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Serious Engine issues 2500 miles after Rocker Arms and Camshaft replacement.

AndyFargo

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We have a 2020 Jeep Gladiator with the 3.6L gas engine with under 63,000 miles. It has always been maintained at the Jeep Dealership in Fargo, ND since we purchased it when it was one year old. During our last oil change/service we were told there was an issue with the rocker arms and likely the camshaft. We had them do the required service happy that it occurred while still under warranty, just under 60,000 miles. The repairs were made and we drove it about 2,000 miles when the Jeep started to overheat. We pulled over, had it towed to a nearby repair shop, not a Jeep dealer, there was not one close by. They checked it out and noted the main coolant feed had failed likely due to high pressure, according to the tech it is suppose to this. They noted there are serious issues with the engine that will cost a significant amount to repair. The miles the Jeep has on it now puts us just out of warranty. We are having it towed to the closest Jeep Dealership for them to look at. Because we have always had the Jeep serviced at a Jeep dealership and we use exclusively on road we are surprised to find we now have serious engine issues with mileage just over 62,300 miles. This current engine failure certainly should not be expected as normal use wear and tear byproduct and must be because of an underlying problem. The shop suggested that the recent camshaft/rocker arms repair likely is a cause or contributor to this engine issue, noting they repairs to the camshaft would have included disconnecting the main coolant feed. Has anyone else had a major engine issue after the Camshaft/Rocker Arm repairs? Any advice or experiences you can share are appreciated, anyone who can shed light on this or @JeepCares will see it.

Update, The Gladiator has been at the Jeep Dealer three days now. We know both head gaskets are bad, the shop is working with Jeep engineers to determine the proper repairs to make. Plan to keep people here updated on the status and progress. No answer as to why this would occur.

5/15 update: we are now past the teardown, are being told both heads are warped, we are being asked to decide between doing repairs on the heads or a compete engine replacement before Dealer/Engineers will decide to participate in repairs. We did request a full ECM report that wpould show the history of code and event for the vehicle. We received a summary scan and have been told we cannot get a full report, if we want one we need @JeepCares to provide it, seems strange as I thought that need to be run from the vehicles ECM scan port. Hard to make an informed decision without all the facts. The conflict between JeepCares and the dealer are constant throughout this process

The summary scan shows a P0300 fault, multiple cylinder misfire about 110 miles before everthing went array. No codes from the engine heating up or check engine lights from those event. As soon as she saw the temp rise she pulled over. when it would not go away even after adding fluid we had teh Jeep towed. Anyone know if a full ECM report is available from Jeep ECM? I know other brands can produce a report that shows everything during the life of the vehicle. Feel like the rocker arm/Camshaft replacement was valid but there was more going on inside the engine at that time, even told our local dealer at the oil change the engine still was making noises. In hindsight we should have pushed harder on this at that time, it was still under warranty then.
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BUZZHEAD

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Just had the same issue with my 2020 at 60,000 miles.
Service advisor stated its a common repair I say bullshit should go 100,000 or 200,000 miles before needing engine repair. I lost all confidence in it so I traded, for a piece of mind. Good luck, I hope everything works out for you.
 

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Can you say CLASS ACTION TIME
 

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They checked it out and noted the main coolant feed had failed likely due to high pressure, according to the tech it is suppose to this.
This makes no sense. Main coolant feed? Failed to high pressure and it's supposed to do this?
High pressure?
Too much missing information. Doesn't make much sense to me.
The only pressure in the system is what builds up due to heat, and then there's a pressure cap that releases excessive pressure due to over-heating.
So we still don't know why it overheated.

The shop suggested that the recent camshaft/rocker arms repair likely is a cause or contributor to this engine issue, noting they repairs to the camshaft would have included disconnecting the main coolant feed.
Again, what the heck is the main coolant feed?
Are they talking the hose from the coolant reservoir on the firewall? That little hose from that small tank?
It's not designed to come off or apart.

I'd let a real Jeep person look at it.
And if the dealership that did the cam and follower replacement messed up, it's on them if it can be demonstrated that it failed due to their mistake.

Can you say CLASS ACTION TIME
Millions of these on the road with no failures at all. Millions.
The 2020s had the highest failure rates, the failure rates have dropped dramatically in subsequent years.
Everyone screams LAWYER and "CLASS ACTION!" but few understand the hoops there. It has to be proven that it's a problem Jeep knew about and did nothing to correct.
Since they have made changes since 2020 model year and numbers have dropped, you'd have a lot of homework and discovery to do.
Good luck!
 
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AndyFargo

AndyFargo

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This makes no sense. Main coolant feed? Failed to high pressure and it's supposed to do this?
High pressure?
Too much missing information. Doesn't make much sense to me.
The only pressure in the system is what builds up due to heat, and then there's a pressure cap that releases excessive pressure due to over-heating.
So we still don't know why it overheated.


Again, what the heck is the main coolant feed?
Are they talking the hose from the coolant reservoir on the firewall? That little hose from that small tank?
It's not designed to come off or apart.

I'd let a real Jeep person look at it.
And if the dealership that did the cam and follower replacement messed up, it's on them if it can be demonstrated that it failed due to their mistake.



