davewald
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Dave
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2021
- Threads
- 25
- Messages
- 405
- Reaction score
- 870
- Location
- Bellingham, Washington
- Website
- www.davewaldrop.com
- Vehicle(s)
- 2021 Wrangler Rubicon
- Occupation
- Sort of, kinda retired....mostly
- Thread starter
- #1
I bought it in January of 2021, and upgraded it over the next 7 months. Lift, tires, wheels, bumpers, etc. Note that nothing was routed through the wiring harness, though. I'm very picky about things like that. I took it wheeling a few times at local ORV parks. It was perfect. In late September I made quick run to the store, and after 10 minutes I came out to see smoke coming from under the hood. I popped the hood and saw flames coming from the back of the engine and burning through the wiring harness (see pics). I used my 2.5lb fire extinguisher and the rest of my Starbucks Grande Americano to put it out, and had it towed home. 10 minutes later and it would have been parked inside my shop and likely caused a catastrophe.
The next day I had it towed to the dealer where I bought it, and they started the process of working with LCA/Stellantis to determine next steps. My initial thought was that it was the same issue that over 14,000 of the 2020 2.0L models had with gas leaking from a fitting on the intake and catching fire that LCA/Stellantis had to issue a recall for (Google it if you want more info). I filed a report with NHSTA, and suggested that it might be the same issue since mine was built shortly after the recall date.
LCA/Stellantis eventually sent a senior engineer out to look at it, and he, the service foreman and I spent hours climbing through the engine to determine what caused the fire. We quickly ruled out the gas leak issue, and finally agreed that it was likely something in the wiring harness, but we couldn't determine exactly what. He agreed that it was a manufacturing issue and immediately notified his HQ that they needed to buy it back. After 3 months, I finally got through the process and they agreed to a price to buy it back, but with a catch: I needed to return the Jeep to stock, and quickly. Dang. The only option was to buy another JLR and swap out the parts. There was only 1 JLR in the entire 3-state region. It's a 3.6L with several more options than my original one, but the parts that I needed to move over worked perfectly. LCA has now taken possession of it, and I expect they will be sending it to Detroit to find out the cause of the fire.
LCA/Stellantis did the right thing and paid me a fair amount, it just took longer than I thought it should. Yes, I know I could have filed with insurance, but that would have impacted my rates, gotten me less money, and would have resulted in me having to start all over again with getting the upgrades and getting them installed.
Lessons learned: (1) have a fire extinguisher and know how to get to it and use it quickly. (2) if you have an issue with your Jeep that you suspect was caused by a manufacturing defect, you have options other than insurance claim (3) the bigger the fire extinguisher you can carry, the better. I now carry a 4lb one.
The next day I had it towed to the dealer where I bought it, and they started the process of working with LCA/Stellantis to determine next steps. My initial thought was that it was the same issue that over 14,000 of the 2020 2.0L models had with gas leaking from a fitting on the intake and catching fire that LCA/Stellantis had to issue a recall for (Google it if you want more info). I filed a report with NHSTA, and suggested that it might be the same issue since mine was built shortly after the recall date.
LCA/Stellantis eventually sent a senior engineer out to look at it, and he, the service foreman and I spent hours climbing through the engine to determine what caused the fire. We quickly ruled out the gas leak issue, and finally agreed that it was likely something in the wiring harness, but we couldn't determine exactly what. He agreed that it was a manufacturing issue and immediately notified his HQ that they needed to buy it back. After 3 months, I finally got through the process and they agreed to a price to buy it back, but with a catch: I needed to return the Jeep to stock, and quickly. Dang. The only option was to buy another JLR and swap out the parts. There was only 1 JLR in the entire 3-state region. It's a 3.6L with several more options than my original one, but the parts that I needed to move over worked perfectly. LCA has now taken possession of it, and I expect they will be sending it to Detroit to find out the cause of the fire.
LCA/Stellantis did the right thing and paid me a fair amount, it just took longer than I thought it should. Yes, I know I could have filed with insurance, but that would have impacted my rates, gotten me less money, and would have resulted in me having to start all over again with getting the upgrades and getting them installed.
Lessons learned: (1) have a fire extinguisher and know how to get to it and use it quickly. (2) if you have an issue with your Jeep that you suspect was caused by a manufacturing defect, you have options other than insurance claim (3) the bigger the fire extinguisher you can carry, the better. I now carry a 4lb one.
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