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2012 WK2 3.6L Misfire #2 cylinder

59K views 65 replies 17 participants last post by  childsgc4 
#1 ·
This afternoon the wife called me and said the CEL light came on and wanted to know what to do. She came home, I hooked up my OBD2 scanner and turns out cylinder #2 had a number of misfires (131 according to my diag report). I had noticed what sounded like a ticking sound with the window down this weekend in CA while escaping the heat, but I live in AZ so haven't really driven with the window down in a while. I thought it was kind of odd but didn't think too much of it.

Sure enough I came across this article about how Chrysler is recalling some engines of the 3.6L Pentastar that also have the ticking sound and a cylinder #2 misfire.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20120813/CARNEWS/120819959

Anyone else come across this lately? Have any experience with the dealer with this warranty work or advice you can give? Any other issues you've run across with a misfire on the WK2 3.6L?

To date this is the only problem we've encountered. Jeep has just over 12k miles on it and was bought in March of this year.

Thanks.
 
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#2 ·
#3 ·
Thanks yeah same issue seems like 12k miles is when this shows up. Kinda bummed but I'll see what the dealer says tomorrow when I drop it off.

Thanks.
 
#5 ·
I had the same problem. Just got my vehicle back this week. Replaced the head last week and I went and picked it up and the jeep ran worse then before. Took it back and they ordered another head and replaced the one they just put on. Picked it up Tuesday and so far no problems. I did try to get a discount on a tire an wheel package for my trouble but they didn't budge on that.
 
#6 ·
At the dealership today (Airpark Dodge is Scottsdale, AZ) and I am not happy with the level of customer service surrounding this issue. I printed out my error code using my own ODB2 scanner, printed out the auto week press release and unfortunate felt like the dealership was trying to play dumb about this. He first said that I a flash is required before they even consider replacing the head which is complete bull**** in my opinion. Next they won't cover the rental car and have no loaners. They said if I want a rental car it's my dime.

I called into Chrysler and opened a case number for the issue and unfortunately they said the same thing. They are escalating the issue up for approval on the rental car but I feel like with the way I'm being treated I should get a lawyer involved. I told them I don't want to have to come back 4-5 times to get this resolved when Chrysler has already admitted this is a manufacturing defect.

Really wishing I had not sold my Audi A5 as the service department customer service is night and day difference. Funny I've had a ZJ with 225k miles, 06 Ram 1500 w/ 87k miles and not one problem like this.

I have a feeling this might be the last Chrysler vehicle I ever buy. Very very disappointed customer.
 
#8 ·
Dealership called and said they applied TSB 18-050-11, took it for a test drive and the tech can no longer hear the knocking sound.

I come in to pickup the jeep, turned it in for the Service Advisor and showed him it's still there (sounds like a Diesel engine on drivers side). He tells me his hands are tied and can't replace the cylinder head until the CEL comes back on. I go home, hook up my OBD2 and I see the DTC was reset 10 miles ago but it's already registering 300+ misfire counts but no CEL. I drive around a bit and now over 3500+ misfires on cylinder #2 but to CEL yet.

Needless to say I'm not happy with the way this is being handled and will be back again tomorrow with my laptop & OBD2 in tow.

Anyone know what this new TSB does and what misfire count the CEL should com on again at?

If need be I can upload there report here once I get home.

Edit -- Here's the data from my OBD2. Your thoughts?
 

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#9 ·
My Jeep didn't show any signs of a misfire when I took it in the first time with the exception of the CEL. The first time they updated the computer or whatever it is they do. 2 weeks later CEL came back on and still no ticking or signs of a misfire. Took it back in and they said cylinder head needed replaced. Dealership ordered the part and I took it in 4 days later for the replacement. Both the dealership and Chrysler would not give me a rental. The replaced the head and I picked it up. Wasn't even 15 miles from the dealership when I noticed the ticking and a very rough idle. Called the dealership and took it back the next day. They looked at it and said the new head was bad. Ordered another head but this time they gave me a rental to drive until mine was ready. Picked up my Jeep earlier this week and so far no problems. I am just surprised their is not a recall for this issue. My dealership said they have had quite a few vehicles with the Pennstar engine come back with this problem. Even enterprise rent a car said some of their vehicles have had the same problem.
 
#10 ·
CEL just came back on at 13042 miles. When I dropped it off at the dealership it was at 13001, picked it up at 13007.

Back to the dealership.
 
