eslack32

I had the ticking sound since basically day one, but it wasn't as loud as many others I had heard. Then 2 weeks ago. The CEL came on and I took it in and they fixed it without any hassle.

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PET77

So I joined the club too:-(

13" JKUR (prod.:September 12") with just 3730mls on the clock (mainly fast highway traffic). Misfire on cyl 6. The consumption was quite high from the very beginning (14-15mpg). Lately the engine started to sound "differently" (not really knocking though) and it felt like a bit down on power. Also when put into D or R, the car started to rattle and shake rather than trying to pull away as usually.

Apart from the misfire code the computer also said that there is some problem in counting mileage (dunno) and that the radio was disconnected (which it wasnt)...

From what i can tell, my heads seem to be of AB revision. For the moment, the car is still in the workshop and the took of the intake plenum to asses the driver side head. The end result is yet to be seen.

Unhappy...

PET77

Hey guys,

Could you help me get to the bottom of the reasons for the pentastar head issue to occur?

From what I could see, there seem to be 2 rumored reasons for the misfires on the (mainly) driver’s side head:

a) a fault in design of the valve train,
- if that was the case, why would only one side be concerned and also why different cylinders would be concerned?

b) a fault in design of the exhaust ports.
- if only one side in concerned, does that mean that the head (cooling/exhaust port) design is different from each other?

c) a fault in choice of materials for exhaust valves and valve seats
- most unlikely, as this would be an easy fix and Chrysler would not authorize a head replacement if that was the case.

What I would like to do is to gather as much as possible intel as to what are that the reasons the supposed only 1% of the Pentastar engines develop this problem.

One of the theories I would like to put to the test right now is material
weakening (speaking about the exhaust valves&seats) caused due to prolonged heavy use of your engine (aka long term highway driving). In other words, the question is whether the material of the valves/seats could have been weakened due to high temperature (poor cooling) caused by the design of the exhaust ports. The weakening would obviously be more prominent if the car would see some prolonged heavy use of the engine, such as long high speed drives on the highway. From what I could tell, this in fact seems to be the case with at least some of us (and me for that matter – since my engine developed the CEL and other symptoms right after one 650mls run, which I took at quite a high speed – around 90mls/hour).

Therefore could you please post some info about the way you used your car prior to the P030x code?

jkrubcon

Just read on another "forum" that this is a AD version head, can I get a witness?

bbolander

my 2012 was delivered in sep 2011, one of the first which is in the group with the bad heads. at 8,000 miles now, the engine tick started. took it into the dealer and in my online appointment comment said it has the famous engine tick indicating the defective cylinder head. the service writer acknowledged the tick, but called to say they'd finished and it's normal. i told him it isn't normal and what they were asking me to do is be hundreds of miles away from home, maybe on a trail and have the check engine light come on with a bad cylinder code. he volunteered to check with his service manager, but came back with they can't do anything without an engine fault code and if i wanted i could call chrysler. the service receipt says "C/S: ticking drivers side of engine indicating defective cylinder head of the ones purchased new like mine in Sep 2011 (my appointment comment), and their comment "ROAD TEST VEHICLE. NO ABNORMAL CONDITION FOUND, NO TSB'S." so, officially they're telling me the engine is fine although they know it isn't.

why does chrysler/jeep and the dealers put us through this pain and wait till we have an engine code and might be stranded hundreds of miles away from home before they'll do anything on an issue that is so well known and documented? makes no sense.

i posted my experience on the jeep facebook page yesterday, and got a response from the jeep facebook administrator today that they would like to put me in touch with customer care and sent me a message asking me for my contact info and VIN and i've responded to that. that's encouraging!

Kmcq13

My 2014 Unlimited Rubi X had the CEL come on at about 7k miles. Code P0305 was displayed. Brought it into dealer, they made it sound like they never heard of this problem before. Ultimately, they provided a rental, had my Rubi for a week and after testing and finally doing a leak down test, replaced the head. This is my 3rd Wrangler and I'm not overly happy with a serious issue at 7k.

As for type of driving, I use this as my commuter vehicle, about 110 highway miles a day, 55-65 mph. The tech told me exactly what I was doing when the light came on. It was as I accelerated from a stop (sign).

bbolander

Both Chrysler Care and the Dealer said they couldn't do anything until the engine light comes on with the code. My 2012 is exactly 3 years old now with 19K and the light still hasn't come on. At least I did receive the letter from Chrysler with the extended engine warranty to 10 years/150K miles.

azyjjk

My 2012 was delivered on Oct. 24, 2011 and is just fine (knock on wood) but then I only have 11k miles.

Chadc880

Maybe you should start collecting data on the transmissions that are failing as we speak

dentondanner

I too have joined the club. SES light came on at 23K P0306, Brought it to the dealership locally, they checked and stated they needed to re-flash the computer as an initial step. From my understanding that simply expands the parameters of how the ECU picks up misfires. The SES light resurfaced after 2 days. I brought my vehicle back in and this time after a re-eval it was decided to replace the left head. After reading many posts, I made sure the head they said they had in stock was the current AC version. For me, no noticeable tick, loss of power or anything to indicate an issue with the head. I guess early detection/intervention was on my side. My hope is this will prove itself as a long term fix. Time will tell. I have a 2012 Sahara JKU, build date is December 9, 2011.