Intermittent Power Steering Failure

[mufin281]

I got my 2019 Jeep Rubicon on December 8, 2018. Like any other day of the week, I began my nightly commute home from work on January 7, after driving it for less than one month and under 2k (mostly) pavement miles. It was 40+ degrees w/no precipitation. A mile into the commute at just 10 mph through a business park so far, I stopped at a yield sign before entering a 5 line highway packed with commuter traffic. I entered the highway only to find I suddenly had no power steering! It was as if the auto stop feature didn't fully turn the vehicle back on; the lights were dim and I had no power steering. I was able to get two lanes over to the turning lane. Then, the power steering turned back on! I luckily did not over compensate the turn too dramatically and kept the Rubicon in the turning lane versus cutting over into oncoming traffic. The power steering remained on through the red light; I turned the wheel back and forth to be sure. Then, just after turning left onto the very windy and heavily traveled road, the power steering turned off again.The power steering continued to turn off and on, inconsistently on this busy windy road, for the next 20 miles, the whole way to the dealership. Not only has Jeep apparently given no guidance to the dealership on how to handle this situation, but the service technicians really don't seem to have a clue on how to troubleshoot it. First, I was given a 2016 Chrysler 200 as my loaner car, which isn't even close to comparable to the '19 Rubicon! Five days after having that POS and getting no progress on my Rubicon, I was able to turn it in for a 2017 Wrangler Sport. At that point, the technician told me that I was mistaken for believing that my power steering had any electrical components to it. Apparently I am a confused female and the JL power steering is 'straight mechanical'! I'm so relieved to know I have such well informed humans working on my vehicle. Also, as of Saturday (they had my Rubicon for 6 days at that point), they had plans to replace a steering gear box sometime this next week. However, as of today they still haven't done one thing to attempt a fix, but throughout the 60+ test drive miles they've put on my Jeep, they have now decided to replace the power steering pump instead. This Jeep is going to spend time off road. How can I ever trust to take this on the Rubicon trail when I can't even trust it to get me home from work and the dealership has no idea what to fix or why?!!? I am literally now concerned for my life and it's unfortunate that this is my first new car, first jeep, first 55k car purchase. Any guidance on this situation would be truly appreciated.

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[BillG]

Yours is the first 19 I’ve heard of with the issue. There are some threads on here about it on 18s. Mine did it twice, for a split second. A computer flash seems to have fixed it.

 

[mufin281]

The power steering went off and on for my entire ride (about an hour). The service technicians have also apparently had it happen to them 3 or 4 times in the 60 miles they've driven it, although I haven't been allowed to speak to the technician that experienced the power steering failure just yet so I can't say if their experience was the same as mine.

 

[BillG]

It was a pretty common issue on the forum a while back. There was a service memo about certain build dates that included mine, but yours is a 19, so that wouldn’t apply unless they have updated it. Mine seems fine now, and although it seems like the same issue, mine doesn’t seem as bad as yours. Good luck.

 

[Foolish]

I'd send a PM to the JeepCares login here. I'm working with them on a dashboard gauge issue (continuously reboots the speedometer etc at cooler temperatures.)

 

[m3reno]

I still have the issue even after having computer flashed.

 

[JeepCares]

I'd send a PM to the JeepCares login here. I'm working with them on a dashboard gauge issue (continuously reboots the speedometer etc at cooler temperatures.)

Thanks for tagging us, Foolish and Z J West!

