Am I screwed?

[TaxPhan]

$2,096.04 to replace an intake camshaft, rocker arms, lash adjusters, etc. on my 4-year old JL. I brought it to my preferred repairshop who is more capable than the local Jeep dealership (who stills puts too much oil in the engine). But because of that, it won't be covered under the Powertrain Warranty. Yet, when I had an item repaired that then came under a recall this year, FCA reimbursed me. Am I screwed?

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[DonH63]

Warranty repairs and recalls are often treated differently. You can try contacting FCA and perhaps make a claim with the BBB to see if you can get reimbursed. But, yeah, probably...

 

[Bill_P]

Why did you take such a big repair to an indy shop? I wouldn't get my hopes up on having it reimbursed.

 

[SparkleTooth]

I would consider the money well spent to have a shop you trust to do the work instead of the dealer. 2k sounds fair for that work as well.
But to answer your question, yeah you probably are......just consider it cost of owning a Jeep

 

[TaxPhan]

Why did you take such a big repair to an indy shop? I wouldn't get my hopes up on having it reimbursed.

Because the dealership tried to fix my death wobble last year, 4 times. Brought it to the "indy" shop who fixed it for $150.

 

[DonH63]

Because the dealership tried to fix my death wobble last year, 4 times. Brought it to the "indy" shop who fixed it for $150.

Sounds like you are better off in the long run for having it done by a mechanic you trust.

Go Fund Me?

 

[TaxPhan]

Sounds like you are better off in the long run for having it done by a mechanic you trust.

Go Fund Me?

Can afford it, just don't want to! It just conceptually chaps my a$$.

 

[C.Sco]

I would consider the money well spent to have a shop you trust to do the work instead of the dealer. 2k sounds fair for that work as well.
But to answer your question, yeah you probably are......just consider it cost of owning a Jeep

Pretty much my thoughts exactly.

It's no fun spending $2k on any car repair, but it's less of a sting, mentally, if you consider that it took 4 years before it needed that repair. So this relatively major repair really only costed like $40 per month of ownership, if you think about it like that. And since it's really unlikely to need the same repair again for at least another 4 years, then this repair is sort of more like $20 per month of ownership.

That's what helped me cope with a $10k repair bill on an Audi I owned once... that repair bill stung like hell, but then I considered that it's really the only major repair it ever needed, and I had the car for 5 years so really it was only like $2k/year in repairs, which ain't that bad (for an $80k V10 Audi) if you think of it that way.

 

[Old Jeeper]

$2,096.04 to replace an intake camshaft, rocker arms, lash adjusters, etc. on my 4-year old JL. I brought it to my preferred repairshop who is more capable than the local Jeep dealership (who stills puts too much oil in the engine). But because of that, it won't be covered under the Powertrain Warranty. Yet, when I had an item repaired that then came under a recall this year, FCA reimbursed me. Am I screwed?

Probably so, very hard to get a repair paid for if its not at a dealership.

That said I did it. I had a valve lifter go bad and a few more followed that and it led to it barely running. I was in the Army and going from one assignment to another and in a state that had never been to. Back in the 70s and I got a rid to a service station garage. The nearest dealer was a long way off. I got a wrecker to haul it to the garage and got it fixed by replacing my valve lifters. My car was new with less than 1000 mi. I contacted the dealer and they had me call Chevy and I did and told my story and reimbursed me the full amount. But I was dead in the water and no local dealer got a check.

If your Jeep was drivable and you just took it to fix your issue chances are not happening for you.

I do question a FAILED CAMSHAFT. That is RARE and so is Rocker arm failure and you lifters. It could be possible there was a catastrophic event that led to rocker arm breakage or bending and camshaft scoring...but the chances of that occurring are about the same as Cindy Crawford showing up at my house this morning to clean the bathrooms.....Ohhh gotta go, Cindy is here, she was running late!

 

[TaxPhan]

Probably so, very hard to get a repair paid for if its not at a dealership.

