I think the time with our Jeep is sadly coming to an end

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Some of you may remember maybe five or six months ago I had a thread on replacing a rocker arm in my wife’s 2014 JK. Well, today after work we decide to go out for dinner, I jump into it for the first time in a couple weeks, immediately hear the same sound as before 😣. This time it sounds like driver’s side, thank goodness. So I just spent 3.5 hours changing it.

Halfway through the job however I dropped a tool, get under it… oil everywhere. I check it out and I’m 90% sure it’s the rear main and not the oil cooler. There’s no oil pooled in the valley and I had the upper intake off and didn’t see any oil at the back of the top part of the engine. Also the top part of the bell housing appears to be dry, it’s mainly on the driver’s side. I guess this explains why the last oil change was a quart or so low. It has been three weeks (maybe 1000 miles) since I did that oil change and it is down 1/2 qt again now.

Well this was kind of annoying because if we are going to trade it in (likely now) I wouldn’t have done the rocker lol. Oh well. Part of me wonders if it might have something to do with the pcv I changed when I did the rocker on the passenger side. But this also seems to be a common failure, so who knows. The Jeep has 119k miles on it now and I feel like paying someone to do the rear main, without doing the trans (auto) might be a stupid idea. If I’m honest the trans has been making some funny noises and odd shifts sometimes too.

Anyway, the wife is absolutely in love with her Jeep but she realizes the time has probably come. She does need a vehicle to get to trailheads and stuff but she doesn’t need something this hard core for 95% of them. So to get into something maybe like a Forester or something like that will serve her pretty well and also get like double the fuel mileage. I guess we will have to start doing some research. We were hoping to wait it out a couple more years until this chaos in the market settles down but, I’m not sure we can anymore.
 
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Is it a Pentastar? I do recall reading the oil cooler/filter housing assembly is a weak spot on these, prone to leaking oil/coolant or both.

Yes

The amount of work and parts I have put into this thing over the years is absurd. The oil cooler has actually already been replaced once, along with a radiator, oil pump solenoid, front axle seals three times, rockers… I’m sure I’m forgetting something too lol.



With todays vehicle market changing the rear main could be less frustrating then vehicle shopping. Not saying changing the seal is going to be easy but.....

Well we’re kind of lucky in Canada dealers aren’t allowed to sell over MSRP so we’ll probably just order something and wait a couple months.
 
Wife has a 2014 Grand Cherokee Overland 4x4 - every option including air suspension etc - 147k miles trouble free except for replacement once of the oil cooler and a thermostat. Great vehicle with excellent ride and off road capabilities - my wife does light to medium off roading with it. I would recommend you keep that one and fix or get another one because a Forrester is not going to give the same off road capabilities.
 
So you have to spend an extra $5 on oil between changes. Is this reason enough to dump it or spend $1000+ on repairs? On the other hand,
We were hoping to wait it out a couple more years until this chaos in the market settles down but, I’m not sure we can anymore.
Why would you wait until this chaos in the market settles down when you could get top dollar for it right now?
 
Sounds like you’re tired of it Jimmy and that’s OK. Having said that, folks who want to go to 250,000 miles would take it into a transmission shop and have it dropped and rebuilt, and have them put in a new rear seal.
 
We have a 2014 Jeep GC and have not had any problems other than a computer module for $450 which was a part that was need to get the transfer case in 4WD. The vehicle is at 74,500 miles. This included the labor and everything. It sounds as if you want to buy a Subaru for better mileage and it may be time to trade your Jeep for another vehicle. Either way you have to get it repaired in order to sell it or trade for another vehicle. Good luck.
 
The Xterra had a RMS drip when we bought it in 2015, I figured I'd fix it with a high mileage oil or one of the seal sweller products, no luck nothing worked. So I park over cardboard in the garage and watch the oil. It was a $1k fix in 2015. It will lose about a quart in the 3k OCI. Annoying but liveable and not reason to be rid of it. Sounds like you've hit your limit of Jeep fixes.
 
People love their Jeeps and indeed I loved mine. But they are at the bottom of the list as far as reliability goes. I had to replace two pressure sensors in transmission at $500 a pop and one engine due to piston skirt cracked.

The Forester is a great car. It has a great AWD but does not compare to a Jeep in part time 4WD for driving on the sand/beach. For most other times like winter snow, the Forester is superb.
 
I hated driving my 2010 JK on the highway, just plain bad at any speed over 50 mph..
Anyway I just saw a TFL review of the new Mazda CX50 starting @ $26,000. Might be worth a look.
 
Well we’re kind of lucky in Canada dealers aren’t allowed to sell over MSRP so we’ll probably just order something and wait a couple months.
First time I've ever heard that. What about documentation fees, undercoating, window identification, dirt repellent upholstery sprays, dealer extra profit, etc? Seems to me all that pumps up the MSRP.
 
So you have to spend an extra $5 on oil between changes. Is this reason enough to dump it or spend $1000+ on repairs? On the other hand,

Why would you wait until this chaos in the market settles down when you could get top dollar for it right now?

So your argument is to keep it, but then the next paragraph is to sell it?

Keep it. HM oils have worked for me on rear main seal seeps.

Been using HM oil for the last three or four changes. I did see it seeping maybe 18 months ago so I switched. It’s not a seep anymore 🙁

Sounds like you’re tired of it Jimmy and that’s OK. Having said that, folks who want to go to 250,000 miles would take it into a transmission shop and have it dropped and rebuilt, and have them put in a new rear seal.

Yes that is the decision. Either spend the 4-5k and keep it another three or four years, or not. I think we are leaning towards not. The simple fact is even if the difference between a new car and the Jeep is 30k, we can literally make 40-50% of that back just in fuel savings over that time frame. And it would probably be even more since fuel doesn’t seem to be getting any cheaper and the new vehicle would be under warranty so no additional repairs like the Jeep would undoubtedly need.


First time I've ever heard that. What about documentation fees, undercoating, window identification, dirt repellent upholstery sprays, dealer extra profit, etc? Seems to me all that pumps up the MSRP.

They might be trying to add all that on, I’m not sure. There are no “market adjustments.”

I got under it again just now to take these pics and it is possible it is the oil cooler again, but the back top of the engine looks dry and I don’t see oil around the oil filter. I could change that again if that is the problem but it doesn’t solve the other issues I mentioned.
 

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I used to be in the ‘dump it and move on camp’, but with pricing and stock in the current market, fix it and drive it for a while longer.
You won’t save as much in gas as you think; and how much you will have to pay for a newer vehicle, you can buy a lot of $1.70+ per litre gas!
 
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