I got my 2019 Jeep Rubicon on December 8, 2018. Like any other day of the week, I began my nightly commute home from work on January 7, after driving it for less than one month and under 2k (mostly) pavement miles. It was 40+ degrees w/no precipitation. A mile into the commute at just 10 mph through a business park so far, I stopped at a yield sign before entering a 5 line highway packed with commuter traffic. I entered the highway only to find I suddenly had no power steering! It was as if the auto stop feature didn't fully turn the vehicle back on; the lights were dim and I had no power steering. I was able to get two lanes over to the turning lane. Then, the power steering turned back on! I luckily did not over compensate the turn too dramatically and kept the Rubicon in the turning lane versus cutting over into oncoming traffic. The power steering remained on through the red light; I turned the wheel back and forth to be sure. Then, just after turning left onto the very windy and heavily traveled road, the power steering turned off again.The power steering continued to turn off and on, inconsistently on this busy windy road, for the next 20 miles, the whole way to the dealership. Not only has Jeep apparently given no guidance to the dealership on how to handle this situation, but the service technicians really don't seem to have a clue on how to troubleshoot it. First, I was given a 2016 Chrysler 200 as my loaner car, which isn't even close to comparable to the '19 Rubicon! Five days after having that POS and getting no progress on my Rubicon, I was able to turn it in for a 2017 Wrangler Sport. At that point, the technician told me that I was mistaken for believing that my power steering had any electrical components to it. Apparently I am a confused female and the JL power steering is 'straight mechanical'! I'm so relieved to know I have such well informed humans working on my vehicle. Also, as of Saturday (they had my Rubicon for 6 days at that point), they had plans to replace a steering gear box sometime this next week. However, as of today they still haven't done one thing to attempt a fix, but throughout the 60+ test drive miles they've put on my Jeep, they have now decided to replace the power steering pump instead. This Jeep is going to spend time off road. How can I ever trust to take this on the Rubicon trail when I can't even trust it to get me home from work and the dealership has no idea what to fix or why?!!? I am literally now concerned for my life and it's unfortunate that this is my first new car, first jeep, first 55k car purchase. Any guidance on this situation would be truly appreciated.

Hello mufin281,

We're very sorry this is happening, and we'd like to look into this further. Please send us a private message with your VIN and the name/location of your dealer so we can assist.

Jennifer
Jeep Social Care Specialist

 

[Ron_H]

I have experienced the same issue with my 2018 JLU Sahara. Details on what happened are available in the thread: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/intermittent-loss-of-power-steering.17748/

Since the dealer (Maple Ridge Chrysler Jeep Dodge) is unwilling to do anything beyond checking the system voltage. In fact, their Service manager won't even return my phone calls to ask about how best to handle the problem. I have filed a notice with the Canadian transport authority and emailed FCA Canada, but not one of them appears to care of has bothered to get back to me.

 

[Lilbuggi01]

I got my 2019 Jeep Rubicon on December 8, 2018. Like any other day of the week, I began my nightly commute home from work on January 7, after driving it for less than one month and under 2k (mostly) pavement miles. It was 40+ degrees w/no precipitation. A mile into the commute at just 10 mph through a business park so far, I stopped at a yield sign before entering a 5 line highway packed with commuter traffic. I entered the highway only to find I suddenly had no power steering! It was as if the auto stop feature didn't fully turn the vehicle back on; the lights were dim and I had no power steering. I was able to get two lanes over to the turning lane. Then, the power steering turned back on! I luckily did not over compensate the turn too dramatically and kept the Rubicon in the turning lane versus cutting over into oncoming traffic. The power steering remained on through the red light; I turned the wheel back and forth to be sure. Then, just after turning left onto the very windy and heavily traveled road, the power steering turned off again.The power steering continued to turn off and on, inconsistently on this busy windy road, for the next 20 miles, the whole way to the dealership. Not only has Jeep apparently given no guidance to the dealership on how to handle this situation, but the service technicians really don't seem to have a clue on how to troubleshoot it. First, I was given a 2016 Chrysler 200 as my loaner car, which isn't even close to comparable to the '19 Rubicon! Five days after having that POS and getting no progress on my Rubicon, I was able to turn it in for a 2017 Wrangler Sport. At that point, the technician told me that I was mistaken for believing that my power steering had any electrical components to it. Apparently I am a confused female and the JL power steering is 'straight mechanical'! I'm so relieved to know I have such well informed humans working on my vehicle. Also, as of Saturday (they had my Rubicon for 6 days at that point), they had plans to replace a steering gear box sometime this next week. However, as of today they still haven't done one thing to attempt a fix, but throughout the 60+ test drive miles they've put on my Jeep, they have now decided to replace the power steering pump instead. This Jeep is going to spend time off road. How can I ever trust to take this on the Rubicon trail when I can't even trust it to get me home from work and the dealership has no idea what to fix or why?!!? I am literally now concerned for my life and it's unfortunate that this is my first new car, first jeep, first 55k car purchase. Any guidance on this situation would be truly appreciated.