#11 ·
Vinnie,

Overnight FedEx or send certified mail a letter to Sergio Marchionne and all members of the Chrysler Board of Directors stating all of the details above. Copy your state Attorney General as well as the owner and the service manager of the servicing dealer. Politely but firmly state your case, say you want to know when and how your vehicle will be permanently fixed or you want the vehicle replaced. Print threads from this forum showing you aren't the only one with this issue. Chrysler will show a renewed interest in your case.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

Board of Directors can be found here:
http://www.chryslergroupllc.com/company/leadership/Pages/BoardofDirectors.aspx

Chrysler Group LLC
800 Chrysler Drive
Auburn Hills, MI 48326
 
#12 ·
Called the dealership (Airpark Dodge in Scottsdale, AZ) and spoke to the service manager. Explained my case and history along with my displeasure with the way this issue is being handled. In the same conversation the Service Manager stated what the Tech performed was the correct procedure & then later said they have been replacing a lot of the cylinder heads as this is a very common issue. I asked how many times has the flash update resolved this issue if it's that common (actual numbers) .... Dead silence then quickly changed the subject.

She stated she would be calling Chrysler first thing Monday in the morning for me, but I still have to bring the vehicle down so they can read the code. I informed her I could easily email the OBD2 diagnostic report and she was not interested in the data. I also informed her i was very displeased with the troubleshooting effort the certified Chrysler Mechanic performed on the vehicle as I was able to clearly identify the cylinder #2 misfire after letting the car come up to operating temperature and already found 350+ misfires after the short drive from the dealership to my home. Once again dead silence on the phone.

I was also informed that cylinder heads have been taking up to 6 weeks with some customers to come in and in all cases Chrysler was not reimbursing the cost of a rental car for any of the warranty repairs they have performed. In all cases they informed the customer that (and I want to quote her exact words) "that the damage had already been done and it was ok to continue to drive the vehicle with the misfire situation/CEL. We had one customer that had to wait as long as 6 weeks driving in this condition and it did not harm their vehicle."

I informed her that I did not wish to treat this vehicle as though it was disposable after 36k miles and to continue to drive the vehicle could drastically shorten the lifespan of the engine and cause an unintended failure after the warranty period expired. This approach was not acceptable to me and with our last 2 vehicles (2010 Audi A3 & 2012 Audi A5) the customer was told "don't worry we'll fix it for you no matter how long it takes." (North Scottsdale Audi service department). When I brought the vehicle in for an oil change/maintenance if there was a TSB or something that needed to be fixed I didn't have to request it. When they fixed a transmission issue under warranty repair they stood by their work by extending the vehicle warranty until 100k miles. They took care of it and always offered a free loaner car with no exception even when one of the vehicle was purchased from a different dealership. I always felt like they valued my business and used this as a sales tool for future purchases.

It's hard for me to imagine that similar priced vehicles like this have a huge difference in customer service from their service department.

I'm at a loss here as I have a feeling if this issue is this prevalent amongst the ubiquitous Pentastar V6 if resale values for the 2012 models are going to be very low in the near future. I'm almost considering dumping the vehicle and taking a loss so that I don't have to deal with the failures down the road. Our plan was to keep this vehicle for a very long time like my ZJ as I used to tell everyone about their reliability, but given this situation I'm having doubts about the longevity of the vehicle I purchased or any future business with Chrysler or with Airpark Dodge in general.
 
#14 ·
Should of asked the service manager if this is so common why didn't they seem to know anything about it when you first brought it in. As far as the troubleshooting they are probably just following what chrysler tells them to do. They might not pay for the head if the dealer just does that first without performing the tsb.
 
#13 ·
VinnieTheFish said:
Dealership called and said they applied TSB 18-050-11, took it for a test drive and the tech can no longer hear the knocking sound.

I come in to pickup the jeep, turned it in for the Service Advisor and showed him it's still there (sounds like a Diesel engine on drivers side). He tells me his hands are tied and can't replace the cylinder head until the CEL comes back on. I go home, hook up my OBD2 and I see the DTC was reset 10 miles ago but it's already registering 300+ misfire counts but no CEL. I drive around a bit and now over 3500+ misfires on cylinder #2 but to CEL yet.

Needless to say I'm not happy with the way this is being handled and will be back again tomorrow with my laptop & OBD2 in tow.

Anyone know what this new TSB does and what misfire count the CEL should com on again at?

If need be I can upload there report here once I get home.

