2018 JLU Warning - Clutch Fire Burns Down Vehicle

Hi all, posting both as a warning to users, an attempt to see if anyone has a suggestion on a path forward, and an attempt to get further communication from Jeep as several others have failed.

On Sat May 18th, my 2018 JLU with approx 64K caught fire as the clutch overheated at 80mph on I-90 in Montana, failed, splintered throwing flaming fluid on the freeway, and was consumed by flames within 20 minutes (see awesome picture I got).

It received the first two recalls long ago; I got regular service appointments including one a month prior where they said they still couldn't fix the 3rd one. Finally, I was contacted on the 15th and told they could get me in for the third as soon as the 28th. In between, I had a work trip from Denver to Montana.

It went from acting perfectly fine, to a little of what in hindsight was clutch slipping, to being totally gone within 1,000 miles after a dealer service appointment checked it out.

(If anyone has questions on the exact steps and sensations in the vehicle that led up to this, I will explain further but that would take a few more paragraphs).

Geico eventually settled payout at estimated value, but my attempts to make a connection with someone on this issue at Jeep - even to get to a 'real human', have failed. I am out more than this - some $3k in work and camping equipment, plus costs of getting home, lost wages from a job the next day.. not to mention getting panic attacks for the first time in my life and going in for an EKG (and as a large event manager, who is trained to remain calm under stress!) Lastly, I purchased several insurance packages and service packages (i.e. basic services) that were reflected in my financing and remained unused. Intangibly, without a vehicle all this time, I've lost work and opportunity to take work as a contractor who drives to events.

The annoying part is I reached out to Jeep several times; every time they said someone would get in touch with me, they made a case # and a second case # - told me each times someone would reach out - they didn't. Said they mailed me on June 1st - I never received it. Then on my call on Monday, some random customer service told me that the case was closed without contacting me. They said the case manager was busy at the moment but would reach out as soon as possible - 2 days later, they haven't.

The only props I will give is to Blair with Jeep Social Media, who was actually helpful beyond random people in call centers telling me absolutely nothing.

How I see this - we all know Jeep made a shoddy clutch, and has been making patchwork jobs to limp through their responsibility to 'keep it safe'. I was reached with an opportunity to fix it 10 days too late. I nearly died, others nearly died, I lost a lot of money - money and value not replaced by the insurance claim - and the trauma is still with me.

What upsets me, though - is Jeep's completely shoddy attempt to make this right. I would like to give the benefit of the doubt and say that something slipped between the cracks, but I am finding it hard to believe that @JeepCares right now.

Maybe this is just venting and I should accept that Jeep will never attempt to do anything else to make this right, but I think they should. As someone who was raised in a Jeep family (literally, my parents and step-parents met at FCA headquarters and I spent my life in that circle) - this is extremely hurtful and traumatic to me to have this love for Jeep to be shattered. I would have been a life-long Jeep driver (albeit automatic) if FCA had responded in a respectable manner. Now myself, and all of the people in my circle who have loved and driven Jeeps and other FCA vehicles are questioning this.

GET THE RECALLS. TAKE THE BUYBACKS. DO NOT DRIVE IF YOU ARE GETTING CLUTCH SLIPPING. THIS IS REAL.

#jeepfire #jeepclutchfire @Jeep @JeepCares



Best,
Josh

Damn. Man, words cant describe - this really sucks. My advice is to contact an attorney and have an official letter dated and drafted - sent to FCA and then contact the CO Attorney General.

Here is the bold plain truth - they could give a shit about you. You have to bring in an attorney and other representatives to get their attention.

I know this works - had a similar issue years ago on a 1st Gen Murano. Fought Nissan for 3 years, but after having an attorney and the MD AG Office contact Nissan on my behalf, a Factory Representative was at my house 3 days later. 7 days after that, a new Murano was in my driveway.

Stop wasting time with all of this and get some help. Good luck!

jromanmd said:

Damn. Man, words cant describe - this really sucks. My advice is to contact an attorney and have an official letter dated and drafted - sent to FCA and then contact the CO Attorney General.

