Eco diesel or 3.6 gas??

[FMTrainmaster]

I test drove the Eco diesel for the first time last week. I was impressed with it but is it worth the added price and the extra costs associated with the higher cost of diesel, def fluid, and most importantly, reliability. Reliability is the big one with me. For the folks with the newest version, how has it been holding up??

Sponsored

 

[Snake Eyes]

I think there are already a lot of threads on the exact question you have asked. Do a quick search of eco diesel reliability. Prevents everyone having to rewrite everything. Welcome to the forum!

 

[@californiajeeping]

Real work exp. I was in for an oil change with my 2020 maxtow sport s (40k miles). Salesman talked me into test driving a 2022 diesel sport s....I started it up and was sold. It was so much smoother and quieter than my 3.6L jeep. Drove it a mile and realized all the faults of the gas motor.

My 2020 Max tow sport s 3.6L got 14.5 MPG in the mountains. I swapped for a 2022 Diesel sport S and regularly get over 24mpg. If you run any larger tires you will get between 10-12mpg on a gas jeep.

Diesels report around 20+ with 37" tires.

If you live on completely flat ground and go 65 then you might see around 20mpg with the gas engine and the difference is narrower. If you climb hills at 80MPH then I recommend the Diesel. It idles along 80-90mph even up grades. My gas jeep would run 4th gear at 5500rpm climbing the sierras and the diesel now goes up at 80 and 2k rpm.

Its so much more relaxed and under stressed.

That said its much more complicated and has significantly more that can go wrong but you get a 100k power-train warranty with the diesel. I had to pay nearly 3k for the extended mopar warranty on the gas jeep for the same coverage. I ended up getting most of that back and rolled it into the trade as a down-payment.

Again if you putt around and live in florida your fine with the gas motor. If you live in the mountains and have high speed freeways get the diesel. I regret not waiting for the diesel in 2021. I would have kept my Gobi gladiator if it had this engine.

 

[FMTrainmaster]

Real work exp. I was in for an oil change with my 2020 maxtow sport s (40k miles). Salesman talked me into test driving a 2022 diesel sport s....I started it up and was sold. It was so much smoother and quieter than my 3.6L jeep. Drove it a mile and realized all the faults of the gas motor.

My 2020 Max tow sport s 3.6L got 14.5 MPG in the mountains. I swapped for a 2022 Diesel sport S and regularly get over 24mpg. If you run any larger tires you will get between 10-12mpg on a gas jeep.

Diesels report around 20+ with 37" tires.

If you live on completely flat ground and go 65 then you might see around 20mpg with the gas engine and the difference is narrower. If you climb hills at 80MPH then I recommend the Diesel. It idles along 80-90mph even up grades. My gas jeep would run 4th gear at 5500rpm climbing the sierras and the diesel now goes up at 80 and 2k rpm.

Its so much more relaxed and under stressed.

That said its much more complicated and has significantly more that can go wrong but you get a 100k power-train warranty with the diesel. I had to pay nearly 3k for the extended mopar warranty on the gas jeep for the same coverage. I ended up getting most of that back and rolled it into the trade as a down-payment.

Again if you putt around and live in florida your fine with the gas motor. If you live in the mountains and have high speed freeways get the diesel. I regret not waiting for the diesel in 2021. I would have kept my Gobi gladiator if it had this engine.

Real work exp. I was in for an oil change with my 2020 maxtow sport s (40k miles). Salesman talked me into test driving a 2022 diesel sport s....I started it up and was sold. It was so much smoother and quieter than my 3.6L jeep. Drove it a mile and realized all the faults of the gas motor.

My 2020 Max tow sport s 3.6L got 14.5 MPG in the mountains. I swapped for a 2022 Diesel sport S and regularly get over 24mpg. If you run any larger tires you will get between 10-12mpg on a gas jeep.

Diesels report around 20+ with 37" tires.

If you live on completely flat ground and go 65 then you might see around 20mpg with the gas engine and the difference is narrower. If you climb hills at 80MPH then I recommend the Diesel. It idles along 80-90mph even up grades. My gas jeep would run 4th gear at 5500rpm climbing the sierras and the diesel now goes up at 80 and 2k rpm.

Its so much more relaxed and under stressed.

That said its much more complicated and has significantly more that can go wrong but you get a 100k power-train warranty with the diesel. I had to pay nearly 3k for the extended mopar warranty on the gas jeep for the same coverage. I ended up getting most of that back and rolled it into the trade as a down-payment.

Again if you putt around and live in florida your fine with the gas motor. If you live in the mountains and have high speed freeways get the diesel. I regret not waiting for the diesel in 2021. I would have kept my Gobi gladiator if it had this engine.

I felt that there was a significant difference between the 2 and loved the diesel. Im not sure that the new gen has been out long enough to see how the engine is holding up at over 100k. Funny you should mention mountains. My plan is to drive this out west and keep it out there most of the summer. Leaving it at storage units and uberring to airports. I would like to take it from Arizona to Montana hitting some of the major National parks. Working for an airline enables me to fly for free and I plan on taking 4 day weekends with some longer intervals to get this done. thanks for the reply

 

[CerOf]

Californiajeeping is who you should listen to, since they’ve had both.

I did test drive both and the diesel won out. It does cost more per mile, but it is worth it to me.

On 35s, pretty much all city driving, max 45mph speed limits, I get high 18’s for gas mileage.
On the highway, I get 19. I’ve got a lead foot and don’t mind jumping in a line of traffic that is, shall we say, “moving!”

if I cruise at 65, I get 23-25. Headwind kills these things.

 

[Jefe1018]

I love mine.

