What happened to the 3.7 Jeep Engine? Not a good option originally for the Gladiator?

[RougeShot12er]

Much like I've always said about toyotas and civics, underpowered, slow, and boring better be super reliable. I'll take 100k enjoyable miles that don't have me dreading a grade or even a heavy headwind over 200k druging along bored out of my mind afraid to pass on a 2 lane because the oncoming traffic is only a mile away.

It doesn’t have to be a binary choice.
There are engines that can make good enough power and last more than 100k miles. We just don’t have that as an option.
And besides that, it isn’t like the 3.6l is a rocket. lol

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[NC_Overland]

I think we ran 70-75 most of the trip. He had 5.13s in it i think with a 6 speed. It managed We did spread out here and there.

On I-70 W of Denver, a new stock 3.8l JKU Rubicon 6 speed/4.10s on the tiny “32s” it came with, they’ll barely do 65 up the passes. I was getting passed by Corollas and shit. Foot to the floor. Don’t matter what gear I put it in. I could have it screaming in 4th and it still wouldn’t accelerate. After Jeep had to buy it back from me because of countless problems I bought something I knew would be reliable so I got a new 2010 Xterra. The 4.0l VQ had zero power issues. I could do 80 up the passes without even hammering on it. I don’t like 5th gen 4Runners so it wasn’t even a consideration, but that 4.0l would have probably been fine too.

 

[NC_Overland]

It doesn’t have to be a binary choice.
There are engines that can make good enough power and last more than 100k miles. We just don’t have that as an option.
And besides that, it isn’t like the 3.6l is a rocket. lol

The 3.6l does great with the 8 speed. JTs are really heavy. 3.6l JLs do 0-60 in 6.xx seconds. That’s very competitive. It’s a good engine tool Stellantis took over and also the post Covid parts issues.

 

[Zachanadandy]

It doesn’t have to be a binary choice.
There are engines that can make good enough power and last more than 100k miles. We just don’t have that as an option.
And besides that, it isn’t like the 3.6l is a rocket. lol

Compared to the 3.7L in anything or the 3.8L JK it sure as hell is. There are definitely better choices. The 5.7L in my ram was trouble free for the 130k miles I owned it and it was driven hard with a tune the entire go. The JT would be much better and likely more reliable with the 5.7L.

 

[DanW]

The 3.8l was a proven, long lasting engine well before it went into the JK. The problem was power to weight ratio. Even on the stock 32s, 4.10s and a 6 speed manual, my JKU Rubicon was a dog. The 2 door base model manuals with 3.73s on the stock tiny tires were actually surprisingly fun to drive.

Yeah, total dog compared to my JL, even when the JL was on 35´s with 4.10 gears. But that 3.8 did have some grunt. I had a 3rd row rear facing seat for small kids. I had 6 kids and my ex wife and we pulled a pop-up camper to Colorado. It wasn´t fast, but it lugged that thing around without too much trouble. I´m sure my JL would have done a little better, certainly with the 4.56 gears, but it held its own, even at altitude.

I do miss that Jeep sometimes.

 

[NC_Overland]

Yeah, total dog compared to my JL, even when the JL was on 35´s with 4.10 gears. But that 3.8 did have some grunt. I had a 3rd row rear facing seat for small kids. I had 6 kids and my ex wife and we pulled a pop-up camper to Colorado. It wasn´t fast, but it lugged that thing around without too much trouble. I´m sure my JL would have done a little better, certainly with the 4.56 gears, but it held its own, even at altitude.

I do miss that Jeep sometimes.

I did love my JKU Rubicon. When it wasn’t in the shop. I had a lemon but I made money when they bought it back from me so I couldn’t complain too much. I really liked it despite all of that. When I moved to CO, it was really down on power so I bought a super chips flashpaq an CAI. I ran 91 octane in the 93 octane tune. It never pinged and it woke it up a lot. I could start off in 2nd gear without riding the clutch or lugging it and it had more power if I rung it out. I got way better mpg too. Like 25 hwy. No shit. the power CO altitude robs helps in her better mpg.

 

[DanW]

It doesn’t have to be a binary choice.
There are engines that can make good enough power and last more than 100k miles. We just don’t have that as an option.
And besides that, it isn’t like the 3.6l is a rocket. lol

Don´t have that as an option? LOL. I´ve seen MANY 3.6 Pentastars well over 200k in Jeep clubs. One of my close buddys has a 2014 JK with 260,000 on his. He didn´t change the original spark plugs until 170,000. They looked like hell, but the engine still ran well. Of course it woke it up and it was much smoother when we put the new plugs in it. He changes the oil with whatever is cheapest at Walmart every 7k to 8k, when his Jeep tells him to change it. I have seen 3 in the Jeep clubs with over 300k and running great, too.

I think it´s a great engine and I have two that I am confident will go the distance.

Still, I´d have loved to be able to afford to keep my JK and see how far I could push it. It´s still going strong well over 200k. I ran Mobil 1 5w20 90% of the time. I hope the current owner continues to take good care of it.

 

[cb4017]

My daughter is currently driving an 05 Liberty with the 3.7L engine. It currently has 210,000 miles and still runs great.

It does use about 1 qt of oil every 1k miles though. I'm running Valvoline R&P in it for a few OCIs to see if that helps.

 

[NC_Overland]

The 2005-2006 liberty really weren’t that bad. They fixed the ugly front end one them and they drove way way better than the KK that replaced them. Looked better too.

 

[DanW]

My daughter is currently driving an 05 Liberty with the 3.7L engine. It currently has 210,000 miles and still runs great.

It does use about 1 qt of oil every 1k miles though. I'm running Valvoline R&P in it for a few OCIs to see if that helps.

My 3.8 off and on drank just over 1 quart per 1k, but sometimes did not use any at all. It was strange. But it ran like new the whole time.

That Liberty might run forever, getting 5 fresh quarts every 5k!

 

[cb4017]

My 3.8 off and on drank just over 1 quart per 1k, but sometimes did not use any at all. It was strange. But it ran like new the whole time.

That Liberty might run forever, getting 5 fresh quarts every 5k!

Lol! True. If the Valvoline R&P doesn't help, I'm considering using Walmart Supertech and just changing the filter every 5K or so.

When I had my 3.8L JKU it would burn 1/2 -1 qt every 5K. I was okay with that. It had over 100k on it when I had an LS 5.3L conversion done on it.

 

[daveb]

my
jk had 169k on it when I was broad sided by a church van. I traded it in on a jl.

 

[Master_Cylinder]

my
jk had 169k on it when I was broad sided by a church van. I traded it in on a jl.

Was that a sign from God?

 

[Mr Miami]

my
jk had 169k on it when I was broad sided by a church van. I traded it in on a jl.

Did the van have the 3.6 in it?

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