Edit -- Here's the data from my OBD2. Your thoughts?
Ok, I have 2 misfires in my log on #2 none for the others for a 5 minute drive. No CEL but also just 6500 miles on it. Should I be worried to be one of the next?
 
#16 ·
My vehicle build date says Jan 2012 and this TSB is from Nov 10, 2011. One would think this TSB would have already been applied especially since I purchased in March 2012. Yet another frustrating factor to this issue from the customers perspective.
 
#17 ·
A general recall of Pentastar heads would be very expensive and since the blurbs on 13 August, nada. Don't think it will stay quiet for long.

Interestingly NHTSA ( http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/complain/index.cfm ) has quite a few mentions of "ticking" Wranglers but did not see any for the WK2s. Do think they will probably want to extend the Pentastar engine warrenty for 10/100.

BTW my average and current cycle misfire count for #2 coming up on 5k miles are both 2 (two) other cyls are 0 or 1. Wonder how many it takes to trip the MIL - anyone know ?


One of these is a turbo diesel.​
 
#18 ·
As someone who is contemplating buying his first GC, reading some of these threads is giving me second thoughts. If there's one thing I don't want, it's headaches right out of the gate with a new vehicle. It seems like a crap shoot whether or not that happens, which obviously isn't a good thing. :(
 
#19 ·
MickinNY said:
As someone who is contemplating buying his first GC, reading some of these threads is giving me second thoughts. If there's one thing I don't want, it's headaches right out of the gate with a new vehicle. It seems like a crap shoot whether or not that happens, which obviously isn't a good thing. :(
Mick,

Every car has faults. What I'm running into is more of a problem with the service department from the dealership I'm working with for a well known problem unfortunately. Really if this is the net effect for 260 jobs to be brought back from Mexico to the US then at least it seems Chrysler is making the correct changes to their business to avoid this problem in the future The vehicle itself is nice and had I had a chance to do this over I think I would have personally gone with the Hemi 5.7L Limited 4x4 instead of the 3.6L Laredo 4x2 for the wife. If you're going with the 3.6L look at the driver side door and the vehicle build date (mine shows month and year ie 01-12 for me). If it's before Aug 2012 when it seems Chrysler admitted to the issue and a fix was in the works I would suggest taking the Jeep for a test drive letting it come up to operating temperature then when you get back to the dealership with the engine running pop the hood and stand by the driver front wheel listen to the engine vs standing by the passenger front wheel.

With mine the drivers side is really noisy and almost sounds like a Diesel engine. The passenger side it is definitely less noisy. I would also ask the dealership if you even suspect it might be one if they already retrofitted this vehicle with the new design cylinder head. Ask to pull the service records even if it's new.

If the dealership really wants to make the sale you have the power to get them to jump over backwards to fix your concerns. You should also ask around for others who have dealt with that dealerships service department.

In my situation we didn't go with some of the options that I really wanted as the wife sprung it on me last minute she wasn't sure about going back to work full time after the baby. So at that point my Audi A5 went up for sale and we've been making due with one vehicle for the past 5 months until she goes back to work full time. Unfortunately this was an inconvenience we .didn't count on and our expectations from a service department after 2x Audi's is really really high -- some might say unreasonable :)

We have several friends with the new WK2 and so far this has been the only problem anyone has run into.

Depending on what the wife says we really are looking forward to the new turbo diesel JGC coming out early next year. We may end up trading this one in when that one launches. Just depends on the final outcome from this issue. I should hear back from Chrysler later today and I'll let you know how this issue goes. I'm more interested in getting the issue resolved as quickly as possible with the least amount of headaches from the service department at this point.
 
#27 ·
Vinnie,
I realize you can have problems with any new car & I'm trying to keep an open mind when mulling things over. There's no doubt you're going through a lot of frustration right now. But from what I'm reading on this thread, it appears this is more than just a problem you're having with the dealer. (as you just stated) Your #16 post tells me that's a manufacturer problem that should not have affected your vehicle with it's build date. Yet it did. From where I'm sitting, not good on Chrysler's part.
Your case manager says don't drive the car, another guy (mort81)posts his manager says it's OK to do so. :confused: Which begs the ?, why isn't everyone at Chrysler on the same page in regards to this issue?
Fortunately, I don't have to get a new vehicle now, so if I stay with the GC, I may just wait till Spring or later. Hopefully this issue will be fully resolved by then, as I did plan on going with the Pentastar. I was thinking of doing that anyway with the 8 sp tranny coming on the 2014 model. Or, I may just move on to something else entirely.
I'm not clear what you stated about the 260 jobs being brought back from Mexico as a net effect of this. Would you please elaborate more on that.
Good luck getting this resolved to your satisfaction.
 
