c-rad

Recently at 12,890 miles my jeeps manual transmission pooped out. Chrysler doesnt want to help telling me it was due to heat failure. I paid $400 for the dealer just to LOOK at the transmission. I called the hotline 1-800-992-1997 and the lady on the other end said "All decisions are final." What kind of customer care is that!? I bought a 2012, brand new jeep a product of hard working Americans to avoid problems. Now Im almost 2k in the gutter for a car I need to use to get to work. What makes it worse is I just moved to Denver CO, and just started a new job and have had a hard enough time paying rent. WTF Chrysler.

Someone please give me a ladder to climb or a rope to pull. I love my car! This makes me want to buy a japanese import where bumper to bumper means just that. The company I work for would never tell a customer "too bad so sad" EVER! I am f-u-r-i-o-u-s and being patient with these people didnt help anything.

jk_sea

Well, do they have solid ground with which to deny your warranty claim?

Tell us how the transmission ended up broken, start to finish. How do you drive your Jeep? What are they saying broke, specifically, and on what grounds are they denying your claim?

Then maybe we can help.

c-rad

I never put my jeep through strenuous activity. Strenuous activity being crawling. I do not take it baja running. It stays on the road (paved and unpaved) I do not burn my clutch. I drive pretty conservatively to and from work.

As I was coming off an exit ramp in neutral I was slowing down to take a turn onto a side street which takes me to work. At about 15 mph with the clutch pedal fully pressed in I put my jeep into 1st gear. I felt a slight click in the clutch pedal. At 10 mph I came off the clutch a little gave it some gas and fully released the clutch. No acceleration.

thats it.

jk_sea

That's still pretty vague. But...maybe that's exactly how it happened. It doesn't sound like you were doing anything wrong at the time, although putting it into 1st at 15mph does accelerate wear on the syncros. Is it wrong? Not really, but there are ways to be easier on the transmission. I doubt that was the cause of failure.

So what exactly did Chrysler say failed, and what do they propose needs to be replaced?

If they're saying it's your clutch, that's pretty tough to argue. Driving is so subjective, and someone who says they "drive conservatively" really might be hell on wheels (not saying you are). I've seen people who hold their car on a hill by slipping the clutch, waiting for a light to turn green. Some people engage the clutch with the engine revved up to 1800-2000rpm. Some people slip the clutch real hard when downshifting, and they feel these things are perfectly normal. To them, it's normal, they're not driving aggressively or speeding, but they're really accelerating wear on the clutch and they might not know it.

Unfortunately, according to the terms of the warranty, Chrysler doesn't owe to replace something like the clutch. If they do, it's going to be really tough to prove it. It's like that with any automaker, unfortunately.

yo_marc

Just curious -- what gearing and tire size are you running?

My JK refuses to grab 1st easily unless I'm under 3mph... I have forced it from ~5mph, and it's not usually happy about it. Above that, and I'm afraid of what would happen. I have short short gearing; so if you have 3.21's on bigger tires, maybe 15mph is ok.

Side note: I was under the impression 1st doesn't have a synchro, hence the difficulty grabbing it once moving.

Yankee

Was it your tranny or clutch that "pooped out"? If it was the clutch, at 12k+ miles it is unlikely they will warranty it. Also, IMO putting the tranny in first at speeds faster than almost a complete stop and letting out the clutch is not really good to do. That would stress both the tranny and the clutch.

But if the problem is the tranny then I would fight it. You did not admit to them you were stressing the tranny, right? If you wiped out first gear and told them what you mentioned in your post, they would probably try to blame you.

What did you pay $400 to have done? Did they actually remove and tear down the tranny to find the problem?

Freewill

This is the second thread I've seen in the last few months where a driver fried the clutch by doing exactly what the original poster did. If using the clutch/gearbox that way had been a daily habit then the clutch was probably ready to go.

I can't believe how many experienced adult drivers I ride with who have little idea how to brake, corner, steer, or use a clutch/transmission. Its one thing to know the rules of the road. Knowing how to operate the vehicle mechanically correct is another matter. Most so-called driving schools only teach how to get a license, but there are real instructors who will show a driver how to get maximum life, maximum safety, and maximum performance from a vehicle.

Yankee

Still not sure it was (just) the clutch that went out. His description and the diag cost ($400) makes it sound like first gear might have went away.

Freewill

That's not as likely as the clutch burning out, but it is totally possible for the transmission to be damaged if the clutch is let out when the engine speed doesn't match the speed of the transmission. If the engine wasn't revving at whatever speed it should turn @ 10-15 MPH in first gear when you let the clutch out, the clutch and transmission hafta absorb the difference.

Consider this: Its possible to drive a stick without using the clutch for anything but starting out. All the gear changes get done by matching engine speed to road speed during the instant while the transmission goes through neutral. (This may not be as easy with drive-by-wire and computer controlled engines, but the idea is the same.) Anyway, the point is to minimize strain by matching the engine to the gear speed. The clutch makes it smoother, but the clutch should not be used to speed up the engine or slow the Jeep down. That's the engine's job after the clutch is engaged.

yo_marc

I'm not convinced the OP did anything wrong with the clutch action. He didn't say he 'rev-matched', but I am assuming that's what was going on.

Dealer claiming 'heat' as a cause is pretty weird. That would seem to indicated a burned clutch. But I'm still skeptical.

I'll float a theory about the input shaft stalling after coasting in neutral with the clutch in - then getting shocked when 1st gear was grabbed at a bit too high of a speed.

It would be ideal if we could get some more details as to what the tranny and clutch are or aren't doing.