They have a temp sender for the clutch?
Wrangler JL Clutch Recall, Dealer Experience..Ugh..
- Thread starter wings&wheels
- Start date
Apparently so, I believe it may be in the bellhousing somewhere but I don't know. I'm planning on asking the Techs.
They are failing catastrophically....flying apart. I'm not too worried in the near term as both of us are good with a manual, and heat is apparently a problem.
Some bloody pics on the interweb
(and if its on the web it has to be true) Seriously, they are failing, but I doubt the injuries; shrapnel through the bellhousing and floorpan? On a street car?Wonder if it's too small and too high of a gear ratio? Don't those only get 3.21 unless a Rubicon?They are failing catastrophically....flying apart. I'm not too worried in the near term as both of us are good with a manual, and heat is apparently a problem.
Some bloody pics on the interweb
Not sure, but I will check. I think it is probably a combo of who drives these, a very light clutch with minimal feel and a touchy throttle that is tough to modulate well. Almost as if the manual version is an afterthought....which it very well maybe. Additionally, I would not be surprised if current clutch facings are of some new 'greener' composition and still being perfected.
Supposedly from Jalopnik the recall more or less reduces torque from the motor. I don't know how Jeep engineers could mess this up as manual transmissions are well understood at this point. Then factor in that Dodge Challengers/hellcats didn't have a clutch recall.
The recall includes and updated clutch, pressure plate and flywheel.
If the clutch is slightly undersized it would just wear quickly - not explode.
If the clutch is too stiff it won't slip enough and will be difficult for some drivers to operate.
Do you know what is exploding - the disk or the pressure plate? Sounds more like a quality / material issue to me. It would be hard to screw the design up this much even if you tried. Maybe they tried to get too cutesy for some reason.
If the clutch is too stiff it won't slip enough and will be difficult for some drivers to operate.
Do you know what is exploding - the disk or the pressure plate? Sounds more like a quality / material issue to me. It would be hard to screw the design up this much even if you tried. Maybe they tried to get too cutesy for some reason.
From what I have read, and there is no official information out that at least that I could find, the clutch appears to be a dual disk design and the center disk is failing catastrophically. The latest clutch is apparently an improved design. Time will tell... Lets see if we even get a callback.
I guess I got lucky. Mine never had an issue and felt great all along, in spite of the recalls. I had the new recall and new clutch done about 4,000 miles ago and the new one feels a little bit better, but that would be expected after 100,000 miles of wear on the original.
One thing that I think is critical on the latest recall. If you run a Tazer programmer, you need to tell them before they do the reflash. I was told there is a note in the TSB which indicates there is a change in the flash for the ones using the Tazer. I know of a couple guys that had the recall done early with Tazers and they unmarried them and did not mention them. They´ve had problems with messages coming up on the dash and going into limp home mode. So I did not unmarry mine and told them up front. I saw the note of it in the write up.
That begs the question...warranty issues with the Tazer? I haven´t heard of anyone having an issue. But you don´t see many problems related to electronics, either. Jeep clearly knows something about the Tazer by appearing to have a different flash for it. It may relate to the change in tire size to calibrate the speedometer. I don´t know. What I do know is that my dealership had no issue with it and they have known about it being in my Jeep for years. I had the head unit on the radio replaced once and they made no issue of it (although that issue was not electronic. It was screen delamination.) They covered that fully, even at 37k miles, which was 1k past warranty expiration. They have made no issue of my lifts or larger tires on the JK, JL, or JT. Of course, only the JK had any significant warranty issues.
So far, so good with the clutch. 103k miles of smiles. It is worth noting that my dealership has a GREAT technician with manual transmissions. That´s what he drives. He did a new transmission/clutch on my JK and did the recalls on my JL. Never so much as a squeak out of them. Good dude. Knows what he´s doing.
I hope everyone who has experienced problems gets them resolved so they can enjoy their Jeeps.
Notes for anyone who thinks the design is flawed. I tow a fishing boat frequently with my Jeep, off road frequently, and hard, and I go through the gears and run it hard on windy roads in the summer because it is just fun. This thing has been run as hard as anyone else´s. Zero issues. The tech told me the old clutch that was replaced looked good and looked like it had tens of thousands of miles left in it when he inspected it.
