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Major steering issue problem with JL Wrangler. Please watch

Nabors

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Took mine to the dealer for the third time on Monday ...finally got them to drive it on Tuesday and they confirmed the issue. Got in touch with Jeep and were told to order the Steering Gear Box and replace ...backordered now. Contacted Jeep and was told earliest I will see the part is July 6th. By that time Jeep will have spent half the time I have owned it in the shop ! Really sorry I bought a Jeep !!!!
At least the dealer was able to replicate the issue. Because my dealer hasn't been able to replicate the issue I cannot get any fix. At this point I would be happy to have a schedule completion date and not having to call Jeep and dealer.
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Man-of-methods

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I really hope my Jeep experience doesn't involve waiting for weeks for repairs to a brand new vehicle. Another Jeep will never see my driveway if that's the case.
https://repairpal.com/problems/honda/accord

Then why are you driving a Honda Accord? Don't be a hypocrite. EVERY make model has their share of problems at one point or another. I say good riddance to you then.

This "chicken Little" syndrome on this thread is getting out of hand. The Jeeps with this problem will get fixed. It takes time.
 

That One Guy

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https://repairpal.com/problems/honda/accord

Then why are you driving a Honda Accord? Don't be a hypocrite. EVERY make model has their share of problems at one point or another. I say good riddance to you then.

This "chicken Little" syndrome on this thread is getting out of hand. The Jeeps with this problem will get fixed. It takes time.
Hypocrite? If you think Jeep holds a candle to Honda reliability, you're confused, at the most polite.

Thing just had its first ever repair at 188,000 miles, btw. But I'm sure loads of Jeeps can say that too, right? Haha

Every make does have problems. Some more than others. That's the gist.


Planning on ordering this week!
 
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JeepCares

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Took mine to the dealer for the third time on Monday ...finally got them to drive it on Tuesday and they confirmed the issue. Got in touch with Jeep and were told to order the Steering Gear Box and replace ...backordered now. Contacted Jeep and was told earliest I will see the part is July 6th. By that time Jeep will have spent half the time I have owned it in the shop ! Really sorry I bought a Jeep !!!!
Hi carolinaclan,
We want to look into this further and see if there is any opportunity to assist. Please send our team a private message with additional details.
Julie
Jeep Social Care Specialist
 

beachbumm78

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Does anyone have any contacts in the auto press? We need to get this reported in the public press.
I don't know about where you live but down here in TX we have local news that does segments on things such as this (it may be city dependent too), get local complaints on things, what people have done to try and fix it, and how local businesses have responded....whether or not they've tried to fix it.
 

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kdkns

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I'm looking to file a complaint against my second dealer ( not the one I purchased from) for how the handled the issue. The service manager/advisor was very deceptive and was not concerned at looking or diagnosing my jeep at all. He purposely chose methods of "resolving" the issue without a paper trail or any accountability.

The dealership is in Austin, TX and Nyle Maxwell Jeep Dodge Ram. Here is what happened with the service manager:

- Called to state I had a steering wheel issue where steering would lock up and freeze. Asked if they had had any other reports or customers complain about a similar issue. Was told "We can't do anything about that. (FCA) has to tell us something". Story changes when I ask him what does he mean he cannot do anything about a steering wheel issue when he hasn't seen the car, asked questions about what is happening, or even diagnosed it. Service manger tells me to "Bring it in, no appointment needed". I was hesitant to accept a no appointment offer, and asked again are you sure you don't need an appointment and was told to just bring it by anytime.

- I bring Jeep by on Monday and meet with service advisor who was friendlier in person than on the phone. He checks the VIN for recalls and diagnostic code, does a few minute parking lot steering test, and then takes in on the highway for a few minutes. I make sure to ask if he feels the Jeep is driving OK, as I felt the alignment was off and the Jeep was hard to control in the highway. He states that yes it's fine and no issues. We could not replicate the steering issue in the 5 minute test drive on the parking lot and highway. I ask if we need any paperwork or and stated no. Again, I gave the benefit of the doubt that this wouldn't be an issue later if I needed to reference them and the issue may be gone and left.

- The issue happens the following day, I contact the service advisor again and left a message but did not get a call back. I contact Jeep support and get a case number and told the my experience with the dealer. We try to schedule with this dealership this morning since the dealer is still rated really high in the area and is closer to me.

