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Intermittent power steering in cold temps at highway speed almost killed me and my wife

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Last week I took my JLUR into the dealer service dept for it's 3rd time regarding the stiff then suddenly loose steering at highway speed when temps are under 45 degrees. They kept it most of the week. Despite my telling them that if they will drive it first thing in the morning, they can experience the issue themselves, they first tried to blame the issue on the my Fox ATS steering stabilizer (which has been on the Jeep about a month). When I explained that it's occured since the Jeep was new, they then said they felt it was an alignment issue. When I questioned the logic of how the alignment affects power steering, they just said they needed to do it. I let them do the alignment and they called on Friday and said they believed they had the issue fixed. They also performed the TSB for the 3rd time to reset the vehicle configuration - which has never helped. I picked the Jeep up Saturday and noticed on the paperwork they had put that the technician had never been able to duplicate the issue. All he would have had to have done was drive it in the AM but apparently that was beyond their capability to follow directions. So yesterday the wife and I had taken a long drive up to NE oklahoma. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner before driving back. A few minutes after getting on the road as we rounded a curve, a large buck was crossing the road. I tried to steer just enough to miss him and the stiff steering suddenly soft which caused the Jeep to over correct, taking us off the highway onto the grass, where we slid on two wheels for about 50 feet before coming to rest. It was a miracle that the Jeep did not go completely over and roll. We drove the remaining 220 miles at 45mph. How is it that after 3 years, Jeep still can't resolve this problem? Is it going to take deaths and a massive lawsuit to fix it?
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OversandJL

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I have been having the same issue 2018 JLUR. They always default to the "did you put an aftermarket stabilizer in" line, nope just the TSB one. I had the TSB software update done and it seemed to fix the issue for now. Still have loose steering though, until the steering box TSB i guess.
 

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I have this same problem, and it's super sketchy. As it gets colder, it happens more often. Under 40 is when mine acts up. Have taken to dealer. LIke you they cant replicate it. I'm going to take it up again late december / Jan to make sure it's cold enough regardless of what time they test drive it. The next question is will they go at highway speed that has a 'sharp' curve.
 

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Go in with the TSB # and say you know this has fixed it for others. It took them 20 minutes to do the update while they performed an oil change. Should be no need to test drive it.
 

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I plan on having the TSB printed out tapped to the windshield to remind them.
 

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I've had the TSB done 3 times. Same result each time. Clearly in some cases it's not the vehicle configuration that is the issue. The annoying thing is that my JL otherwise is perfect, no sketchy steering otherwise. I can go hands off and my JL will retain the lane for at least a half mile before I have to touch the wheel.
 

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I've had the TSB done 3 times. Same result each time. Clearly in some cases it's not the vehicle configuration that is the issue. The annoying thing is that my JL otherwise is perfect, no sketchy steering otherwise. I can go hands off and my JL will retain the lane for at least a half mile before I have to touch the wheel.
Have you had the steering gear TSB done? I see you're in the Dallas area. Have you tried the dealer over near Love Field? I just took my Jeep there for the steering gear and had great service. Ask for "TJ"
 
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Have you had the steering gear TSB done? I see you're in the Dallas area. Have you tried the dealer over near Love Field? I just took my Jeep there for the steering gear and had great service. Ask for "TJ"
No, haven't had that tsb done since my Jeep steers perfectly if the temps are above 40 degrees. I don't want them swapping out the steering box and I end up one of those folks whose Jeep wanders all over the road.
 

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No, haven't had that tsb done since my Jeep steers perfectly if the temps are above 40 degrees. I don't want them swapping out the steering box and I end up one of those folks whose Jeep wanders all over the road.
It may be related to the steering gear, even though it doesn't mention that problem speficially in the TSB. My steering would sometimes get "stuck" too when driving when the temps got cold. Haven't had a cold day opportunity to see if it still sticks after the steering gear TSB.
 

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They need to replace the gearbox with the new steel one. That will get rid of it. Only thing that cured mine
 

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I also think that hydro electric pump is utter garbage whoever is thier steering designer needs to be fired
 

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They need to replace the gearbox with the new steel one. That will get rid of it. Only thing that cured mine

this 100%. I had exact experience as you. I too was nervous about the new steering box but wow what a difference. This will fix your problem, do it.....
 

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Well there's two things to deal with. The dealer approving the gear box TSB, and actually getting the parts. I thought I read somewhere that the new boxes are hard to get ahold of.

The last time I went to the dealer, they said they did a flash (was it the right flash, no clue).
 

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Last week I took my JLUR into the dealer service dept for it's 3rd time regarding the stiff then suddenly loose steering at highway speed when temps are under 45 degrees. They kept it most of the week. Despite my telling them that if they will drive it first thing in the morning, they can experience the issue themselves, they first tried to blame the issue on the my Fox ATS steering stabilizer (which has been on the Jeep about a month). When I explained that it's occured since the Jeep was new, they then said they felt it was an alignment issue. When I questioned the logic of how the alignment affects power steering, they just said they needed to do it. I let them do the alignment and they called on Friday and said they believed they had the issue fixed. They also performed the TSB for the 3rd time to reset the vehicle configuration - which has never helped. I picked the Jeep up Saturday and noticed on the paperwork they had put that the technician had never been able to duplicate the issue. All he would have had to have done was drive it in the AM but apparently that was beyond their capability to follow directions. So yesterday the wife and I had taken a long drive up to NE oklahoma. We stopped at a restaurant for dinner before driving back. A few minutes after getting on the road as we rounded a curve, a large buck was crossing the road. I tried to steer just enough to miss him and the stiff steering suddenly soft which caused the Jeep to over correct, taking us off the highway onto the grass, where we slid on two wheels for about 50 feet before coming to rest. It was a miracle that the Jeep did not go completely over and roll. We drove the remaining 220 miles at 45mph. How is it that after 3 years, Jeep still can't resolve this problem? Is it going to take deaths and a massive lawsuit to fix it?
I have the exact same issue with my jeep and have taken it to 2 different dealerships for a total of 4 times an no one has been able to fix it. How did you get them to fix it or has it been fixed?
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