Things I've Learned In 10 Days & 1,000 Miles

[JLUR Farout]

Good Evening,

Mind you I am coming from 5 years in a JKRR 6spd manual, so don't hate on me. Some things I have learned after daily driving, tearing into some parts of the JLURD, and two off-road trips.

1. The carpet, at least in the front, is HEAVY and filled with rubber. We do not have drain ports on the floor, at least mine does not, but the rubber floor mats do. They may get swapped out. I miss the tire tread design in the JKs.
2. When off-roading, sometimes the engine gets confused. When in 4Hi or 4LO, going downhill, switching between throttle and brake, the engine will think you want to accelerate even though the foot is off the pedal. Happened a few times now, but a quick tap of the brake puts it back in check.
3. The 3.0L does okay engine braking with or without a trailer on it when above idle, but in idle it will let you roll faster, not hold the JLU back. Interesting.
4. With 1,250 lbs on the hitch grades that empty (I live in WA, so yes hills and mountains) it goes up in 8th at 60 MPH or 70 MPH it will take in 6th. Other than me paying attention and the 6 MPG hit, it does not care it is back there. To the member on here with the large camper, I understand why you would tow that with your rig, but I would not with my JK.
5. The JLU will coast at speed and not down shift but if you tap the brake it does not pay attention but if you press the pedal a bit it will drop a gear almost each time when slowing down. I am not used to using brakes so much coming from a manual. I doubt I will get 80,000 miles on my front pads like I did on my JK.
6. In daily driving form, and me in it, my JK weighed 815 lbs more (stock drivetrain and tires) than the JLU brand new, but it feels a lot heavier even though the brakes look beefier.
7. I have come to understand why those who never owned a 2 door Wrangler looked at me funny when it was windy and I was stressed. This JLU does not care 1/4 as much about wind compared to my JK.
8. It is cool to be able to pass people without praying, timing things, evaluating grades and headwind, and such!
9. I think the EGTs must be really low on this 3.0L because it likes DEF. 1/4 tank in 1,000 miles and very, very little around town driving / short trips.
10. Fenders and body line rock rails promote ample gravel chips on the painted fenders but mud flaps are not a good solution.
11. Not a drop of oil burned and it still looks clean, which is different than my previous four diesels.

Does anyone have a source for an exploded view of all the external components of the 3rd gen 3.0L as outfitted for the JLUs? I cannot find one. I am 90% sure of most parts looking in the engine bay but a breakout would be nice to have. One of the next projects is plotting out where to tap and mount an AMSOIL by-pass filter system.

Happy miles!

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[Geronimo]

1. The carpet, at least in the front, is HEAVY and filled with rubber. We do not have drain ports on the floor, at least mine does not, but the rubber floor mats do. They may get swapped out. I miss the tire tread design in the JKs

If you pull the mat up and look right where the cutout is in the mat you might find the carpet is indeed die cut. It just isn't noticeable without rubbing on it and poking around a bit. Your right on the older style mats though. The tread pattern was nice.

I didn't think my carpet had drain hole either at first glance. The floor has a rubber plug too.

 

[Yzfguy]

Rokblokz makes quick connect mid flaps that help a great deal. The front flaps keep gravel away from the door hinges.

 

[Ratbert]

There are (should be) drain holes under that carpet.

Diesels don't have a throttle body, so engine braking is severely limited.

 

[Gorilla57]

#9:
DEF use is roughly 2-3% of your diesel use, so if you are burning a ton of fuel, you are burning a ton of DEF. Plus, I doubt your DEF tank was full when it left the dealership. The gauge may have read 100%, but it probably wasn't full. The sensors in the DEF tank are very well known for being inaccurate.

Also, high in cylinder temps/EGT causes an increase in NOx production, which will cause increased DEF consumption as the DEF being injected into the SCR is what lowers the NOx out the tailpipe.

 

[dcmdon]

Why are mud flaps not a good solution?

I put a set of the long/wide (I forget what they call them) Rok Blokz flaps on the front only of my Jeep and they work fantastically.

