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Ecodiesel Reliability?

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DanW

DanW

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Never owned a jeep. Always been a Ford man, and for the last 17 years drove a F350 with the bullet proof 7.3 engine. Am impressed by the JL, and would love to get a loaded Rubicon with the ecodiesel. All this talk of DPF failures and bearing failures with Chrysler/Fiat not covering same is making me wonder if I shouldn't get the ZR2 with the Dmax. I'm not hearing as many failures from that engine.
I've had excellent luck with my Jeeps. My 2015 Ford Transit, on the other hand, is a basket case. Sad, because I really love the way it drives and its power from the Ecoboost.
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Lee Woiteshek

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I'm in Colorado, along the front range of the Rockies. I'm all about the torque. I'm intrigued by the turbo option, but the etorque thing kinda raises my eyebrows a bit. I wonder about the batteries and their replacement costs. Figured the eight speed and 3.0 ecodiesel were mature tech, and it would be a plug and play type thing. As this thread indicates, there's a bit of doubt out there on the ecodiesel. Now I'm wondering if the tried and true 3.6 isn't the way to go even if the torque rating is the lowest of the three engines.
 
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I'm in Colorado, along the front range of the Rockies. I'm all about the torque. I'm intrigued by the turbo option, but the etorque thing kinda raises my eyebrows a bit. I wonder about the batteries and their replacement costs. Figured the eight speed and 3.0 ecodiesel were mature tech, and it would be a plug and play type thing. As this thread indicates, there's a bit of doubt out there on the ecodiesel. Now I'm wondering if the tried and true 3.6 isn't the way to go even if the torque rating is the lowest of the three engines.
That and the desire for a manual transmission are the two reasons I decided not to wait for the diesel. It was tough, but I just want it to be as reliable as possible and I just can't wrap my head around having a Jeep with an automatic.
 

offcamber

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I have a JK with the 3.6 Pentestar (a 2012 I bought new in 2011). My wife has a 2014 Grand Cherokee with the ecodiesel that we've had since oct 2014 so I have experience with both:

First the 3.6 Pentestar. Reliable is not a word I would use. Mine has had the driver side head replaced twice due to manufacturing problems. I've now had the water pump replaced twice. The radiator replaced twice and the oil cooler replaced once. The catalytic converters had to be replaced as did other emissions related crap. Reliable? Not in the 90K miles that I've owned one.

The 3.0 Ecodiesel we have 67K miles on and have had it 2.5 years. First, the engine is expensive. I don't know what the JL cost is but on the GC it's over $4000 as an option. It's also rather sluggish and has driveability issues. Gas mileage averaged between 22 and 27mpg. Turbolag is bad and there are times when we would pull out and it just seems to take forever to reaching cruise speed and you get honked out. Other times you give it gas and it snaps your head back like a carrier take off. The good news is that for $750 you can get an tuned ECU that will fix most of those issues. The bad news is you will either need to buy a spare ecu and have it programmed, mail your ECU to have it installed. or take your vehicle to a tuner. We did the Green Diesel Engineering tune and it made a pretty big difference. Turbo lag is mostly non-existent now. 0-60 went from 8.7 seconds to 6.2. Gas mileage went from 22 average daily driving to 26 and highway mileage went to 29-35. The only problem there is that you have to lock down your OBD port so the dealer doesn't overwrite your tune, The biggest win of the tune though is it gets rid of EGR (exhaust gas reburn) which shortens the life of the engine through soot build up. If you don't change your own oil, expect shops to charge 2-3x what you pay for an oil change. Dealers charge $150 to 180 to change the oil. I like our ecodiesel, but it's expensive.
 

xray

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The 3.0 Ecodiesel we have 67K miles on and have had it 2.5 years. First, the engine is expensive. I don't know what the JL cost is but on the GC it's over $4000 as an option. It's also rather sluggish and has driveability issues. Gas mileage averaged between 22 and 27mpg. Turbolag is bad and there are times when we would pull out and it just seems to take forever to reaching cruise speed and you get honked out. Other times you give it gas and it snaps your head back like a carrier take off. The good news is that for $750 you can get an tuned ECU that will fix most of those issues. The bad news is you will either need to buy a spare ecu and have it programmed, mail your ECU to have it installed. or take your vehicle to a tuner. We did the Green Diesel Engineering tune and it made a pretty big difference. Turbo lag is mostly non-existent now. 0-60 went from 8.7 seconds to 6.2. Gas mileage went from 22 average daily driving to 26 and highway mileage went to 29-35. The only problem there is that you have to lock down your OBD port so the dealer doesn't overwrite your tune, The biggest win of the tune though is it gets rid of EGR (exhaust gas reburn) which shortens the life of the engine through soot build up. If you don't change your own oil, expect shops to charge 2-3x what you pay for an oil change. Dealers charge $150 to 180 to change the oil. I like our ecodiesel, but it's expensive."
So for an owner in CA, would I have to have two ECUs? One for the green diesel hot tune, and one for the stock ECU to pass smog?
I have a similar situation to the other posters, of having a short drive to work (5mi/each) so I don't want this diesel to turn into a money pit in filter replacements and the other associated joys of diesel maintenance.

I do enjoy the the turbo whine and instant torque, though, of diesel engines.
 

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offcamber

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There is no turbo whine from the ecodiesel. My ecodiesel passes Texas emissions with the tune. No clue about CA. I also left out that you have to change a diesel fuel filter with each oil change. The filter is about $50. If you don't like to get diesel fuel all over you and pay the dealer to change it, they charge anywhere from $75-100 labor to do it. So basically if you pay for service, it costs about $300 per oil change.
 

JamesWyatt

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I'm in Colorado, along the front range of the Rockies. I'm all about the torque. I'm intrigued by the turbo option, but the etorque thing kinda raises my eyebrows a bit. I wonder about the batteries and their replacement costs. Figured the eight speed and 3.0 ecodiesel were mature tech, and it would be a plug and play type thing. As this thread indicates, there's a bit of doubt out there on the ecodiesel. Now I'm wondering if the tried and true 3.6 isn't the way to go even if the torque rating is the lowest of the three engines.
I drove a 2016 VW Touareg TDI for a while, and it was an insane amount of available power, effortlessly cruising up inclines at altitude as if I were on flat ground at sea level. If the JL diesel is the same way, I’m sold.

I will be interested to see if the 3.6 JL with the 8-speed auto will be able to hold steep highway inclines at high altitude and not choke and scream like it does with the JK 5-speed auto. I have more faith that the twin-turbo 4 will be a better choice at high altitude than the 3.6.
 

FireWire

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we just ordered a 2 dr Sport S for my wife. I have a 2015 Ram with the EcoDiesel. I have 65000 km with no issues. I would definitely opt for the diesel in the Wrangler if it was available.
 
 



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