same catastrophe time after time and if it went on for months without a fix would be causing complete havoc.

That said, I can’t believe someone would throw that kind of mental bomb on their friends in this forum... that would just be wrong. But hey, there are all sorts of wrong people these days.

Would be nice though if they would come back and provide some supporting documentation, instead of appearing to be a drive by...


JC
 

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ShadowsPapa

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Apparently, I own a ticking time bomb.

I do believe that the computer driven machines that make almost everything these days would have created the same catastrophe time after time and if it went on for months without a fix would be causing complete havoc.

That said, I can’t believe someone would throw that kind of mental bomb on their friends in this forum... that would just be wrong. But hey, there are all sorts of wrong people these days.

Would be nice though if they would come back and provide some supporting documentation, instead of appearing to be a drive by...


JC
I truly hope you don't have a ticking time bomb - engine-wise or in any other way. So far I see no true date pattern, either.
I searched again and see only TSBs related to electronics in relationship to this issue, and yet some have had compression tests done that exceed 10% difference between cylinders.
 

HONCHO

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That one is actually a recall listed on the NHTSA site - it's paid for by FCA even if out of original warranty.
In other words - yeah, what you said...........
Do you know that the recall does not really fix the underlying problem? do you go by" Billd "on an AMC forum you own ? do you know this forum is owned by FCA ?
 
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ShadowsPapa

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Do you know that the recall does not really fix the underlying problem? do you go by" Billd "on an AMC forum you own ? do you know this forum is owned by FCA ?
Actually it does fix the issues in many of the cases. There have been people who have had the update and said that the issues went away. Some have reported increases in performance.
There are multiple issues in play - like so many other such things. There have been times where the VVL was an issue, solenoids stuck, some have said after the TSB resolutions they've had no more problems, while others still had problems and went on to find they had physical engine issues (compression tests yielded over 10% differences with an engine under 2,000 miles)
The bad thing about "compression tests" these days is you can't get an accurate test the old fashioned way! A leak-down test is the ONLY accurate way. The reason a standard compression test could give mixed results is that the valves aren't controlled completely mechanically - the VVT and VVL mean you have things getting in the way of the valves opening and closing while cranking for a compression test and those can skew the results.
Are dealers checking for those things - or condemning low compression that could be caused by solenoid issues, valves not opening while running the test - or opening at the wrong time.
I have yet to see anyone say their dealer did a leak-down test. Why don't they if they find low compression????? Even on a legacy vehicle if you don't prop the throttle and choke wide open you can get false results. On these, if the valve system, controlled by hydraulics and the PCM, is messed up, you'll get false results.

So to say it doesn't fix the problem is not quite accurate - it depends on the root cause and in this case, there's more than one thing causing similar symptoms.
Frankly so far it's still a mix of "this guy told me" or "my dealer says" - and from dealers who didn't believe there was any steering issue............

So far - too few verifiable facts, too much speculation.

And yes - my partner own/operate/manage/run the AMC forum. We started it over 13 years ago while other forums have come and gone. We let the group of moderators handle things daily, we check in with them only when needed or major issues come up.

FCA has done a very good, detailed job of hiding. Their use of sponsors and advertising to support it instead of their financing it directly, redacting or hiding administrative contacts, registering via cloudflare.... it's a good money-maker for them. Costs almost nothing to run, all of the advertising dollars coming in...................
 

Eric Kern

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Wow, and I thought I was putting miles on. I guess I would have if three big trips hadn't gotten canceled. Good to know I COULD have put on the miles LOL
Hahahahaha that’s funny!!!! Yeah I honestly haven’t done many MAJOR trips with It (just did Lake Winni in NH, about 170mi each way), but just can’t get enough of It!!! Loved my JKUR, loved my TJR.....I’ve seen you posting around since “the beginning” what do you have on the Odom?
 

ShadowsPapa

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Hahahahaha that’s funny!!!! Yeah I honestly haven’t done many MAJOR trips with It (just did Lake Winni in NH, about 170mi each way), but just can’t get enough of It!!! Loved my JKUR, loved my TJR.....I’ve seen you posting around since “the beginning” what do you have on the Odom?
Not that many in the grand scheme...... would have been a lot more had things not been cancelled or postponed.
Currently have about 9,600 miles - if things were normal, I would have -
Added 1600 for round trip to Colorado Springs for the big AMO international show,
added about 800 for the round trip to Kenosha for the every three year AMC reunion show and swap meet at Kennedy Park by the lake,
and added 360 for the round trip to Cordova, IL for the annual AMC races and swap meet.

So I'd have another 2800 plus other miles here and there if things hadn't been shut down. I'd be over 12,000 miles in less than a year and that's high for me and a truck. My Chevy saw an average of about 6800/year when I had it - but then I drove other vehicles and put about 7500/year on my Eagle back then.

Did I mention - I love my truck?

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