Made it to just under twelve years and 143k and it finally failed. Externally leaking coolant, no signs as it leaked back and onto the transmission, only sign of a problem was the coolant reservoir going empty.

Parts and labor just over a grand. I’m just thankful it wasn’t a head gasket. Now to get the right rear taillight corner panel replaced due to rust and off to 200k I hope.

This piece of shit. I don't how they get away with keeping this plastic junk and no recall. Every single Wrangler owner I know has had this oil filter housing crack and leak oil. Mine has been leaking oil for over a year. I just haven't got around to replacing it yet because I don't want to pay a dealership $1,000 to do it. I plan on doing it in September myself. It's no small job though. Since I'm doing it myself, I'm planning to install one of the all metal aftermarket housings.

Fucking Jeep. And I'm dead serious. Every single owner I know has eventually had their oil cooler housing crack. And usually it happens at well under 100,000 miles.

Yeah, but it’s like all manufacturers, do it as cheap as possible. GM did the same,thing with the intake plenums and coolant elbows and nipples on,the 3800, one of the best engines they ever built.

My final tab was $1150. I don’t work on stuff anymore, I cant bend over as easily as I could fifty years, hell, even ten years ago. Add to that a shoulder that I reinjured getting dressed a couple months ago, a reminder of a motorcycle crash in ‘74. I could just imagine getting halfway into the job and not being able to complete it. Add to it Wednesday night started feeling sickly, guess what, got tested Thursday and Covid strikes again.

Screw it, that’s what friends with shops and a zero balance credit card is good for. One of my old customers when I in the dealership parts business.

He may not be the cheapest around, small shop out of the way. Does fleet accounts and a lot of collector cars. The tech that worked on my Liberty and Wrangler previously worked in Chrysler dealerships so I know things are done right. and usually one day service on anything I drop off.

And yes, he used the Dorman replacement part.

I had to do several of these in my former work. The worst part is not so much getting to the part (both the upper and lower halves of the intake manifold have to come off), but the cleanup. The bottom of the cylinder vee has not only casting ribs, but knock sensors as well. The oil gets into all these little nooks and crannies and is damned near impossible to fully clean up. Removing and replacing the knock sensors risks damaging them - therefore getting an engine light on and the work having to be redone - no matter how careful you are. I chose not to do that. After plugging the oil and coolant holes in the block, I tried brake cleaner but was afraid to suck a flammable vapor/liquid into my shop vac. I also tried water and Dawn dish detergent (it works great on the oily ducklings in the commercials) and letting it soak before vacuuming it up, and I still never got it clean and dry enough to suit me. When you disconnect the heater hose from the cooler, even if you drained the coolant first, coolant will spill, aggravating an already nasty job. The oil must be changed as there is no way to keep coolant out of the crankcase when lifting the cooler off. And when refilling the coolant, the air is difficult to bleed out, despite there being a bleed screw on the thermostat housing.

Everybody responsible for the idiocy of making a pressure vessel out of plastic needs put in a headlock and given swirlies. Or plastic anywhere in a cooling system, for that matter.

The manufacturing goal in today's world is to make it as cheap as possible but still able to make it through the warranty period.
I saw this first hand my last 13 years in the medical equipment industry.

Nothing new, GM was pulling that stuff in the early 2000’s.

Additional note on the oil cleanup: if the cylinder vee filled up and the oil overflowed onto the transmission, that has to be cleaned up too, both top and bottom. Otherwise it will continue leaving small drips for weeks.

Yeah, that's essentially what the garage manager told me. A big part of the job is the cleanup.

Got a "ticking" sound in your Pentastar?

My son bought his spousal unit a Jeep at her insistence. They have had it six months. It has been in the shop for greater than sixty days for repair. Three oil coolers, one long block, all sorts of shit. Finally he filed under the lemon law for “Stellantis” to buy it back from them.

What a fucking excuse for a motor vehicle.

RMD

The filter housing on my sister in laws 2018 Wrangler had a massive leak at only 60k miles.

Exactly why I opted for the extended warranty when I bought my Jeep. They are going to be fixing it for a long time!

The part doesn't have to fail to produce a huge mess. A botched filter replacement can do the same thing.

This just happened with our 2015 at 86k miles. Had a hairline crack develop in the plastic radiator last summer and replaced everything cooling related myself including the water pump. Aside from these two bigger repairs it’s been a pretty awesome vehicle.

Dorman makes a replacement unit that is much better quality. Aluminum with a lifetime warranty.

quote:

Originally posted by BillF:
Dorman makes a replacement unit that is much better quality. Aluminum with a lifetime warranty.

That's what I am going to get when it's my turn!

I may have to do this to my FIL’s wrangler some day. This guy has a good step by step video on the replacement with the Dorman part. Looks like a vacuum with a small tube would be real helpful.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=...amt1LSBvaWwgY29vbGVy