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Is the JL the worst Jeep ever?

Goosed

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So all of your posts on this forum are in this thread. But you´ve had this thing since 2018? You list a bunch of problems but your major point is really not about solving your problems but about declaring it the worst Jeep ever?

I don´t know you, but it isn´t really a reach to say this smells like a trolling expedition. Maybe I´m wrong, but it sure quacks like a duck.
He bought a certified pre owned 2018, not in 2018 though... sounds like he got it a few weeks ago.
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This is my first post here. It's my first post because I've not had much time with my JL.

Within a week of buying a certified pre-owned 2018 Sahara it died. I was driving down the highway when all power was lost, the dash started displaying every possible malfunction warning and I barely made it to the side of the interstate where I sat with my wife and 2-year-old son without even my 4-way emergency flashers working! It was an incredibly scary and dangerous experience.

I had it towed back to the dealership from where I purchased it and it's been there since. That was 6 weeks ago!!! Since then it has sat at the dealership, leaving me with nothing but frustration and a car payment.

Initially the tech thought it was a body control module, after replacing that didn't work, they said it required an ignition control module to pair with the new BCM. After that didn't work they told me the replacement BCM was defective and they needed to swap it again. After that didn't work they said it could be a wiring harness, but it turned out to not be that either.

When the shop threw up their hands, they opened what's called a "Star Case". That entails the local technician emailing an engineer at FCA who responds within 24-48 hours. The local technician will try the step suggested by the engineer, email the result back, and within another 24-48 hours will get the next step. The technician will then try turning the screw the other way and 24-48 hours later will come the next suggestion. That went on for a couple of weeks, when they apparently escalated it to a "Level 2" engineer for more back and forth.

The local technician tells me he barely touches my car. He gets a response every day or two, does what it says, reports back, and then waits another day or two for the next response. He's in the same position as he's been for more than a month, not even knowing what's wrong with the car, and this tedious process FCA has for diagnosing problems with their vehicles has taken me from regretting my decision to outright hating the Jeep brand.

In addition to the "Star Case" the service department opened, I called FCA and got assigned a Case Manager who I follow up with every few days but who hasn't really been able to do much in moving the process along.

Notably, before this one I had a 2014 JKU, immediately before that a 2007 JKU and a couple decades ago I had a TJ. I have been very loyal to Jeep, so it really pains me that the latest iteration of the Wrangler is anything but the durable and reliable car I expected and is instead such a complicated mess that even their own technicians can't fix them.

I'm reaching out to the community to ask what more I can possibly do and to see if you agree that the JL is the worst Jeep ever.
The JL is just like that girlfriend u cant stand yet, butta body
 

AgentWolf

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@Ronnie772 , Nobody in this thread has mentioned it, but many JLs leave the factory with fuses that are not fully inserted. After being driven for a while, they loosen and cause odd problems. There are several threads on this in the forum. Anyway, have the tech push down on all the fuses and see what happens.

FWIW, my 19 has 15 k on it now, and has been great. I would like to get the steering TSB done, but other than that no issues at all. I think the design of the Jeep is really good. It's the engineering that's falling short. I can understand electrical problems with a new gen, but they should be ironed out by now. The electronics are advanced for a Jeep, but not compared to many other vehicles. Why people are getting death wobble when solid axles have been around for 100 years is beyond me.
Mine came with the whole ECU not locked in. First drive with it home and things would flickers over bumpers. Pop the hood and sure enough they weren’t locked. Dealer never even opened the hood.
 

CJTJJK-JLNOW

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I have both a March and April build 2018 and no true issues and both are in the mid 30k miles. Brother in law has a June build and same deal. - I don’t post much and tend to stay away from threads like this but... I’d honestly rethink the original thread question and reword it to “Are Jeep Service depts the worst.”

This is a warrantied used Jeep where the dealer can’t figure out what the hell is going on. To me a competent service department would have negated this thread and many like it.- No excuses for crappy QC from the factory from me... But most of my own complaints come from either personal or anecdotal experiences with Jeep service depts. Too many threads like this where Jeeps sit for weeks “being worked on”.
 

