So disappointed in this Diesel platform; wish there was a return policy.

[DBT]

Strange. I've been towing a 3500 dry weight GeoPro (4500 loaded) for thousands of miles with an eco diesel. Just drove six hours from Wolf Creek Pass through the center of Colorado out to Grand Junction today. Going from 10,000ft down to 4600ft and back over 9,200 crossing the western slope. My coolant temp and oil temp NEVER hit the mid point on the monitors. Only the transmission temperature was occasionally over the halfway mark at 212F. And with all the construction and slow speed I averaged 19.2mpg.

Is there a big winch blocking the airflow into your Rubicon's engine bay? I don't know Jeeps, this is my first, but it sounds like yours has more issues than average.

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[jeepin48]

Im right there with you and your frustrations. I don't think I overheated but it threw a "service electronic throttle control" message and derated the shit out it. Doing 65mph in 88f on gentle hills. Once i cycled the key it would go back to full power but happened repeatedly. It would probably do 90mph if I asked it but any load over 60 seconds and it would fault. ?

 

[JTpoor]

Not trying to be a smartass or anything but Carvana (maybe other re-sellers too) are paying absurd prices for new Jeeps. See what they’ll give you and you may get a chance to get out of it with little or no consequence.

 

[concretewolf]

Just pulled this 23 foot hybrid 4500 pounds loaded with four people in the Jeep round-trip 600 miles through Pennsylvania with a max tow and gas motor. Zero issues maintaining 70 mph on any grade on the highway. I was most comfortable at 66-68 mph with my set up. You could trade the truck in and get top dollars for it. The local dealership by me has one gladiator previously they had about 20.

 

[Kevin_D]

Mine gets hot too on steep grades but i am towing way more .

Where are you towing?
There aren't any steep grades in Illinois or surrounding states, not like you'll find in Colorado.
Well, maybe I-90 on the west side of the Mississippi...
Kevin

 

[whiteglad]

I got the max tow gasser but have little confidence that it would be anywhere near as good a tow vehicle as my Ram 3500 single rear wheel Cummins. I go for overkill, not a platform that the manufacturer says is "adequate." We learned a while ago that the cooling system was possibly the biggest weak point for the JT with frame rails close together, etc. Jeep enlarged the grille openings but it doesn't appear to be enough for some situations.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Where are you towing?
There aren't any steep grades in Illinois or surrounding states, not like you'll find in Colorado.
Well, maybe I-90 on the west side of the Mississippi...
Kevin

I80 gives a lot of truck drivers a headache - lot's of black coal out the stacks, a lot of downshifting and a lot of them lose speed making the long grades. Granted, they aren't steep - not like the 4s and 5s near me but still - my F250 struggled hauling my trailer and car - couldn't keep up 65 on some of the hills.

I-80 between Des Moines and Iowa City. The steepest grade is located between Jasper County Road F-48 (Baxter exit) and Newton. There is 1800’ of tangent grade at 3.9946%(as built). The next steepest grade is near the rest areas near Grinnell at 3.4%. There are several other widely scattered locations of 3% grade.

 

[99ls1tj]

The only positive I see is slightly higher fuel mileage. (This same route on my tacoma would be 7mpg, the jeep did 13.5)

Slightly, that's almost double

 

[CreepyJeepy]

Man all of these different experiences is crazy to me...

I have no winch (yes this is the EcoDiesel), nothing is blocking airflow, it's all stock rubicon.

I just did the same route again, as I was curious.... This time I added another 400lbs of weight (filled the water tank).

This time I took it MUCH easier on the throttle pedal, and maintained within 1-2 mph of the same speeds through the same VERY steep sections (FYI if you haven't driven this drive in Colorado it is very steep parts are 6% grade or steeper, and it's long, so your turbo is always under boost, generating mad heat....).

This time my temps were lower, like 228-232 (highest point) water temp.

I noticed some differences in the engine, It didn't feel like it pulled as much power and it maintained lower RPM (maybe 2800RPM) vs 3400 RPM, and continued to climb. (as I wasn't floored)

This hill FYI is not like anything else in the country, there are only a few that are as steep and as long, the Eisenhower tunnel, pass going into Jackson WY. Frankly F250's are not going to love going 75 up this pass with a trailer.

Long story short, I think I had unrealistic expectations of the EcoDiesel as the torque number was so much higher than the tacoma, I really thought it would move faster up that hill...

Overall though it towed fine, just not at the speed I was hoping / thinking it would do, but 50mph is respectable I guess for a brick, towing a brick.

Long story short, i feel like I might have come off too strong in the post title, etc, but just know, the eco diesel under extended periods of boost, generates heat, and that ECU will pull power from the system.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I have no wench ...........................

So happily married, no wench.........

 

[CreepyJeepy]

Anything blocking the intercooler or any after market mods on the front?

Nope the Gladiator is a Rubicon, no added parts right now, it's bone stock, minus the dog seat separator I have in the cab... (which weighs like 2 lbs)

 

[IOS-XR]

I’m betting it will do better after breaking in as others have said. My mileage has gone up now that in at 1800 or so and I’m expecting it to get better. My Silverado 3l diesel is at 11k and it seems like it’s fully broken in now. Power is good as is mileage. Expecting max performance on a new engine right off the showroom floor is a bit much.

 

[CreepyJeepy]

So happily married, no wench.........

Hahaha winch:-P

 

[Wageslave]

I actually had mixed luck towing at altitude with my EcoDiesel. I was towing a 6x12 U-Haul with ~1000 pounds of stuff in it from Colorado Springs to Central IL about a week ago.

The drive to Colorado with 3 people and 100 pounds of luggage went perfectly and I managed about 28.5 MPG on the trip. The return trip with the trailer went well from Colorado Springs to just before Hays, KS when I got a "Service Exhaust System - See Dealer" message and went into derate. I ended up going into the FCA dealer in town and they found a sensor wire had got against the exhaust heat shield and melted through. They got the wire patched up and forced the truck into regen and got me back on the road.

From Hays to Salina, KS the truck was weak and going through fuel pretty quickly (I think the regen was still running). From Salina to Central IL, the power and economy came back and it ran well for the rest of the trip. I managed from 16mpg to 22.5mpg on the return trip and temps were elevated but not terrible. I was seeing 240's for oil temperature and 220's for trans and coolant temperature.

I would wholeheartedly recommend not using the cruise control if you are pulling the trailer on a grade. When I was using my foot I could usually hold 8th gear at 75-80MPH and only occasionally drop to 7th on a steep hill. The cruise control would drop to 7th almost immediately on any hill and go for 6th if it was even moderately steep. Any time it dropped to 6th, the oil temps would start climbing towards 250.

Overall, other than the burnt wire issue, it performed about as well as I expected. The fact that even at 16mpg, it was getting better fuel mileage than my old truck running empty is even better.

 

[CrazyCooter]

I'm too disappointed with mine.....There's plenty of power, it just can't get the heat out.

The SAE J2807 tow test that sets the rating only requires maintaining 40mph up the Davis Dam Grade 6-7%, at over 100°, AC on high, without any failures or warning lights? Can it really do this with 6,000lb? Maybe at 45 she starts to get hot?

I have a 3900lb gvwr RV coming and a trip scheduled for Oct in Utah and I fully expect to find out!

I have a feeling this is why we never saw an Ike Guantlet test video from TFL Truck.......Seems like this is done to every truck they test? I sent them a message asking about the test and they replied back with some confusing language sidestepping the question and referring me to the F150 vs Gladiator mpg tow test? The Eco Ram killed it, so I figured the JT would be similar.

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