Advice With Warranty - Manual 2018 JL 2nd gear disengaging

[FirstTimeJeepOwner]

Hi all,

I made the lifelong jump from Chevy, turned in my Camaro and got a Wrangler. I've been pretty happy with it up until recently. It currently has 37,000 miles on it (according to the dealership, the powertrain is still under warranty). It started to sometimes pop out of 2nd gear early on and I thought it was a little weird, but didn't think too much of it as it rarely happened. Now, I can recreate the issue every single time. It's when I'm in 2nd gear and I let off the gas and start to decelerate, it grinds and flies back into neutral. It only happens in 2nd gear, and has no other shifting issues.

I see that this is a common issue in the forums, but I more-so need help with handling the dealership. I dropped it off last Thursday and explained the issue. The rep at the service desk asked me how to put that into words for the tech. I just said to say the transmission falls out of 2nd gear, and only 2nd gear. Well today I finally got an update. I got a call from the service desk rep saying that the clutch, flywheel, pressure plate and throw bearing all needed replacing, and they aren't under warranty. I was completely caught off guard by that. I've replaced a few clutch housings before myself, but only when I can't shift into gear... and definitely not at 37,000 miles. I'm not having issues shifting, I'm having issues staying in only one gear. It actually shifts very smoothly, even into 2nd.

Me on the phone: "Can you explain why I'm only having issues in 2nd gear if that's the case? All the other gears are perfectly fine."
Service rep: "I'm not sure, I'll have to ask the tech and get back to you."
Me: "Okay, please do, because that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me mechanically."

I get a text from the service rep about 30 minutes later -
Service rep: "Just waiting for him to get back from a test drive" (Wait, they diagnosed it without driving it...?)
Me: "Thanks. He won't have any issues in any other gear but 2nd."
Service rep: "He actually said it's slipping in all gears when you take off."

I was NOT having issues in all the gears. I was actually just shifting from 1 to 3 up until turning it in, as none of the other gears gave me an issue. I asked him if I could come in and talk to the tech, because I can show him the issue, and it isn't in any gear other than 2nd. He told me I should come in and talk to his quality manager and maybe he could explain it better to tech.

I get a call from the quality manager 17 minutes later without even reaching out. He explains to me that it's "slipping" when accelerating. I told him I haven't had that issue, and it had no problem shifting, so I didn't think it had anything to do with the clutch assembly. It definitely seemed like a transmission issue. He told me he's had two techs look at it and they both thing the same thing, so he's going to back what they're saying. I told him I just thought it was really odd that I can shift perfectly fine, accelerate, then I only have an issue decelerating and only in 2nd. Here's the oddest thing he said to me, and I'm going to quote it verbatim: "Yea, even when you take off in first, it actually just takes off and you don't have to give it gas. So it's definitely the clutch." ...what? I thought I heard him wrong, so I asked him to repeat that. "You know how you have to give it gas to take off? It'll just 'go' in first gear without stalling out. It should be stalling without gas." I've driven at least 10 different stick shift cars... and I'm pretty sure that's what you'd call 'crawling' first gear. I told him I don't think the fact that my car ISN'T stalling is an issue, and got back to the transmission issue. He tells me "look, you're welcome to get a second opinion, or take it somewhere else, but my techs are certified with some of the top credentials and that's what they're saying it is."

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do next. He just wants me to have the clutch assembly replaced out of warranty, and I genuinely don't think that will fix the problem. I feel like that would happen, the issue with 2nd would still happen, then I'd have to bring it in again to have the transmission worked on after paying thousands of dollars.

I'm loving the Wrangler, but I'm really put off by this. I see a few people have had this exact issue replaced, so is there any advice on how to have them fix the transmission? I'm pretty surprised he told me I could "take it somewhere else."

Thanks in advance!

Sponsored

 

[mwilk012]

The clutch slipping is actually a recall. This dealership is clearly full of morons. I don’t think you want them touching your Jeep.

 

[DavidC70]

Hi all,

I made the lifelong jump from Chevy, turned in my Camaro and got a Wrangler. I've been pretty happy with it up until recently. It currently has 37,000 miles on it (according to the dealership, the powertrain is still under warranty). It started to sometimes pop out of 2nd gear early on and I thought it was a little weird, but didn't think too much of it as it rarely happened. Now, I can recreate the issue every single time. It's when I'm in 2nd gear and I let off the gas and start to decelerate, it grinds and flies back into neutral. It only happens in 2nd gear, and has no other shifting issues.

