Hello all,

My girlfriend has a 2014 JKU Sport manual with about 59k miles, and apparently the rear passenger rocker has given up the ghost already and started chewing on the cam. We all know that (allegedly) @JeepCares but when Jeep tells you they don't care, it's hard to believe they care. Mind you, this car is about as babied as they can be. My girlfriend gets mad at me when I rev her baby past the green eco-zone. Religious oil changes with full synthetic, mopar filters for the two years we've been together, and a reputable mechanic did the maintenance before that. There is absolutely no way the failure is due to neglect or misuse.

Now she's torn. She's pretty attached to her JKU, but when everyone including her dad, her mechanic, my facebook forum groups full of racecar builders, and myself all tell her to run from the Pentastar like it's a live grenade (not an unfair comparison, imo) she's starting to have doubts. She would obviously prefer it if FCA or whoever is in charge these days would do the right thing and fix it, but we've been shot down by the dealer and Chrysler direct on the warranty issue because her vin isn't covered, even though her build date is in 2013.

Our options are:
A) Pump it full of Lucas and pawn the problem off on carmax or something and look at getting a 4.0 TJ.
B) Bite the bullet, spend thousands that she shouldn't have to spend to fix the engine right, and hope it stays fixed.
C) Bite the bullet, spend thousands that she shouldn't have to spend to replace the engine since the metal shavings from the cam and rocker have probably worked it's way deeper into the engine.
D) Replace the rocker myself and hope the cam isn't too badly wrecked. I don't have time to do much more than the rocker.
E) Sit on it and continue to fight Jeep, grasping at the small chance that the ongoing class action lawsuit will work out in her favor (she doesn't like the "wait" option because her backup vehicle is a mini-van).
E) Dump Jeep altogether. Working on a car all the time because you broke it is one thing. Working on a car all the time because it was built by an unreliable company that doesn't back their product is another thing that's much less acceptable.

Any input would be appreciated.

We're very sorry to hear of these concerns, BOT ROCKET. Our team certainly does care and would be happy to dig in further. To clarify, are you the owner of the Jeep or is your girlfriend? If it is your girlfriend, we will need to work with her towards the repairs. Please have her reach out to Jeep Cares at 877-426-5337, or we have Facebook and Twitter and she can message us on either of those platforms.

Kate
Jeep Cares

My girlfriend's mother technically owns it due to reasons related to a messy divorce that I won't disclose here. Her mom can't even unlock her own smartphone, and my girlfriend is very busy with nursing school, so I'm doing my best to act as her liason whenever possible.

We already called Jeep a couple weeks ago, and the representative was kind enough to look up the vin to see if it was covered under warranty, which it wasn't, and she could offer no further help. I apologize for my skepticism, but what would we accomplish by reaching out on social media besides being told it's not covered under warranty again? If you can help, we'd be delighted, but as I'm sure you can tell by my first post, we're pretty disappointed with Jeep's response thus far.

No need to go in further, BOT ROCKET, all good! When you contacted Jeep via phone, was a case number given to you? If so, we can certainly dig in further and provide any necessary details. Send usa private message to get started with that.

Kate
Jeep Cares

Unfortunately, I can't send a PM yet. We called the number you provided, and this call had the same outcome as the last. The rep said her Jeep is not covered under the extended warranty because it's a 2014 model. No case number was given and no help was offered other than "take it to jeep to get it diagnosed" which we've already done, albeit not at a Jeep service center. There's no sense in throwing more money at Jeep just so some 20 year old kid can tell her the same thing her mechanic told her, unless someone gives some reassurance that the matter will be taken care of appropriately.

Understood and thank you for letting us know. For our team to assist in any capacity, work will need to be done at a certified Jeep dealership. With that in mind, if you do have a diagnosis performed and would like our help, you can always message us here (when you're able) or we also have Twitter and Facebook.

Kate
Jeep Cares

[QUOTE=JeepCares;41247811] I understand that we would need to take it to a certified dealer IF your team were to help (well, I don't understand why that would be, but I understand those are your conditions). My concern is that we would spend money at this certified Jeep dealer to have it diagnosed like you suggest, then have you say the same thing we've already heard from Jeep three times now, which is "sorry, it's not covered under the extended warranty."

If we're gonna be stuck with the bill on this faulty product, A) Jeep wont be getting paid for the repair, B) when she starts modifying this one and needs another for a daily driver, it won't be anything in the FCA family she gets. It will be a Bronco or 4runner.

Again I ask, what kind of help will your team offer once we've taken it in to the dealer for diagnosis like you've advised?

Anyone else with some input? The intent of this thread wasn't to be a public correspondence with just @JeepCares . Exposing Jeep's lack of caring about this known problem is just a bonus.

I've been looking into how to do this myself. Since I'm not a Mopar expert, I don't know what I should do to ensure this doesn't become a problem again.

Are there any changes to the heads after 2014 that would benefit or inhibit just grabbing a junkyard head and swapping the whole thing? Should I just do the bad cam and rocker/lifter?

One assumption is that the issue is oil supply related. My 1984 Honda V65 Sabre was known to wear out the cam if you ran it at low RPM under load for long periods, and there was an oil supply line mod that we did to help get oil to the top. Is there anything like that for the Pentastar?

Again, any (actual) help is appreciated.

We decided to go ahead and let it sit while I chisel away at the repair myself. I can say this with absolute confidence, though; Jeep will not be getting any money out of us ever again. This experience has lost them at least one devoted customer (I was never a mopar fan, myself. We're both on the same page now, though, and her kids that were aspiring future Jeepers will also have their taste soured). It's a shame, too. The 392 would be promising if they could get their **** together.