Nomod

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This is my first Jeep so I can't express a legitimate opinion about the JL model as worst or best. I bought mine new, have had it two years, and use it as a daily driver and for trips. I may regret saying this, but, knock on wood, I've had not one problem with it. It doesn't use oil, knock on 87 octane, or have electrical, paint, leaking or steering issues. So I'm going with - my JL can't be the worst Jeep ever.
 

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ErAcEr

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This is my first Jeep so I can't express a legitimate opinion about the JL model as worst or best. I bought mine new, have had it two years, and use it as a daily driver and for trips. I may regret saying this, but, knock on wood, I've had not one problem with it. It doesn't use oil, knock on 87 octane, or have electrical, paint, leaking or steering issues. So I'm going with - my JL can't be the worst Jeep ever.
I second this response, bought mine off the lot in 2019 built in 2018 so i scored a sweet deal with the stealership and hoped for the best, almost 20k miles flawless (hell even the clutch recall wasn't a factor)
 

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He bought a certified pre owned 2018, not in 2018 though... sounds like he got it a few weeks ago.
Ahhh. Maybe then he should change the title to, ¨Did I get a lemon?¨ The first post, especially the end, still speaks a troll dialect. But if true, I hope he gets it resolved and can enjoy the Jeep. Color me skeptical. Otherwise, I´d advise him to start exploring his state´s lemon laws.
 
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JeepFan

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I'm reaching out to the community to ask what more I can possibly do and to see if you agree that the JL is the worst Jeep ever.
No, by most definitions, I'd say it's the best Jeep ever made. Bear in mind that the folks on this forum represent a very small percentage, and biased sample, of all Jeep Wrangler owners; and most of them will report any and all issues they experience. Therefore, browsing these threads, one might get an unfairly negative impression of the Wrangler's average build quality.

Unfortuneatly all non-trivial man-made machines break down sooner or later. As a former software developer, automated systems quality assurance tester, and reliability analyst, I'm amazed that today's incredibly complex vehicles run at all! The number of ways for things to go wrong is just overwhelming.

A few years ago I restored an old tractor of the sort I drove as a kid on the farm in the late 50's and early 1960s; and it really hit me how simple those machines were, compared to what we are driving today. That's why you can make a very old car, truck, motorcycle or tractor run today just as well as it did 80-100 years ago. Do you suppose we will be able to get the computer parts for our present JLs in the year 2100; and, if so, could you even find anyone who knew what to do with those parts? But I digress.

Sorry to hear of your problems, and I hope things work out for you.
 

YippieKiYayMrFalcon

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Ahhh. Maybe then he should change the title to, ¨Did I get a lemon?¨ The first post, especially the end, still speaks a troll dialect. But if true, I hope he gets it resolved and can enjoy the Jeep. Color me skeptical. Otherwise, I´d advise him to start exploring his state´s lemon laws.
It was literally in the second sentence of his first post that it was a CPO purchase.
 

Lou_JLU

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This is my first post here. It's my first post because I've not had much time with my JL.

Within a week of buying a certified pre-owned 2018 Sahara it died. I was driving down the highway when all power was lost, the dash started displaying every possible malfunction warning and I barely made it to the side of the interstate where I sat with my wife and 2-year-old son without even my 4-way emergency flashers working! It was an incredibly scary and dangerous experience.

I had it towed back to the dealership from where I purchased it and it's been there since. That was 6 weeks ago!!! Since then it has sat at the dealership, leaving me with nothing but frustration and a car payment.

Initially the tech thought it was a body control module, after replacing that didn't work, they said it required an ignition control module to pair with the new BCM. After that didn't work they told me the replacement BCM was defective and they needed to swap it again. After that didn't work they said it could be a wiring harness, but it turned out to not be that either.

When the shop threw up their hands, they opened what's called a "Star Case". That entails the local technician emailing an engineer at FCA who responds within 24-48 hours. The local technician will try the step suggested by the engineer, email the result back, and within another 24-48 hours will get the next step. The technician will then try turning the screw the other way and 24-48 hours later will come the next suggestion. That went on for a couple of weeks, when they apparently escalated it to a "Level 2" engineer for more back and forth.

The local technician tells me he barely touches my car. He gets a response every day or two, does what it says, reports back, and then waits another day or two for the next response. He's in the same position as he's been for more than a month, not even knowing what's wrong with the car, and this tedious process FCA has for diagnosing problems with their vehicles has taken me from regretting my decision to outright hating the Jeep brand.

