Recall only 48 hours after purchasing new JL

[sf5211]

Okay, thanks - I will try that.
But is slipping under such situation under very low RPM considered normal? Aren't clutches designed to take this much and necessary slippage?

Okay, thanks - I will try that.
But is slipping under such situation under very low RPM considered normal? Aren't clutches designed to take this much and necessary slippage?

Yes buddy especially when backing uphill. My brother has a steep driveway that when I visit I back up it so at night when leaving I can just drive down. The first time I backed up it in 2H? Boy oh boy it smelled like I was making clutch for breakfast. Mind you I have 40 years of experience. I’m no newbie to stick shift. Next visit 4Low, with the low gearing you can now completely come off the clutch because the Jeeps not flying back dangerously fast and zero slippage.

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[jludave]

But is slipping under such situation under very low RPM considered normal? Aren't clutches designed to take this much and necessary slippage?

Slipping the clutch is bad in the sense that it wears the clutch plate out. Slipping the clutch is what it’s designed to do, however, and is part of the process of driving. Slipping the clutch is essential when, for instance, moving in extremely slow moving traffic where the vehicle needs to move slower than the actual natural revolutions of the engine and where you would need to park the car in a difficult location and very slow speeds are needed. Cases such as this would require partially disengaging the clutch plates to reduce speed and gain accuracy. Riding the clutch is different, however, as it is the driver unnecessarily wearing the clutch out. Slipping the clutch is different from a slipping clutch. A slipping clutch is when the clutch plates become damaged or worn and lose traction when they press together – much like how a tire loses traction on the road and develops wheel spin.

 

[Martindfletcher]

Haven’t even owned our JL a whole week and already have a horror story shaping up with it.
On Saturday we visited a dealer near our home to look at a jl. I asked about getting a manual transmission and the salesman was cryptic about ordering one. So we left and I started looking for dealers with one on the lot. I finally found one about 1.5 hours away at Lustine Jeep in Woodbridge, VA.

So on Sunday (3/8/20) we brought home a brand new jl Willy’s sport with the 6 speed manual.
On the ride south on i95 I could smell clutch burning. I wondered many things during this time- “am i doing it wrong? Is it just breaking in?”
Mind you I have been driving manual transmissions as my daily driver for 14 years.

The next day (3/9) our salesman calls to follow up and i tell him what happened. He was more worried about me leaving a good rating on his survey. I drove it around most of the day doing estimates for work. Didn’t notice the smell again until I had to make a 20 mile jaunt on the interstate.

Tuesday (3/10) I come home from work and find an internal fca recall notice about 2018-2020 JL clutches with some strong language about the possibility of fire. I check my vin on mopar’s site and my Jeep is affected. Come to find out this recall came out on March 3rd according to mopar! I call Lustine and speak with the sales manager. The manager says “we performed that recall, they just didn’t submit the work order yet” to which I replied “how could you perform a recall if the parts aren’t available?” This made him nervous. He said he had to call his service manager and would call me back. 20 minutes later he calls back and essentially tells me that my only option is to drive all the way back and drop off the Jeep for some undetermined amount of time- probably at least a month- and take a loaner vehicle.

At this point I’m getting upset:

-I was sold a brand new vehicle even though it had an open recall
-I traded in my perfect running and driving daily to get it
-no one told me about this recall at any point of this $30k transaction
-the sales manager attempted to lie about performing the recall.
I aired my grievance with the sales manager, who then became hostile.

After that fruitless conversation I decided to contact FCA directly.

The rep from FCA confirmed that no dealers are allowed to sell stock with open recalls and that this in fact had an open recall when I took delivery of it. She escalated the issue to someone higher up who will be contacting me in the next day or so.

At this point I’m looking to convince FCA to do one of the following:
install an aftermarket clutch
Cut me a check to get an aftermarket clutch installed
Do a straight buyback/trade assist deal into a non affected vehicle, similar to what happens in lemon law situations.

Has anyone else bought an affected manual after the 3/3 recall date like me? What else can I do?

just saw it out for a better one. That’s what a few us with the steering issues are doing.

