New tranny at 45,000 miles. Wtf🙈

[Viper501]

Why would ZF be eating the cost? The 850RE may be a ZF design, but the units in the JT/JL are made under license in a Stellantis facility. Any issues, other than a proven design flaw, are on Stellantis to deal with.

Even more reason for Stellantis to push this off on the dealers to eat the costs of repair. I was mistakenly assuming that ZF was the actual manufacturer. As such, they would ordinarily have to eat the costs of any 'defect' in the unit. Since Stellantis is apparently the manufacturer then they have even more reason to force the dealers and us to eat the costs of these repairs rather than replacements.

You would think that they would want to use remanufactured units from a quality control perspective rather than making inexperienced techs do the work. But that may not be the case if they aren't worried about long-term liability for additional defects, such as if they were going to sell the division / brand in the near term.

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[Rigby]

So they performed the clutch repair per the TSB and I got it back yesterday. At this point everything appears to be working well. I asked my service advisor how it went for the tech, the warranty time Jeep pays is 8 hours and it took him well over 20 hours to do it so everyone is pissed about that. Hopefully it will hold together.

So after three months of it in the shop and all this effort on everyones part it made for a pissed off customer because a reman transmissiion from MOPAR is around $2400 retail, probably around $1500 cost internally and it could have been done within a few weeks of me dropping it off as the transmission was available.

 

[Planerdude]

So they performed the clutch repair per the TSB and I got it back yesterday. At this point everything appears to be working well. I asked my service advisor how it went for the tech, the warranty time Jeep pays is 8 hours and it took him well over 20 hours to do it so everyone is pissed about that. Hopefully it will hold together.

So after three months of it in the shop and all this effort on everyones part it made for a pissed off customer because a reman transmissiion from MOPAR is around $2400 retail, probably around $1500 cost internally and it could have been done within a few weeks of me dropping it off as the transmission was available.

What was the name and location of the dealer that did the repair? I would love to get my service tech in communication with yours. You may be the one of the first ones to have this repair done
and maybe these guys can help each other out with any issues that may came come up doing the repair.
Im currently sitting at 5 weeks at the dealer, waiting on 3 of the 4 “Special tools” needed to do the fix.

 

[Planerdude]

A smart dealer out sources the tranny rebuild to a specialty shop, there is to much overhead risk.

I talked with 6 transmission shops here in Las Vegas, they all said they can’t touch these transmissions because they do not have access to the software necessary.

 

[Fkinz]

Another data point- had the same symptoms about a year ago on my 2020 with ~38k, dealer replaced transmission under warranty.

 

[Planerdude]

Another data point- had the same symptoms about a year ago on my 2020 with ~38k, dealer replaced transmission under warranty.

Another data point- had the same symptoms about a year ago on my 2020 with ~38k, dealer replaced transmission under warranty.

Check back in when you get another 40k on that transmission.

 

[AmosMoses]

I wonder if it's possible to buy a transmission from a salvaged jeep with low miles and swap it out without any special tools or programming?

 

[Hootbro]

I wonder if it's possible to buy a transmission from a salvaged jeep with low miles and swap it out without any special tools or programming?

You have to reprogram the transmission control module, unless the removed transmission valve body is installed in the replacement. There is also "Transmission Verification Test" that has to be performed using a capable scan tool regardless.

 

[AmosMoses]

You have to reprogram the transmission control module, unless the removed transmission valve body is installed in the replacement. There is also "Transmission Verification Test" that has to be performed using a capable scan tool regardless.

Thank you! Good information to know.

 

[Stan H]

I had the same exact symptoms and try to deal with it for a little bit by manually shifting, but it inevitably would go into limp mode. I would have to pull over and use my Tazer to clear the CEL.

83K and not under warranty.

Fortunately, I got a take off from a Hemi swap donor for $1500. And paid too much for labor.

Had many conversations with folks and found out that ZF fans recommend a logical fluid replacement scheme vs “lifetime”.

What did you pay in labor I am curious @DaBuzzkill ??

 

[ShadowsPapa]

^^That's good info, but it has nothing to do with the Mopar Parts & Accessories warranty on new purchased parts.

Any part provided under a warranty repair at no cost is not a purchased part. Therefore, the Mopar Parts & Accessories warranty does not apply. The remainder of the new vehicle warranty will apply.

We were told that the replacement transmission in our JLU inherits the remainder of the new vehicle warranty - exactly as if it had never been changed.
If there was 70,000 miles and the owner paid the bill, then yes, it's a purchased part and it gets the better of what's left.

