Owners thoughts please

[nocoast_jt]

The 3.0 with the 8 speed tranny is simply the best powertrain I've ever had in a Jeep. I've driven everything from the old 2.5L 4cyl, 4.0L, 3.8L, and 3.6L with the different tranny configs. I even had a 6.0L LS with 6 speed tranny in my JK. On the road, I couldn't be happier! Offroading is great but it's definitely a little different than the gasser. Throttling into something is just different with the ecodiesel/trubo spool and I find myself holding the brakes and throttling up a bit before letting go when a little bump is needed.

I also love the fact the diesel just loves cruising along at low RPMs. You can throw 39s on your truck with 3.73s and not really notice the larger tires. You can do the same with the 3.6 but it's gonna be screaming and your mileage is gonna suck. I also know the towing specs are lower than the 3.6L but my real world experience towing with the 3.0 is just so much more of a pleasant experience than with a gasser. I've only towed my 3,500lb camper but its never overheated or derrated on me.

I am over 20k and awaiting the fuel pump recall.

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[JTRDistraction]

2022 JTRD here. Only 7500 miles, but loving it all the same. I'm going to parrot a lot of the things said here already, but oh well. This is my first ever Jeep, but I absolutely believe it is the best stock powertrain available. I drove all of the available options before special ordering the diesel Rubicon and I'm not sure i would've bought one if that option wasn't offered.

Everyone's experiences will differ. If I had compounding issues with the fuel pump and a crappy service department at a local dealership, it would leave a very sour taste in my mouth. I almost lost faith over a difficult to troubleshoot electronics issue that the dealer was struggling with(my JT was in the shop for over a month).

I could go on and on, but in my opinion, don't let the fuel pump be the hang up on buying a diesel powered gladiator. If it's still under warranty, have it thoroughly checked out and go for it. Especially since it seems they won't be making them for much longer...

 

[SargeDiesel]

The biggest draw of the ED is the relative preceived loss of power by going with lift and bigger tires. But I am only planning on doing 2.5" lift with 35s which the JK did fine with 3.73 gearing.

Your statement confused me a bit... "perceived power loss". I wanted the ED because I was going to lift and add 37" tires.... this is were the ED really shines... IMO

 

[drdfblackm]

Yeah I guess I wrote that weird....I think you know what I meant.

That is one of the biggest draws....the loss of perceived power is not a factor with the ED when you have a lift and bigger tires. But I am pretty sure you got the gist.

Long story short....I really would like to find one.

 

[CreepyJeepy]

35k on my 21 eco diesel with a Mopar 2” lift and 35” tires.

I went with the ecodiesel for towing.

While some people will shout and say it has a lower max, who in their right mind would tow near the maximum on any vehicle, it’s asking for problems.

I will say it does require a mindset adjustment, there is turbo lag…. Especially starting on a grade.

But towing my 3500lb single axle camper yields far better fuel mileage and quiet engine vs the 3.6

I use EDT in every fill up

 

[Synctheship]

I love my 21 JTRD, I would likely not be in a Jeep right now if the 3.6 was the only option. Only thing that would tempt me away from the ED would be a factory 392, but that's probably never coming to the JT, Jeep has also massively inflated the cost on it as well..

 

[Pescatoral Pursuit]

Ok....I am seriously about to buy a Gladiator and I have owned diesels (not an ED) and I have owned pentastars (not with 8 speed trans). I had a 2011 Powerwagon for years, and it served me well. But a bit of overkill for what I need for a truck. Sold that. I want to get back to a Jeep but want the small bed for hauling a few things and I have a utility trailer if needed for more. The Gladiator will be for fun and winter commuting mostly. Certainly not a daily driver.

Question is....did you only want an ED or did you consider both. What made you go for the ED, and have you regretted your decision? Would you buy one right this moment or wait for the fix? There is one relatively close to me that is a '22 with 22k miles. No not at a Jeep dealer. Might be able to get a bit of a deal for it. Otherwise as everyone knows there are little to none to buy right now. Is it worth waiting for or would you just go for the gas engine. What are the true drawbacks of the ED....other than cost of fuel and the def?

I would like to run 35s and do a 2.5 Rockkrawler or MetalCloak lift which is what I have used in the past for other wranglers.

Just trying to see true pros and cons from you the owners.

Thank you.

