Manual Transmission Nightmare

[ohiobrad]

I bought one of the first manual Gladiators a year and half ago and I'm seriously regretting the purchase. I didn't have the Gladiator for two weeks when I went out to drive it one day, I could REALLY smell burning transmission fluid and had to park it on the side of the road and get it towed. It took my dealer a few weeks to get it repaired and back to me (it got so ridiculous, Jeep paid my first loan payment for the trouble).

I've had the Gladiator for ~20 months now and have yet to hit 10,000 miles. I park it in my garage every night and haven't even taken it off-roading. I don't grind the gears nor abuse it and have only had it in 4-wheel drive for a few occasions in winter weather.

A few weeks ago, I could feel the clutch getting really loose when running some errands and I just drove straight towards my dealer. I got within a few miles and I could no longer change gears when coming off the highway ramp. I allowed it to roll to a stop in neutral on the side of the road and had it towed from there.

It took another week of repair time and I've driven it twice since then. I went out this morning to start it and when I depressed the clutch and hit the start button, the Jeep LEAPED forward, nearly crashing into the wall of my garage (with the clutch DEPRESSED). Thank God I had a bit of room to work with and was able to kill the engine before I had an accident inside my own home. The gear shit was completely locked up and the clutch felt loose as hell (again).

With the engine off, I was at least able to muscle the gear shift back into neutral so it can be towed (again) back to the dealer.

I've never owned a bigger lemon in my life. (It breaks my heart to write this)

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[Tiny]

That really sucks pal. I have had 0 problems with mine and it sounds like they sold you a turd. Hope they ultimately do right by you. I bought mine Aug '20 and have about 12k on the odo.

 

[intentsrig]

Can you give us a list of what has been replaced by the dealer each visit?

I am in a JL, same manual transmission, and have been on the forums since the start. Never seen anything quite like your scenario. I am at 30k miles and no issues besides a creaking noise when clutch is depressed once the engine is warmed up.

There was a recall awhile back to make sure the line from master cylinder was not leaking, allowing air into the system, causing all sorts of issues such as the pressure plate riding on the clutch, causing fires.

The second time where you where loosing the clutch pedal sounds like a lot of air getting into the system.

 

[Renegade]

Is this a duplicate thread? I could have sworn I had this conversation already. What did the dealer find the second time it went in?

 

[ohiobrad]

I had posted it on another thread and then realized it should have been on this one..

Long story shot, the dealer had the Gladiator for the past 7 days. The service manager asked my permission to drive it for a few days after getting it driving again (He did verify there was air in the line.. My question was WHY? Nobody seems to know..) and he experienced no issues.

I got it back again today. I just went and put 50 miles on it, highway and city. Shifted fine. No issues.

I just walked back out to my garage... and smelled transmission fluid (I'm calling it transmission fluid.. Same 'fluid' smell from previous issues). My HOPE is it is just a residual odor from the repairs.. HOPE

 

[ohiobrad]

Question for you guys: After getting the clutch repaired a few weeks ago, the Gladiator drove fine on the way home and for the next 50 miles that we put on it through the next few days. It wasn't until the third time I went out to drive it did I have that incident. If it was air in the line from the dealer repair, could have I drove it for 50 miles before having that breakdown?

 

[Renegade]

Question for you guys: After getting the clutch repaired a few weeks ago, the Gladiator drove fine on the way home and for the next 50 miles that we put on it through the next few days. It wasn't until the third time I went out to drive it did I have that incident. If it was air in the line from the dealer repair, could have I drove it for 50 miles before having that breakdown?

You can’t just “get” air in your clutch hydraulic system. It would have to be pushed in there from an empty reservoir, or there would have to be a leak somewhere (like the slave cylinder, which could then get fluid on your clutch, potentially causing clutch slippage and causing an odor). The other possibility for a soft pedal would be a bad master cylinder, which could result in a soft pedal or no pressure. Have you seen fluid leaking anywhere?

 

[ohiobrad]

No fluid leaking anywhere. I just can't figure out how it would shift just fine right after leaving the dealer and then after only driving it one more time, I had the failure again.

 

[syreeves]

Pretty sure there is no transmission fluid in the clutch mechanism - yes it is hydraulically actuated but that is just like the brake system. The clutch plates are engaged and disengaged inside their housing in a dry environment. The smell you smell is over heated friction pads on the clutch plate surface - smells like hot brakes right? If I am wrong about this then my apologies but again I am pretty sure there is no fluid. Auto transmissions have fluid filed housings and the clutch "plates" in the torque converter use that fluid to transfer power and maintain proper operating temperatures...

I agree with @Renegade above - maybe the fluid in the clutch pressure plate system is leaking and falling onto hot engine parts causing the smell - or maybe your clutch plates are not being forced together tightly and therefore the plates are slipping on acceleration or steady state driving even though your foot is completely off the clutch.

Just curious - you don't rest your left foot on the clutch pedal do you? I assume you don't but I have heard that some people do (ordinary ignorance or bad habit or whatever) and that doing that can slighly release the clutch pressure which leads to slippage and burning... I'm assuming this is not your problem tho...

Best of luck. I've got 2K on mine and so far so good.

 

[Bbannongmu]

Yikes. Sorry for the issues. Hope they figure it out. I’m at 10k miles on mine and zero issues but interesting to hear what the issue is so the group can observe and report. Good luck!

 

[ohiobrad]

Thanks. Since all the headaches back in January, the Gladiator has run great. Fingers crossed this issue is fully in the rearview mirror.

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