I had a very similar thing happen to my 2018 JL. Mine didn’t matter at what speeds I traveled but only did it when the Jeep was warmed up. Go to turn and it would lock up and if I pulled hard enough would make a clicking sound and release and finally I was able to turn. It was intermittent and took me a while to get the dealership to drive it long enough to repeat the problem. Took it in 3 times for repair for the same thing. The last repair seems to have fixed it so far but I’m waiting for summer to roll around to know for sure. My final repair was the gear box being replaced. That was after I got a new power steering pump and all the programming for the steering gone through. Good luck to you.

 

[mufin281]

I was considering taking my complaint to https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/. I'm not sure if anything would come of it, but I am just absolutely disgusted with this whole process and afraid that the situation won't be corrected since the cause isn't known and that I'll have this happen in a much less ideal and dangerous driving. I don't know where else to turn so I'm just trying to go anywhere to get attention to this life threatening failure.

 

[mufin281]

I had a very similar thing happen to my 2018 JL. Mine didn’t matter at what speeds I traveled but only did it when the Jeep was warmed up. Go to turn and it would lock up and if I pulled hard enough would make a clicking sound and release and finally I was able to turn. It was intermittent and took me a while to get the dealership to drive it long enough to repeat the problem. Took it in 3 times for repair for the same thing. The last repair seems to have fixed it so far but I’m waiting for summer to roll around to know for sure. My final repair was the gear box being replaced. That was after I got a new power steering pump and all the programming for the steering gone through. Good luck to you.

The speed also didn't matter in my situation and the weather was a dry 40 degrees so I don't think that mattered. I drove from 5mpg to 50mph and the power steering continued to go off and on. The only consistency that I may have found is that if the power steering was off, it would turn back on if I held the break pedal down for 2 seconds. The way I found this is that if the power steering was off when I went in to a turn, it seemed to consistently turn ON right in the middle of the turn! So I was pulling through the turn with no power steering then BAM it would turn on and I'd cross the center line each time. Through the hour drive, I eventually found it wasn't actually the turn that effected the power steering, it was that I braked at every turn (b/c I was terrified driving in rush hour with a fairly uncontrollable vehicle!). Also, the head lights would get brighter or more dim each and every time the power steering turned off or on. That was actually nice in that it indicated to me each time that the power steering had just went off or on.
6 days after having the Jeep, the service dept said they were going to replace the gear box. I said that I disagreed with that because of the effect it seemed to have on the lights, therefore making it seem more electrical than a gear box. The MANAGER of the service technicians said I was wrong because my power steering was all mechanical, not electrical (I'm not going to share how I feel about a person working on my vehicle that doesn't even understand that the power steering is no longer straight mechanical). Anyways, because of some threads I've read here, I asked if they could replace the power steering pump with one that the PN ends in -AD. That was what they were apparently going to do yesterday, but I have yet to hear from anyone at the dealership at this point.

 

[bubbalowe]

The speed also didn't matter in my situation and the weather was a dry 40 degrees so I don't think that mattered. I drove from 5mpg to 50mph and the power steering continued to go off and on. The only consistency that I may have found is that if the power steering was off, it would turn back on if I held the break pedal down for 2 seconds. The way I found this is that if the power steering was off when I went in to a turn, it seemed to consistently turn ON right in the middle of the turn! So I was pulling through the turn with no power steering then BAM it would turn on and I'd cross the center line each time. Through the hour drive, I eventually found it wasn't actually the turn that effected the power steering, it was that I braked at every turn (b/c I was terrified driving in rush hour with a fairly uncontrollable vehicle!). Also, the head lights would get brighter or more dim each and every time the power steering turned off or on. That was actually nice in that it indicated to me each time that the power steering had just went off or on.
6 days after having the Jeep, the service dept said they were going to replace the gear box. I said that I disagreed with that because of the effect it seemed to have on the lights, therefore making it seem more electrical than a gear box. The MANAGER of the service technicians said I was wrong because my power steering was all mechanical, not electrical (I'm not going to share how I feel about a person working on my vehicle that doesn't even understand that the power steering is no longer straight mechanical). Anyways, because of some threads I've read here, I asked if they could replace the power steering pump with one that the PN ends in -AD. That was what they were apparently going to do yesterday, but I have yet to hear from anyone at the dealership at this point.

 

[JeepCares]

I still have the issue even after having computer flashed.

Hi m3reno,
We're sorry to hear about this. Please send us a private message so we can look into this a bit further for you!
Lydia
Jeep Social Care Specialist

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