Here is the bold plain truth - they could give a shit about you. You have to bring in an attorney and other representatives to get their attention.

I know this works - had a similar issue years ago on a 1st Gen Murano. Fought Nissan for 3 years, but after having an attorney and the MD AG Office contact Nissan on my behalf, a Factory Representative was at my house 3 days later. 7 days after that, a new Murano was in my driveway.

Stop wasting time with all of this and get some help. Good luck!

Click to expand...

Thanks, in part I waited so long because Geico make a mistake that delayed their investigation, and foolish me I trusted that Jeep would get in touch as to their credit, they responded on via Facebook message two days after it happened. Now that it's resolved on Geico's end, that is certainly something to consider. I'm never one to go the 'lawyer' route, nor did I particular want to go this route of posting here, although I do think it's important to warn others so I'm doing it first (as I already have in various Jeep Facebook groups). Maybe Jeep will respond, maybe they won't.

But hey, @JeepCares , right?? Maybe they will.

Wow, sorry this happened to you and definitely has to be very traumatic. I will say I’m glad to hear you are ok and hope you get a resolution from Jeep(Stellantis)

Well, not driving a vehicle with a slipping clutch is Manual Transmission 101 stuff. It's like riding your brakes everywhere you go then blaming the manufacturer when they fail and catch fire. I agree the JL manual trans is rather sub-par but that's just all the more reason to not drive it with a slipping clutch. The lifespan of a manual trans is VERY dependent upon the driver.

Jeep is addressing the issue with a very good automatic transmission that will not drive itself into a flaming meltdown.

There will be a lot of members here that will blame you and tell you "that's just how it is, every automaker is like this". But that's not true. This is, unfortunately, the way sh1tty automakers operate...and FCA is a shining example of a sh1tty automaker. I know it sounds dismissive but pretty much everyone here is well accustomed to this...some choose to bend over and continue drinking the Kool Aid but others have left the brand and many, like me, will be out as soon as FCA tries to screw us. This is NOT the norm and you don't have to subject yourself to it...unfortunately you will have to look to other automakers to avoid it.

I'm also surprised how Geico handled the situation - you should be given FMV for the Jeep and everything in it at the time of the accident along with reimbursement for rentals and lodging that resulted from the incident - and then Geico should be going after FCA for negligence to recoup some of their money. I figured by now Geico would be at the same level as the big boys but this doesn't sound like that.

Reinen said:

Well, not driving a vehicle with a slipping clutch is Manual Transmission 101 stuff. It's like riding your brakes everywhere you go then blaming the manufacturer when they fail and catch fire. I agree the JL manual trans is rather sub-par but that's just all the more reason to not drive it with a slipping clutch. The lifespan of a manual trans is VERY dependent upon the driver.

Jeep is addressing the issue with a very good automatic transmission that will not drive itself into a flaming meltdown.

Click to expand...

Most of us gearheads that have lived through the pre-electronic era, are very familiar with clutches slipping and failing. But in all my years, I don't recall one clutch failure any non-racing vehicle which resulted in a fire, let alone an all consuming fire. Those old cars just slipped and slipped until they stopped moving. Yet the JL is very consistent in this failure with subsequent totally consuming fire.

Why? I believe it's the plastic fuel line that is easily breached from the clutch explosion, with hot catalytic converter and clutch parts igniting the gasoline, and feeds the fire with gasoline until the tank contents are consumed. It's a negligent design, in my opinion.

Jreed, very sorry for your experience, but thankfully you're not reporting physical injuries.

Some details could be important:

1) You mention hindsight, what clues did you miss?
2) What weight were you carrying on the Montana trip?
3) What was your speed on I-90, and were you accelerating and or downshifting much?
4) Was there much headwind?
5) Any idea why the previous, pre 19A, software patch did not provide dash warning and/or power reduction?

