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Am I a good candidate for an ecodiesel?

Briiiiiian

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It's impressive without modification. With banks coming out with their derringer, I could imagine that really increases the performance. Honestly looking forward to 3 years/ 36k miles. I bet you'll be able to pick out the power level you are wanting by then.
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JLDIESEL

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My diesel is a garage queen. Took delivery in January 2020 and have 5k miles. They are fine to sit for a minute. I have a commuter car.
 

Tank the Jeep

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My diesel is a garage queen. Took delivery in January 2020 and have 5k miles. They are fine to sit for a minute. I have a commuter car.
I did that with my previous toy. A 2015 Z28 with the LS7-427. Two years and 3000 miles. I only drove it to car shows. I was constantly scared that I was going to hurt it. I sold it and got my JLURD. Now, I'm going to drive my toy when I want to drive my toy. I decided that the joy of owning a fun vehicle was being able to drive it.
 

MCJA

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Don't forget about the 470 foot pounds of torque in the 4xe
I was intrigued by the numbers so I test drove a 4xE.

Short version: I like the diesel more. A lot more.

Medium version: The 4xE has higher peak torque, but there are a lot of conditions that must be met to achieve it. The diesel has lower peak torque, but is consistent in torque delivery. The 4xE has lower minimum torque, while the diesel has (much) higher minimum torque.

TL;DR version:

The eTorque engines are electric-over-gas. They have typical gas engine performance, but give you an electric motor boost when you need a bit of extra torque. It's not sustainable, but it's instant. It gives you a great punch of torque for just long enough for your gas engine to get up into its power band.

The diesel engine is a typical diesel engine - lots of torque at low end with a relatively flat torque band throughout most of the curve. They don't have the horsepower of their gas siblings, but they give you lots of oomph on the low end. The turbo helps sustain the torque throughout the powerband, where non-turbo diesels typically fall off. On the down side, modern diesels are governed by complex emissions systems that are typically very expensive to maintain.

All-electric vehicles are torquey AF. Tesla. They'll beat anything off the line. including multi-million dollar supercars. Torque for days. But, as you're probably aware, they have limitations on range and supporting infrastructure. Still, you can't beat an electric motor for on-demand torque at any RPM.

Then comes the 4xE. Its operation mode is the opposite of the eTorque; it's gas-over-electric. You run primarily on the electric motor and augment with the gas engine. The torque of the electric motor is definitely not 470 lb-ft. In fact, if you look at the performance specs of the 2.0L turbo 4-banger, you can guestimate the electric motor delivers about 235 lb-ft of torque. Respectable, but it's not an all-electric beast like the Tesla. In order for you to achieve that 470 lb-ft figure, you first have to mash the accelerator. Then the computer figures out that you actually want to accelerate quickly, so it starts the gas engine. Then, a moment later the engine engages with the drivetrain. Then, a few moments later, the turbo finally spools up, and you reach 470 lb-ft of torque. Feels like an eternity later. It's also very high in the power band; i.e., at high RPMs. It's probably great for passing an 18-wheeler on the highway after planning ahead for a few minutes. Not so great for climbing over an obstacle at a low speed.

Contrast between the eTorque and the 4xE: The eTorque gives you instant torque at any RPM, where the 4xE gives you delayed torque at high RPM.

Summary: If you want to talk about peak numbers, then yes - the 4xE has more torque than the EcoDiesel. If you want high torque at high RPMs and after waiting 2 or 3 seconds, the 4xE delivers. If you want immediate grunt, especially at low RPMs, then the diesel delivers.

My opinion: between the 4xE and the EcoDiesel, the EcoDiesel delivers more consistent, more responsive, and more useable torque at any RPM. The 4xE is a respectable foray into the PHEV market, but it needs more work before being ready for prime time. This is one person's opinion based on driving the 2.0L eTorque, the 3.6L Pentastar, the 3.0L EcoDiesel, and the 4xE. (I refuse to test drive a 392, because I know what I would do afterwards.)
 

Motoristx

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I drive mine every day. My commute to work is about 35 miles, first 5 miles is stop and go when going to work, making the return trip the opposite. I'm a shift worker, so one of the trip usually has stop an go traffic... I'm in the Houston area.

I got about 23 mpg when it was stock, now I get 20.5 mpg on 39 inch tires and a 3.5 inch lift when I drive about 65-73 mph. When I drive 85-90 mph I get about 18 mpg. See my Fuelly link in my signature. The gears are the stock 3.73 (4.10 wasn't an option in the first year), and those stock gear still feel great. Its stays in 8th most of the time during highway driving over 60, once the transmission is warmed up.

