Goodbye to my third Jeep (JLUR) bc fire!

[dusher]

I had heard about some Jeeps having fire issues (I did address my recalls, related to the clutch plates overheating, btw) but never thought it would happen to me.

I loved my YK,JK, and my JL and had planned on my 18 JL lasting me several more years. We were headed out to NY when we lost power after a loud bang and metal on metal sound underneath the Jeep.

We used our momentum to pull over and then came the smoke, followed by flames peeking out from under the hood. I used the on-board extinguisher to buy us time to get the important stuff out before the fire took control back.

Note the (lack of) water coming out of the fire truck in the 1st shot - they didn't have enough water to start the pump. Sigh. They had to back up to it and attempt to spill what they had, hence the truck actually touching my poor JL. Eventually, another truck arrived - and they had water. They were able to flood it out fairly quickly but it was obviously a total loss by that point.

A month on, I await my freshly-ordered 4xe JLRU.

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[ashegam]

Cars can be replaced, people can't. Glad to hear you and your family made it out safely!

 

[OldBlue]

Wow. Sorry about that, but at least no one was hurt.

 

[RAO]

Do you know the cause of the fire?

 

[cripton805]

If it's the trans / clutch. Jeep needs to either "actually" fix it or stop selling the manual transmission altogether.

It's only a matter of time until we see a driver, passenger, small child strapped to a car seat pass on. Due to the fire risk.

I owned a manual trans 18' Wrangler and it never felt right from day one. I sold it once all of the recalls, issues, and safety issues started pouring in. Don't risk your friends and family. I drove 6 hours round trip to get mine. I like manual transmission. I know they're fun. I'm glad you made it out safely.

That's my opinion.

 

[dusher]

Do you know the cause of the fire?

No, no idea aside from a few theories I've read on-line from people that have had similar experiences. I doubt I'll ever know - the insurance was very quick to just close it out and be done with it.

 

[sailscall]

Too bad. Great looking rig. Punk’n is way better looking than “Flame”orange when compared side by side.

 

[dusher]

If it's the trans / clutch. Jeep needs to either "actually" fix it or stop selling the manual transmission altogether.

It's only a matter of time until we see a driver, passenger, small child strapped to a car seat pass on. Due to the fire risk.

I owned a manual trans 18' Wrangler and it never felt right from day one. I sold it once all of the recalls, issues, and safety issues started pouring in. Don't risk your friends and family. I drove 6 hours round trip to get mine. I like manual transmission. I know they're fun. I'm glad you made it out safely.

That's my opinion.

I agree but to fix it would mean acknowledging there's an issue.

I'd already decided I'd do an auto next (I was nostalgic for my old YJ, which is why I went manual on the JL) but, like you said, it never felt great, certainly not like I remembered my YJ.

We were lucky. Two able-bodied people who could get themselves out quickly because it all did happen very fast. I'm glad it was only us in there.

 

[Sean L]

I had heard about some Jeeps having fire issues (I did address my recalls, related to the clutch plates overheating, btw) but never thought it would happen to me.

I loved my YK,JK, and my JL and had planned on my 18 JL lasting me several more years. We were headed out to NY when we lost power after a loud bang and metal on metal sound underneath the Jeep.

We used our momentum to pull over and then came the smoke, followed by flames peeking out from under the hood. I used the on-board extinguisher to buy us time to get the important stuff out before the fire took control back.

Note the (lack of) water coming out of the fire truck in the 1st shot - they didn't have enough water to start the pump. Sigh. They had to back up to it and attempt to spill what they had, hence the truck actually touching my poor JL. Eventually, another truck arrived - and they had water. They were able to flood it out fairly quickly but it was obviously a total loss by that point.

A month on, I await by freshly-ordered 4xe JLRU.

Sorry to see this. Any Idea what the cause was?

 

[Cutterone]

This is getting crazy, I know its a super small number of us manual JL's that'll have a clutch problem, but if we do our Jeep can becoming a raging inferno!!! Unacceptable! When is Jeep going to be forced to face the music on this one? I'm picking up my 2021 Sahara tonight with new CF2 clutch and hydraulics, I'm praying I no longer have to worry about being roasted alive...

 

[Tncdrew]

So sorry this happened to you. Glad you made it out safely.

 

[Apples491]

Glad everyone is safe. Definitely a selling point for having a fire extinguisher in the vehicle. It may not have saved the the Jeep but it allowed you to respond to save what you could. I'm glad to see the travel trailer is unscathed as well.

FWIW, it doesn't look like the fire started at the transmission/clutch. It looks like it started at the front passenger side of the engine bay. Battery? Passenger side engine bank? Since the insurance closed it out, we probably won't ever know for sure.

 

[Cutterone]

Glad everyone is safe. Definitely a selling point for having a fire extinguisher in the vehicle. It may not have saved the the Jeep but it allowed you to respond to save what you could. I'm glad to see the travel trailer is unscathed as well.

FWIW, it doesn't look like the fire started at the transmission/clutch. It looks like it started at the front passenger side of the engine bay. Battery? Passenger side engine bank? Since the insurance closed it out, we probably won't ever know for sure.

I dout battery, he heard a loud metal metal sound and immediate loss of power, sure sounds like another detonating OEM clutch

 

[dusher]

Glad everyone is safe. Definitely a selling point for having a fire extinguisher in the vehicle. It may not have saved the the Jeep but it allowed you to respond to save what you could. I'm glad to see the travel trailer is unscathed as well.

FWIW, it doesn't look like the fire started at the transmission/clutch. It looks like it started at the front passenger side of the engine bay. Battery? Passenger side engine bank? Since the insurance closed it out, we probably won't ever know for sure.

Thanks, I'm sure glad too.

I don't believe the fire started on the passenger side. If you look at the first pic, the fire was spread intense on both sides. As the fire raged on after the Jeep was immobilized, it did become more concentrated, eventually, on the passenger side.

Whatever happened, initially, was definitely mechanical, imo. There's no mistaking the the noise and feeling of driveline equipment breaking/being torn apart. It was rough and sounded like metal tearing through metal.

The responding Trooper (also a Jeep fan was devastated for me) did mention that we'd leaked a fluid as we rolled to a stop (she approached from the rear and saw the trail).

I don't expect to get any answers, like you said, but I won't do a manual again.

 

[Cutterone]

Send those pics to Jeep HQ, say WTF!!! Again how many more times does this need to happen before Jeep either replaces all clutches with a proper design or are held accountable? Does someone have to lose a life first? Sorry it makes me angry!!!

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