Head Gasket Blew

[Beetle Bailey]

2019 JLUR with only 36,000 miles...head gasket went south. No warning, no symptoms. All of a sudden the jeep started sputtering, yellow light came on, and that was it.

Great jeep workmanship...designed to fail at 36K...WTH?

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[Erievon]

What motor, and you're sure it's the head gasket because...

 

[AcesandEights]

I'm surprised it was a head gasket and not an oil pan gasket. Seeing you have two Heavy Duty bikes, it was probably just looking for a reason to leak something.

 

[JLfromCA]

What motor?

 

[alphawolff]

Head gaskets on 3.6Ls are incredibly common. They also blow on the 2.0L if they're overheated even once.


I think the 3.6L issue is the head bolts aren't properly torqued at the factory. We get a seriously high amount failing around 50-70k these days. Considering the same factory leaves the valve covers loose I'd say it's a good bet.

 

[dsgrey]

Head gaskets on 3.6Ls are incredibly common. They also blow on the 2.0L if they're overheated even once.


I think the 3.6L issue is the head bolts aren't properly torqued at the factory. We get a seriously high amount failing around 50-70k these days. Considering the same factory leaves the valve covers loose I'd say it's a good bet.

In 2019, they hit the 10 million count for 3.6 Pentastar engines and they still aren't torqued properly at the factory?

 

[alphawolff]

In 2019, they hit the 10 million count for 3.6 Pentastar engines and they still aren't torqued properly at the factory?

No. The 3.6L production got shifted to a plant in Mexico a couple of years ago. I'm still getting 2024s with loose valve cover bolts causing the O2 sensors to get contaminated with oil. It's absolutely insane that it still happens.

Let's see, on the JL we had in large quantities:


Loose lower bolt joint nuts
Loose valve cover bolts
Loose water outlet bolts
Probably loose cylinder head bolts (I haven't confirmed this, I'm just assuming due to all the failures always failing around the same mileage while others never fail)


I think you get the picture, and that's not even going into the silly stuff like the bad frame welds on the early models or parts quality issues like the sun visor falling off. There's a LOT of missing quality control that's not taking place, and this is just on one model. You should see the rest of our fleet, it's gotten really bad these last few years.


For what it's worth the 3.6L Charger/Challenger/300 was one of the most consistent vehicles we produced. They were easy to work on, too. It's a shame they killed it off for what is going to be an absolute nightmare of an EV. They already had to delay release by 90 days because the only working process to start the vehicle required disconnecting and reconnecting the battery each time.

 

[PBosch]

2019 JLUR with only 36,000 miles...head gasket went south. No warning, no symptoms. All of a sudden the jeep started sputtering, yellow light came on, and that was it.

Great jeep workmanship...designed to fail at 36K...WTH?

That has happened to several of my Toyota's - NEVER! I really love my Jeep, but quality was not an option on the build sheet.

 

[Willys41]

Not sure and can't confirm put maybe keeping the Wranglers and Gladiators running cooler will prevent the blown head gaskets.
I have been running the RPM Extreme JL fan controller for over a year now and have yet to see temps over 212 and that was pulling a 4000ft to 8000ft mountain pass fully loaded weighing in at about 6700LBs on 37 tires. NO more 235+ temps.
Most of the time its runs about 188 to 195 and the oil temps are down by 25 degrees.
All it takes is better fan control.

http://www.rpmextreme.com/Product/311/Jeep-JL-PWM-FAN-CONTROLLER.aspx

 

[AcesandEights]

That has happened to several of my Toyota's - NEVER! I really love my Jeep, but quality was not an option on the build sheet.

My 2022 JLR never needed a CV boot replaced, but my 4Runner did. Toyota quality must suck?

 

[PBosch]

My 2022 JLR never needed a CV boot replaced, but my 4Runner did. Toyota quality must suck?

clearly

 

[Deleted User 38384]

2019 JLUR with only 36,000 miles...head gasket went south. No warning, no symptoms. All of a sudden the jeep started sputtering, yellow light came on, and that was it.

Great jeep workmanship...designed to fail at 36K...WTH?

Damn that sucks.

Reading some of these things makes me happy I have an EcoDiesel. When I first decided to purchase a Wrangler, initially I was going to go with the 3.6. I figured 20 plus years of that engine being around, the likelihood of it having issues would be minor.

Clearly not!

 

[dsgrey]

That has happened to several of my Toyota's - NEVER! I really love my Jeep, but quality was not an option on the build sheet.

My 1985 Toyota pickup with a 22r blew a gasket in the early 90s. But I also had a 1977 Datsun pickup that blew a head gasket around 1982.

 

[Bayrat]

It's roulette with the QC obviously. I have owned 6 versions of the V6, including in the 2018 GC. No failure of anything yet, except the plastic oil filter housing on my 1013 JK Rubi during break in.

 

[BetterThanMine]

... I'm just reading all of this thinking to myself anything mechanical can fail at any time and if I were to go by the internet...

Every. Single. Vehicle. Sucks.

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