- This morning I decided to ask for some paperwork or statements as I may need them for Jeep, or worst case, filing a lemon law claim. I call the dealership and they have no record of me coming in, which I expected, but get transferred to the service advisor. He doesn't recognize me at first or my vehicle and once he eventually does I ask him if it would be possible to get a service statement passed onto Jeep because they will be scheduling an appointment with them for repair or diagnosis. The service advisor immediately pushes back and states "Oh we didn't do any work, we didn't diagnose the vehicle, I can't give you anything or any paperwork showing you came here or we looked at it". The advisor was very aggressively denying any accountability, made sure there was no record of my vehicle at their dealership, no record that he attempted to diagnose my steering issue without a proper service appointment, and no attempt to bring the vehicle in and do an actual inspection or look into my vehicle at all until I mentioned Jeep Wave will be contacting them to have the dealer do a proper check on the vehicle.

- I was very appalled at how this "service manager" had been deceptive from the start, claimed there are no reported issues or customer complaints, and made every attempt to deny that he attempted any sort of service work on the vehicle when I specifically asked for the vehicle to be inspected and looked at for the complaint. I could not get him to even provide a dealers service statement that they looked at the vehicle and found no issue to provide to Jeep.


I am going to file a complaint with the Texas DMV which allows me to make a complaint to the Texas Attorney General and will send a letter to the dealership owner as well. This behavior and deceptive practice in unacceptable and the worst I've seen from any service from a dealership.


As a follow up, Jeep has set me up with another dealer after we decided it would be best to work with someone else and get the U62 recall done as it affects the power module that also controls the steering input and see if that resolves the issue. I will also ask the new dealership to do a proper test of the vehicle, check alignment, wheel balance, and steering box if possible.
 

nothajan

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I just got back from some travel and will reach out to my dealer tomorrow to get the STAR case number from when they worked on my Jeep.
 

JASPER

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Hypocrite? If you think Jeep holds a candle to Honda reliability, you're confused, at the most polite.

Thing just had its first ever repair at 188,000 miles, btw. But I'm sure loads of Jeeps can say that too, right? Haha

Every make does have problems. Some more than others. That's the gist.


Planning on ordering this week!
NO YOUR NOT ORDERING ANYTHING.
 

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martyb511

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I'm disappointed with the outcome at the dealership. When I went in on Monday I was able to replicate the steering freeze many times in front of the Service Advisor over a 10 minute drive. I even emailed him the notes that nothajan (post 471) had on his invoice to give the Tech a easier time in finding the problem and solution. They have now told me that the Tech can't get any information from Star and can't find this case in their system. Because of this they now want me to recreate the issue in the presence of a Master Tech. I drove around for 30 minutes and couldn't recreate it. So now I have my Jeep back and I feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette with my two boys on when and where this freeze will come back. So a little advice for those having these intermittent steering freezes and you take your car to the dealership, DEMAND to have a Master Tech drive or see the issue...there is no point in showing the Service Advisor when the Steering Freeze isn't coming up on the STAR system.
 

JeepCares

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I just got back from some travel and will reach out to my dealer tomorrow to get the STAR case number from when they worked on my Jeep.
Hi nothanjan,
We can look up this number for you if you just send us a quick private message with your VIN!


I'm disappointed with the outcome at the dealership. When I went in on Monday I was able to replicate the steering freeze many times in front of the Service Advisor over a 10 minute drive. I even emailed him the notes that nothajan (post 471) had on his invoice to give the Tech a easier time in finding the problem and solution. They have now told me that the Tech can't get any information from Star and can't find this case in their system. Because of this they now want me to recreate the issue in the presence of a Master Tech. I drove around for 30 minutes and couldn't recreate it. So now I have my Jeep back and I feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette with my two boys on when and where this freeze will come back. So a little advice for those having these intermittent steering freezes and you take your car to the dealership, DEMAND to have a Master Tech drive or see the issue...there is no point in showing the Service Advisor when the Steering Freeze isn't coming up on the STAR system.
Hello martyb511,
We do see that you have just sent our team a private message. We will be following up with assistance as soon as we can.
Julie
Jeep Social Care Specialist
 

