I was just informed by the dealer that my 07 Wrangler 4 Door is being diagnosed as engine failure. They are not giving me any specifics to the reason for the failure. Note, no engine light went off, no oil light, nothing. I was driving it and all of a sudden it was making a very loud knocking noise. Immediately brought it to the mechanic and he said the engine was shot. There was metal dust in the oil. Mind you, just had the oil changed at 62k miles, it is now at 67k miles. Because the warranty expired at 45k miles, (I was not aware I could extend the warranty-yes total blonde moment) Chrysler is refusing to do anything about it. So apparently I am up a creek w/o a paddle. My question is, can I replace the engine that is stock in these Jeeps (was informed it was actually a Dodge engine, not a Jeep engine, which I guess explains the problems) with an actual Jeep engine? Or has any other Jeep owner come across this issue? Any suggestions/advice?
Thank you so much!!
“just had the oil changed at 62k miles, it is now at 67k miles”
At anytime between 62k and 67k did you look at the oil level? If 5k between oil changes is “Just had oil change” I can only imagine.
If you have documentation of proper oil change intervals for the life of the car then maybe you can make an argument to the Jeep zone rep for good will compensation. Without proper documentation you are probably going to be stuck for the full cost.
Usually Engines don’t fail in the manor you described unless the oil level/changes was neglected.
Didn’t your Jeep come with the Limited Lifetime Drivetrain Warranty? This covers the engine.
Tester
Oil level was checked multiple times and was fine, and was only down about a quart when I brought it to the mechanic. 5-6k miles between oil changes is about max I go. Its a 2 year old Jeep, you dont have, nor should you have to, change every 3k miles.
Unfortunately for me, fortunately for Chrysler, that went into affect 4 months after I purchased mine.
Agreed,
but you will probably need documentation for a chance of any kind of warranty coverage. This would hold true with any car manufacture.
“was informed it was actually a Dodge engine, not a Jeep engine, which I guess explains the problems”
And you think that Jeeps are markedly superior in reliability to Dodges?
I’m sorry but that is not valid. First of all, they come from the same company, and share some parts.
Neither of these makes are exactly champions in the reliability department, but statistically, Jeeps are among the most problem-plagued American-made vehicles.
Before anyone on this forum can comment authoritatively on how you should proceed, you need to find out the nature of the “engine failure”, and then come back to this thread to report the specifics. Right now, this is like asking a coroner for a cause of death while preventing the coroner from examining the body. After you have given us some details regarding what happened with the engine we can be more helpful.
Replace it with an OEM engine. Look for rebuilt/wrecked engines beyond factory replacement.
Please not it shares its 3.8L engine that has a great reliability record in the Dodge Caravan and other Chrysler products. It also has a great reliability record in the Jeep that year(on par with a Honda/Toyota) for the engine.
Every make/model has about 10-30% of vehicles with problems. Sounds like you hit a rarer one (engine failure) especially considering you changed the engine oil on a regular basis.
Lastly get a few quotes from a reputable independent mechanics. No need to pay high dealer rates as this install has lots of hours likely.