Another 3.6 Blown Head Gasket

[mwilk012]

I need to check our extended warranty (wife did all of the paperwork) to see what the particulars are. Seems like installing ARP studs before the engine it goes boom would be prudent, but the labor to do that isn't much different I guess.

Installing head studs can’t hurt, but you’d probably want to replace the gaskets if you’re relaxing torque. Not sure how these would hold up to a 1:1 swap on head bolts. If you aren’t doing the work yourself, it isn’t worth the risk.

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[alphawolff]

I dont know much about this aspect - is a dealership extended warranty better? I thought they were from the same companies. I havent bought an extended yet but planned to go third party on it instead of the dealer.

The dealership warranty is backed by Stellantis themselves. It's treated as any other warranty repair. The only limitation is you generally need to have the work done at the dealer. Third party warranties will pull all kinds of bullshit before actually agreeing to fix the vehicle. They will try to send us junkyard engines all the time before just buying a reman. It's insane how much effort they go through to save money and end up costing more down the line.

I will say just about any damn repair these days is a minimum of $500+. Just one or two repairs under the warranty and it pays for itself. Our vehicles are built like shit these days, I'd strongly recommend it if you plan on keeping the vehicle for awhile.

wait really? why would anyone buy third party then? are they cheaper or something?

Honestly? Total misinformation. Most people aren't well versed in this field and the dealer sells them because they get kickbacks when they do. All they hear is "Here's an extended warranty for 3 years!!" and then they go to use it and find out half the car isn't covered and they'll only use aftermarket/junkyard parts on the parts that are covered. Not every aftermarket warranty is like this, but a VAST majority are. That's not even going into the additional time it takes the dealership to negotiate with the warranty company for the repair. Sometimes we're kept on hold for over an hour before someone answers. Then they hang up on us and your vehicle sits there for a week because we're too busy to deal with that shit again.

Just buy the mopar warranty and avoid the headache.

 

[AlgUSF]

Until you need a new engine and cheeped out on not getting the warranty... how much is a new engine+install?

I guess I consider that the “cost of doing business”. I’ve bought over a dozen new cars in my life and never had one need to be replaced completely. I’ve also never bought an extended warranty.

So if I haven’t spent $1500 on extended warranties on 12 cars that would be $18K I didn’t spend. Does an engine replacement cost more than 18K? Seems like I’m still ahead.

There is a sizable profit margin in extended warranties. I have a risk tolerance, where I can absorb a one off major expense. Some people don’t have that same tolerance and an extended warranty may make sense.

 

[alphawolff]

I guess I consider that the “cost of doing business”. I’ve bought over a dozen new cars in my life and never had one need to be replaced completely. I’ve also never bought an extended warranty.

So if I haven’t spent $1500 on extended warranties on 12 cars that would be $18K I didn’t spend. Does an engine replacement cost more than 18K? Seems like I’m still ahead.

There is a sizable profit margin in extended warranties. I have a risk tolerance, where I can absorb a one off major expense. Some people don’t have that same tolerance and an extended warranty may make sense.

Most mopar engine replacements are well over the 10k+ mark now. The engine alone is like 7k-8k.

I really need to stress that nearly all repairs on our vehicles, when done at the dealer, are at minimum $500 with $1000 repairs slowly becoming the norm. Part prices are skyrocketing, labor is skyrocketing.

I need to stress our vehicles are becoming less and less reliable these last few years. If you plan on owning one outside of its basic warranty you better buy an extended one or it's your ass. Even wrenching yourself you're going to get owned on part cost.

 

[mwilk012]

The dealership warranty is backed by Stellantis themselves. It's treated as any other warranty repair. The only limitation is you generally need to have the work done at the dealer. Third party warranties will pull all kinds of bullshit before actually agreeing to fix the vehicle. They will try to send us junkyard engines all the time before just buying a reman. It's insane how much effort they go through to save money and end up costing more down the line.

I will say just about any damn repair these days is a minimum of $500+. Just one or two repairs under the warranty and it pays for itself. Our vehicles are built like shit these days, I'd strongly recommend it if you plan on keeping the vehicle for awhile.




Honestly? Total misinformation. Most people aren't well versed in this field and the dealer sells them because they get kickbacks when they do. All they hear is "Here's an extended warranty for 3 years!!" and then they go to use it and find out half the car isn't covered and they'll only use aftermarket/junkyard parts on the parts that are covered. Not every aftermarket warranty is like this, but a VAST majority are.

Just buy the mopar warranty and avoid the headache.

The warranties cost several thousand dollars generally, slow down processing time for getting it done, and take even longer to get us paid. It all around sucks to deal with.

 

[alphawolff]

Are there any particular years that are affected more than others?

All upgraded 3.6L engines are effected. The grand cherokees and pacificas are especially common for failures. I suspect with more JLs having 2.0Ls now its the reason why we're not seeing as many JLs fail. Less on the road and all that.

The warranties cost several thousand dollars generally, slow down processing time for getting it done, and take even longer to get us paid. It all around sucks to deal with.

Yup. The mopar one is as simple as running the part number. Is it covered? Cool ,fix the car.

If it's an aftermarket warranty a simple repair goes from taking a day to 1-2 weeks depending if they're wasting our time sending an inspector.

 

[mwilk012]

All upgraded 3.6L engines are effected. The grand cherokees and pacificas are especially common for failures. I suspect with more JLs having 2.0Ls now its the reason why we're not seeing as many JLs fail. Less on the road and all that.


