Sponsored

Overheating...

Plongson

Well-Known Member
First Name
Paul
Joined
May 8, 2020
Threads
53
Messages
374
Reaction score
472
Location
So. Utah
Vehicle(s)
2020 Wrangler Rubicon JL Diesel, 1984 Jeep Cherokee XJ
Occupation
Retired engineer and business owner. Vibration analyst, reliability specialist.
Vehicle Showcase
1
Dang...We just returned from a week in Moab from our home in Cedar City Utah. We tent camped and also took a Honda Pioneer on a tandem axle flatbed, with all the junk, the gross weight of the trailer was probably 2500 lbs. The Jeep 3.0 EcoDiesel pulled great but got hot. Now, this thing always seems too hot to me. According to the digital offroad gauge it runs 205 to 225.

Also note, the overheat issue was on the interstate, cruise was set on 62 MPH, AC was sometimes on or off and the ambient was 85f. Boost never exceeded 20 psi.

Pulling the trailer the temp would shoot up anytime the turbo would spool-up to make HP...high 230's fahrenheit. On one particularly tough grade it shot up to 248 and went into some limp mode and speed dropped to 50 MPH. I pulled off and the temp dropped IMMEDIATELY to about 220 so off we went.

I watched this condition very close the rest of the week. No excessive temps EXCEPT when towing, even offroading the slick rock and sand washes of Moab.

Going to see the dealer, but this thing runs too hot and forget pulling anything, it's gonna' just roast itself.

Has anyone had problems pulling hard??
Sponsored

 

Creeker

Well-Known Member
First Name
Jim
Joined
Nov 19, 2019
Threads
16
Messages
566
Reaction score
1,537
Location
Hickory, NC
Vehicle(s)
CJ-7, 2020 JLR
Build Thread
Link
On my 3.6 JLR with a manual gearbox and 37's going up a five mile mnt grade at ~55 MPH to 65 MPH with an ambient of about 80 degrees F, the temperature reading on the dash reaches about 230 degrees F.
On a cooler day (65 degrees F), the same climb the engine temps rise to about 220 degrees F.

My $0.015 worth, the JL coiling system should be better. Considering an aftermarket oil cooler.
 

trazbyte

Member
First Name
Jason
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Threads
0
Messages
5
Reaction score
8
Location
Denver, Co
Vehicle(s)
Mojito 2018 JLUR v6 Manual- 37" xTreme MT2, DirtyLife Wheels, 3.5" Teraflex w/3.3 Falcon Shocks, 5.13 Gearing, Ace Engineering Fenders, JCR Inner Fenders
Let me put in my experience with the Eco Diesel in my 2014 Grand Cherokee. I realize that I had a slightly different vehicle with a slightly different engine, however I have been watching this new engine closely as I really miss the power and fuel efficiency of the Eco Diesel, but do not miss all the issues I had with it. Please bare with me as I break down all the issues I had with the GC engine because I am starting to see the same characteristics in the JL Diesel Engine, but only time will tell if any of these issues have been resolved. I understand that Jeep changed roughly 85% of the engine between the 2014 Eco Diesels and current Model Diesels, but I am still skeptical and learned from previous experiences to watch the track record of them before making the jump. BTW, This Jeep never left the pavement. Only towing I did was I took a pair of jet skis to Lake Powell.

** I hope this is helpful. I don't write this information to scare you, but to give you some ideas of what to watch and some recommendations.

1. Heat - I live in Colorado and driving here is all over the place from an altitude and environment POV. On the flats, no heat issues at all as long as the temp was under 95 degrees outside. Over that, it was a whole other story. I drove through Vegas on my way to California and it was 100+ degrees outside. Cruising through town (not highway speeds) my engine temperature was pegged within minutes of starting the vehicle up after sitting overnight. I had to limp out of town, but once I got onto the highway temp dropped quickly. Transitioning to Mountain driving, my temp would spike anytime (Winter or Summer) I would take any of the passes on the highway above 55 mph, but quickly cooled on the downside of the pass. When I was towing over the passes of Colorado, I had to stop to cool down several times on my way to Lake Powell. Seriously frustrating and concerning.

2. DEF Injector - What can I say about this one... Terrible design. It is made of plastic and was completely unprotected. Worse was that it sat right behind the front passenger wheel that would kick up water, rocks, slush to hit the DEF injector directly. Problem with this was if the DEF Injector was damaged in any way, the DEF system would throw a service DEF system and disable the car in 250 miles. This happened to me 6 times over 92K miles of ownership. Luckily I had an extended warranty on the vehicle as this fix is $1K and take 3-5 days to fix!! This really ticked me off as I see it as an essential part of the emissions systems, but Jeep does not see it that way. Outside of the cost, if you are in a remote location and this Service DEF system fires, it is likely you are going to suck up a very expensive tow bill. I had an instance where I was in Telluride driving home and no sooner that I left Telluride the Service DEF System fired. Luckily I had 8 miles left on the 250 mile buffer before the car was disabled when I rolled into a Jeep Dealership in Glenwood Springs. After that DEF replacement at 50K miles I found an aftermarket DEF injector protector that I installed which mitigated the issue completely.