Back when I ordered my Jeep in August of 21, one of the non-negotiables was a diesel, primarily because of the gas mileage and extra power, and secondarily for the novelty.
I will have owned it 2 years this October and currently have over 33,000 miles on it. It is my daily work truck, and weekend off-roader.

The mileage has not lived up to expectations by a significant amount.
The power is good but it will never be a hot rod, and in that case, in my opinion the gas Gladiators which I've driven are sufficient for what this truck is.
Though diesel was 15 cents more per gallon than regular unleaded when I ordered the truck, for most of the time I've had it it has been well over a dollar and close to two dollars more than regular unleaded gasoline.

It has been my experience that the diesel makes a better commuter, and the gas makes a better off-roader.

Now there is also this fuel pump recall out there, with no immediate solution, like a loaded bazooka pointed at my Jeep which could blow it up at any time.

Don't give me wrong, I love my Jeep, and it's a little beast, but to do it again the main thing I would change is getting a gasser with full-time four-wheel drive.

 

[Mike-len]

I’ve detected some (being diplomatic) odd views on the diesel. So here’s my own odd views

Supposed rarity, and lack of support:

This isn’t a rare or weird or unsupported engine. VM Motori has been making diesels for almost 100 years. They made a lot of other companies engines for them. Remember the unstoppable Hilux diesel engine? That was a Motori. They’ve made diesels for Mercedes, BMW, Ford, GM, Toyota and Nissan and now FCA. Americans tend to think diesels begin and end with heavy duty Fords and Cummins. Diesels are everywhere in Europe, Africa and Asia and Motori manufactures a significant share of them.


Reliability Vs Pentastar:

I’ve only ever owned 1 vehicle that had a major powertrain problem. Everything else has been flawless. My 2004 AEV SWB TJ was flawless. Other than a dead battery, my current JTRD is flawless (knocks on wood). My 2013 10th Anniversary Rubicon JKU, at the time my dream Jeep, had a bad Pentastar engine with the sand casting issue. There’s no easy fix for that either because it just slowly manifests itself with repeatedly failing peripheral components like oil pumps, water pumps, heater cores, etc. I had to sell it to escape the nightmare. In the mid oughts, if you went on any Jeep forum, Pentastar complaints dominated. They had the aforementioned sand casting problem, they had head problems, and the list goes on and on.

The Ecodiesel has also had problems. Like the Pentastar, most if not all of those problems have been resolved. They’re both reliable. As for emissions control system issues regarding the DPF, EGR and SCR, welcome to modern diesels. All are fairly simple systems, all can be deleted in states without emissions checks (if you do it yourself), and the total cost to replace any of them is less than a couple grand, so it’s not like you’ve got a $20k failure bomb under your vehicle waiting to go off right as the powertrain warranty ends. I’ve had catalytic converters go at around 100k on multiple gas vehicles, at around $800-$1000 a pop. The cat in TJ went at 120k miles. I’ve had issues with EGR systems and DI systems on several gas vehicles. Emissions control problems are the number one problem on gas engines. The Ecodiesel isn’t unique in this respect. There’s no data that leads me to conclude that it’s less reliable or significantly more expensive to own over its lifetime beyond consumables like filters, DEF and fuel. Def fluid? Every couple of thousand miles, I’ve got to buy a $15-$25 box of cow piss. My jimmies remain unrustled.



Bosch CP4.2: The Pink German Elephant:

There’s a 3-5% chance this pump will fail. This pump, by the way is used in a lot of brand vehicles and has failed in those vehicles too. Bosch has a reputation for not fixing their problems and you will find their stuff in probably every vehicle on the market. The Bosch failure train has just happened to stop at Ecodiesel City this year.

The likely solution to this whole fiasco is a ECU flash that prevents the low power mode that can result in internal cavitation. The root cause is a poor design uncaptured piston. You can buy pinned pumps from the aftermarket. You can run a GDE tune that turns off this mode, or you wait for the FCA fix to come. My biggest concern with this is that FCA and Bosch will fight and play the blame game and run the money clock out on this resulting in a buyback, not that my fuel system will fail. My dealership’s jimmies remain unrustled on this one. Their response to me: “if your fuel system goes, we’ll replace it under warranty.”