I can remove them in about 1 minute if I'm going off road.

the front ones are the low hanging fruit for mud flaps. Much less money than the rears. Much easier to install than the rears, and protect most of the vehicle.

 

[BuffaloBill]

Regarding engine braking, on my RAM Ecodiesel I run a GDE tune with the turbo brake option. That works very well. However it’s functional only at RPM above 2000. I don’t have their tune on our JLURD but would expect their turbo brake to work similarly.

 

[grimmjeeper]

The factory configuration uses the variable pitch turbo as an engine brake. It's not as effective as a full on exhaust brake but it's better than nothing.

 

[JLUR Farout]

#9:
DEF use is roughly 2-3% of your diesel use, so if you are burning a ton of fuel, you are burning a ton of DEF. Plus, I doubt your DEF tank was full when it left the dealership. The gauge may have read 100%, but it probably wasn't full. The sensors in the DEF tank are very well known for being inaccurate.

Also, high in cylinder temps/EGT causes an increase in NOx production, which will cause increased DEF consumption as the DEF being injected into the SCR is what lowers the NOx out the tailpipe.

Thank you. Gauge said exactly 3/4 when I took delivery for DEF. Bought two boxes this weekend, will add tomorrow to see if the gauge is right, one at a time of course! So you argue that temps are much higher than I surmised, driving the high DEF use? Again, my first DEF diesel (others used the diesel injectors in pre DEF technology) but I was going off of what Jeep said in that 10,000 miles per DEF fillup. Sounds like that was very, very optimistic.

 

[Ratbert]

Thank you. Gauge said exactly 3/4 when I took delivery for DEF. Bought two boxes this weekend, will add tomorrow to see if the gauge is right, one at a time of course! So you argue that temps are much higher than I surmised, driving the high DEF use? Again, my first DEF diesel (others used the diesel injectors in pre DEF technology) but I was going off of what Jeep said in that 10,000 miles per DEF fillup. Sounds like that was very, very optimistic.

Do you have any truck stops nearby? For me DEF is significantly cheaper there and you don't have to deal with the box / tubing crap. You can also fill it up in something other than 2.5 gallon increments.

 

[Gorilla57]

Thank you. Gauge said exactly 3/4 when I took delivery for DEF. Bought two boxes this weekend, will add tomorrow to see if the gauge is right, one at a time of course! So you argue that temps are much higher than I surmised, driving the high DEF use? Again, my first DEF diesel (others used the diesel injectors in pre DEF technology) but I was going off of what Jeep said in that 10,000 miles per DEF fillup. Sounds like that was very, very optimistic.

Sorry, kinda misspoke in my post. Current diesels run hotter in-cylinder temps to get efficiency and power than they did previously. These high temps is what produces the NOx and the reason for DEF systems today.

Jeep was way wrong to ever suggest that owners would get 10K miles out of a 5gal tank of DEF. Pretty much the best you'll ever get is 1000 miles per gallon of DEF. In my 1500 with the 3.0L, I am averaging 800mpg of DEF over the past 38000 miles. Track your fuel use and DEF use and see if you are averaging around 2-3% DEF to fuel use. My truck has been very consistent at 2.6%.

Enjoy your 3.0 diesel, I love mine. Too bad Jeep and Ram decided to cancel the motor. I was always planning on trading the truck in on a new one when the warranty was up, but that idea is now shot.

 

[JLUR Farout]

Sorry, kinda misspoke in my post. Current diesels run hotter in-cylinder temps to get efficiency and power than they did previously. These high temps is what produces the NOx and the reason for DEF systems today.

Jeep was way wrong to ever suggest that owners would get 10K miles out of a 5gal tank of DEF. Pretty much the best you'll ever get is 1000 miles per gallon of DEF. In my 1500 with the 3.0L, I am averaging 800mpg of DEF over the past 38000 miles. Track your fuel use and DEF use and see if you are averaging around 2-3% DEF to fuel use. My truck has been very consistent at 2.6%.

Enjoy your 3.0 diesel, I love mine. Too bad Jeep and Ram decided to cancel the motor. I was always planning on trading the truck in on a new one when the warranty was up, but that idea is now shot.

