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4H/4L not engaging, traction control not working

vijeep

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Hi all,
I have a Wrangler Sahara 3.6L since August, and yesterday I did the first try off-road. I was driving on a relatively steep hill with a gravel pavement and I get stuck! I tried both 4H and 4L, and the front wheels were not moving at all! It seems the 4X4 does not engage. The only wheel spinning was my rear left one, which did a hole in the gravel and it took me a while to get out. I know that wrangler has an open differential, but I supposed that the traction control should remove energy to the wheel that is spinning with no traction and give more spin to the other. In this case it seems that neither the 4H/4L nor the traction control is working.

Do you have any idea what is going on? I left the car to the dealer yesterday.... and I can say that Iā€™m very sad (plus it is a long week-end and the first snow!)

Thanks in advance for the feedback
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Therby

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Not to be smart with you, did you do the basics? Jeep was in neutral why pulling the gear lever etc? Sounds like you got stuck on the hill then tried to put in 4low which would be difficult as it slides into 4lo so much better if youā€™re just slightly moving.

possibly you snapped the little gear linkage joint? Does the 4x4 stick move freely now without much resistance
 
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vijeep

vijeep

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I was in 4H before approaching the hill, then did the first try. Front wheels not spinning. Then I went down the hill, put N then engaged 4L and then D, and tried again. Nothing. Went back, put again in N than 4H and D, tried the last time. I get stacked after a few meters... I continued to accelerate and the rear left wheel made a hole.

The 4x4 stick is solid, does not move freely. It the same since I bought the car.
 

JeepCares

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Hi all,
I have a Wrangler Sahara 3.6L since August, and yesterday I did the first try off-road. I was driving on a relatively steep hill with a gravel pavement and I get stuck! I tried both 4H and 4L, and the front wheels were not moving at all! It seems the 4X4 does not engage. The only wheel spinning was my rear left one, which did a hole in the gravel and it took me a while to get out. I know that wrangler has an open differential, but I supposed that the traction control should remove energy to the wheel that is spinning with no traction and give more spin to the other. In this case it seems that neither the 4H/4L nor the traction control is working.

Do you have any idea what is going on? I left the car to the dealer yesterday.... and I can say that Iā€™m very sad (plus it is a long week-end and the first snow!)

Thanks in advance for the feedback
Hi Vit,
We're sorry to hear about your experience. If you need any assistance while working with your dealer, we recommend reaching out to Canadian Customer Care. The link below has their contact information below the "Canada" tab.
https://www.fcagroup.com/en-US/footer/Pages/contacts.aspx
Alex
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rkj__

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Since you've left the vehicle at the dealership, we can't exactly help you troubleshoot much.

You will just have to be patient, while you wait for the dealer to reply.
 

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vijeep

vijeep

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Hi Vit,
We're sorry to hear about your experience. If you need any assistance while working with your dealer, we recommend reaching out to Canadian Customer Care. The link below has their contact information below the "Canada" tab.
https://www.fcagroup.com/en-US/footer/Pages/contacts.aspx
Alex
JeepCares
Dear Alex,

Thank you for the reply. I contacted Canadian Customer Care, but I did not receive any help. They just apologised for the issue. I submitted a formal complaint, as since a bought the car (July 2019) this is the third time I am going to the dealership to fix issues.

First they changed a broken steering pump after 10 days I had the car, then I needed to make the V41 recall (they sold me the car without even making a recall that what released months before) and now this issue. The car that I bought did not show any problem on the inspection report, and now I have three problems already, which make me think no inspection was done, as I drove the car for 3,000 km on a total of 20,000 km.

It is not a good a publicity for Jeep.
 
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vijeep

vijeep

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Since you've left the vehicle at the dealership, we can't exactly help you troubleshoot much.

You will just have to be patient, while you wait for the dealer to reply.
Thank you rjk. Yes I will keep you updated, but it is good to have ideas on what the issue can be... if something easy to solve or more problematic.
 

eck

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Did you get any warning lights on the dash? I had a similar thing happen to me and the "Service 4WD" light came on.

Also curious... do you have the full-time 4WD transfer case?
 
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vijeep

vijeep

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Did you get any warning lights on the dash? I had a similar thing happen to me and the "Service 4WD" light came on.

Also curious... do you have the full-time 4WD transfer case?
Nope. No warning light. Just no front wheels moving, only the rear back. And no, my wrangler does not have a full-time 4WD, is a 2018 JL.
 

eck

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Nope. No warning light. Just no front wheels moving, only the rear back. And no, my wrangler does not have a full-time 4WD, is a 2018 JL.
Gotcha. The full-time 4WD is an option on the 2018 Sahara, is why I asked.

Sounds like maybe an issue with the front axle disconnect, although I would expect that to throw an error code. If the FAD doesn't fully engage, then the front differential is going to output all of the torque to the disconnected inner stub axle on the passenger side, and neither tire is going to spin up front.
 

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vijeep

vijeep

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Dear eck, thank for sharing your thoughts.

I do not really know how a FAD works, but I agree with you that it is strange to no having any error code.

Also, if the car is in 2H/4H and one wheel is spinning freely while the other is locked, the traction control should reduce the torque on the spinning wheel and give energy to the other. Am I correct? The wrangler also has a brake limited differential that should help in this situation, but I think it only works on 4H.

I was on 4H and none of these systems were working... only rear left wheel spinning and digging into the ground :(
 

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Did the indicator light come on showing you were engaged in 4 hi or 4 low?

My shifter was so tight when new I had a hard time engaging 4 hi and it jumped out of low because it wasnā€™t fully engaged.

itā€™s fine after using it a couple of times.
 

vavaroutsos

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Dear eck, thank for sharing your thoughts.

I do not really know how a FAD works, but I agree with you that it is strange to no having any error code.

Also, if the car is in 2H/4H and one wheel is spinning freely while the other is locked, the traction control should reduce the torque on the spinning wheel and give energy to the other. Am I correct? The wrangler also has a brake limited differential that should help in this situation, but I think it only works on 4H.

I was on 4H and none of these systems were working... only rear left wheel spinning and digging into the ground :(
The FAD is a splined collar that slides over the joint between a two piece axle on the passenger side. When over the joint, the axle acts like a normal axle transmitting power. When not over the joint, the two pieces of the axle are not connected and act like a broken axle. This allows the one piece axle to rotate the spider gears and reverse spin the inner piece of the two piece axle without the ring gear moving.
 
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vijeep

vijeep

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Did the indicator light come on showing you were engaged in 4 hi or 4 low?

My shifter was so tight when new I had a hard time engaging 4 hi and it jumped out of low because it wasnā€™t fully engaged.

itā€™s fine after using it a couple of times.
Yes, the indicator light was on 4Hi when I tried the 4Hi, and on 4Low when I tried the 4Low.

Frankly I do think the the 4H/L never worked on my car. The shift was never tight... always going smooth.

My car is second hand, I got it at 16k km, and I think was a car rental... so maybe who used the car was not fully aware how to drive a wrangler and shift gear. What is surprising to me is the lack of control from the dealership before selling the car.
 
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vijeep

vijeep

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The FAD is a splined collar that slides over the joint between a two piece axle on the passenger side. When over the joint, the axle acts like a normal axle transmitting power. When not over the joint, the two pieces of the axle are not connected and act like a broken axle. This allows the one piece axle to rotate the spider gears and reverse spin the inner piece of the two piece axle without the ring gear moving.
Dear Vavaroutsos,

Thank you for the explanation. I found also a useful video on youtube. I am learning a lot about cars after having so much troubles with this one!
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