The biggest concern for many folks is the nerfing of the engine when its hot. I haven't had it happen yet, but summer is here for me and it'll be hot in the next few weeks. FWIW, I notice my gas motors also run like dogs in the heat here and when you factor in a turbo that can heat soak, I kind of expect it to happen to an extent... but I'm thinking it's making it not worth it.

Towing upwards of 5,000lbs is effortless, the motor almost feels happy under load if that makes sense.

Oh and 11,000 trouble free miles.

 

[Free2roam]

Not to be there bearer of bad news. But the fuel pumps suck on the diesel. Quite literally ? so I've got the diesel. Specifically waited for a diesel. Pump blew out at 4581 in shop for 45 days.
Now I was given a gasser for 45 days. So I've driven both. Easy overpasses gasser kicked down to 6th and then back to 8th (driving it the same way I drove my diesel)
My diesel on the other hand barely kicks down to 7 gear up from 4100 to 7000 ft. If I keep it in manual I can lug it up in 8th.
I've seen as high as 29 mpg in my diesel. Best I could do with the gasser was 22. Before putting the Rubicon tires on the Sport S I was averaging 26.8 to and from work. Now it's 25ish.
Wouldn't trade my diesel in on a gasser. After pump went out I've been running Hot Shots Secret. I've got 17k on it no more issues. As far as the extra cost. I don't care about that. It's all about Smiles Per Miles. Love my diesel!

 

[AXISJT]

I waited for the diesel and couldn't be happier. I know people have had the cooling issue, but I have yet to have this happen and I drove across the country through the colorado mountains in the middle of August with a fully loaded bed. I have 31k on mine and the only issue I have had was death wobble at about 10k that was solved with my Clayton lift.

Before the lift and tires my average was 28 to 30mpg with the 3.5 in lift 38s and a bedrack with rooftop tent I average 23mpg. As far as the added cost. The fuel price difference doesn't matter to me because if I had a gasser, I'd be filling a lot more often and have to fill a bigger tank. The Def I put in one 2.5 gals every 5000 miles thats 13 bucks. Oil changes I do myself now that the 3 free are done with and I buy my filters from Docs diesel. I got an oil filter and a fuel filter from them for around 70 bucks. I also have been running hot shots in every tank since I got it

I love my diesel and I don't think I could go back to gas.

 

[DiesMike]

If I remember right they had some problems with the 1st few fuel pumps or filters that cause a lot of problems. Also the new ecm update has seem to fix the def problem that was happening. Where I live right now diesel and premium fuel cost the same. It may cost a little more but I love mine.

 

[@californiajeeping]

Some insurance on the CP4 pump is to drop an additive in the fuel.

For what your doing note that jeeps (gladiators) with ESS do not like to sit. They have alot of battery problems due to the little aux battery. If you are leaving it states away for weeks at a time you will want a couple of tenders one for each battery.

 

[FMTrainmaster]

Thanks, definitely something to consider. It wasn't going to be my everyday vehicle and would be sitting even at my house from time to time. It wouldnt be a problem at home but to arrive somewhere and expect it to be ready and find it had a dead battery would be an issue.

 

[eeTwidget]

I ordered a diesel and still waiting on it so I’ve been doing a lot of reading. Mind you I don’t have one yet so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

As far as $$ differences and increased $$ of diesel fuel. It will pay for itself over time and ultimately be cheaper…. Depending on how many miles you drive. I calculated that at my current mileage I will make up the difference in about two years. The more miles you drive, the better the delta between gas and diesel.

-CP4 fuel pump is know to explode. It seems a design flaw where metal to metal surfaces allow particular down stream. That’s going to clog your injector and break stuff. Average about $8k, covered under warranty but parts delay means people are out of a truck, often without a rental for awhile.

It’s generally not great to store the diesel’s as the fuel and def have a shelf life. I suspect the cp4 pump problems are compounded by long term storage. (3-month)

-def sensors seem to be a problem earlier on but spear to be fix via software. Still, because of epa law a problem with the def system can mean the truck goes dead in the water. Def has a shelf life and you need to pay attention/ try to get it at the pump

-the fuel filler doesn’t accept normal truck stop nozzles. A problem with flapper placement. You can take it out pretty easy or use a funnel

-overheating, mostly when towing up steep grades. There’s a person who installed a bypass filter /cooler with good results. It seems the easiest option though is to monitor temps and take it easy before derates. Will require banks tunner to monitor

-bottoms out. Reports that the diesel’s bottom out at low speed (hit bump stops). Apparently a SB is out to address this on at least rubicon trim. Easiest fix is a mopar 2” lift

- currently no dual battery kit available
- one snorkel kit available but not that nice one everyone gets
- falcon shocks don’t fit however they do make a diesel spec version w/ shorter res

- diesel’s come with cast iron knuckles like Mojave

 

[A 2]

I had both. 3.6 first to just over 20k miles. New EcoD has just over 9k miles. Both had zero major problems. Both reliable. Towed with both and the EcoD wins in that department. EcoD wins in the MPG, especially when towing.
Even though I feel I got a great deal on the EcoD and sold the 3.6 at a great price, my pocket still hurts.

 

[Rahkmalla]

before you let someone sell you on their song of MPGs, please remember that MPG is just one facet of cost to operate per mile (cost of diesel currently means a diesel's MPGe is about 2/3rd of what their MPG are). Overall the diesel is more expensive to operate per mile.

That being said, it's also the faster engine. And there are dozens of models of cars out there where people pay more for the faster engine without even being able to pretend it was an economical choice.

For me it was a non-issue because nothing was going to talk me out of a manual.

 

[The Crusader]

I just did a Dallas-Delaware round trip. I got 24.5mpg in the mountains doing 80mph and 29.7mpg doing 70 on level interstates. About 27.5 overall in my Sport S diesel. No issues.

Sponsored