 

[Allagash27]

Okay, thanks - I will try that.
But is slipping under such situation under very low RPM considered normal? Aren't clutches designed to take this much and necessary slippage?

Yes clutches should be designed to take the full power of the engine, and should never slip when the pedal is all the way out if everything is working properly.

That being said, if the clutch is going to slip (usually due to being worn out on an older vehicle) top gear is where it's most likely to happen. Being in the highest gear is when the clutch needs to transmit the most torque, due to less gear reduction from the transmission. Like trying to climb a hill on a bicycle in high gear-you don't pedal very fast but each pedal stroke requires a huge push. The more torque the clutch is trying to transmit, the greater the chance it will start slipping.

I have a Sport with stock 31.5" tires and 3.45 gears, and I can't use 6th gear below about 65 MPH. Even on interstates at 70-75 MPH I find myself downshifting to 5th for small hills. The gas mileage is great but really this Jeep could have used 3.73 or 4.11 diffs even with the stock tires. The shift points are much higher than I'm used to with other trucks and SUV's, and the slowest I can crawl in High range is 6-7 MPH.

So if the clutch slips in 6th, it wouldn't hurt anything to just keep it in 5th until it's repaired. Maybe a slight loss in MPG.

 

[Capricorn]

Yes clutches should be designed to take the full power of the engine, and should never slip when the pedal is all the way out if everything is working properly.

That being said, if the clutch is going to slip (usually due to being worn out on an older vehicle) top gear is where it's most likely to happen. Being in the highest gear is when the clutch needs to transmit the most torque, due to less gear reduction from the transmission. Like trying to climb a hill on a bicycle in high gear-you don't pedal very fast but each pedal stroke requires a huge push. The more torque the clutch is trying to transmit, the greater the chance it will start slipping.

I have a Sport with stock 31.5" tires and 3.45 gears, and I can't use 6th gear below about 65 MPH. Even on interstates at 70-75 MPH I find myself downshifting to 5th for small hills. The gas mileage is great but really this Jeep could have used 3.73 or 4.11 diffs even with the stock tires. The shift points are much higher than I'm used to with other trucks and SUV's, and the slowest I can crawl in High range is 6-7 MPH.

So if the clutch slips in 6th, it wouldn't hurt anything to just keep it in 5th until it's repaired. Maybe a slight loss in MPG.

I am not referring slipping clutch but what I meant was slipping the clutch when maneuvering - in other words - feathering when pulling into the garage.

 

[Allagash27]

I am not referring slipping clutch but what I meant was slipping the clutch when maneuvering - in other words - feathering when pulling into the garage.

Got it. So I totally missed your point! Yes it's normal to have to slip the clutch at low speed and the clutch should be able to handle it. Though the less you have to do it the better. Lower gearing helps-you can go slower without having to slip the clutch. I sometimes drop it into 4L if I have to do a lot of low speed maneuvering, like backing my trailer into the garage (a tight fit). My driveway is gravel-that wouldn't work so well on pavement.

 

[Drew_ATL]

No issues here yet, but I really baby my ‘20 JL 2DR Sport only 5k on the clock late January when I bought’er.

once, in reverse I did notice a burning smell but that was my bad riding the clutch up a incline.

couple of weird spin-ups of the motor when disengaging, and as a long time manual driver occasionally I mess up and grind a gear.

Just found out about the recall, so there is no ‘remedy’ yet?

 

[Kluk Ztopolovky]

I hate to keep lawyers busy but this may be an easy cherry for a skilled lawyer to swallow. If the dealership acts funny then just play hard.

 

[sf5211]

No issues here yet, but I really baby my ‘20 JL 2DR Sport only 5k on the clock late January when I bought’er.

once, in reverse I did notice a burning smell but that was my bad riding the clutch up a incline.

couple of weird spin-ups of the motor when disengaging, and as a long time manual driver occasionally I mess up and grind a gear.

Just found out about the recall, so there is no ‘remedy’ yet?

Hi Drew, from what I’ve seen in the forum folks can now order manual transmissions. When this first started happening (clutches coming apart) you couldn’t order a manual Jeep. I’m guessing the new builds have the stronger clutch disc which is probably why you can order stick again.
As far as the recall it’s probably delayed due to the madness we’re all going through. Once again just a guess but I believe once this virus dies down and the country/world get back to normal they will start recalling.

