Happy ending for the burnt out JK at stockton

[BrisNut]

I would have thought the Brake Locked Diff function would be the culprit, also when I did the 5 press sec disable mine was still gutless on the beach, the throttle just wouldn't rev.
Possibly the ESP is responding to the swaying of the car in soft sand, if the ESP really is to blame.
If the doors really were meant to be easily removable they could have been saved if your passengers had been trained well
Good to hear support from above, I'm guessing he heard after well chosen words to the dealer rather than this forum.

[puck]

Originally Posted by BrisNut

I would have thought the Brake Locked Diff function would be the culprit, also when I did the 5 press sec disable mine was still gutless on the beach, the throttle just wouldn't rev.
Possibly the ESP is responding to the swaying of the car in soft sand, if the ESP really is to blame.
If the doors really were meant to be easily removable they could have been saved if your passengers had been trained well
Good to hear support from above, I'm guessing he heard after well chosen words to the dealer rather than this forum.

When I turn ESP off (5 sec/ ESP lit on the dash) and go through semi-soft stuff in ruts around 40-60k's and start swaying I still feel the car slowing and the ESP light flashing. Be good if you could turn it full OFF.

[lovemewrangler]

so they are paying for a new winch and winch bar etc for you?? you should try and milk a warn power plant

[ozmarty]

I think I've gone very close to this happening to me. I have an 07 Rubicon auto Unlimited too. I live near Stockton Beach and have been there a few times in my JK (and many, many times in my CJ5, my Grand Cherokee, my TJ etc.). On a couple of occasions my JK has lost nearly all power (as though it's gone into 'limp home' mode) and then the warning chime goes off - but there is no warning light. I have asked the dealer to look for fault codes, but they can't find any. My impression was that the ATF was boiling, but it doesn't appear to be discoloured. These incidents have shaken my confidence about taking the JK to the beach, and I tend to avoid Stockton which is a shame - because it's one of my favourite places to 4WD, and one of the reasons I own a jeep.

If the Jeep guys want to come out with me some time - just let me know. Not that I want a burnt vehicle, but it would be good to get to the source of the problem.

Cheers,

[BrisNut]

Originally Posted by puck

When I turn ESP off (5 sec/ ESP lit on the dash) and go through semi-soft stuff in ruts around 40-60k's and start swaying I still feel the car slowing and the ESP light flashing. Be good if you could turn it full OFF.

Do you find your throttle restricted as well in total off mode? Meaning you can't do donuts or sand rooster tails?

[Gone]

Originally Posted by ozmarty

I think I've gone very close to this happening to me. I have an 07 Rubicon auto Unlimited too. I live near Stockton Beach and have been there a few times in my JK (and many, many times in my CJ5, my Grand Cherokee, my TJ etc.). On a couple of occasions my JK has lost nearly all power (as though it's gone into 'limp home' mode) and then the warning chime goes off - but there is no warning light. I have asked the dealer to look for fault codes, but they can't find any. My impression was that the ATF was boiling, but it doesn't appear to be discoloured. These incidents have shaken my confidence about taking the JK to the beach, and I tend to avoid Stockton which is a shame - because it's one of my favourite places to 4WD, and one of the reasons I own a jeep.

If the Jeep guys want to come out with me some time - just let me know. Not that I want a burnt vehicle, but it would be good to get to the source of the problem.

Cheers,

Dont worry about, jeep will replace it anyways. If you feel a prolem with the jeep, dont take it to the expensive mechanics, take it to the cheap beach.

[robbo1959]

Originally Posted by tonysrich

On the 8th of Aug after only about 15 minutes or so of driving on Stockton beach my recently purchased 07 JK Rubicon Auto decided to spontaniously combust.

I can vouch for the fact, in hindsight, that it was definately the ESP overloading the tranny. I had my wife and two daughters in the car and I definately wasn't going for it but the engine was really struggling. Only two weeks before I'd been out to Boat Harbour and the car powered out there but here it was dying. After about ten minutes I noticed the water temp going up so I slowed down to a crawl to cool it thinking that when she'd cooled down a bit I might head back. The needle came down but then we noticed smoke coming from under the gear box. We bailed out and she just went up. Only oil goes up like that and only when it's real hot. And forget about an auto shop fire extingisher folks, you would have needed a five man fire team like at the race track to put my car out, she was HOT! And there is bugger all left to examine to find a cause. And of course I'd neve rheard of any of this untill my car burnt up. It wasn't till then that I checked out the forum's to get some answers. If I'd know on the day I'd have turned back as soon as she started to feel overloaded.

Now I reckon that it's not just some cars with overactive ESP that do this, but only some cars, some of the time, if you get what I mean. Two weeks previous I was haveing no problems in the sand at all. I even left the family on the beach while I gave it some real stick while the ranger wasn't watching in the ludercrously named "Dune Area" of Boat Harbour. She powered like a demon and the ESP never seemed to take over at all.

So whats the good news? The General Manager for Parts and Service for Chrysler Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, Robert Moorcroft, heard about it, looked me up and rang me personally to reassure me that Chrsyler/Jeep would not only replace my car but all the non Jeep accessories fitted to it. I don't know about the experiences that some of you may have had with your local Jeep crew but this guy and the State Warrenty Manager, Tony Harris, are seriously concerned about these occurances and are definately looking for answers. The trouble is that while there has been a lot of talk about a lot of fires there have actually has been very few JK's burn out world wide. I know cause I'ver spent weeks scanning the net for examples. It's a bit like chinese whispers, everyones talking but they don't realise that it's all about the same fires, less than a dozen cars that I can find and that's out of over two hundred thousand sold. I swear if there are more genuine cases I can't find them. And those cars that have burnt, have been so destroyed that there is nothing left for Jeep to examine for answers.

So what is the solution to all this while we wait for an answer? Yes, if you have an auto buy the biggest tranny cooler you can afford and get a tranny temp gauge mounted dead centre above the steering wheel where you can't miss it, I am with my next car. If you don't let her heat up then she won't burn.

And I'm lucky too cause it's taken Chrysler/Jeep almost a month to find the only unsold Rubicon left in the whole country and apparently there are none coming over on the next shipment at the end of the year.

So don't give Chrysler/Jeep too much crap, there are some really good guys out there looking after us. We might be a smalll group and most people wouldn't understand but it is our fanatisism that helps keep the good ship Jeep afloat and some people at Jeep know it.

You talk of a large transmission cooler and gauge fitted have you done it? and if so where did you buy it as I have been looking for a long time and haven't found anything to fit the JK diesel.

If others have a diesel JK and have one fitted please put up where you bought it from.