2018 JL Wrangler Rubicon 3.6L engine trouble

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vivaUkraine

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I'm posting this for entertainment purposes.

2018 JL Rubicon, 3.6L. It's a lease. I've ordered it in late February 2018 and took delivery in mid April of same year. Currently 28,xxx miles. Serviced at the dealer according to OLM. Wife driven. Vehicle spent it's life in northern Virginia.

On those occasions that I've driven it, it saw multiple WOTs. I drove briskly and aggressively, as if a modern family sedan: mostly gunning it.

A week ago, after staying at 80-95mph for an hour+, it started misfiring and vibrating and check engine light came on. Still drivable and I could still reach 95mph, but acceleration wasn't the same. No issues with coolant/oil temperatures and oil pressure. Had to drive it in this condition for another 300 something miles. Gunned it all the way.

Vehicle is currently at the dealer. Misfire in cylinder #6. Dealer already replaced 2 rocker arms and will replace VVT solenoid. After that, supposedly, I can pick it up.

28,xxx miles!!! Engine that's been out for what, like 8 years? How on freaking Earth? I don't really care since it's a lease, but pretty bewildered in general that this is possible on a modern car...
 
So with the engine misfiring, vibrating, with check engine light on. You drove the heck out of it another 300 miles, sometimes up to 95 MPH and you wonder what's wrong with that modern engine. Correct??? I guess nothing since it still ran................
 
@oldhp, I don't believe modern engine, at 28,xxx is overly stressed by a brisk/aggressive highway drive, even with frivolous use of throttle. Oil and coolant temp and oil pressure were all perfect

@clinebarger, I had to get home, so I had no choice but to drive. To make it accelerate at freeway speeds, one has to mush the pedal. Even more so with a misfire. My thinking was 80-95mph was not much different from 65-70, in terms of engine stress. Like being shot 8 times instead of 6? But yes, that it's a lease, made me unconcerned. I'd NEVER do this to my W124, which, btw, I gun very often too 👹
 
I beat my 2016 300 which had the pre-PUG v6 like it owed me money and never had an issue... but I live by the “beat on it while under warranty” way of thinking. If a subpar par is going to break, I’d rather hasten its demise and get it covered under warranty.
 
Meh the WOT on a modern car is all computer controlled and within acceptable range of the engine's capabilities. You mostly just burned through a lot of gas and didn't contribute to the issue.

The VVT issue is probably just a parts/assembly defect.
 
It's a lease, so that means its beat on only slightly less than a rental.

Pentastars seem to have "weak" rockers. Weak might not be the right term but they seem to fail a bit more often than what you hear of for other engine families. Still. Not sure how many Pentastars have been made, nor the failure rate, but I'm guessing it's still pretty low. It's a mechanical creature, stuff does fail. It's annoying, but expected in the scheme of things.
 
Typically when a CEL comes on something is wrong. To beat on an engine with a CEL on of another 300 miles is not a good idea, in fact if anything the vehicle should have been driven easier and diagnosed ASAP.
 
supton said:
It's a mechanical creature, stuff does fail. It's annoying, but expected in the scheme of things.
Click to expand...

Still, at 28k mi... On a modern engine. In 20 years, this is the first mechanical enginee issue I've had on a new car (about 7-8) leases in that time) and this Jeep is my first American car.
 
BAJA_05 said:
Let me guess, you probably extend your oil changes out on it to 15-20 thousand miles also??
Click to expand...

I went by the OLM. 5-10% life left is when the car went to dealer. It was about to receive its 4th oil change, after the trip. OLM showed 6% when I returned home. The car is 28,xxx mi, so on average, OCI of 7-7.5k mi
 
vivaUkraine said:
Still, at 28k mi... On a modern engine. In 20 years, this is the first mechanical enginee issue I've had on a new car (about 7-8) leases in that time) and this Jeep is my first American car.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is low miles. But you've gone through a lot of vehicles, so the odds are good that you'll eventually find the one bad one.
 
supton said:
Yes, it is low miles. But you've gone through a lot of vehicles, so the odds are good that you'll eventually find the one bad one.
Click to expand...

I agree about statistical probability. There's a feeling though, that's refusing to leave me, that IN GENERAL, the perception that American cars are under engineered vs Japanese and European counterparts is not too far off the truth
 
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