Millions of these on the road with no failures at all. Millions.
The 2020s had the highest failure rates, the failure rates have dropped dramatically in subsequent years.
Everyone screams LAWYER and "CLASS ACTION!" but few understand the hoops there. It has to be proven that it's a problem Jeep knew about and did nothing to correct.
Since they have made changes since 2020 model year and numbers have dropped, you'd have a lot of homework and discovery to do.
Good luck!
As I noted we have had it towed to a Jeep Dealership, that is where it is right now. None of the explanations make sense to me as I am not a mechanic. The fact is it happened after a another repair had been done to the rocker arms and camshaft repair was done is likely relevant. Overall no one expects a well maintained engine with under 63,000 miles to fail. I use this forum to find out if it is common or has happened to others, not legal research.
 

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Stan H

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Just had the same issue with my 2020 at 60,000 miles.
Service advisor stated its a common repair I say bullshit should go 100,000 or 200,000 miles before needing engine repair. I lost all confidence in it so I traded, for a piece of mind. Good luck, I hope everything works out for you.
So what do ya got now ?
 
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AndyFargo

AndyFargo

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So what do ya got now ?
we have the Gladiator, at a Jeep dealer now waiting to hear what they think is wrong, sounds bleak right now. runs but roughly, dealer states engine smokes, head, cylinder, will not know why until tomorrow.
 

Hootbro

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2020 had to be the crappiest year for the Gladiator. It's a shame considering basically they already had two years working everything out on the JL the JT is based off of.
 

Stan H

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2020 had to be the crappiest year for the Gladiator. It's a shame considering basically they already had two years working everything out on the JL the JT is based off of.
My theory is they didn't want to place a bigger power plant in the Gladiator and they seemed to have done good with the 3.6l and knew how to the EPA thing worked with it so they ran with it all without improvement. Just my Opinion. Again just an opinion.
 

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My theory is they didn't want to place a bigger power plant in the Gladiator and they seemed to have done good with the 3.6l and knew how to the EPA thing worked with it so they ran with it all without improvement. Just my Opinion. Again just an opinion.
They couldn't due to the heat issues - and truly no real reason other than what a few want.

Not really about improvements or not because the JL came with the PUG 3.6 in 2018 and the Grand Cherokee in 2015 for the 2016 model year so it was out years before it went into the JT.

It's just that for some reason, for the 2020 model year, things went south. Maybe it was something about where they were built compared to other 3.6s of that model year.
The EPA stuff has to be re-done for each vehicle change. If they so much as change where a fan sits, or its size, they have to refile things.

2020 was just a bad year for the Gladiator 3.6. But then - look at all of those with no troubles, including a whole lot of forum members.
 

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Stan H

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They couldn't due to the heat issues - and truly no real reason other than what a few want.

Not really about improvements or not because the JL came with the PUG 3.6 in 2018 and the Grand Cherokee in 2015 for the 2016 model year so it was out years before it went into the JT.

It's just that for some reason, for the 2020 model year, things went south. Maybe it was something about where they were built compared to other 3.6s of that model year.
The EPA stuff has to be re-done for each vehicle change. If they so much as change where a fan sits, or its size, they have to refile things.

2020 was just a bad year for the Gladiator 3.6. But then - look at all of those with no troubles, including a whole lot of forum members.
2020' built in 2019..2021's built in 2020 before the big pandemic blowup.
I brought mine home dec.17,2020 it was built in 6/2020 . So what was going on in 2019 that led to several bad powerplants ? Mine has 92,500 miles on it .
 

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I'm guessing that "main coolant feed" is coolant inlet at the thermostat housing, and that they screwed something up or left something out when they worked on it.
If you allow the dealer that worked on it before to assess what's wrong now, your chances at getting them to admit an error or failure are incredibly low.
Maybe ever so slightly better chances with another dealer.

Does it run well enough to catch on fire?
 

Stan H

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I'm guessing that "main coolant feed" is coolant inlet at the thermostat housing, and that they screwed something up or left something out when they worked on it.
If you allow the dealer that worked on it before to assess what's wrong now, your chances at getting them to admit an error or failure are incredibly low.
Maybe ever so slightly better chances with another dealer.

Does it run well enough to catch on fire?
?
 

916WI

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we have the Gladiator, at a Jeep dealer now waiting to hear what they think is wrong, sounds bleak right now. runs but roughly, dealer states engine smokes, head, cylinder, will not know why until tomorrow.
Interested to see what is on the report the SA gives you. It might be an uphill battle connecting the issue to the prior work considering dealerships are experts at covering their asses and the fact that the truck made it almost 3,000 miles before it had this new problem:(
 

Blade1668

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Mine is around Oct-Nov 2019 build I think. Not, going to get dressed and go look on door jam right now. On miles it's around 88k now, I'm not having any problems "that I've noticed" recent. I did have the aluminum steering gearbox changed out, I didn't notice any problem until I was looking out rear view mirror driving on wet road. I seen that it wasn't tracking straight, looked like two snake tracks going down the road. Early after it, I had a few electrical glitches. One that almost had it on dealership lot (all electrical shut off, luckily not on curving road) I chalked it up as a fluke thing after a flash update and gearbox was done. A stop, shut off and restart, reset radio stations, clock ect ect. The locked steering and no brakes part was the WTF.
Engine, transmission, T-case or axles no mechanical problems or leaks.
On what I think I read in your post, it would lead me to think improperly done job, assembly or bad parts. But as in everything, S### happens. That is why I send oil samples to Blackstone Lab to test, record and can spot problems in the oil. If something shows up in it hopefully it will be before a catastrophic failure.
I try to be calm and rational with things.
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