I would venture to say that the Pentastar is one of the best engines ever produced for billion of miles driven divided by the number of engines produced. If I was you I would opt for something more your speed. Smart for Two? Take your date to Weenie Hut Junior in the new ride.
3.6 pentastar as bad as it seems ???
- Thread starter Gawardawg
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My work vehicles (leased from LeasePlan) Caravans or Journeys have had 3.6s . We turn them @ 70k never heard of a breakdown
I'm curious as to why you would make this statement. What exactly brings you to this conclusion? What exactly makes the 3.6/3.2 lightyears ahead of the 2.4l MultiAir,....in your opinion?
I have owned both, worked on both, sold both, and seen both at auction. In my experience, a well-maintained 2.4l seems to have fewer (major) mechanical problems than any PS given the same mileage and age.
Now, problems (percentage-wise) based on units sold for each engine, I don't know, I'm just going from my experience. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious as to why you believe this.
Cheers.
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Our Grand Caravan is now at 101,000 miles. It spent the first ~42k and first year of its life as a rental vehicle, now it lives a life of me forgetting about changing its oil (30k OCI baby!) and my wife short tripping it all over town. Has yet to give us a problem…. Heck I haven’t even changed the spark plugs in it yet.
My parents 2013 200 with the 3.6 also has had no issues, nor did the 300 I owned for a bit… only reason I got rid of it was because I wanted/needed something different. Would have bought a Ram with the 3.6 if they had any available.
My parents 2013 200 with the 3.6 also has had no issues, nor did the 300 I owned for a bit… only reason I got rid of it was because I wanted/needed something different. Would have bought a Ram with the 3.6 if they had any available.
I see the 3.6L PS all day every day, some brand new others well over 180K....
i have personally only had one very ticky PS pull into the shop and it had 187K. It was not cared for in BITOG standard, but had no check engine light and power felt pretty good... Same for the 5.7L Hemi. (284K) and even the 2.4L TS (do see a couple with well over 100K).. YES the "issues" are out there, but when the mfg produces mass numbers again the overall percentage is pretty low imho.
I would like to say this in regards to H/K also. Making massive numbers of the 2.4L (very loosely related to the 2.4L TS) and 2.0L, and yet a small percentage failed, but as a overall whole the number is acceptable...
i have personally only had one very ticky PS pull into the shop and it had 187K. It was not cared for in BITOG standard, but had no check engine light and power felt pretty good... Same for the 5.7L Hemi. (284K) and even the 2.4L TS (do see a couple with well over 100K).. YES the "issues" are out there, but when the mfg produces mass numbers again the overall percentage is pretty low imho.
I would like to say this in regards to H/K also. Making massive numbers of the 2.4L (very loosely related to the 2.4L TS) and 2.0L, and yet a small percentage failed, but as a overall whole the number is acceptable...
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When I got my 2020 they were both on the lot - we had a perfect 7 year run on a V6 Charger - and my friends with Jeeps only had the V6 - regret it slightly but so far so good with the engine & vehicle …
Thanks for the reply’s. I’m not a dodge guy. Know very little about these engines. But really like 2 door jeeps.
My brother has a 2016 and it’s been fine, but it only has 35-40k miles too. We’ve used 5w30 in it since I changed the factory oil.
The biggest gripe I see is people saying the oil filter housing cracks and then leaks and is a very expensive and in depth repair. Like anything else, you get some loser who has no idea what they are doing or what a torque wrench is, bad things will happen.
The biggest gripe I have with his Jeep is that the flares faded very fast despite being garage kept its whole life. He is wanting to add factory sized Bushwackers flares.
The biggest gripe I see is people saying the oil filter housing cracks and then leaks and is a very expensive and in depth repair. Like anything else, you get some loser who has no idea what they are doing or what a torque wrench is, bad things will happen.
The biggest gripe I have with his Jeep is that the flares faded very fast despite being garage kept its whole life. He is wanting to add factory sized Bushwackers flares.
About 14 million have been made, so every shop is familiar with them and has seen the more common problems, so the problems get exaggerated. I'm in 3 large Jeep clubs and I've never heard a complaint. Many have well over 200k miles and some are past 300k. It has a great rep for reliability and durability in the Jeep community. Mine has 87k on it now and just completed it's 3rd trip to Moab. I rum M1 0w20 with 5k OCI 's. I expect over 300k from it if God wills me to live that long.
Just avoid 2012.
I love the engine and trust it to take me and my kids to BFE and back reliably.
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I the Jeep clubs, with hundreds of examples, I've not heard that or anything like it even once with the Pentastar.
I don't know where the pentastar falls in terms of production numbers, but it's gotta be in a top 10 list somewhere with the number of them out there. Factor that with the service many of them see: Fleet, minivan, service vehicles, etc.. equals a hard life.
It's the plastic bits that are the main thing that make this engine fall short IMO. The oil filter housing for instance, or all the plastic cooling system plumbing. Either could wipe the engine out left leaking and not addressed.
They hold a lot of oil and have pretty stout looking bottom ends if you've ever seen one apart.
I think Cam and rocker arm issues shouldn't be killers if you address undue noises ASAP instead of just keep rolling with it.
Timing component like chains and whatnot are the eventual wear item on OHC V6s of any flavor.