Best of luck with a fair resolution from Jeep.

roaniecowpony said:

Most of us gearheads that have lived through the pre-electronic era, are very familiar with clutches slipping and failing. But in all my years, I don't recall one clutch failure any non-racing vehicle which resulted in a fire, let alone an all consuming fire. Those old cars just slipped and slipped until they stopped moving. Yet the JL is very consistent in this failure with subsequent totally consuming fire.

Why? I believe it's the plastic fuel line that is easily breached from the clutch explosion, with hot clutch parts igniting the gasoline, and feeds the fire with gasoline until the tank contents are consumed. It's a negligent design, in my opinion.

Click to expand...

Nevertheless, the root cause is negligent operation. A slipping clutch is very easily felt by the driver. We all know the JL manual trans is sub-par. Its absolutely not the heavy cast steel trans of a 60's muscle car. So don't drive it into the dirt as if it is. Pay attention to the vehicle and don't rely on engineers to treat you like a child.

Mguy said:

Jreed, very sorry for your experience, but thankfully you're not reporting physical injuries.

Some details could be important:

1) You mention hindsight, what clues did you miss?
2) What weight were you carrying on the Montana trip?
3) What was your speed on I-90, and were you accelerating and or downshifting much?
4) Was there much headwind?
5) Any idea why the previous, pre 19A, software patch did not provide dash warning and/or power reduction?

Best of luck with a fair resolution from Jeep.

Click to expand...

1. You mention hindsight, what clues did you miss?
- Background: I did not drive a lot over the winter (work off-season) and only on the freeway to the dog park or airport, but that week I drove from Houston to Denver, around Denver, then up to Billlings Montana.

As I got into the hilly sections nearer to CO especially I noticed that as I was accelerating back while I was getting back into 6 and up to speed, I was getting tach rev from 2-2.5K . i.e. NEVER issues while at somewhat constant speed. It was rhythmic and even in the pulsing - sometimes it happened once, sometimes a few times.

I assumed gears could be one issue, but in my ignorance and googling (remind, I was in a BIG hurry to get from point A to point B that week for work ), engine fluctuations seemed to be any number of potential issues. I was going to get it checked out when back in Denver after Montana.

When it failed, I got the same revs, but they rapidly escalated as I slowed down and the last thing that happened was I physically could not shift into 6th, and was approaching redline at 45mph thinking I was in 5th. When I last tried to shift into 6th, that's when I heard a loud 'pop' and smoke started coming out of the hood.

It's also maybe irrelevant or not that my ESS was occasionally throwing service warnings, which I always turn off anyhow so didn't second guess.

The other thing of note is that I don't use cruise control except occasionally to stretch my legs on long hauls, and my cruise cut out once or twice in this time when it was speeding back up. I assume that one's related.

2) What weight were you carrying on the Montana trip?

Nothing substantial, myself @ 220lb and I would guess at least 400, perhaps at most several hundred pounds of camping, work gear, basic tools (I had a plywood build in the back and kept a lot of stuff underneath it for work/camp trips like this one).

3) What was your speed on I-90, and were you accelerating and or downshifting much?

I was driving at speed limit of 80mph - I had just passed an exit at Hardin an hour east of Billings, so I was doing a slow acceleration as I had slowed down a little for cars merging. It happened a mile east of the exit and as it popped and caught fire I coasted to a stop another mile east (I was on a bridge with little shoulder and didn't feel safe pulling over, especially as I imagined a fire stopping the interstate, or me getting hit).

It's worth noting perhaps that I drove little trips at lower gears around Billings the days prior, and never had issues at lower gears - only in between 5th and particularly while in 6th.

{Edit: the vehicle never likely went over 70mph in the winter until this trip, where I was out on roads where the speed limit was 75 or 80mph. Was the failure on the high end?}

4) Was there much headwind?

