NOT HAPPY, 392 WRANGLER BAD ENGINE!

[hpmaniac]

Bought jeep in September in Arizona, drove to moab had a blast and.back home to Washington. I noticed a prolonged cold start tick, lifter knock that would last 3.5 minutes, not the typical hemi tick and not exhaust tick or leak. BTW I'm a professional technician with 36 years experience and a shop owner. I tried 3 different oil filters, 2 different brands and even some different viscosity oils to see if I could make the noise atleast change and nothing changed the level of sound or duration it lasted. Engine runs great and is quite when warm. I even put a heat pad on the oil pan overnight and had a cold start oil temp of 125 degrees with no change at all. At this point I believed it might be a wrist pin or a lifter, I did NOT want to take it into the dealership. Finally I did bring it in and.now 3 weeks later we have nothing. They started a star case and all they know is it might be a lifter and start taking it apart to find the issue. I told the dealer I want a new engine!! Problem is they could change lifters and still have the noise after the repair. The tech said what I said, very hard to tell what the sound is. So now I have a 100k paper weight I'm making a payment on!! I have all the parts for a complete build, 3 inch lift, sdi shocks, exhaust and a bunch of other stuff just sitting in boxes.

 

[hpmaniac]

Only good news is I know the tech working on it at dealer and whatever work gets done will be done correctly and that was my biggest worry.

 

[Meat Head]

That’s sucks man. I hope it gets resolved to your satisfaction soon.

 

[Brutus 392]

Good luck , hope it gets resolved soon. Keep us posted.

 

[bigdaddyspank]

Bought jeep in September in Arizona, drove to moab had a blast and.back home to Washington. I noticed a prolonged cold start tick, lifter knock that would last 3.5 minutes, not the typical hemi tick and not exhaust tick or leak. BTW I'm a professional technician with 36 years experience and a shop owner. I tried 3 different oil filters, 2 different brands and even some different viscosity oils to see if I could make the noise atleast change and nothing changed the level of sound or duration it lasted. Engine runs great and is quite when warm. I even put a heat pad on the oil pan overnight and had a cold start oil temp of 125 degrees with no change at all. At this point I believed it might be a wrist pin or a lifter, I did NOT want to take it into the dealership. Finally I did bring it in and.now 3 weeks later we have nothing. They started a star case and all they know is it might be a lifter and start taking it apart to find the issue. I told the dealer I want a new engine!! Problem is they could change lifters and still have the noise after the repair. The tech said what I said, very hard to tell what the sound is. So now I have a 100k paper weight I'm making a payment on!! I have all the parts for a complete build, 3 inch lift, sdi shocks, exhaust and a bunch of other stuff just sitting in boxes.

Make sure you are in contact also with the "Jeep Cares " retention team; the retention team is the highest echelon of Jeep Cares. When you have a case manager assigned, he/she is assigned to you for the life and ownership of the vehicle. After a long deal with my 2024 FE transmission leak, they compensated me very generously $$$ and also gave me an 8 year Max Care zero deductible at no charge. I had to sign a non-disclosure on the compensation, so that should let you know that it was robust...

 

[Ted392]

Sorry to hear. As you being a mechanic should know, there might be ways to accelerate the issue to failure.

 

[hpmaniac]

Make sure you are in contact also with the "Jeep Cares " retention team; the retention team is the highest echelon of Jeep Cares. When you have a case manager assigned, he/she is assigned to you for the life and ownership of the vehicle. After a long deal with my 2024 FE transmission leak, they compensated me very generously $$$ and also gave me an 8 year Max Care zero deductible at no charge. I had to sign a non-disclosure on the compensation, so that should let you know that it was robust...

How do I contact them?

 

[bigdaddyspank]

How do I contact them?

(877) 426-5337

 

[hpmaniac]

42 minutes on hold, finally got a person and they started a case.

 

[hpmaniac]

I asked them if they could help out on making the payment on a broken 100k vehicle with 3200 miles.

 

[bigdaddyspank]

Just stay on them…the first thing is to ask fo the Max Care…

 

[Brutus 392]

I asked them if they could help out on making the payment on a broken 100k vehicle with 3200 miles.