Yup. The mopar one is as simple as running the part number. Is it covered? Cool ,fix the car.

If it's an aftermarket warranty a simple repair goes from taking a day to 1-2 weeks depending if they're wasting our time sending an inspector.

which years? They were produced in different locations for many years.

 

[Rick4570]

All upgraded 3.6L engines are effected"

What is considered an "upgraded" 3.6?

 

[alphawolff]

which years? They were produced in different locations for many years.

All of the mexico produced pentastar 3.6L upgrade engines.

All upgraded 3.6L engines are effected"

What is considered an "upgraded" 3.6?

In 2016 FCA upgraded the pentastar to the current design, adding S/S, VVL, and EGR functionality with the grand cherokees getting it first, then the pacificas. The wrangler only got this engine in 2018 with the introduction of the JL. The chargers/300s/challengers kept their original 3.6L until the end of model production.

 

[Chris A]

OP

BLUF: 2019 JLUS Altitude, 3.6, auto, no mods, 52,225 miles (13 days after 5yr power train warranty expiration). Head gasket blown without any warnings, coolant got into cylinder 6 and cylinder is scored. After 5 weeks at dealership extended warranty authorized engine replacement with MOPAR reman engine, my deductible is $100. Engine is available and it should be complete next week.



Long version: It’s wifes Jeep, has a very easy life! I checked it over since she was going on an out of town trip. Everything was fine, all fluids were at correct levels and no indication of oil/coolant mixing. 2-3 days later she’s on the interstate at 70 mph and it started to miss with a CEL and ESS light. Fortunately she was in town and was able to get off the interstate and into a parking lot in less than a mile. When I got there it was missing and sputtering but produced power. There wasn’t any smoke out the exhaust. We traded Jeeps and she took my Rubicon on her trip. I drove hers home. I knew I had been on borrowed time with the factory battery so my first thought was replace the battery. I couldn’t think of why a failing battery would make it miss but that’s what my brain locked on with it being 5 yrs old and the ESS light. Well, a new battery didn’t fix it. My code reader wouldn’t work so I bought another and had P0306, cyl 6 misfire. Ahh, no problem I thought, it’s a plug, coil, or injector. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary so rather than throwing parts at it, off to the dealership the next day. Since I didn’t suspect an internal failure I didn’t check oil or coolant.



Over the next 5 weeks at dealer-Told me they needed to do a leak down test and disassembly to find the problem, had to authorize about $900 for the work, but it would fall under the warranty if the repair was covered by the warranty. They asked me for oil change records and receipts for the warranty company. The extended warranty states that oil change records and receipts are required for any claim. I change oil every 5k miles and had everything except 3 filter receipts. They said the head was cracked and coolant had got into the cylinder and it was scored. An inspector from the warranty company, looked at it and wanted the head pulled. Apparently they had only removed the intake. After the head was removed the inspector looked at it again. The dealership told me that I had to wait for the inspectors report to learn what the failure was. Today I scheduled a meeting with the service manager and when I showed up the advisor said it was all approved for a MOPAR reman engine with a 2yr/24k mile warranty. The engine is scheduled to arrive around the 20th and 2 days to install. This time they said it was a head gasket failure.



I’m happy with the outcome, it was just a long process to get here. One of the items I was going to discuss with the service manager was a goodwill factory warranty repair since it was only 13 days past the 5 year warranty. At this point it’s worth paying the $100 deductible to avoid dealing with Jeep on a goodwill repair.

who is the extended warranty through?

 

[tk1700]

I change my own oil, I only have 6800 miles on my jeep, do you know if saving oil receipts is necessary for warranty coverage?

For the factory warranty you shouldn't have to. My extended warranty specifically states receipts are required and a simple maintenance log will not suffice. Of course I didn't read that part until I had a problem. Fortunately all my oil had been bought at Costco and they were able to reprint receipts. I had receipts for oil filters from Amazon but was missing 3 from Walmart or Auto Zone. I also had a maintenance log detailing all maintenance that had been done since new. They didn't give me any hassle about that.

I bought the warranty at the dealer when I bought the Jeep. I was more focused on what the finance manager said it covered rather than who was the provider, lesson learned. They are covering it so I can't complain about that, it just took them a long time to approve it.

An interesting thing I did learn is that the dealer, Larry H Miller, and the warranty company, Total Auto Care, have the same parent company http://asburyauto.com.

 

[tk1700]

OP

who is the extended warranty through?

Total Auto Care. Dealer is Larry H Miller, and both are under Asbury auto.

 

[Chris A]

I’m have alway purchased the Mopar warranty. I purchased an ecodiesel gladiator in November. The dealer talked me into an Assurant warranty. Mostly want the option to go somewhere outside the dealership as I have had mixed experience with dealership diesel repairs. Maybe this needs to be in another thread but curious if anyone has experience with Assurant.

 

[Old Dogger]

I change my own oil, I only have 6800 miles on my jeep, do you know if saving oil receipts is necessary for warranty coverage?

It depends on your Dealer. It would be a good idea to have them available if needed.

 

[hilljumper]

I have personally seen ONE with loose head bolts. And I mean LOOSE. <10 ftlb. Working on all makes and models, we don't see enough numbers on one specific engine to get a sample size that matters. Every other blown head gasket I've seen on these has been concurrent with a split radiator seam.

`So, why not check the head torque before the problem?

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