2023 Rubicon Crankshaft Broke/Needs New Engine

[zman71]

My serpentine belt on my 2023 Rubicon 3.6, XTreme Recon snapped at 4,200 miles while traveling on vacation. Not happy to say the least. Coolant and oil all over the highway.. Luckily there was a Jeep dealer off the highway it could be towed to. Had to leave it there, rent a car and keep going. Haven't driven it hard at all. Have there been any issues with 2023's like this? What would cause a belt to snap at 4200 miles other than a defective belt?

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[19 JLUR Bright Whit3]

Just wondering how coolant and oil were spilled when the belt broke. Most of the "normal" sheeit run off the belt is now electric on the JLs. ?‍ Pardon my ignorance.

 

[zman71]

Just wondering how coolant and oil were spilled when the belt broke. Most of the "normal" sheeit run off the belt is now electric on the JLs. ?‍ Pardon my ignorance.

Not sure. Half the belt was back a ways on the shoulder with a good trail of fluid behind me. Smoke pouring out from under the hood. I pulled it off the road pretty much immediately when the engine light and temp warning came on.

 

[19 JLUR Bright Whit3]

Seriously, I dont mean any disrespect.
Could have been something else that made the belt come off.
I'll look under the hood tomorrow and see what the belt is attached to.

 

[zman71]

Thanks. Have only had it on town roads and highway. Haven't hit any hard bumps, potholes and have driven it normal, no off road. Hopefully the dealer will call tomorrow after they look at it.

 

[NWJeepr]

Hard to say, maybe the belt whacked a coolant line, or maybe the water pump gave up and smoked the belt and then the whole thing overheated. Or it could have been another accessory that ate the belt, then it overheated.

Hopefully it was just coolant, not oil...

 

[zman71]

Hard to say, maybe the belt whacked a coolant line, or maybe the water pump gave up and smoked the belt and then the whole thing overheated. Or it could have been another accessory that ate the belt, then it overheated.

Hopefully it was just coolant, not oil...

Yeah initially I thought it was coolant from a busted line until I swiped the ground underneath and had some fresh oil on my finger. I steered it over to the shoulder right away so not sure how it could have blown anything.

 

[Deleted member 59498]

Wow that is crazy, honestly sounds like the engine seized maybe thrown rod or something crazy.

Taking out hoses for coolant seems likely with a broken belt also.

 

[zman71]

Wow that is crazy, honestly sounds like the engine seized maybe thrown rod or something crazy.

Just my kinda luck. Hoping whatever they find will be covered under warranty.

 

[Deleted member 59498]

Oh hell I am sure it will be at 4000 miles. Holy hell.

Just the trouble it is causing you man. Don't they have travel interruption reimbursement? That might be on my extended warranty though I forget.

 

[zman71]

Oh hell I am sure it will be at 4000 miles. Holy hell.

Just the trouble it is causing you man. Don't they have travel interruption reimbursement?

Service manager said something like $35 a day reimbursement for a rental. Had to rent a SUV because of all the stuff we had packed. Won't cover all of it but at least half maybe.

 

[Slate]

Sorry to hear that! Do keep us posted though.

I am dealing with that on my son's Jeep right now - it's a '97 TJ so not helpful, but in his case, I think the AC compressor might have seized up (or at least created enough of a drag) that it burned out the belt. He was driving home from work and said he lost power steering and the battery gauge fell to 9V's (these are dials). It was clearly overheating, but I would have never guessed the damn belt came off. He ended up Facetiming me when he got home, the coolant overflow bottle was ROILING, I have never seen coolant that hot, not sure if I have ever seen water that hot. I had assumed the water pump went out and asked him to move his camera there so I could see if it was leaking, that is when I noticed he was missing the serpentine belt!

Got a new belt, but I think it is a touch too big - ordered another belt, BUT get this, they are all on backorder FFS. I have no idea if the TJ belt and our models are remotely the same, but frustrating either way. We did flush out the coolant and put some fresh in.

I hope that's all it is for you!

 

[zman71]

Sorry to hear that! Do keep us posted though.

I am dealing with that on my son's Jeep right now - it's a '97 TJ so not helpful, but in his case, I think the AC compressor might have seized up (or at least created enough of a drag) that it burned out the belt. He was driving home from work and said he lost power steering and the battery gauge fell to 9V's (these are dials). It was clearly overheating, but I would have never guessed the damn belt came off. He ended up Facetiming me when he got home, the coolant overflow bottle was ROILING, I have never seen coolant that hot, not sure if I have ever seen water that hot. I had assumed the water pump went out and asked him to move his camera there so I could see if it was leaking, that is when I noticed he was missing the serpentine belt!

Got a new belt, but I think it is a touch too big - ordered another belt, BUT get this, they are all on backorder FFS. I have no idea if the TJ belt and our models are remotely the same, but frustrating either way. We did flush out the coolant and put some fresh in.

I hope that's all it is for you!

Yep, one of my concerns is parts being available, especially if there are engine parts needed.

 

[zman71]

Yep, one of my concerns is parts being available, especially if there are engine parts needed.

An update....dealer said the crankshaft broke, among other things, so it needs a new engine at 4,200 miles. They also said 800+ 3.6 etorque engines are on order from dealers with only 100 in production so this may not be an isolated issue. I won't have this back for months. Haven't heard anything in a response from Customer Care yet. In.....f'ing...excusable all around. Since it's 300+ miles away, they'll ship it once done. Although, the rental SUV which I need is already in the thousands on cost, it will be expensive as hell whenever this is done.

 

[AFD]

An update....dealer said the crankshaft broke, among other things, so it needs a new engine at 4,200 miles. They also said 800+ 3.6 etorque engines are on order from dealers with only 100 in production so this may not be an isolated issue. I won't have this back for months. Haven't heard anything in a response from Customer Care yet. In.....f'ing...excusable all around. Since it's 300+ miles away, they'll ship it once done. Although, the rental SUV which I need is already in the thousands on cost, it will be expensive as hell whenever this is done.

Yikes. Check the lemon laws in both your home state and/or the state where you bought it. Not 100% sure about my home state, but the dealer in MD told me that even a single engine issue can trigger their lemon laws if it happens within a certain period of time.

Best of luck man!

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