Sure check is in the mail. Hope they do the right thing

 

[Colo392]

You would know way more about wrenching than I do, but fresh off reading the manual, I recalled the below from page 25.

Hemi engines (6.4L) at times can tick right after startup and then quiet down after approximately 30 seconds. This is normal and will not harm the engine. This characteristic can be caused by short drive cycles. For example, if the vehicle is started then shut off after driving a short distance. Upon restarting, you may experience a ticking sound. Other causes could be if the vehicle is unused for an extended period of time, incorrect oil, extended oil changes or extended idling. If the engine continues to tick or if the Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) comes on, see the nearest authorized dealer.

 

[hpmaniac]

You would know way more about wrenching than I do, but fresh off reading the manual, I recalled the below from page 25.

Hemi engines (6.4L) at times can tick right after startup and then quiet down after approximately 30 seconds. This is normal and will not harm the engine. This characteristic can be caused by short drive cycles. For example, if the vehicle is started then shut off after driving a short distance. Upon restarting, you may experience a ticking sound. Other causes could be if the vehicle is unused for an extended period of time, incorrect oil, extended oil changes or extended idling. If the engine continues to tick or if the Malfunction Indicator Light (MIL) comes on, see the nearest authorized dealer.

No, this is much different. I know and understand this sound mentioned in the manual. This is not that noise. The technician is trying to get a complete engine replacement approved.

 

[Colo392]

No, this is much different. I know and understand this sound mentioned in the manual. This is not that noise. The technician is trying to get a complete engine replacement approved.

Wow - hopefully it gets resolved. Man that really sucks....

 

[Earl 392]

Bought jeep in September in Arizona, drove to moab had a blast and.back home to Washington. I noticed a prolonged cold start tick, lifter knock that would last 3.5 minutes, not the typical hemi tick and not exhaust tick or leak. BTW I'm a professional technician with 36 years experience and a shop owner. I tried 3 different oil filters, 2 different brands and even some different viscosity oils to see if I could make the noise atleast change and nothing changed the level of sound or duration it lasted. Engine runs great and is quite when warm. I even put a heat pad on the oil pan overnight and had a cold start oil temp of 125 degrees with no change at all. At this point I believed it might be a wrist pin or a lifter, I did NOT want to take it into the dealership. Finally I did bring it in and.now 3 weeks later we have nothing. They started a star case and all they know is it might be a lifter and start taking it apart to find the issue. I told the dealer I want a new engine!! Problem is they could change lifters and still have the noise after the repair. The tech said what I said, very hard to tell what the sound is. So now I have a 100k paper weight I'm making a payment on!! I have all the parts for a complete build, 3 inch lift, sdi shocks, exhaust and a bunch of other stuff just sitting in boxes.

Bummer

 

[Dirtywaterbushcraft]

Im curious if they'll approve a new engine replacement. Please be sure to post an update either way.

 

[I-10]

Thanks for sharing with all of us. Please continue to provide updates.

 

[hpmaniac]

So I got an email from jeep cares, they closed the star case because of poor communication with dealership!! So after talking to service manager they finally decided to pull the heads and change lifters. This is a guess because there is no way to prove this is the noise. Omg what a cluster f..k.. keep in mind I run a successful repair shop with excellent customer service so this is hard for me to swallow. Next step is to see what jeep care can do to compensate me. Hopefully maybe they see this on the forum, I know ram cares scans the forums. For as much money I've spent with cdrj I feel like there isn't any care.
2019 hellcat redeye
2021 hellcat super stock
2021 trx
2022 trx
2024 392 wrangler
2025 hellcat duranger silver bullet
This is the list of vehicles I've bought from this manufacturer. Over 1/2 million in vehicles and this is the service we get.
But the guy who buys a 35k hornet should get the same service as me imo.

 

[hpmaniac]

I will say depending how this turns out will have a major impact on if I ever buy anything from them again. It's not that it broke, machines can fail I get that but it's how they handle the situation that really matters and so far it's a fail!!