#20 ·
Received a call from Chrysler from my case manager today. Explained the full situation, the homework I did prior to coming into the dealership, all the info I provided, my dismay at how they sort of phoned in the diagnostic to this issue (even mentioned the TSB they performed was from Nov 2011 and my Jeep was built Jan 2012) & that this is our only vehicle at the moment. My case manager confirmed that if it is fact a cylinder head issue I should not be driving the vehicle with the CEL and that Chrysler will cover the cost of the standard rate rental car for us.

:thumbsup: to Chrysler for their response
 
#21 ·
VinnieTheFish said:
Received a call from Chrysler from my case manager today. Explained the full situation, the homework I did prior to coming into the dealership, all the info I provided, my dismay at how they sort of phoned in the diagnostic to this issue (even mentioned the TSB they performed was from Nov 2011 and my Jeep was built Jan 2012) & that this is our only vehicle at the moment. My case manager confirmed that if it is fact a cylinder head issue I should not be driving the vehicle with the CEL and that Chrysler will cover the cost of the standard rate rental car for us.

:thumbsup: to Chrysler for their response
My case manager said it was fine to drive as the only thing that would be affected would be the head they were going to replace. As I stated before that I had no signs of a misfire or any other problems other than the CEL
 
#22 ·
So is this issue something that all V6 owners should be mindful of, or only those who had a build date prior to August 2012?
 
#26 ·
Roumors are flying every which way and CJF is not helping. There is a problem and it is estimated that .5% of all Pentastars are affected (betwee 6,000 and 7,500).

Maybeso: US made heads are most affected. Vehicles over 4,000 lbs are most affected, there was a change in june 2012. Heads with part number 05184445 may be at risk. Overheating is not good. YMMV.


One of these is a turbo diesel.​
 
#29 ·
OT for a bit but I wanted to respond to Mick's concerns.

Aside from this issue though I can say that I really like my Jeep. The Pentastar in the JGC and the Wranger are much more fun to drive than the 3.7L V6 it replaced. The interior/feel of the car at all levels is much better than the previous generation and having just got back from our first long road trip the interior storage/comfort of the vehicle is great. The only thing I don't like is the 5 speed transmission in my 2012 and I would really like to see the 8 speed in this vehicle to compare it. I also really wish I had gone with the Hemi knowing this would be my primary vehicle as I do tow as bass boat with this. No problems with the Pentastar towing so far and by boat means my bass boat is light in comparison (~2200 lbs). I think the 5 speed transmission might be more enjoyable with an aftermarket tune for the shift points, but so far I haven't done any research down that path. I do know that with my Ram 1500 Hemi it was night and day difference using the Superchips vs stock setting.

And to be honest if we go with the diesel model next year I'll be special ordering so that I can get the off road package, the upgraded GPS/Nav system and a bunch of other things that I want. Not sure if I'll go with the air suspension as I'm going to want to lift the next one and possibly put 32"-33" tires on it to do some off roading/wheeling. In AZ there's plenty of trails to do some rock crawling/off roading and before we bought the JGC I was seriously considering buying a 2012 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon instead. Seeing these photos of nasmith342 on the Broken Arrow trail at the link below kind of opened my eyes as to how off road capable the WK2 really is. To even get to this spot where he took the photos there's some pretty big obstacles to even get to this spot which to me is pretty impressive.

I realize most JGC owners aren't going to do this, but being in AZ I have a lot of trails like this open to us within a few hours drive. If we don't decode to go down that route instead I'll end up buying a WK used with the Quadra-Drive and just do a bunch of bolt on accessories, etc from Superlift and 4xguard for the same effect.

I'm sure Chrysler has already figured this out and is implementing the changes going forward. If you're going to wait for the 8 speed anyway you'll have no problem finding a 5 speed to compare it to.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f309/those-rro-lift-kits-questions-please-read-1380118/#post14222035


 
#30 ·
i'll be keeping my fingers crossed on my end that mine will be ok, 2500 miles on mine with a build date of January '12. we'll see.

sorry to hear about all your troubles with this Vinnie, hopefully you have a resolution to all of this soon
 
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