Clutch Recall (2/23/23): Clutch Pressure Plate May Overheat -- Affecting 70,000 Manual Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators

[JT1]

FYI, VINs dropped. Assuming its 100% coverage again but worth checking

Mine's on there

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[MVTV]

I just picked up my 2023 Mojave in the end of Jan 2023. It got the recall notice.

 

[4xjeepr]

Received the recall notice on my Jeep app today........y'all may want to look there as well if you want to skip the Vin look up.

 

[bajt]

Hi all,
I drive a 2020 JT Mojave manual which already had the fake software update.
I did not know about the recall and just logged in to ask about whether anyone had the same issue, post update and found out.

The clutch has been slipping for the past 3 days while on 4th gear on the highway around 40-50 mph. I had just gone to the dealership to ask about it and they told me to get an appointment - nothing about the recall. As I was getting on the highway from the dealeship the clutch slipped again, the truck stalled and I almost got rear ended. The firmware has not given me a single warning about that. Just got home and touched the clutch. It almost burned my hand.

I have ordered the Centerforce with one day delivery, and called the dealership to set-up an appointment. on Thursday. I needed to be pushy and say I will bring in the aftermarket clutch since FCA has not issued a "remedy" yet. This is unacceptably reckless corporate behavior, and I will be filing n official complaint with NITSA. They have known this for a while, and putting people's lives at risk. The danger is not only from fire, but from the stalling clutch which can end up getting the truck in an accident.

I have driven a manual Nissan Frontier for 220K miles. The engine gave up before the clutch and then I got the JT. I wish I had gotten a Tacoma instead. Cool looking truck but dangerous.

In addition to the clutch trouble: two weeks ago I had to pay $1K for replacing both batteries (the auto start/stop would not work). After I forked over the $$ I have been getting intermitent warnings that cruise control and auto-start/stop won't work and need service. The tail gate center light also just gave up and since I am just over 35K miles I need to pay another $500 to replace it.

But the clutch issue is the worst of them all. Gross negligence.

 

[Bbannongmu]

Hi all,
I drive a 2020 JT Mojave manual which already had the fake software update.
I did not know about the recall and just logged in to ask about whether anyone had the same issue, post update and found out.

The clutch has been slipping for the past 3 days while on 4th gear on the highway around 40-50 mph. I had just gone to the dealership to ask about it and they told me to get an appointment - nothing about the recall. As I was getting on the highway from the dealeship the clutch slipped again, the truck stalled and I almost got rear ended. The firmware has not given me a single warning about that. Just got home and touched the clutch. It almost burned my hand.

I have ordered the Centerforce with one day delivery, and called the dealership to set-up an appointment. on Thursday. I needed to be pushy and say I will bring in the aftermarket clutch since FCA has not issued a "remedy" yet. This is unacceptably reckless corporate behavior, and I will be filing n official complaint with NITSA. They have known this for a while, and putting people's lives at risk. The danger is not only from fire, but from the stalling clutch which can end up getting the truck in an accident.

I have driven a manual Nissan Frontier for 220K miles. The engine gave up before the clutch and then I got the JT. I wish I had gotten a Tacoma instead. Cool looking truck but dangerous.

In addition to the clutch trouble: two weeks ago I had to pay $1K for replacing both batteries (the auto start/stop would not work). After I forked over the $$ I have been getting intermitent warnings that cruise control and auto-start/stop won't work and need service. The tail gate center light also just gave up and since I am just over 35K miles I need to pay another $500 to replace it.

But the clutch issue is the worst of them all. Gross negligence.

That sux. You’ll love the Centerforce clutch. Good luck !

 

[mbbq22]

The bad vibes around the clutch have me considering swapping to an aftermarket sooner rather than later. This is not a job I can do myself, would anyone be willing to share any estimates of cost for installation for such a job?

 

[bajt]

The bad vibes around the clutch have me considering swapping to an aftermarket sooner rather than later. This is not a job I can do myself, would anyone be willing to share any estimates of cost for installation for such a job?

I did not have time to shop around, given my experience today and the 2.5 year long FCA negligence and stalling tactics..