That said I did it. I had a valve lifter go bad and a few more followed that and it led to it barely running. I was in the Army and going from one assignment to another and in a state that had never been to. Back in the 70s and I got a rid to a service station garage. The nearest dealer was a long way off. I got a wrecker to haul it to the garage and got it fixed by replacing my valve lifters. My car was new with less than 1000 mi. I contacted the dealer and they had me call Chevy and I did and told my story and reimbursed me the full amount. But I was dead in the water and no local dealer got a check.

If your Jeep was drivable and you just took it to fix your issue chances are not happening for you.

I do question a FAILED CAMSHAFT. That is RARE and so is Rocker arm failure and you lifters. It could be possible there was a catastrophic event that led to rocker arm breakage or bending and camshaft scoring...but the chances of that occurring are about the same as Cindy Crawford showing up at my house this morning to clean the bathrooms.....Ohhh gotta go, Cindy is here, she was running late!

Think my extended issue with the Death Wobble could have caused the camshaft/rocker arm damage?

 

[Valpo Jeep]

If you are out of warranty then Jeep will likely not repair it, you can try to see if they will cover it in part under good faith. If you are on an extended warranty then Jeep will repair minus your deductible. If you are on a warranty check the fine lines to see if you must take it to Jeep or if an indie can do the job and IF they will do it and charge your warranty.

Highly doubt the DW caused a bad cam. Now the overfill . . . . The absolute worst case scenario with an overfill is the the oil level in the pan is up where the crank spins. The crank could slap into the oil and create foam and thus turn the whole pan into a pan of foamy oil and the oil pump would not be able to pump the oil up and starve the engine. But with the windage tray I would speculate that 6 quarts vs 5 quarts may not do that.

 

[Deleted member 59498]

I do question a FAILED CAMSHAFT. That is RARE and so is Rocker arm failure and you lifters.

Not in the 3.6 it is not. Cam/Rocker is probably the #1 failure of the engine.

 

[TaxPhan]

If you are out of warranty then Jeep will likely not repair it, you can try to see if they will cover it in part under good faith. If you are on an extended warranty then Jeep will repair minus your deductible. If you are on a warranty check the fine lines to see if you must take it to Jeep or if an indie can do the job and IF they will do it and charge your warranty.

Highly doubt the DW caused a bad cam. Now the overfill . . . . The absolute worst case scenario with an overfill is the the oil level in the pan is up where the crank spins. The crank could slap into the oil and create foam and thus turn the whole pan into a pan of foamy oil and the oil pump would not be able to pump the oil up and starve the engine. But with the windage tray I would speculate that 6 quarts vs 5 quarts may not do that.

I'm still within the Powertrain warranty - that's the painful part of not realizing I HAD to bring it to the Jeep dealership.

 

[alphawolff]

$2,096.04 to replace an intake camshaft, rocker arms, lash adjusters, etc. on my 4-year old JL. I brought it to my preferred repairshop who is more capable than the local Jeep dealership (who stills puts too much oil in the engine). But because of that, it won't be covered under the Powertrain Warranty. Yet, when I had an item repaired that then came under a recall this year, FCA reimbursed me. Am I screwed?

My dude, if it's under powertrain take it to the dealer. The green guys changing you oil aren't the ones taking your engine apart. Rockers on the 3.6L is incredibly easy and straight forward.

 

[Old Jeeper]

Think my extended issue with the Death Wobble could have caused the camshaft/rocker arm damage?

Seeing it is that DW has been an issue with Jeep since 1967, you could try it and see. I would not doubt it...LOL

A word on DW: Front solid axle DW is organic to the front suspension architecture. The basis is Newton's Laws of Motion, which is just a FACT. It can be mitigated effectively, I have done it on Jeep(s) and it takes a redesign of the suspension, not radically. Go with a High Steer (Tie rod above the axle plane. Parallel the Tie Rod, Track Bar, Drag Link and SS with the axle/ground plane. At that point in time you have effectively gained control of DW. Now you go into the maintenance mode, stay on top of that and you will never see DW again...

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