My belief is that the big issue is that improper bleeding or setup caused enough slip to cause high heat. But that can happen with any clutch. The issue, I believe, is the metal make-up or manufacturing process in the pressure plate. Clutches have overheated since cave men drove them, and they didn´t cause pressure plates to fly apart. From all I´ve read, it appears that the pressure plate somehow became compromised with the high heat, causing it to fracture and ultimately come apart, causing the catastrophic failure (blowing out the bell housing and getting into fuel or hydraulic lines and igniting the fluid.) It did not happen to a huge number, but it was still significant. Originally, it was fewer than 24, but that number might have gone up since then.
My suspicion is that the new pressure plate in the new recall has a different metal make-up or they changed the process in manufacturing it.
I know this. NOBODY could slip, heat up, and wear out a clutch like my sister. She wore two of them out in 25k miles each in the late 70´s and early 80´s. Those pressure plates never blew apart.
One more thing on my original JL clutch......My ex wife and brother in law, both had an incident where they tried to start out in 3rd gear (unknowingly) when my JL was new and produced smoke from the clutch. (CRINGE!!!). My Ex wife did it so badly, my neighbor thought it was on fire. He shouted at her and got her to stop trying to go. He said it laid down smoke like a WW2 destroyer laying a screen! (glad I did not see it.) Anyway, my clutch and pressure plate survived both of those incidents with no apparent issues.
This is why I appreciate that recall #2 included a dash gear indicator. Once that was there, I no longer worried about her driving my Jeep.
One thing that I think is critical on the latest recall. If you run a Tazer programmer, you need to tell them before they do the reflash. I was told there is a note in the TSB which indicates there is a change in the flash for the ones using the Tazer. I know of a couple guys that had the recall done early with Tazers and they unmarried them and did not mention them. They´ve had problems with messages coming up on the dash and going into limp home mode. So I did not unmarry mine and told them up front. I saw the note of it in the write up.
That begs the question...warranty issues with the Tazer? I haven´t heard of anyone having an issue. But you don´t see many problems related to electronics, either. Jeep clearly knows something about the Tazer by appearing to have a different flash for it. It may relate to the change in tire size to calibrate the speedometer. I don´t know. What I do know is that my dealership had no issue with it and they have known about it being in my Jeep for years. I had the head unit on the radio replaced once and they made no issue of it (although that issue was not electronic. It was screen delamination.) They covered that fully, even at 37k miles, which was 1k past warranty expiration. They have made no issue of my lifts or larger tires on the JK, JL, or JT. Of course, only the JK had any significant warranty issues.
So far, so good with the clutch. 103k miles of smiles. It is worth noting that my dealership has a GREAT technician with manual transmissions. That´s what he drives. He did a new transmission/clutch on my JK and did the recalls on my JL. Never so much as a squeak out of them. Good dude. Knows what he´s doing.
I hope everyone who has experienced problems gets them resolved so they can enjoy their Jeeps.
Notes for anyone who thinks the design is flawed. I tow a fishing boat frequently with my Jeep, off road frequently, and hard, and I go through the gears and run it hard on windy roads in the summer because it is just fun. This thing has been run as hard as anyone else´s. Zero issues. The tech told me the old clutch that was replaced looked good and looked like it had tens of thousands of miles left in it when he inspected it.
My belief is that the big issue is that improper bleeding or setup caused enough slip to cause high heat. But that can happen with any clutch. The issue, I believe, is the metal make-up or manufacturing process in the pressure plate. Clutches have overheated since cave men drove them, and they didn´t cause pressure plates to fly apart. From all I´ve read, it appears that the pressure plate somehow became compromised with the high heat, causing it to fracture and ultimately come apart, causing the catastrophic failure (blowing out the bell housing and getting into fuel or hydraulic lines and igniting the fluid.) It did not happen to a huge number, but it was still significant. Originally, it was fewer than 24, but that number might have gone up since then.
My suspicion is that the new pressure plate in the new recall has a different metal make-up or they changed the process in manufacturing it.
I know this. NOBODY could slip, heat up, and wear out a clutch like my sister. She wore two of them out in 25k miles each in the late 70´s and early 80´s. Those pressure plates never blew apart.
One more thing on my original JL clutch......My ex wife and brother in law, both had an incident where they tried to start out in 3rd gear (unknowingly) when my JL was new and produced smoke from the clutch. (CRINGE!!!). My Ex wife did it so badly, my neighbor thought it was on fire. He shouted at her and got her to stop trying to go. He said it laid down smoke like a WW2 destroyer laying a screen! (glad I did not see it.) Anyway, my clutch and pressure plate survived both of those incidents with no apparent issues.
This is why I appreciate that recall #2 included a dash gear indicator. Once that was there, I no longer worried about her driving my Jeep.
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