3. Turbo Blow-By - This is the issue that caused me to get rid of the vehicle. At 78K miles I noticed a burning oil smell coming from the vehicle after about 15 mins of driving. You could easily smell it through the air vents. Took it to Jeep several times within 5k miles. They stated they could not find an oil leak. I needed to get an oil change before a last minute road trip and took it to a certified Mopar 3rd party shop and told them to inspect for this oil smell because I was concerned. 3 minutes in the shop the Diesel tech found the issue inside the intake/throttle body area. The Engine was suffering from Turbo Blow-By, basically sucking in oil through a seal. Took it immediately to Jeep and over 2.5 weeks rebuilt the engine. Total Cost of just over $18K that was mostly under warranty, luckily. I had to use my extended warranty for items they found not covered under the 100K mile powertrain warranty. Unfortunately after the rebuild it started up again at 92K miles, where I traded in the vehicle for a V8 Overland GC. Mainly out of concern that I was going to have to suck up the cost of a rebuild after the 100K mile factory and extended warranties expired.

My suggestions on this JL Diesel.

1. Monitor your heat and continue to pull off the road if it does. I have seen fan upgrades for the JLs, you may want to invest in one you can manually kick on to add additional cooling to the engine.

2. Find where the DEF injector is and make sure it is well protected from the elements. If it is not, find a skid plate system that will protect it.

3. Monitor your intake/throttle body at every oil change. If you catch the leak quickly it will save you thousands of dollars as they can replace the seal that is causing the leak. Letting the leak go for even 10K miles can be very bad for the engine.

4. Watch Dodge RAM forums as well. They use the same engines between the 1500 and the Jeeps. I found a lot of Engine information on those forums about the diesels as they are more widely used in the truck platforms.

5. If you can get an Aftermarket Warranty, this would be a case for it. The warranty I purchased through a 3rd party covered over $15K worth of issues that Jeep would not cover! It cost me $3200 to purchase and had $100 deductible anytime I put in a claim. As you could see above I used it a lot and saved my wallet a lot!
 
OP
OP
Plongson

Plongson

Well-Known Member
First Name
Paul
Joined
May 8, 2020
Threads
53
Messages
374
Reaction score
472
Location
So. Utah
Vehicle(s)
2020 Wrangler Rubicon JL Diesel, 1984 Jeep Cherokee XJ
Occupation
Retired engineer and business owner. Vibration analyst, reliability specialist.
Vehicle Showcase
1
THANKS!! for the reply...the only thing reassuring about your note is you had a 2014 year model and I REALLY hope the folks at Mopar figured af few of those issues out. I'll post more when I find things out...

I'd still like to know where the temp sensor is located because when I shoot the top radiator hose with the IR, and the off road gauge registers 215°f, the hose reads 180°f...230°f and the hose is 200°f

I'm thinking the sensor is somewhere near the turbo...because the engine itself really did not appear to be 246°f....lemme tell you, on other rigs back in the day, you could fry eggs on a valve cover when coolant was at that temperature.
 

rickinAZ

Well-Known Member
First Name
Rick
Joined
Jan 2, 2020
Threads
234
Messages
3,471
Reaction score
4,988
Location
Phoenix
Vehicle(s)
2021 Rubicon EcoDiesel (11th Jeep)
Occupation
Retired CFO. Mayo Clinic volunteer.
Isn't sub-adequate cooling capacity part of the reason for the low tow rating on the JL? That said, we just hit 2020's 143rd day of 100+ degrees - I'm not towing, but running cool so far.
 

Sponsored

Sydwaiz

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mark
Joined
May 11, 2020
Threads
8
Messages
330
Reaction score
305
Location
Torrance, CA
Vehicle(s)
2021 JLURD, 73 CJ-5
It's the water cooled turbo that's spiking the coolant temp when under boost/load.
 
OP
OP
Plongson

Plongson

Well-Known Member
First Name
Paul
Joined
May 8, 2020
Threads
53
Messages
374
Reaction score
472
Location
So. Utah
Vehicle(s)
2020 Wrangler Rubicon JL Diesel, 1984 Jeep Cherokee XJ
Occupation
Retired engineer and business owner. Vibration analyst, reliability specialist.
Vehicle Showcase
1
That's exactly what I was thinking. If Mopar gives me the run-around, maybe I'll be adapting an intercooler system to the turbo coolant. Right now it's gonn'a be their problem for a while, I got an appointment for next week...wish me luck and cover me...I'm going in! LOL
 

SolarWizard

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2019
Threads
10
Messages
560
Reaction score
634
Location
San Diego
Vehicle(s)
Nacho3lJT
Occupation
Owner @ Solar Co
That's exactly what I was thinking. If Mopar gives me the run-around, maybe I'll be adapting an intercooler system to the turbo coolant. Right now it's gonn'a be their problem for a while, I got an appointment for next week...wish me luck and cover me...I'm going in! LOL
you should video record the overheaTing
 
