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Another Cam bites the dust...

ShadowsPapa

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Yall are making me nervous. I bought a new gladiator 3 weeks ago.
Pay no or little attention. It's truly a "if" and not "when" situation. Of the many millions of these made, it's not a large percentage that fail.
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Stan H

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Gas or Diesel?

I don't believe I have an owner's manual with mine (2021 as well), I've only had the digital one.
2021 Jeep Gladiator Owner's Manual

And that ^^^ isn't on those pages.

1754315258842-ww.webp


As far as my driving habits are concerned... if anything were to break, it would have done so a long time ago.

The cam issue is a defective part issue from a random (as of now) selection of Jeeps. I don't believe it has anything to do with driving behavior, gas, oil, or longevity.
I bought mine brand new had 41 miles on it . Its a 3.6L 131,700k. Runs like it just rolled off the lot .
Edit : aint never replaced anything but the water pump and some sensors .did watwrpump myself with my uncles mechanic mind assisting me took me about 4 hrs. Cause I am old and slow that was at 118k 😂
 

Stan H

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Our 3.6 isa mass produced engine. There is nothing hand built about it. The cam failure is designed into it, not caused by assembly. It will go till it fails, and it will eventually will fail. My plan is to dump this dog before it does fail. That will be just luck, or not. Or I could just save the money lost in it and just fix it. With the HP and RPM we are running it takes very little to cause a failure over time and miles.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. That bombastic blast is full of more hot air than old OZ himself.
 

ShadowsPapa

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I bought mine brand new had 41 miles on it . Its a 3.6L 131,700k. Runs like it just rolled off the lot .
Edit : aint never replaced anything but the water pump and some sensors .did watwrpump myself with my uncles mechanic mind assisting me took me about 4 hrs. Cause I am old and slow that was at 118k 😂
I used to do such things pretty quickly, but these days - 4 hours sounds ok with me.
Better to take your time on something you're doing for the first time than rush and end up doing it twice.
 

Stan H

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I used to do such things pretty quickly, but these days - 4 hours sounds ok with me.
Better to take your time on something you're doing for the first time than rush and end up doing it twice.
Thats why I had my retired mechanic 67 yr. Old diabetic uncle( my youngest uncle ) basically steer me and give me advice he had replaced several water pumps on 3.6 VVT and VVL and he guided me pretty handedly through it Not to mention his garage is to die for. 2 bay with a lift and a toolbox as big as Kim Kardashians shoe closet . And 2 more walls of specialty tools in cabinets and hanging in the wall heated with wall mounted air lines and all the air tools and torque wrenches every mechanically inclined kids dreams about for Christmas.
 

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ShadowsPapa

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Thats why I had my retired mechanic 67 yr. Old diabetic uncle( my youngest uncle ) basically steer me and give me advice he had replaced several water pumps on 3.6 VVT and VVL and he guided me pretty handedly through it Not to mention his garage is to die for. 2 bay with a lift and a toolbox as big as Kim Kardashians shoe closet . And 2 more walls of specialty tools in cabinets and hanging in the wall heated with wall mounted air lines and all the air tools and torque wrenches every mechanically inclined kids dreams about for Christmas.
One of the first things I did in mine was run air lines with multiple drops on three walls in the car shop area and two upstairs in the wood shop.

Jeep Gladiator Another Cam bites the dust... levels
 

Stan H

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One of the first things I did in mine was run air lines with multiple drops on three walls in the car shop area and two upstairs in the wood shop.

levels.jpg
He has similar and multiple reels with ⅜ & ½ line it so freaking nice.
 

ShadowsPapa

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He has similar and multiple reels with ⅜ & ½ line it so freaking nice.
Yeah, two hose reels as well as the quick couplers in all of the other drops.
 

AZ_Adventure_Clicks

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Nope, babied it as per break-in instructions and after that used it for its intended purpose. Like you, I am in California so always going to the mountains and with the grades rpms are going to go up. When I was sure this was occurring, I was on a 45 day trip up in Idaho, Montana, and Oregon towing my 1500 lbs teardrop. Once I leave California, I am towing at 70 mph. During this trip, can't tell you how many mountains I crossed, but definitely up and down many grades. I really feel that I was sold a broken vehicle. The follower was probably screwed up from day one. When my 2014 JK went bad a few years back, I heard the moment the rocker gave out and drove 500 miles home and did the repair. The cam had very little material removed. This cam, on my 2024 Gladiator, had tons of material removed in comparison, in my opinion 7900 miles worth. It was not throwing codes at this point, but was not many miles from the point where the cam lobe would have been worn and the valves would not have been opening and closing as they should.

IMG_4441.JPG
I'm amazed at how quickly it goes... Wonder if there's a database out there tracking earliest failures, just to get an idea of how many miles it takes to get to the center of the tootsie roll pop.
 

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mpboxer

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What surprised me was the limited amount of complaints submitted to NHTSA. I was browsing various model years of the JT and there weren’t that many cam complaints. Tons on the manual transmission, but not the cams. For all the complaints online it seems weird. Maybe those with failed cams should start reporting to NHTSA more in hopes of initiating a recall. If the cam failed and caused a safety issue be sure to elaborate on that.
 

ShadowsPapa

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Maybe those with failed cams should start reporting to NHTSA more in hopes of initiating a recall. If the cam failed and caused a safety issue be sure to elaborate on that.
This has been discussed also - as far as safety and recall bits.
Yes, do report.
But -
It's extremely UNlikely to be a safety issue as there are almost always warnings before they even get to the point of misfire, let alone totally dying. A failed cam is extremely unlikely to be a safety issue, it won't cause the thing to stop in the middle of traffic.

It certainly won't be a recall due to the numbers and the fact there's no telling which will have problems vs. which will never have problems.
 

SRFRAT67

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Well - all I can say is that ime not worrying about my engine, if it happens it happens. Even though it is disheartening to hear the this is happening and it sucks for the individuals affected I can't emphasize how much good information is gleaned from these threads by all the knowledgeable individuals in this forum...its why I joined. All I can say to those affected is I empathize with you and hope that JEEP does you right!
 

Stan H

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Since everyone else is just gonna ignore it - how long is that level???
That may be a floor beam 😂🧐🤭 dang I sorta missed what that was seen it didn't zoom in 🤦😂
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