Thank you. There are many on lots. A cool lime green one that I almost bought over the silver one I did. Some have them marked down to invoice. Check Carguru.com. Being my first week and a half with it, I've not done a bulk DEF search yet. My area has a lot of farms and factories so I am sure something is in the area.

 

[JLUR Farout]

It was 20-30 MPH sustained winds today. Towed the 2,300 lb trailer I wanted last weekend. You noticed the wind, not the engine. Though, the engine noticed with a considerable drop in MPGs. I pushed it a bit on the range. I wanted to fill up after dropping off the trailer, but I could not bring myself to do it. When I stopped, it took 14.3 gallons and the dash said 82 miles remaining. I was a bit under the first line below half. Compared to my JK this JLU tows like a dream. No problem going from 60 to 80 up a hill to pass someone. The gauges never moved past normal.

There was just over 1" of squat as pictured. I did not have any extra cargo inside over what I normally carry.

Couple questions though as I continue to learn how this new platform behaves:
1. For those who have done the fuel filler mod, does it seem to help the foam settle any faster?
2. Has anyone found a good way to keep the switchblade key from opening in your pocket all the time?
3. Anyone else have blind-spot detection and notice if the rear tail lights get a bit dusty the system says it cannot work?
4. Anyone ever randomly have Off-Road Pages not open? Mine has worked fine until my return trip today. I made a few stops, with the JLU turned off. Even after a 20 min stop, after starting back up the app just does the dot dance a few minutes then says it cannot load. Everything else worked, including the dash gauges that you scroll through.
5. I found out today why mine came with the rear cup holder delete...the 60% side of the bench fold won't go all the way down with my installed cupholders because they hit the folddown console cupholders.

 

[ChuckQue]

It was 20-30 MPH sustained winds today. Towed the 2,300 lb trailer I wanted last weekend. You noticed the wind, not the engine. Though, the engine noticed with a considerable drop in MPGs. I pushed it a bit on the range. I wanted to fill up after dropping off the trailer, but I could not bring myself to do it. When I stopped, it took 14.3 gallons and the dash said 82 miles remaining. I was a bit under the first line below half. Compared to my JK this JLU tows like a dream. No problem going from 60 to 80 up a hill to pass someone. The gauges never moved past normal.

There was just over 1" of squat as pictured. I did not have any extra cargo inside over what I normally carry.

Couple questions though as I continue to learn how this new platform behaves:
1. For those who have done the fuel filler mod, does it seem to help the foam settle any faster?
2. Has anyone found a good way to keep the switchblade key from opening in your pocket all the time?
3. Anyone else have blind-spot detection and notice if the rear tail lights get a bit dusty the system says it cannot work?
4. Anyone ever randomly have Off-Road Pages not open? Mine has worked fine until my return trip today. I made a few stops, with the JLU turned off. Even after a 20 min stop, after starting back up the app just does the dot dance a few minutes then says it cannot load. Everything else worked, including the dash gauges that you scroll through.
5. I found out today why mine came with the rear cup holder delete...the 60% side of the bench fold won't go all the way down with my installed cupholders because they hit the folddown console cupholders.

1- I haven’t done the fuel filler mod but I also haven’t had any issues fueling up (yet)

2- Threedom slim fob replacement case and moved the key to the ring. Muuuuuch better in the pocket instead of the damn boat anchor.

3- Yes, happens to me when off-roading

4- I’ve had that happen a couple of times. It’s always corrected itself after a couple off/on cycles

 

[Victory]

2. Has anyone found a good way to keep the switchblade key from opening in your pocket all the time?

Open the fob up, and release the tension on the button spring and put it back together. This is easy and you need to open it up to replace the battery anyway, so it’s made to come apart easily.
You will now need to use a fingernail or something to pull open the key blade while pushing the button if you need it, but since you have power locks chances of you needing the physical key are pretty slim, and pretty much no chance it will open in your pocket anymore.
You can also always go back and put tension on the spring in the future if you want.

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