So I went for the first option available:

https://www.quadratec.com/p/centerf...t-flywheel-wrangler-jl-gladiator-jt-KDF157077


The dealership is estimating 5 hours labor. which I will pay out of my own pocket.

Quite a price tag, but imho one's life is worth much more. The coincidences I described today make me think I am too gullible to the FCA corporate stalling tactics. I wish I had bought a manual Tacoma. I am sad to say that, but it seems to me that the Japanese manufacturers still have some "honor", and I'd rather rely on that. Seen it first hand, but decided to be "patriotic", pay the extra $$ and I am now stuck with a (cool looking) lemon.

However, I will exhaust all legal avenues to hold the FCA responsible for this. As I said, it is not only that the clutch runs hot and might catch fire. When it does (at least on my truck) it starts slipping and the truck might not accelerate when you need it most (e.g. on the on ramp).

I am an engineer by trade (not mechanical but electrical). I have seen the situation in my industry enough times to know what is going on. Engineering department says "this ain't going to work, and we will regret it", but management/marketing/bean-counters overrule R&D and decide to release of a half baked countermeasure. Goal is to minimize cost and embarrassment. Then stuff hits the fan and engineering dept sighs. This happens in my industry where people's lives are not really at stake (consumer grade telecom). But in FCA's case it seems that engineering has not been officially vindicated yet, since they are "still working on a remedy". I can assume somebody in FCA figured out they can cover their behinds with NHTSA by filing a recall with no fix yet, while ordering the engineering department to find a low cost "solution". The centerforce solution already exists in the market but it is too expensive for FCA, so they are probably searching for subcontractors which can deliver an el-cheapo clutch. Would be nice if a law firm picks this case up in a class action and requests a subpoena of all internal communications regarding the inadequate clutch. Will be fun reading the materials in discovery...

I am mad at myself that I could see see that this things is woefully under specified for the engine torque (<10% margin is laughable).. However, I thought "oh well, FCA is in a life critical industry and so they must be more diligent than just consumer electronics. How naive of me..

I would advice everyone to get this replaced ASAP. Don't gamble with your safety, because some people in FCA are too cavalier, and will never be held personally liable.

I have rambled enough - I usually do not post, but given my experience today I'd rather warn people, than mind my own business.

Good luck.

 

[bryanklay]

Bajt
You are correct in your statement about how the clutch is a safety issue. that is why a lot of us have changed over to the CenterForce clutch. you will love the new clutch after you bleed the hydraulics a number of times. i believe if you were to study the whole clutch system in the gladiator, you might find the issue is two fold, one is the dual mass flywheel is not strong enough to handle the vehicle which in turn effects the clutch and the second part is the hydraulics in that the fluid gets very hot and what i think happens after that is bubbles form in the line which causes the slave cylinder to start pushing the throw-out bearing towards the pressure plate causing a slippage condition which in turn overheats the pressure plate.

By the way, my gladiator is on the list for the recall.

 

[Bbannongmu]

The bad vibes around the clutch have me considering swapping to an aftermarket sooner rather than later. This is not a job I can do myself, would anyone be willing to share any estimates of cost for installation for such a job?

I got mine done for $600 labor at Keystone 4x4 in Hamburg PA - near the big Cabelas. Mike is a real pro with Jeeps and manual transmissions. Took him 2 days - most of that time bleeding the system over and over. It’s worth the trip up there - I live near the DE/MD/PA line.

 

[NachoRuby]

Interesting. We have two now (JL and JT). No issues at this point, but I'll certainly get this done once the recall notice comes out for mine.

 

[bajt]

Bajt
You are correct in your statement about how the clutch is a safety issue. that is why a lot of us have changed over to the CenterForce clutch. you will love the new clutch after you bleed the hydraulics a number of times. i believe if you were to study the whole clutch system in the gladiator, you might find the issue is two fold, one is the dual mass flywheel is not strong enough to handle the vehicle which in turn effects the clutch and the second part is the hydraulics in that the fluid gets very hot and what i think happens after that is bubbles form in the line which causes the slave cylinder to start pushing the throw-out bearing towards the pressure plate causing a slippage condition which in turn overheats the pressure plate.

By the way, my gladiator is on the list for the recall.