I don't think so but it was a calm morning in Billings and I assume if there's a strong headwind while you drive east in the Great Plains, I feel like something is very wrong in the world. And I was headed pretty much due east - it happened right before the road turning south into the Crow Rez. On the way up it was moderately windy heading northwest in Wyoming, but if you follow the route from Houston to Denver to Billings, you know that it is generally Northwest and often North.

5) Any idea why the previous, pre 19A, software patch did not provide dash warning and/or power reduction?

I have never experienced any dash warnings and did not that whole trip, other than the aforementioned occasionally ESS service warnings.

As a large event manager I'm a basic handyman and I've driven stick my whole life but I'm certainly not a mechanic - would the power reduction manifest along with the revving from 2k-2.5k, or was that just clutch slipping? Frankly most of my insight on this comes from knowing what happens when my bicycle gears and cables aren't tuned up right and gears slip. I wouldn't say that otherwise I felt the Jeep was behaving significantly differently.


Thanks for any help helping me understand this.

Reinen said:

Nevertheless, the root cause is negligent operation. A slipping clutch is very easily felt by the driver. We all know the JL manual trans is sub-par. Its absolutely not the heavy cast steel trans of a 60's muscle car. So don't drive it into the dirt as if it is. Pay attention to the vehicle and don't rely on engineers to treat you like a child.

Click to expand...

Point taken, but I went from next to zero driving (especially at freeway speeds) in my off-season to needing to drive 30 hours for work in a few days, and I was on my feet outdoors constantly in-between. Normally the moment something felt weird like that I would have stopped and I planned on stopping driving after that trip until it got checked out.

Just admitting my ignorance - are you saying I should have felt the clutch slipping while I was on it? The only issues I felt were while I was in gear, with tach revs from 2-2.5k and only the last couple days. I outline what happened much further in my other reply below.

Reinen said:

Nevertheless, the root cause is negligent operation. A slipping clutch is very easily felt by the driver. We all know the JL manual trans is sub-par. Its absolutely not the heavy cast steel trans of a 60's muscle car. So don't drive it into the dirt as if it is. Pay attention to the vehicle and don't rely on engineers to treat you like a child.

Click to expand...

Your opinion, particularly that declaring the driver's negligence, is grossly wrong and unfair. So much so it does not merit more attention.

TheRaven said:

There will be a lot of members here that will blame you and tell you "that's just how it is, every automaker is like this". But that's not true. This is, unfortunately, the way sh1tty automakers operate...and FCA is a shining example of a sh1tty automaker. I know it sounds dismissive but pretty much everyone here is well accustomed to this...some choose to bend over and continue drinking the Kool Aid but others have left the brand and many, like me, will be out as soon as FCA tries to screw us. This is NOT the norm and you don't have to subject yourself to it...unfortunately you will have to look to other automakers to avoid it.

I'm also surprised how Geico handled the situation - you should be given FMV for the Jeep and everything in it at the time of the accident along with reimbursement for rentals and lodging that resulted from the incident - and then Geico should be going after FCA for negligence to recoup some of their money. I figured by now Geico would be at the same level as the big boys but this doesn't sound like that.

Click to expand...

Geico paid for a rental for a month as part of my policy but specifically said at the beginning they do not pay for lost goods or other expenses (i.e. my rental car one-way to get home, hotel for an extra night). I didn't have the cheapest policy nor the best. I assume Geico is going after FCA.

Clutch slipping/failure then fire is serious, most likely a recall issue, whoever manages recalls needs notified.

jreed said:

Geico paid for a rental for a month as part of my policy but specifically said at the beginning they do not pay for lost goods or other expenses (i.e. my rental car one-way to get home, hotel for an extra night). I didn't have the cheapest policy nor the best. I assume Geico is going after FCA.

Click to expand...

That's really surprising. I have no idea if that's a function of the features of your policy or the insurance company itself - I don't have the "best" policy either with State Farm but they pay for anything of value in the vehicle at the time of the incident. Now the rental car and lodging I imagine could very well be added features on my policy...hard to say since i've had the exact same policy on all my vehicles for nearly three decades now.