 

[GtX]

Who really likes going to the dealer and spending 5-8 hours buying a car? not me.

I've never spent more than 2 hours at a dealer to buy a vehicle. What do you do for 5-8 hours?

 

[sf5211]

I've never spent more than 2 hours at a dealer to buy a vehicle. What do you do for 5-8 hours?

I hear you Dave, I wrote in one of these threads I believe these dealers keep you waiting 4-5 hours so you’ll be so desperate to get out of there you’ll sign their extended warranty’s and whatever else they can push on you. I fell into that trap when I bought my first Jeep. I’ve learned so much from the folks in this forum that crap won’t ever happen to me again. As a matter of fact when I bought my 2nd Jeep, the wife and I sat at a dealer for 1hour and 5 minutes. No one even said I’ll be with you soon. We were outta there like lightning. Went to another dealer about 10 miles away and 2 hrs later......$50,000 sale to the guy that didn’t treat me like a douche.

 

[Tdurden032]

I’m so bummed out right now - I just looked up my vin and it’s one of the affected vehicles. I wanted a black JLUR with a manual transmission so bad and two weeks before the recall (2/14) I brought one home - just my luck... I hope they get this remedied soon - I don’t want a different jeep - I love this one but I definitely feel hesitant to take my kids in it until they fix this situation. Does anyone know how many Jeeps have had the clutch plates come apart? If it’s less than a couple of percent, then I’d feel a little better (I still don’t want to drive my kids around in it though) but if it’s a significant number, that’s a much bigger worry.

 

[Capricorn]

I’m so bummed out right now - I just looked up my vin and it’s one of the affected vehicles. I wanted a black JLUR with a manual transmission so bad and two weeks before the recall (2/14) I brought one home - just my luck... I hope they get this remedied soon - I don’t want a different jeep - I love this one but I definitely feel hesitant to take my kids in it until they fix this situation. Does anyone know how many Jeeps have had the clutch plates come apart? If it’s less than a couple of percent, then I’d feel a little better (I still don’t want to drive my kids around in it though) but if it’s a significant number, that’s a much bigger worry.

I bought mine 4 days after you. My unicorn was a manual transmission with soft top.
I think we are fine. The extreme case may happen and that too rarely to people who ride the clutch or heavily misuse it for that much heat to be produced. I don't think twice taking my 14 year old for a spin every evening. It is a ritual.
You will also get some really obvious signs before something remotely drastic happens.
And if it was really that critical & urgent, NTSB wouldn't have allowed FCA to have these vehicles driven.

 

[Tdurden032]

Thanks for the insight - that makes me feel a little bit better, I’ve heard that less than 1% of these vehicles have been affected, which is still tragic for the folks that have their Jeeps come apart (or worse), so hopefully FCA gets this taken care of ASAP.
I love driving my Jeep and as anyone on this forum knows, driving around with the freedom panels off, top off or even just the windows down, is an awesome experience and based on personal experience, kids seem to love it (you’re a good parent for taking your 14 year old out in it nightly btw, very cool to make family time like that), so I’ll feel better once my JLUR has the recall fixed, and I can go back to taking my kiddos in the Jeep everywhere, once again.

 

[Capricorn]

Thanks for the insight - that makes me feel a little bit better, I’ve heard that less than 1% of these vehicles have been affected, which is still tragic for the folks that have their Jeeps come apart (or worse), so hopefully FCA gets this taken care of ASAP.
I love driving my Jeep and as anyone on this forum knows, driving around with the freedom panels off, top off or even just the windows down, is an awesome experience and based on personal experience, kids seem to love it (you’re a good parent for taking your 14 year old out in it nightly btw, very cool to make family time like that), so I’ll feel better once my JLUR has the recall fixed, and I can go back to taking my kiddos in the Jeep everywhere, once again.

Thanks.
BTW, I used to live off Dorsett/I-270 in St. Louis during much of the '90s before I moved to Vegas because of work in 2001.

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