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07-01-2011, 01:41 PM
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#1
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,061
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Jeep Grand Cherokee -- Buyer Beware!
I have a 2011 Jeep Grand Cheorkee with the V-8. To me, it surges when climbing hills or otherwise under light load. Under heavy load, the V-8 is great. The regional Jeep service advisor and Jeep corporate states this is normal.
They sell a lot of these, so maybe I'm just too sensitive to the surge. It comes from the engine shutting down cyclinders and the way the program the transmission to shift.
Gil
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Gil
03 Prevost H3-45
Hoffman Conversion
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07-01-2011, 03:50 PM
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#2
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 1,163
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Is this an engine surge or do you think the transmission is maybe shifting in and out of overdrive when the load gets a bit high. Try taking the transmission out of overdrive when you get the surging happening again. Your Grand has more power than my Rubicon, but I know that on some hills it wants to shift out of overdrive, so I just do it myself. Hopefully it is this easy.
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2014 Phaeton 36gh
2008 Jeep Rubicon or 2012 Ford F150 4x4 Lariat towds
or a couple of different trailers
Retired in Apple Valley, California
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07-01-2011, 04:15 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Southern California
Posts: 1,808
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ImagineIF
I have a 2011 Jeep Grand Cheorkee with the V-8. To me, it surges when climbing hills or otherwise under light load. Under heavy load, the V-8 is great. The regional Jeep service advisor and Jeep corporate states this is normal.
They sell a lot of these, so maybe I'm just too sensitive to the surge. It comes from the engine shutting down cyclinders and the way the program the transmission to shift.
Gil
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I have a 2008 Grand Cherokee with the Hemi V8. I can hardly feel the engine change from running all 8 cylinders to the economy mode. I have owned it since new and so far no problems.
Sammie
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2015 Tiffin Bus 37AP
2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee
"A Job Begun is Half Done"
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07-01-2011, 05:01 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,061
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Jeep says it's the transmission programming, although it feels like a bad engine miss. Putting it in tow mode makes it bareable. Tow mode forces the engine to always run on all 8 and it increases the shift points. This occurs worse under light acceleration and when the engine is fully warmed up. Under hard acceleration or when its cold, its fine.
This is the third significant problem, all which first occured at 1,000 miles or less. One was what felt like I was running on 4 cylinders. That one was fixed with a new software load. The other problem was a brake system failure alarm and low of traction control. That one they never could figure out. I suspect it was a bad wiring contact that was corrected after they unplugged and plugged in connectors troubleshooting the problem.
Jeep/Fiat will likely have another software load that will fix the problem that's currently "normal". I'm sure I'm not the only one affected.
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Gil
03 Prevost H3-45
Hoffman Conversion
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07-01-2011, 05:56 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Damon Owners Club Workhorse Chassis Owner
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 24,024
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Well, it is written that every car company, no matter how bad, occasionally turns out one that is pure Gold, I mean this ride is perfect, 200,000 miles with nothing more than normal maintenance.
And every company, no matter how good... The occasional lemon.
I will be following you to see what happens. I do know that occasionally they screw up, Some more than others and to be honest I do not know here Jeep falls on that line.
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Home is where I park it!
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07-01-2011, 06:19 PM
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#6
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Senior Member
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 1,061
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An occasional problem is okay, in fact somewhat expected. To do nothing to fix the problem is where I have a real problem. I even tried trading it in twice out of frustration. I just could not stomach paying another $7-10K in "depreciated" value to get the V-6 when it should be Jeep/Fiat that steps up to the bat and fixes the problem.
Jeep's message to me in response to getting no where other than to be told it's operating as designed was, "After thoroughly reviewing your request and the file on this matter, we respectfully concur with the decision rendered by the Business Center Office. We're sorry we can't provide a more favorable reply."
It's a great looking vehicle, quiet, comfortable and no RV pulling restrictions. But if Jeep/Fiat isn't going to back their product I don't care how many other things they've done right.
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Gil
03 Prevost H3-45
Hoffman Conversion
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07-01-2011, 06:36 PM
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#7
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Pensacola, FL
Posts: 2,457
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wa8yxm
Well, it is written that every car company, no matter how bad, occasionally turns out one that is pure Gold, I mean this ride is perfect, 200,000 miles with nothing more than normal maintenance.
And every company, no matter how good... The occasional lemon.
I will be following you to see what happens. I do know that occasionally they screw up, Some more than others and to be honest I do not know here Jeep falls on that line.
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Although it is the new generation Jeep, looking at Consumer Reports reliability data on the previous generation would have scared me off. Chrysler/Jeep spokespersons would seem to have a lot of practice in fending off consumer complaints.