Nabors

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I'm disappointed with the outcome at the dealership. When I went in on Monday I was able to replicate the steering freeze many times in front of the Service Advisor over a 10 minute drive. I even emailed him the notes that nothajan (post 471) had on his invoice to give the Tech a easier time in finding the problem and solution. They have now told me that the Tech can't get any information from Star and can't find this case in their system. Because of this they now want me to recreate the issue in the presence of a Master Tech. I drove around for 30 minutes and couldn't recreate it. So now I have my Jeep back and I feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette with my two boys on when and where this freeze will come back. So a little advice for those having these intermittent steering freezes and you take your car to the dealership, DEMAND to have a Master Tech drive or see the issue...there is no point in showing the Service Advisor when the Steering Freeze isn't coming up on the STAR system.
I feel like I'm in the same situation. The event never happens when at the dealer. After talking to the dealer they seem to be very limited as to what they can do due to company guidelines. I've been fighting with Jeep Wave customer support to try and get them to authorize extended testing, a loaner, and trying to do something more than having dealer drive it for less than 10 miles to test. They have extended the testing to 3 days but they won't authorize a check as shown in post #471.

However, I did get a call from the dealership as I was writing this and said FCA has notified them of a "flash" update relating to this issue. Was told this is a software update relating to the steering pump. They expect to have this updated and tested on Monday. Which is the first day of hot weather in last few weeks which would make me feel better during there testing. They also stated a flash update notification is usually the first step before FCA issues a technical bulletin regarding this issue. Hopefully this is soon.

Side note, I asked what out of pocket cost would be to have them replace the steering gear box as pointed out in this thread and he said the estimate would be $1,500. But he did state it's not actually called the "steering gear box" in the ordering system but rather "steering gear assembly". No exact price as this hasn't been done by them and unsure of labor cost. He also stated that he has never replaced a gearbox in a Wrangler before. Not sure if I want to go this route as it's not 100% fix it seems and I may never get my money back even if it was.
 

GARRIGA

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I'm disappointed with the outcome at the dealership. When I went in on Monday I was able to replicate the steering freeze many times in front of the Service Advisor over a 10 minute drive. I even emailed him the notes that nothajan (post 471) had on his invoice to give the Tech a easier time in finding the problem and solution. They have now told me that the Tech can't get any information from Star and can't find this case in their system. Because of this they now want me to recreate the issue in the presence of a Master Tech. I drove around for 30 minutes and couldn't recreate it. So now I have my Jeep back and I feel like I'm playing Russian Roulette with my two boys on when and where this freeze will come back. So a little advice for those having these intermittent steering freezes and you take your car to the dealership, DEMAND to have a Master Tech drive or see the issue...there is no point in showing the Service Advisor when the Steering Freeze isn't coming up on the STAR system.
Thatā€™s nuts. Go meet with the General Manager. Call the Better Business Bureau and get them involved. Feels like when you call the cable company and after unable to resolve they bump you up the line until you get frustrated and hang up because you got better things to do with your life than have them jerk you around. Then you call direct TV. Problem solved. I would have lost my chit at the service department.
 

Jeepsterfreak

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I feel like I'm in the same situation. The event never happens when at the dealer. After talking to the dealer they seem to be very limited as to what they can do due to company guidelines. I've been fighting with Jeep Wave customer support to try and get them to authorize extended testing, a loaner, and trying to do something more than having dealer drive it for less than 10 miles to test. They have extended the testing to 3 days but they won't authorize a check as shown in post #471.

However, I did get a call from the dealership as I was writing this and said FCA has notified them of a "flash" update relating to this issue. Was told this is a software update relating to the steering pump. They expect to have this updated and tested on Monday. Which is the first day of hot weather in last few weeks which would make me feel better during there testing. They also stated a flash update notification is usually the first step before FCA issues a technical bulletin regarding this issue. Hopefully this is soon.

Side note, I asked what out of pocket cost would be to have them replace the steering gear box as pointed out in this thread and he said the estimate would be $1,500. But he did state it's not actually called the "steering gear box" in the ordering system but rather "steering gear assembly". No exact price as this hasn't been done by them and unsure of labor cost. He also stated that he has never replaced a gearbox in a Wrangler before. Not sure if I want to go this route as it's not 100% fix it seems and I may never get my money back even if it was.
Steering Gear Box - GEAR, Power Steering

68250506AC

$714

Unless there has been a design change, you might end up with another faulty steering box installed (if it turns out the gearbox is the problem).
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