I see that this is a common issue in the forums, but I more-so need help with handling the dealership. I dropped it off last Thursday and explained the issue. The rep at the service desk asked me how to put that into words for the tech. I just said to say the transmission falls out of 2nd gear, and only 2nd gear. Well today I finally got an update. I got a call from the service desk rep saying that the clutch, flywheel, pressure plate and throw bearing all needed replacing, and they aren't under warranty. I was completely caught off guard by that. I've replaced a few clutch housings before myself, but only when I can't shift into gear... and definitely not at 37,000 miles. I'm not having issues shifting, I'm having issues staying in only one gear. It actually shifts very smoothly, even into 2nd.

Me on the phone: "Can you explain why I'm only having issues in 2nd gear if that's the case? All the other gears are perfectly fine."
Service rep: "I'm not sure, I'll have to ask the tech and get back to you."
Me: "Okay, please do, because that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me mechanically."

I get a text from the service rep about 30 minutes later -
Service rep: "Just waiting for him to get back from a test drive" (Wait, they diagnosed it without driving it...?)
Me: "Thanks. He won't have any issues in any other gear but 2nd."
Service rep: "He actually said it's slipping in all gears when you take off."

I was NOT having issues in all the gears. I was actually just shifting from 1 to 3 up until turning it in, as none of the other gears gave me an issue. I asked him if I could come in and talk to the tech, because I can show him the issue, and it isn't in any gear other than 2nd. He told me I should come in and talk to his quality manager and maybe he could explain it better to tech.

I get a call from the quality manager 17 minutes later without even reaching out. He explains to me that it's "slipping" when accelerating. I told him I haven't had that issue, and it had no problem shifting, so I didn't think it had anything to do with the clutch assembly. It definitely seemed like a transmission issue. He told me he's had two techs look at it and they both thing the same thing, so he's going to back what they're saying. I told him I just thought it was really odd that I can shift perfectly fine, accelerate, then I only have an issue decelerating and only in 2nd. Here's the oddest thing he said to me, and I'm going to quote it verbatim: "Yea, even when you take off in first, it actually just takes off and you don't have to give it gas. So it's definitely the clutch." ...what? I thought I heard him wrong, so I asked him to repeat that. "You know how you have to give it gas to take off? It'll just 'go' in first gear without stalling out. It should be stalling without gas." I've driven at least 10 different stick shift cars... and I'm pretty sure that's what you'd call 'crawling' first gear. I told him I don't think the fact that my car ISN'T stalling is an issue, and got back to the transmission issue. He tells me "look, you're welcome to get a second opinion, or take it somewhere else, but my techs are certified with some of the top credentials and that's what they're saying it is."

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do next. He just wants me to have the clutch assembly replaced out of warranty, and I genuinely don't think that will fix the problem. I feel like that would happen, the issue with 2nd would still happen, then I'd have to bring it in again to have the transmission worked on after paying thousands of dollars.

I'm loving the Wrangler, but I'm really put off by this. I see a few people have had this exact issue replaced, so is there any advice on how to have them fix the transmission? I'm pretty surprised he told me I could "take it somewhere else."

Thanks in advance!

Hell no. I'd fight.

I had the same prob with my 2018 Wrangler. My issue seemed to be a 2nd gear slipping out issue, but my description evolved to "it only happens when I am decelerating NOT accelerating." Once I phrased it like that the "30 yr experienced Jeep technician" was able to reproduce it. But it took 4 trips and me causing a scene in the lobby.

They called Jeep and got something I think he called a "star case" opened? This allowed him to pull the whole transmission and send it back to Jeep intact to review. They gave me a new transmission. They originally told me it was a clutch issue (and not covered) but it was not.

I only have 16k miles!

 

[Vader Jeep]

Its not a clutch issue had the same problem they replaced the tranny and now afyer 20000 miles the new tranny is doing it to

 

[58Willys]

A manual tranny popping out of gear on decel is usually caused by worn gears, worn bearings allowing gear mesh to be sloppy, or poorly adjusted shift linkage. Rarely will a clutch in any condition cause a tranny to pop out of gear.

Your clutch could be bad, because apparently the JL clutches are garbage, but this won’t cause it to pop out of gear.

My guess would be a bad gear set, or bad linkage. Bad situation for you, I hope you get it resolved. Get Jeep Cares involved.

 

[garykk]

If you can , take it to another dealer that hopefully won’t try to stick it to you.

 

[BroncoHound]

Send @JeepCares a private message summarizing what you've said here and ask them to get involved. They should absolutely be working to have your transmission replaced under warranty. Documented historical issue and has nothing to do with the clutch beyond the faulty piece of equipment sitting next to it in the driveline.

 

[SH556JL]

OP posted once last year, tapped and gone. I assume (s)he got it sorted or at least I hope.

Sponsored