Engine Replacement @ 500 Miles

[plesley]

Hey everyone. I initially got on the forums to lurk on options for new side steps while preserving my rubi rocks rails; however, recently my engine overheated on the highway at 500 miles. The Jeep was towed to the dealer where it took them three days to diagnose before eventually deciding to replace the whole engine. Now I'm looking at 3 weeks of driving a rental...

Anyone else heard of this yet? Or am I just bad luck?

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[Jeepdude413]

Hey everyone. I initially got on the forums to lurk on options for new side steps while preserving my rubi rocks rails; however, recently my engine overheated on the highway at 500 miles. The Jeep was towed to the dealer where it took them three days to diagnose before eventually deciding to replace the whole engine. Now I'm looking at 3 weeks of driving a rental...

Anyone else heard of this yet? Or am I just bad luck?

First hearing this. Did they give any reason as to why it overheated?

 

[RedTRex]

wow......L6S defect

 

[Hemi]

Hey everyone. I initially got on the forums to lurk on options for new side steps while preserving my rubi rocks rails; however, recently my engine overheated on the highway at 500 miles. The Jeep was towed to the dealer where it took them three days to diagnose before eventually deciding to replace the whole engine. Now I'm looking at 3 weeks of driving a rental...

Anyone else heard of this yet? Or am I just bad luck?

Just bad luck. The Pentastar 3.6l is a proven reliable engine, with 10 million of them built. They have a track record of reliability. Sorry for your woes.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Post a copy of the work order with your personal information redacted, I'd like to see what it says.

If it takes a dealership 3 days to diagnose an engine that is toast, they must have bigger problems.

 

[WXman]

So there was no warning light on the dash? ECU didn't go into limp mode? Nothing? It just overheated and quit running?

That's odd. Very odd. Normally on a modern vehicle, if the coolant temp exceeds threshold the dash will look similar to a Christmas tree. You'd have plenty of time to pull over and avoid engine damage.

 

[Tire Guy]

Internal FUBAR.

 

[Hemi]

Post a copy of the work order with your personal information redacted, I'd like to see what it says.

If it takes a dealership 3 days to diagnose an engine that is toast, they must have bigger problems.

My guess it took 3 days to get FCA to sign off on warrantying a brand new engine. I've been through a couple of those.

 

[ACAD_Cowboy]

Yikes!

If it helps, failures do happen and honestly it’s better to be found fast than a lingering thing that they will ultimately try to pin on you in a failure to maintain situation.

I’m very interested to know the sequence of events and what they attributed the failure to as well, keep us posted.

 

[Choj]

Always a lemon no matter what type of engine/vehicle. Hopefully your new engine is being replaced under warranty!

I had a Golf TDI for 2 years before I sold it back to them because of the whole #dieselgate issue. In those two years I had to take it back to the dealership 4 times to get things fixed under warranty. The last time I took it there my Golf was actually telling me it wouldn't start in 300 miles. Dealership said that it would cost around $3k to fix the issue, but VW would buy it back if I could drive it to them. Drove a friends care for 4 months until they purchased my Golf. The whole thing was such a headache that I'll never buy another VW again.

 

[plesley]

Let me clear up some things.

The coolant light didn't have a gradual buildup. While driving around 70mph down the highway it suddenly went red and gave me an engine coolant warning. When I pulled over there was fluid all over the ground leading me to think it was a cracked radiator (I'm not mechanically inclined).

The dealer was great. They towed it in and called me every couple hours w/ updates. They said it was multiple things before finally having a tech come in today and decide to replace everything (under warranty for sure).

Mainly just frustrated with knowing I now have a $60k vehicle with a non-factory engine.

 

[HorneyBadger]

Let me clear up some things.

The coolant light didn't have a gradual buildup. While driving around 70mph down the highway it suddenly went red and gave me an engine coolant warning. When I pulled over there was fluid all over the ground leading me to think it was a cracked radiator (I'm not mechanically inclined).

The dealer was great. They towed it in and called me every couple hours w/ updates. They said it was multiple things before finally having a tech come in today and decide to replace everything (under warranty for sure).

Mainly just frustrated with knowing I now have a $60k vehicle with a non-factory engine.

You will have a rebuilt factory engine which in most cases is better than new off the line. The only bummer is that you will be JT less for a couple weeks.

 

[ACAD_Cowboy]

It’s a factory engine, just not the one it left the factory with but since you have the documentation you’ll be covered when it rolls across the block at Barrett Jackson in 40 years and the holographic Jay Leno is interviewing you about your survivor time capsule gladiator, complete numbers matching with records.

 

[Hootbro]

That low of miles, the should be shipping and installing you a new engine or long block. By warranty language, they have the right to put a reman unit in there, but if me, I would be pushing back on that and trying my best for new engine.

 

[WXman]

If you've done engine swaps before, you know that there are tons of wires, cables, hoses, clamps, bolts, nuts, etc. to keep track of. You have to make sure everything stays in order and organized. You have to be careful not to pinch or kink anything when you drop the new one in. The entire process is quite a job on a modern vehicle. That's the part that would worry me; not that a new engine will be in the Jeep, but the quality of the actual removal and installation of the new engine. I don't blame the OP for being frustrated with this.

If I were him, I'd be in constant contact with FCA Customer Care on this and push hard for an extended warranty or some kind of help. In December 2018 they offered to make a monthly payment for me on my new JL Wrangler because I was without it for a few weeks getting the ESS system repaired. Considering the circumstances I felt it was very fair and nice of them to do that. They certainly didn't have to. Call them up and ask them for help. Explain how frustrating this is and you might be surprised what they do.

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