Last edited:

JLURD

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2017
Threads
20
Messages
1,626
Reaction score
2,306
Location
Alaska
Vehicle(s)
2018 Compass Latitude 6MT, 2020 JLUR 3.0
Isn't sub-adequate cooling capacity part of the reason for the low tow rating on the JL? That said, we just hit 2020's 143rd day of 100+ degrees - I'm not towing, but running cool so far.
They altered the gladiator front end to improve cooling for towing heavier loads but I believe more of the rating is related to chassis control of trailer oscillations at high speed. It’s rated for 5000 lbs at 62mph with trailer brakes in Germany and Australia with no mechanical differences in the chassis, suspension or brakes.
 

D90John

Well-Known Member
First Name
John
Joined
May 15, 2020
Threads
5
Messages
114
Reaction score
227
Location
Eugene, Or
Vehicle(s)
2020 JLU Rubicon diesel
Vehicle Showcase
1
Dang...We just returned from a week in Moab from our home in Cedar City Utah. We tent camped and also took a Honda Pioneer on a tandem axle flatbed, with all the junk, the gross weight of the trailer was probably 2500 lbs. The Jeep 3.0 EcoDiesel pulled great but got hot. Now, this thing always seems too hot to me. According to the digital offroad gauge it runs 205 to 225.

Also note, the overheat issue was on the interstate, cruise was set on 62 MPH, AC was sometimes on or off and the ambient was 85f. Boost never exceeded 20 psi.

Pulling the trailer the temp would shoot up anytime the turbo would spool-up to make HP...high 230's fahrenheit. On one particularly tough grade it shot up to 248 and went into some limp mode and speed dropped to 50 MPH. I pulled off and the temp dropped IMMEDIATELY to about 220 so off we went.

I watched this condition very close the rest of the week. No excessive temps EXCEPT when towing, even offroading the slick rock and sand washes of Moab.

Going to see the dealer, but this thing runs too hot and forget pulling anything, it's gonna' just roast itself.

Has anyone had problems pulling hard??
So, forgive me but how did you check the boost on the turbo? I have been ranting about my turbo going out on our way to Moab while towing a 1600 pound trailer. Water temp seemed to be over 212 but reasonable doing 80 with 79 degree temps. Thanks in advance.
 

Sponsored

OP
OP
Plongson

Plongson

Well-Known Member
First Name
Paul
Joined
May 8, 2020
Threads
53
Messages
374
Reaction score
472
Location
So. Utah
Vehicle(s)
2020 Wrangler Rubicon JL Diesel, 1984 Jeep Cherokee XJ
Occupation
Retired engineer and business owner. Vibration analyst, reliability specialist.
Vehicle Showcase
1
Using the Tazer JL

So you went to Moab from Oregon and only saw 212°f on the off road gauge? Diesel correct?

If so, I really have an issue...

BTW, other than the heat issue, mine pulls like a raped ape...if I can just keep the temps down.
 

Oilburner

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2019
Threads
13
Messages
577
Reaction score
984
Location
You'll never find me
Vehicle(s)
Jeeps
you should video record the overheating
This^^^
If they can't reproduce the issue, it doesn't exist to them. You would think in today's plugged-in world, the vehicle would send an error message to the FCA mothership saying it had an overheating event.
I have had very good results from video documentation-
Hope you can get this sorted out!
 
OP
OP
Plongson

Plongson

Well-Known Member
First Name
Paul
Joined
May 8, 2020
Threads
53
Messages
374
Reaction score
472
Location
So. Utah
Vehicle(s)
2020 Wrangler Rubicon JL Diesel, 1984 Jeep Cherokee XJ
Occupation
Retired engineer and business owner. Vibration analyst, reliability specialist.
Vehicle Showcase
1
Dunno...the service writer, who is always debatable if they know their ass from a rock, says they can DL all that data...engine temp, speed, gear, throttle position, ambient etc. during the episode.

I've been thinking though, I don't recall EVER hearing the fan go to high speed. Ya'd think it would sound like a helicopter if it was overheating.
 

imjester77

Well-Known Member
First Name
Frank
Joined
Jan 20, 2020
Threads
14
Messages
134
Reaction score
148
Location
Texas
Vehicle(s)
2020 JLU Eco Diesel; 2014 JKU Sahara
Vehicle Showcase
1
Check your fuses....J/K

But My JLUR/D has 5500 miles in south texas heat pulling a trailer of about 4k#'s at 80MPH for 500 miles stopping only for snacks and bathrooms and never left 225*. average Highway temp was 101*. when we hit traffic in san antonio off I-10 for 30 minutes with the ac on nothing changed. stayed at 225* I was watching it cause I honestly was also concerned on how it would do in the heat and traffic with the heavy load. also I got 16 MPG!

this was 2 weeks ago. ESS Was not used.
Sponsored

 
 



Top