2017 JKU, 115000 miles, regularly serviced. 6-speed manual.
Mostly been a reliable Jeep but had a few issues repaired in the last 2 years (thermostat, anti-slip sensor, leaky oil cooler, leaking rear axle).

Anywho: At the beginning of June, the Check Engine light came on with error P219A (Bank 1 Air/Fuel Ratio Imbalance).

I took it to a repair shop where I’ve had good service before. Unfortunately, I ended up with a $1700.00 bill for the 100K service (fluids, filters, spark plugs, etc).

The Jeep seemed a lot better with acceleration, even an higher RPMs and gears.

About 1 week later, the CE light came back, same error. I called the shop and got a bit of a runaround. In fact, I spent 20 min on hold before the line disconnected. I called back and got a recording.
(I didn’t hear back from them for 2 days and was told they were short staffed and couldn’t look at my car for a few days. Nevermind.)

In the meantime, I wasn’t sure if I could drive it, so I found another shop closer to my house that had me in the next day.

The 2nd shop changed the oil and did some kind of fuel injector cleaning. Pricey visit IMO, $650.

No issues for like 600+ miles.

About a week ago, the CE came back AGAIN! Same error. I called the 2nd shop and was told the next step is diagnosing the issue is to inspect the fuel injector spray pattern. I’d have to leave it at the shop for at least 3 days.

Unfortunately, I had a bunch of work shifts scheduled and had to postpone the service. I used my Superchips gizmo to clear the error code and decided to try adding some fuel injector cleaner to an empty tank and fill it (~20 gallons). I drove on the freeway for about 30miles right off the bat.

Again, the car feels much more zippy than it has in a long time.

I used up that tank of gas and did a second application of the injector cleaner.

Welp, yesterday, after running a bunch of errands on surface streets and highways (about 30 miles), the error code came back (ironically, on the same road where it first posted back in June).
This time I had the P219A error as well as P0171 (System too lean - Bank1).

—
Unfortunately, my mechanic skills are minimal so I don’t feel comfortable trying most of the recommended troubleshooting steps when I look up the codes.

Is THREE days a reasonable amount of time to inspect the fuel injectors? (Or, is the shop just juggling jobs?).

Is inspecting the fuel injectors the logical next step? Should I request another course of action?

Should I take it to a third shop, to get another opinion? I’m already up to about $2350.

Am I nuts for considering taking it to a Jeep dealer? Maybe they could get to a solution more quickly? Easier to get parts?

Any repair shop recommendations for the Portland, Oregon metro area?

How long can I realistically keep clearing the codes and limping along before I do much worse damage?

 

This is not a code nor issue i've ever had experience with, but going to attach the pages from the service manual so you can see the logical troubleshooting (short relative to many codes) -

 

Do you have the Jscan app? If so, I think I'd start looking at some of the live data related to the cylinders on that specific bank and see if you can spot one that looks different than the others. Ideally this would just be related to a bad injector or a manifold air leak and not related to the valvetrain.

 

thank you! i appreciate the extra details. I just had a simple bullet list of possible causes. great idea about Jscan app.