In addition to the "Star Case" the service department opened, I called FCA and got assigned a Case Manager who I follow up with every few days but who hasn't really been able to do much in moving the process along.

Notably, before this one I had a 2014 JKU, immediately before that a 2007 JKU and a couple decades ago I had a TJ. I have been very loyal to Jeep, so it really pains me that the latest iteration of the Wrangler is anything but the durable and reliable car I expected and is instead such a complicated mess that even their own technicians can't fix them.

I'm reaching out to the community to ask what more I can possibly do and to see if you agree that the JL is the worst Jeep ever.
Explains why it was pre-owned. Good luck.
 

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When the JL works as designed its the best Jeep ever. However, when electronic problems arise it can quickly become the worse Jeep ever because fail safe systems are obviously missing....as evidenced by these catastrophic electronic failures that are nearly impossible to diagnose and fix. It seems all dealers can do is throw parts at them and hope something works....
 
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Ronnie772

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Wait wait wait, something doesn’t add up here..

Quotes from your first post:







Your reply to @Chocolate Thunder :



Not that it’s not possible, many people purchase things ahead of time when ordering a new JL while they are waiting but I’ve never heard of anyone doing this before buying a used vehicle OR buying mods for a vehicle that’s been in the shop ever since they got it..

I’m confused now..
I'm not sure why you are confused. I bought the Jeep on a Friday and had the lift and wheels put on the next Tuesday, ordered all the accessories the week I bought it, including the new leather seats, camera relocation kit, etc. (which are sitting in my guest room waiting for the Jeep to come back) and the car died before the weekend. Nothing was purchased before I got it, but as soon as I got it I started making it my own.
 

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These threads are just a waste.
 

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@Ronnie772 Any update from the dealer, did you get them to take a look at the batteries?
 
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So all of your posts on this forum are in this thread. But you´ve had this thing since 2018? You list a bunch of problems but your major point is really not about solving your problems but about declaring it the worst Jeep ever?

I don´t know you, but it isn´t really a reach to say this smells like a trolling expedition. Maybe I´m wrong, but it sure quacks like a duck.
Dan,

I think you've misjudged me.

I've not had this since 2018. I purchased the car in October of 2020 (less than 2 months ago), used. It is a 2018 model. Between 2018 and October of 2020 I was driving a 2014 Jeep Wrangler and would have no basis to comment on a JL I didn't own between 2018 and October 2020.

I would LOVE to solve this problem, because I want my Jeep (the 2018 Jeep JL that I purchased used in 2020) to run so I can enjoy it. In the meantime it's been sitting in the shop for 7 weeks (since less than a week after I purchased it used in October 2020) and the service tech has been unable to even diagnose the issue yet. Nor has a level 1 engineer, nor a level 2 engineer from FCA.

I'm not declaring it the worst Jeep ever. I'm asking the forum whether the new(er) JL (as opposed to earlier models that had fewer electronic modules and were less complicated) is worse than the prior models.

From a reliability perspective, I believe that it is (solely based on personal experience that's limited to two months but a scary problem that cut all power in the middle of a busy highway and left me stuck without hazard lights). Also, for someone that likes to YouTube stuff and do it myself in my garage, I worry that I won't be able to have the same fun with this one. For example; I think it's great that I have parking sensors in the rear bumper, but after buying it, I learned that the sensors are fused to the plastic original bumpers and I either have to cut them out very carefully or forego an aftermarket bumper. I love the rear view camera in the center of the wheel hub, but that placement means I can't put the center cap on my spare tire (which looks like something is missing) and the aftermarket wheels I put on are wider than stock so the bottom half of my screen is blocked by the wider wheel.

I'm sure there are solutions and work-arounds to all these petty concerns (which to some who will never put on an aftermarket bumper or wheels or stereo upgrades are not even issues) and I sincerely hope the dealership will be able to diagnose and fix my jeep sooner than later. But while I'm without it and feeling frustrated, I'm wondering whether my JL is a worse Jeep than my JKs.

As far as my post sounding suspicious, you are VERY welcome to call FCA and inquire about my case (Case Number 77775226) if you don't believe me, or University Dodge in Davie, FL and ask the service department about the Jeep Sahara that's been sitting there for 7 weeks.
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