__________________
2008 Itasca 37H
2011 & 2012 Len & Pat's "One lap of America"
27K miles & 41 states in 13 months
Yellowstone Lake 6-1-2012
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07-01-2011, 07:06 PM
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#8
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Senior Member
Tiffin Owners Club
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Southern California
Posts: 1,808
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Gil, If you haven't already gone to another Jeep/Chrysler dealer you might just get a different answer to your problem. I've found that just because a mechanic says he can't find anything wrong, that doesn't always make him right. Maybe even try finding a High Performance Speed shop in your area to take a look at it. I had a GMC Sonoma for several years that had a surging problem that the dealer said there was nothing wrong. It ended up that I had a bad injector that after being replaced cured the problem. I really like my Grand Cherokee although the Hemi has more power than I really need.
Sammie
__________________
2015 Tiffin Bus 37AP
2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee
"A Job Begun is Half Done"
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07-01-2011, 07:44 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Forest River Owners Club Ford Super Duty Owner
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Vaughn, WA
Posts: 1,460
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Gil, Sorry to hear you've been getting the run-around. Unfortunately, while Chrysler make some nice vehicles their support is haphazard.
Sammie has a good suggestion to take it to another service center and see if they can help but be aware that once they plug in the VIN number and see you've already been wrung through the system, they may be hesitant to help, but DON'T GIVE UP!
As a side note, you keep mentioning Chrysler/FIAT and while FIAT has a part ownership, their only involvement is they get to sell some Chrysler and Jeep products in Europe. I suspect they'll sell out when their shares gain value (or goes down the tubes as it did to Daimler/Mercedes).
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Nick
1995 Coachmen Santara 360MB 36' w/slide.
Ford F53/460 chassis, 2020 Chev Equinox "toad"
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07-02-2011, 10:59 AM
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#10
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Senior Member
Fleetwood Owners Club American Coach Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,767
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluepill
Although it is the new generation Jeep, looking at Consumer Reports reliability data on the previous generation would have scared me off. Chrysler/Jeep spokespersons would seem to have a lot of practice in fending off consumer complaints.
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Me too...Jeep's record is one of the worst.
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2014 American Eagle 45T
DD 13, 500 HP
Pulling a Honda CRV
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07-02-2011, 11:53 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Winnebago Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: KM Parks in Western Washington and Yuma,Az for the Winter
Posts: 1,483
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Just slap the shift lever, drop a gear and it should be fine. I was told that is the Hemi-V8 in any Chrysler vehicle, not just the Jeep. It's only a minor irritant and the rest of the vehicle makes up for that "Shortcoming"
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2012 Itasca Meridian 42E, Roadmaster Tow System, Unified Brakes on Toad
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. US Army Armor. Ret
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07-04-2011, 05:48 AM
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#12
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Registered User
Monaco Owners Club
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 3,198
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Finhawk
Just slap the shift lever, drop a gear and it should be fine. I was told that is the Hemi-V8 in any Chrysler vehicle, not just the Jeep. It's only a minor irritant and the rest of the vehicle makes up for that "Shortcoming"
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What he said.
They're running that hemi on half it's cylinders and then putting it in overdrive with the torque converter locked when running at a thousand rpm trying to get some fuel mileage out of a 350 cubic inch 400 horsepower V8 pulling 5000 pounds.....
Had a vette that was programmed like that, overdrive and converter lockup at 40 mph, with the gearing in the car that put the engine at 700 rpm! She would shudder so bad you'd think it was gonna quit.
Solution was just to pull it back into third gear, or drive a little faster.
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07-04-2011, 10:53 AM
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#13
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Senior Member
Winnebago Owners Club Freightliner Owners Club
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: KM Parks in Western Washington and Yuma,Az for the Winter
Posts: 1,483
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cat320
Me too...Jeep's record is one of the worst.
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How many Jeeps have you owned? Is that statement from personal experience or from just reading reviews!
__________________
2012 Itasca Meridian 42E, Roadmaster Tow System, Unified Brakes on Toad
2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. US Army Armor. Ret
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07-04-2011, 11:20 AM
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#14
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Senior Member
Fleetwood Owners Club American Coach Owners Club
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 6,767
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Finhawk
How many Jeeps have you owned? Is that statement from personal experience or from just reading reviews!
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My comment was in response to an earlier remark by bluepill stating: "Consumer Reports reliability data on the previous generation would have scared me off." My comment was also based on driving jeeps since 1967 and reading the same article in CR. FYI, those CR reports are not "reviews" they are data compiled from information sent in by owners, there is nothing subjective about them.
You have a Jeep you like, great, I'm happy for you...I would not have one.
__________________
2014 American Eagle 45T
DD 13, 500 HP
Pulling a Honda CRV
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