I've driven it to Moab and hit trails in Colorado like Holy Cross Trail. Next month I'll be headed to the Rubicon trail.

The EcoDiesel is a great all round engine. Just want to get a few longer drives in for the particulate filter regens. I have 30,050 miles on mine and have only had the typical Jeep issues, nothing Diesel specific. Loose frame rail under the seat, the cabin air temp senor started making noise, the steering box TSB... just things that all Wrangler models have issues with.

Only you can really determine if your a good candidate for the EcoDiesel. Hope this helps.

Jeep Wrangler JL Am I a good candidate for an ecodiesel? 1623489703169
 

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omnitonic

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I'm also aware that diesel fuel can degrade and have issues if it sits too long....
I associate this problem much more with gasoline, and ethanol-blended gasoline in particular. That stuff degrades pretty fast. It's very susceptible to phase separation. I used to haul petroleum products for a living, and I still remember the phase separation lecture. "Alcohol will mix with gasoline, but it is a lot happier mixing with Coca Cola."

Alcohol likes to mix with water. E10 gasoline blends are based on lower octane base stocks, like 83 or 84 octane base for the 87E10 blend. Introduce a little water, the alcohol and water get all hot and bothered and start making sweet love down by the fire, while the frustrated gasoline is left high and dry. Like me, after my wife of 27 years dumped me. Now your engine is running on some combination of sub-standard 84-octane gasoline, or an alcohol/water mixture that barely burns. Either is bad. Performance will suffer. Especially in a tight modern engine.

Old E10 gasoline is just bad news. I run it in my lawn and garden equipment, but I never fail to put Stabil into the can when I buy the gas. If I expected a gasoline-powered vehicle to sit around a lot, I would put Stabil in that too. My experience is that Stabil works pretty well to mitigate this problem.

So having blathered about gasoline for the benefit of anyone finding this thread in the future, I will now say that most of the diesel in this area is a biodiesel blend. A couple of the suppliers have had consistent, pernicious problems with black mold growing in the fuel. It seems to grow in the bio part of the diesel. It plugs up fuel filters. It's just a huge pain in the ass.

If you can get pure conventional diesel, you can pretty much let that sit for 10 years, and it will still be fine. The longer the fuel sits around in a tank, the more likely the bottom of the tank is going to have some water, but water is a totally different issue with diesel. Basically you just try not to suck it into the fuel system. I'm not sure if the Mopar ecodiesel has a water separator, but I'd be surprised if it didn't.

If you're stuck with a biodiesel blend, like most people, I wouldn't want it sitting any longer than was avoidable. With that said, it's not uncommon to fire up an old spare road tractor that has been sitting around for a month, and it runs fine. I don't recall ever having a truck fall down on me due to the filter plugging with black mold, although I know several drivers who have had this issue.

Theoretically, it's one of those things the suppliers are supposed to have solved by now. I'm out of the loop, so I don't know first-hand. I gave up the exciting world of running around busting my ass to do a really dangerous job for peanuts, in favor of the much higher paying job of hauling pasta and toilet paper. The world is screwed up when it pays 30% more to haul taco shells than an essential product everybody needs, but the world is what it is. The profit margin on fuel is so low, companies can't afford to pay the drivers anything. I'm not kidding, incidentally. I took a job with zero touch freight, zero hazmat, a much easier job overall, and it pays 30% more. The only people hauling fuel for a living are old guys who know nothing else, and young guys who don't know how much more money they could be making doing anything else.

My, I love to ramble, don't I? For what it's worth, if I had my purchase to do over again, I would have bought the diesel, in spite of my misgivings about regens and DEF and having to get the DPF serviced and all the other pain that comes along with modern diesels.
 
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FinnCustomKnives

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As others have mentioned, don't buy it for the range. Buy it for the torque. Buy it because you like a tractor like sound to come from the engine bay. Buy it because you can get people looking at you sideways and say "you know thats diesel, right?!" when you fill up. Buy it so your rig isn't a total pig when you inevitably put 37's on it.

So in short, yes buy it! I was somewhat limited due to budget with ours so we were debating a more well equipped 2.0 or a more basic ecodiesel. While having the premium audio and trail cam would have been very nice, every single time I put my foot down with the ecodiesel I don't rue my decision one iota. I can always add in a Stinger heigh10 with front/side cameras, and already have added in better speakers/amp. However adding an ecodiesel engine via aftermarket is obviously no where near as easy
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