Diesel Performance vs Everything Else:

Someone mentioned it’s lower horsepower. ????. Back in 13’ my first experience driving a Pentastar was my new JKUR. As a long time 4.0 owner my first impression was “this sucks! and what’s with this loud ass fan?” It sounds like an air boat with that fan. What’s with the @$&:ing fan? The Pentastar has plenty of torque and horsepower, it’s just way the hell up in the rev range. I get OCD whenever my tachometer goes over 2k in the Ecodiesel. Everything comes on at 800-1500RPM. It’s a street legal Kabota tractor (that’s a compliment)

I’ve laid down tire marks on the road with Ecodiesel. With a Banks pedal monster that unneuters the throttle response, you can do burnouts down the street if that’s your thing. It’s the quickest Gladiator. It’s almost as quick as the 392, but that Jeep gets single digit mileage. And if a 392 Gladiator comes out, as cool as that will be, I’d still choose the diesel because I just don’t want to drive around getting 8 MPG for personal as well as collective reasons.

The Ecodiesel doesn’t care about load, hills, wind, speed, or what gear you’re in. With 3 people (and a dog), 1800 lbs of gear, on 37” M/Ts on beadlocks, with rack system with an attached awning, and with 150lbs of beach cart and cooler, I get 27MPG at 70MPH. I get over 30MPG if I bring it down to 55-65MPH. While it does tow less in theory, personally I think if you want to tow 6000lbs you need to look at a full size truck. I have zero desire to tow anything more than a Patriot X3 or Conqueror or Opus OP4 size trailer. So far I’ve had zero temp problems. I was barreling down the highway the other day fully loaded at 75MPH in 95 degree heat and typical Hampton Roads humidity and my temps didn’t budge off of 217.

I challenge anyone with a Pentastar to get 30MPG driving a truck kitted out like this. When AEV 2.5” springs are too light and you have to upgrade to the 3” you’re carrying a lot of stuff.

My few complaints:

I do have some gripes about the diesel and they sort of drive my OCD crazy. Off road the truck has no engine braking. I’ve never driven a 4x4 that didn’t have engine braking. 4 low and in first gear, the truck will speed up. You have to use crawl control or the brakes which both annoy me. The crawl control is loud and weird. GDE apparently can tune engine braking back in so I’m eventually going to go that route. The DPF clogs quickly off road at low speeds. Inevitably, the truck will do a regen while I’m four wheeling. You’re supposed to do active regens at speed, not at 5mph. It’s not caused any issues that I can detect but it’s still annoying. Fitting things to the truck is more difficult. There’s a lot less room under the hood. I had to relocate the washer fluid bottle to fit fender liners. You have to cut off and then reverse a bolt to install control arm drop brackets.

Conclusion:

My biggest concern now is that there’s a buyback because this is the best vehicle and best Jeep I’ve owned by a wide margin. Its the quickest, most responsive, most practical, most comfortable, quietest, has the most range, best on the highway, best in the sand, good enough in the rocks if you’re careful (compared to an JL), sounds the best and most reliable (so far). I would dread having to go from this to a Pentastar. I think it would drive me crazy not having the feel and performance of the diesel. I’m legit hoping to keep this until some kind of solid state battery EV comes out, maybe 10 years from now. Even with the recall, and potential for a buyback I’d buy this again, no hesitation.

Jeep is abandoning the Ecodiesel for simple reasons. The hybrid is the now best selling model and it gets their CAFE performance up without all the corporate issues diesels bring with them. NOx requirements have made diesels far less attractive for automakers and FCA was stung by there own dieselgate. Perhaps most importantly, diesels are still not very popular outside of the heavy duty truck market. It doesn’t make financial sense for them to keep making these, but that’s not an indictment of the platform.

If you’re getting that kind of mpg loaded down, and I’m getting 22 mpg on flat terrain with a slight headwind hauling pretty much the same load as you, then what am I doing wrong? I hear many people here stating those kind of numbers and I’m lucky to get 24 mpg downhill.

 

[Almost]

If you’re getting that kind of mpg loaded down, and I’m getting 22 mpg on flat terrain with a slight headwind hauling pretty much the same load as you, then what am I doing wrong? I hear many people here stating those kind of numbers and I’m lucky to get 24 mpg downhill.

if I had to guess stop signs and street lights. These things do not like stop and go. When we talk highway we mean ALL highway. If I’m on the highway I just set cruise control to 72 mph and I get 27+ mpg every time. If add any city driving to the mix let’s say 25% city and 75% highway mine falls to around 21-22 mpg.

