Scotty, I have an 05 Wrangler with the AMC 4.0L I6, and the 6-Speed Manual, but Im looking at the JK models because those don't rust anywhere near as bad as the TJ's.
Im looking at the 2012-2017 JK's with the 3.6L Pentastar V6 and the 6-Speed Manual. What are your thoughts?
I’ve been a Jeep fan for a long time and I will tell you the YJ’s were the best years. The TJ’s do have a rust issue but usually if you rinse underneath once a month really good they hold up. Also if your frame isn’t rusted out drilling a few drain holes fixes the issue with the frame holding water. They make frame repair kits that can be welded in as well. After 2006 the new models are junk, Just keep getting worse and worse. That 3.6L especially with an automatic I wouldn’t give to my worst enemy, but the engine even with a manual will eventually give you problems. Not to mention the new models have a ton of electrical issues.
I like Jeep's too, but you couldn't pay me enough to own any newer Mopar, Pentastar, FCA, Stellantis. They're junk imho.
Look - the Pentastars aren't the most reliable. You don't buy Mopar for reliability. You buy for performance.
They sound great, have reasonably good power, and are a naturally aspirated larger displacement engine in the days where all we see are turboed 4 bangers.
They aren't the most reliable but the one in our 2013 GC has had no issues besides a thermostat @90,000 mi.
They aren't junk - they just aren't the best for reliability. There's a difference.
I guess you and I are just gonna have to agree to disagree on things, Your talking performance on a V6 engine. If it was a Hemi V8 I could understand your point of view. Seeing as I have first hand knowledge of warranty’s voided because they were driven off road. Not in deep mud puddles, or rock crawling, just flat muddy, dirt roads people take to go hunting, they get a little wet in the bottom and electronics start to fail and go nuts. Dealer realizes this and they voided the warranty’s. . Of a Wrangler, designed to go off road. Todays Jeeps, even Wranglers are junk. They don’t hold up, they have many electronics issues, the engines don’t last, and if you have an automatic it’s gonna go out around 125k miles. My 1993 had 336k miles on it, original engine, tranny and clutch when my wife blew it up.
I've gotta side with @Thumpy on this one. If you want a performance Mopar, you gotta have a Hemi. A V6 should be reliable and can't use the performance chip as a pass for poor reliability. No disrespect, just my opinion.
@Mod_Man fair enough
@thumpy I don't think they're great, but in vehicles like the Journey and Avenger they are fast enough (and better than their 4 banger brothers). They aren't that bad. Apparently I just don't drive my pentastar hard enough. I'll try to blow it up next time.
I get it, you have one and it’s doing fine for you. My wife has a Nitro with the 4.0 V6 and the motor is a rock. But from experience I gotta say that were exceptions not the rule. I have a 2.2 L GM ecotec in another car, 224k miles now and still strong. They are for most part crap engines. It’s lasting because I over maintenance it
Avoid it. Some have gotten lucky and got a good one. Most haven't.
i would keep the 4.0, some folks believe it is the best engine they made so far
i had the 3.6 with 60k miles with no problems
The 4.0 is a decent engine. But they aren’t putting it into Wranglers. The 3.7 L they had in like the Patriot and Liberty, TOTAL JUNK. If you baby yours and chamfe the oil regularly you should be ok. You start going off road and splashing mud and water underneath you’ll regret it.
we have 50+ of those engines in pick ups running up/down highways and ➡ logging jobs, over 100k each, have not heard of any engine problems
I would stay away from any Jeep product regardless of engine/transmission combo. Even if the powertrain does not give out, the rest of the vehicle was not designed/built with longevity in mind, and they tend to suffer from electrical gremlins as they age. I like the Wranglers and their off-road prowess, but I would never own one (especially out of warranty).
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tQOd1mCqwlw
I’ve heard both sides of the isle with the pentastar V6. Jeep’s are just good looking crap anymore. However, there’s a YouTube video of a guy granted it was a fleet vehicle that had the pentastar in it and he got almost 400k mi without a hiccup. And although I’m sure there’s plenty of people that have said they have issues with it somewhere on the web. I haven’t heard of anything about that motor being problematic. Add that the pentastar has been out for some yrs now. It seems the little bugs and problems have been worked out. The typical reason people complain about FCA is that the electronic components and parts used fall apart prematurely and it’s all made in Mexico and I don’t disagree with that. What most people fail to realize is the majority of parts used on American vehicles are made all over the place. It’s not just FCA. Ford and GM source parts from Mexico, China, Korea and other places. There’s plenty of crap being made for all not just FCA.