It's the plastic bits that are the main thing that make this engine fall short IMO. The oil filter housing for instance, or all the plastic cooling system plumbing. Either could wipe the engine out left leaking and not addressed.
They hold a lot of oil and have pretty stout looking bottom ends if you've ever seen one apart.
I think Cam and rocker arm issues shouldn't be killers if you address undue noises ASAP instead of just keep rolling with it.
Timing component like chains and whatnot are the eventual wear item on OHC V6s of any flavor.
My Jeeps have been reliable and fun. The old one just passed 190k (3.8) and runs like new. I have the 6speed manual on both and love it. The PS pairs really well with both transmissions, whether a Jk or newer JL. But both have been reliable and rugged for me. They've had MANY off road trips and have taken a heck of a beating.
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Rockers are a hit and miss on these, no matter what sort of maintenance is done. Mine started ticking at around 80k miles, changed them at 86k miles.
5w30 all its life, never low on oil, never needed a top off, clean as clean can be.
The good news is that if this issue is caught early enough, only the rockers/lifters need replacement, the cams are usually fine and so is the rest of the engine.
5w30 all its life, never low on oil, never needed a top off, clean as clean can be.
The good news is that if this issue is caught early enough, only the rockers/lifters need replacement, the cams are usually fine and so is the rest of the engine.
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I frequent a jeep cherokee forum and the 2.4L is generally not as tolerant of anything including OCI over 5000 miles. Its not a terrible engine but the whole multiair system that requires clean oil and large quantities to work is just a big "Why?" to me.I'm curious as to why you would make this statement. What exactly brings you to this conclusion? What exactly makes the 3.6/3.2 lightyears ahead of the 2.4l MultiAir,....in your opinion?
I have owned both, worked on both, sold both, and seen both at auction. In my experience, a well-maintained 2.4l seems to have fewer (major) mechanical problems than any PS given the same mileage and age.
Now, problems (percentage-wise) based on units sold for each engine, I don't know, I'm just going from my experience. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just curious as to why you believe this.
Cheers.
After I wake up maybe I'll post a book about it but the 2.4L engine replacements on the cherokee forum are probably 10-1 2.4 vs 3.2
usually the engine for whatever reason sucks down most of the oil suddenly (within 1000 miles) then starts stalling at intersections due to the oil pressure cutoff(which shuts off engine)
People have no clue and just keep restarting and driving then make a post and we all tell them "check the oil level"
it then fails an oil consumption test and is replaced.
if they are taken care of and have frequent oil changes they seem to hold up much better.
PS the 3.2 is basically a 3.6.
My point on the 2.4L is if you look at the specs on it and the construction it should be an amazingly durable engine.. but enter FIAT and its not.
IF I owned one and I would.. it would get 4-5k OCI from new which seems to lessen the multiair failure rate and oil consumption.
Meanwhile the pentastar cruises along with 10k oil changes and no major issues that are directly attributable to anything other than poor parts.
bad quality valvetrain mainly. Which eventually hits a significant number but less than 5% IIRC.
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Sounds like a f@rt can, tends to warp heads. Seen a few in the shop.
I like the V6.
I'm assuming the 4t is the 2L turbo? If so I really liked it in my 2019. no issues in 50000 miles except it needing a new ECU.
It threw some codes, they replaced all the parts(something with fuel injection pressure) still threw codes = new ecu.
The pentastar in the cherokee (2017 I owned) was almost like a 4 cylinder.. wind it up.. lower torque.
the 2.0 is closer to a V8 or diesel. More torque lower redline. The noise didnt bother me.. in fact the only noise that bothered me was the fake white noise they pump in when you accelerate heavily with the 2.0
I've had a few rentals with the 2.4L mostly compass and journey.. in the compass it was fine.. in a 3 year old journey that whole vehicle was a POS.
I was surprised by how nice the new compass is...(last few years now) but they can have a sticker upto 40k now..
There are finally a larger amount of the 2L turbos making it towards 100k miles now so we shall see their long term reliability..
I had a 2010 JK4 with the PS engine, probably an older version. Even though I never had any issues with it, I just didn't like the engine at all.
It was quite gutless, and got the fuel economy about the same as my 2009 Ram pickup w/Hemi. About 18 mpg, no matter how it was driven. It didn't help that it had the aerodynamics of a concrete block.
The 2.0 T would get my vote in the kind of Jeep you describe.
It was quite gutless, and got the fuel economy about the same as my 2009 Ram pickup w/Hemi. About 18 mpg, no matter how it was driven. It didn't help that it had the aerodynamics of a concrete block.
The 2.0 T would get my vote in the kind of Jeep you describe.
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The problem with your JK was not the engine, but the transmission/gearing. There is a huge difference between the 2013 Jeep GC, and the 2014 Jeep GC, the 2011 to 2013 uses the mercedes 5 speed and the 2014+ uses the ZF 8 speed - the difference in performance is literally night and day. So much so that the 2014 3.6 feels pretty much as strong as the 2013 with the hemi.
I know the early ones were troublesome, but i thought the recent ones were pretty golden...
I know 2 people with never Jeeps and they have been fine...
I know 2 people with never Jeeps and they have been fine...
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