Thank you for the tips Bryan. I would appreciate some more details, on the bleeding if you have the time. I am taking the truck to the dealership, for the installation of the centerforce, and I do not have high confidence on their techs. So, any more details you can share would be highly appreciated. One more thing: when I complained to them about the clutch slipping, for the first time 6 months after I bought the truck, they "diagnossed" the problem as "leaking slave cylinder" and they replaced it free of charge. When I complained again they told me to wait for the software update. Then, they checked and their system supposedly said that the truck did not need an update - it was ok. I kept pestering various dealers while on roadtrips and all said the same thing (their system showed my VIN as ok). However, finally when I was on a long roadtrip to KS, and needed an oil change, the dealer there finally updated it (along with the "rear differential lock in 4H" update). I thought my troubles were over - can't believe I was so gullible - till last week and especially today.. I fear that this will be a protracted fix (multiple trips and downtime) so any help would

 

[bryanklay]

Thank you for the tips Bryan. I would appreciate some more details, on the bleeding if you have the time.




PM sent to you

 

[SteveInOrlando]

I did not have time to shop around, given my experience today and the 2.5 year long FCA negligence and stalling tactics..

So I went for the first option available:

https://www.quadratec.com/p/centerf...t-flywheel-wrangler-jl-gladiator-jt-KDF157077


The dealership is estimating 5 hours labor. which I will pay out of my own pocket.

Quite a price tag, but imho one's life is worth much more. The coincidences I described today make me think I am too gullible to the FCA corporate stalling tactics. I wish I had bought a manual Tacoma. I am sad to say that, but it seems to me that the Japanese manufacturers still have some "honor", and I'd rather rely on that. Seen it first hand, but decided to be "patriotic", pay the extra $$ and I am now stuck with a (cool looking) lemon.

However, I will exhaust all legal avenues to hold the FCA responsible for this. As I said, it is not only that the clutch runs hot and might catch fire. When it does (at least on my truck) it starts slipping and the truck might not accelerate when you need it most (e.g. on the on ramp).

I am an engineer by trade (not mechanical but electrical). I have seen the situation in my industry enough times to know what is going on. Engineering department says "this ain't going to work, and we will regret it", but management/marketing/bean-counters overrule R&D and decide to release of a half baked countermeasure. Goal is to minimize cost and embarrassment. Then stuff hits the fan and engineering dept sighs. This happens in my industry where people's lives are not really at stake (consumer grade telecom). But in FCA's case it seems that engineering has not been officially vindicated yet, since they are "still working on a remedy". I can assume somebody in FCA figured out they can cover their behinds with NHTSA by filing a recall with no fix yet, while ordering the engineering department to find a low cost "solution". The centerforce solution already exists in the market but it is too expensive for FCA, so they are probably searching for subcontractors which can deliver an el-cheapo clutch. Would be nice if a law firm picks this case up in a class action and requests a subpoena of all internal communications regarding the inadequate clutch. Will be fun reading the materials in discovery...

I am mad at myself that I could see see that this things is woefully under specified for the engine torque (<10% margin is laughable).. However, I thought "oh well, FCA is in a life critical industry and so they must be more diligent than just consumer electronics. How naive of me..

I would advice everyone to get this replaced ASAP. Don't gamble with your safety, because some people in FCA are too cavalier, and will never be held personally liable.

I have rambled enough - I usually do not post, but given my experience today I'd rather warn people, than mind my own business.

Good luck.

5 hours is quick, ensure they do install the updated hydraulics kit.

I can't give you a number, I was the one that got the old batch pulled. My flywheel had to be machined to fit because Jeep changed specs and didn't let anyone know. I also didn't have the upgraded hydraulics kit that comes with it now. It took 2 days to get mine completed because of the custom machining.

That said, I am still loving my Centerforce clutch.

 

[BuyHold]

I got mine done for $600 labor at Keystone 4x4 in Hamburg PA...

That seems like an absurdly low price. I could only dream of prices like that in my neck of the woods.

 

[Bbannongmu]

That seems like an absurdly low price. I could only dream of prices like that in my neck of the woods.

They charge $100 /hr for shop time. They do a lot of Jeep work and know their stuff.

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