I drove to Florida in January 1400 miles non-stop and never even turned the motor off for 23 hours. Every tank was 26-28 mpg. In the Keys doing 45-60 mph I saw over 30 mpg for a tank.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

If you’re getting that kind of mpg loaded down, and I’m getting 22 mpg on flat terrain with a slight headwind hauling pretty much the same load as you, then what am I doing wrong? I hear many people here stating those kind of numbers and I’m lucky to get 24 mpg downhill.

The 30MPG+ is rare. I consistently got that when stock. It came down to 27 on the highway after the lift, with me rarely hitting 30. With the 2nd lift, I hit it less often. I’ve never detected any affect from carrying a load in the truck. It doesn’t seem to change mileage in the diesel significantly.

If I’m running 55-65 I easily get 27MPG+ up to 30. Over 70, mileage drops precipitously. All these numbers are totally flat. It all drops on an incline. Still, cruising the interstate, totally flat, I easily get 24-27 consistently depending on variables, e.g. throttle, wind, etc.

FYI, I run about 28PSI in my 37” tires per chalk testing. On the interstate I see my pressures climb to as high as 30-31 but wear is good.

People in Virginia either run 10 MPH under the speed limit in the left lane or are running 75-80. My running average combined highway/is 22. I’m usually running 72-80 on the interstate keeping up with traffic, so I’m not usually getting the mileage that I can get

“lucky to get 24MPG downhill”
I’ve noticed that the diesel will cruise and maintain speed with very little throttle going down even fairly shallow hills on the interstate. Basically you can let off quite a bit of throttle, more so than the ACC will do, although I usually use ACC. Going down hill like this, I consistently see my real time mileage jump up into the high 30s or low 40s. If you can only get 24MPG when going down hill, something sounds wrong.

All these numbers are with the in dash gauges. I’m not doing math between fill ups. It’s not that important to me.

Honestly, there seems to be a lot of inconsistency between these trucks. A lot of people have never had heat or derating issues. Other people can’t seem to turn a wheel without their truck derating.

 

[Dougstdig]

Runs like a top while waiting for my recall / fuel pump to be availible.

Just ended a 100 mile drive with my version of attempting to get good mileage. Get 40-50 yards behind a semi and maintain…

 

[Rusty PW]

Runs like a top while waiting for my recall / fuel pump to be availible.

Just ended a 100 mile drive with my version of attempting to get good mileage. Get 40-50 yards behind a semi and maintain…

You ain't close enough. My dad used to ride their bumper in a VW Beetle. Scare the shit out of mom a few times.

 

[Dougstdig]

You ain't close enough. My dad used to ride their bumper in a VW Beetle. Scare the shit out of mom a few times.

?…. Actually you’re correct. I was getting around 33mpg just before this and we hit a very mild downhill. Of course, the semi being loaded costed the slope and pulled away. On level ground at the right’ish / safe’ish distance I was averaging 38-40. When the semi accelerated downhill to catch an uphill our gap would increase and when I’d hit the hill unprotected by his draft I’d get around 16-17 pulling the hill.

 

[Rusty PW]

?…. Actually you’re correct. I was getting around 33mpg just before this and we hit a very mild downhill. Of course, the semi being loaded costed the slope and pulled away. On level ground at the right’ish / safe’ish distance I was averaging 38-40. When the semi accelerated downhill to catch an uphill our gap would increase and when I’d hit the hill unprotected by his draft I’d get around 16-17 pulling the hill.

My dad quit hype-miling after he hit a hay bale that the semi past over. Said that he never saw it. Yea right, dad.......that was because you were rubbing chrome off the front bumper with that semi trailer bumper........LOL

 

[SargeDiesel]

Yeah I guess I wrote that weird....I think you know what I meant.

That is one of the biggest draws....the loss of perceived power is not a factor with the ED when you have a lift and bigger tires. But I am pretty sure you got the gist.

Long story short....I really would like to find one.

Actually I didn't know what you meant or I wouldn't have commented... but I do understand now that you rephrased your comment... believe me, I wasn't being a dick to just be a dick.

I hope you find your JTD, I love mine. It good you are doing your homework, that way there are no surprises... and there wont be another "last Jeep I'll ever own" thread... ha ha
Good Luck !

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