BTW - everyone keeps saying "I hope the "new" transmission" and so on.

It won't be "new". It will be a remanufactured part. Look at the sticker on the transmission, the part number. I have yet to see any transmission replacement that was new and not reman. Not that it cann't happen, but it would be very rare.
I've followed this very closely because of the 4xe transmission leak thing - I've had people crawl under and look at the decal and part number on the side. Every single one was reman.
And - not a one of them leaked while they are still kicking out NEW units that leak. So in that case, you are far better off with a remanufactured unit with the issues resolved, IMO.

After 1 week in the dealer, i have been told that there is now a bulletin out, 21-039-24, for the dealer to fully rebuild the zf 8 speed. (Previously thought to be unserviceable).

No way I hell I'd want a dealer rebuilt unit! No way. I'd run far far far from that. They have no training on these.
They ARE rebuildable - I don't know where the idea that they can't be rebuilt comes from, but a dealer doing it? No way! They won't be equipped in tools or brains.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

What was the name and location of the dealer that did the repair? I would love to get my service tech in communication with yours. You may be the one of the first ones to have this repair done
and maybe these guys can help each other out with any issues that may came come up doing the repair.
Im currently sitting at 5 weeks at the dealer, waiting on 3 of the 4 “Special tools” needed to do the fix.

They actually have a special sort of forum or chat where techs can "compare notes" and ask others if they've had xx experience. They told me flat out about this when they were sort of baffled by an issue I had a while back. (the JLU spare tire clocking causing park sense errors). The tech went online and found other techs resolved the park sense issue by relocking the spare tire so the valve stem was up. Otherwise the sensor in the spare seems to freak out the park sense sonar or something if it's facing down. So - they can chat with each other and compare notes, etc. quite easily if they wish.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Even more reason for Stellantis to push this off on the dealers to eat the costs of repair. I was mistakenly assuming that ZF was the actual manufacturer. As such, they would ordinarily have to eat the costs of any 'defect' in the unit. Since Stellantis is apparently the manufacturer then they have even more reason to force the dealers and us to eat the costs of these repairs rather than replacements.

You would think that they would want to use remanufactured units from a quality control perspective rather than making inexperienced techs do the work. But that may not be the case if they aren't worried about long-term liability for additional defects, such as if they were going to sell the division / brand in the near term.

What happens if a tech messed up after 20 hours on an 8 hour job, nicks a seal and there are problems down the road a bit?
Stellantis is really in financial trouble if they are cheaping out on something they've historically said was only done via replacement of the unit. Most smaller shops won't have any experience, and it takes only a human hair or a bit of lint to bust a transmission to pieces (yeah, I've seen it myself - I used to do automatic transmissions when the largest was a 4 speed and lockup converters were fairly new things). The clearances between a valve or shuttle and the bore of a valve body is much smaller than a human hair, and if they use normal shop cloths/rags and not totally lint-free, well............ I saw a band servo bust clean off the housing when a bit of lint locked up a couple of valves in the valve body and one could not fully release before another clutch engaged - SNAP.

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

We were told that the replacement transmission in our JLU inherits the remainder of the new vehicle warranty - exactly as if it had never been changed.
If there was 70,000 miles and the owner paid the bill, then yes, it's a purchased part and it gets the better of what's left.

BTW - everyone keeps saying "I hope the "new" transmission" and so on.

It won't be "new". It will be a remanufactured part. Look at the sticker on the transmission, the part number. I have yet to see any transmission replacement that was new and not reman. Not that it cann't happen, but it would be very rare.
I've followed this very closely because of the 4xe transmission leak thing - I've had people crawl under and look at the decal and part number on the side. Every single one was reman.
And - not a one of them leaked while they are still kicking out NEW units that leak. So in that case, you are far better off with a remanufactured unit with the issues resolved, IMO.


No way I hell I'd want a dealer rebuilt unit! No way. I'd run far far far from that. They have no training on these.
They ARE rebuildable - I don't know where the idea that they can't be rebuilt comes from, but a dealer doing it? No way! They won't be equipped in tools or brains.

Mine got a new transmission.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Mine got a new transmission.

Yup - there's the part number for new. (I'd believe you anyway - you could tell by the decal or number)

Interesting.
We're a year into the replacement on our JLU and it's been working absolutely perfectly and is totally leak-free.
But then - the JLU 4xe transmission is indeed made in Germany by ZF while the standard 8 speed like in the JT is made in the USA by Chrysler - so that's a point I likely didn't consider.

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