I'd agree with it being a pain in the ass, but both engines have their issues. I have 1 friend with a '14 who's engine oil temp sensor went out. 30k miles on that jeep. Labor all the same, and ended up doing it twice....the 2nd time just swapping that entire cooling unit while in there. idk....the 3.8L has it's own issues that I wouldn't want to deal with. I do think for more experienced people the idea of buying an older jeep (a shell) and then simply doing an LS swap is a good idea, but not in the cards for most people getting into a wrangler.

 

Other than burning oil what issues are in the 3.8? Power from the 3.6 is nice but the 3.8 manual is fine if geared right. Both my 07's burned oil from day 1. Just have to know to check it more often.

 

considering there are over 11 million 3.6 out there the failure rate is low. It also is an easy fix for any hands on person and even if you have to pay a shop it is not a big expense. Our work vehicles all had 3.6's and we ran the crap out of them all high 100,000 of hard use some times idling 24 hours at time and not a single one had an issue. My 14 had it fail at 60,000 miles but an easy fix.

 

Well, so far with 68K on the '13 and 46K on the '16 .. NO Leaks, No Drips, both Run Great!

 

I have no data to back it up, but my observations seem to be more common on 14/15's. Maybe there was just a bad batch Maybe my observation is just coincidence. IDK. I had a friend with a '14 in pristine condition that it went at 30k miles and 4.5 years. Just seems very random. Buddy with a shop sees these come in at a regular pace. My '13 with 92k miles been pretty good so far.

 

The oil filter housing leak problem in the 3.6 was only in the 2014 model year.

 

my plans for right now are to pretty much keep a mostly stock jk 4 door. It will be a weekend/back up car but mainly used to go on camping trips and minor off-roading to where lockers would be required

 

Regarding lockers, I want to make sure you are aware that all of our jkus have BLD. Brake lock differential. It works like a poor mans limited slip and can be effective if you know how to get the most out of it.

 

Yeah, lockers are nice and all but there are plenty of times where a better line or a little more experience would have taken you through the same places. They're designed for more than just minor off-road. The BLD mentioned above works really well in certain scenarios and the factory LSD is actually pretty decent until you burn through the clutches.

 

Out of curiosity, what kind of industry use was this? Just wondering work situations where a vehicle would idle 24hrs a day. Primarily ranching or oil & gas exploration up in Montana?