Ive received several requests for a separate forum....and you guys know I like to give the members what they want! So here ya go.....a forum for our new ecodiesel community!
It will start with the block heater plugged in, as long as the hood is fully closed. But if you open the hood without pressing the "run" button after using the remote start, the engine quits. Probably best not to let it run too long with the heater still plugged in though. I'm still learning the quirky little things about this wonderful vehicle.
ps. mpg's during this very cold winter in MN has been between 20 - 21 in mostly city driving, which I think is pretty good. That includes a lot of using the remote start, idling when going inside for a few minutes, etc. I never used to let my vehicle idle when going inside primarily because I couldn't lock the doors and keep the engine running. But now I can and with the extremely cold weather I like to keep the inside of the car warm when going inside for a few minutes. I'm guessing I'll see something more like the estimated combined EPA 24mpg when warmer weather and non-winter blend fuels come ....
There is a switch that is attached to the hood. Once you raise the hood it opens up and disables the remote start. My Dodge Magnum had this as well.
They have come with this for years as a safety interlock...you don't want to be under the hood and accidentally remote start the engine with your hand in there.
You can bypass it by locating the switch and jumpering it out.(Just confirm whether it is normally open or closed with the hood down)
Just had my jeep in to the shop again today for the intermittent abs trac 4wd issue. they are saying it is due to snow and ice building up on the wheel speed sensors.
Just wanted to share incase anyone else has the same issue or has heard otherwise.
Just had my jeep in to the shop again today for the intermittent abs trac 4wd issue. they are saying it is due to snow and ice building up on the wheel speed sensors. Just wanted to share incase anyone else has the same issue or has heard otherwise.
When I turn off my '14 Limited Diesel and I walk sound the back, I hear a fast beep. Almost like an alarm clock, but it's very faint. It stops rather quickly. Has anyone else heard this?
The dealer was finally able to look at my jeep while it was acting up and figured out in 2 minutes that it was just a bad wheel speed sensor so they will be replacing it on Tuesday. Im really glad that I may finally have the jeep I've been wanting for the past year even if it is 3000 miles late. Thanks everyone for putting up with my whining. Hopefully no one else has this problem but maybe my experience will lead to a quicker fix
I am new to the forum. Appreciate all the information regarding the JGC diesel. I am awaiting delivery of mine in about 2 weeks. Very excited!!!
I am bit anxious though because this will be my first diesel vehicle. Been trying to understand whether there are maintenance items that I need to be aware of on a more frequent basis. I will be doing mostly highway driving (about 60 a day) with some local driving as well. Any advice from the pros on this forum would be greatly appreciated. I understand that is very open ended but any obvious checklist items would be awesome for a diesel newbie like myself.
I am new to the forum. Appreciate all the information regarding the JGC diesel. I am awaiting delivery of mine in about 2 weeks. Very excited!!! I am bit anxious though because this will be my first diesel vehicle. Been trying to understand whether there are maintenance items that I need to be aware of on a more frequent basis. I will be doing mostly highway driving (about 60 a day) with some local driving as well. Any advice from the pros on this forum would be greatly appreciated. I understand that is very open ended but any obvious checklist items would be awesome for a diesel newbie like myself. Thanks.
You will be very happy with the diesel as a commuter vehicle. I've driven nothing but for last 10 years and it has been such a great change from the gas vehicles I've had.
As for maintenance the diesel requires LESS maintenance than a comparable gasoline engine. Expect the following (my experience)
Modern diesels do consume oil normally. It is not abnormal to have to add a liter between regular maintenance intervals.
Don't be alarmed at the colour or smell of the oil if you do check it. It will be nearly black and may smell oilier than you might expect. This is completely normal.
DO NOT use anything but the exact oil specified by the manufacturer. Anything other than the special low ash euro oils WILL clog the particulate filter and cause you grief.
Do buy your fuel where they sell a lot of it. This will ensure you get the benefit of the seasonal blends that are automatically delivered to the station as required. If you do this you do not need to bother with additives or stabilizers or other fuel mix products.
No need to service any more regularly than the service reminder in the Evic suggests. The electronic service calculations are conservative enough as it is.
Most diesels don't hit their stride until at least 25k on the odometer. Expect your already good mileage to continue to improve over a long period of time. It will drop in winter due to the antigel additives.
When you get home after giving your JGC diesel a heavy workout let it sit at idle for a couple of minutes. This will ensure that all those hot components get a chance to cool down. Turbo parts especially.
I keep a rubberized work glove under the drivers seat so i can deal with the fuel handles that have not been cleaned or have been doused with fuel by the last customer. Your hands and clothes will stink of diesel all day if you get any on yourself.
You will love the low end torque and the zf transmission is the best I've ever driven.
I doubt you will ever buy anything but a diesel again!
A buddy of mine (same friend that went with Shannon and me to the JNAP tour last year) recently sent me the attached photo of his F350 diesel truck. He had the block heater plugged in for about 4 days. It's been really cold here in MN, and it sits outside, so I suppose he just wanted it ready to start whenever he needed it. Anyway, he was sitting in the house and heard a loud explosion. Went outside to find his truck on fire. Burned out the entire front end of the truck including tires. Not too long before this happened he drove up the drive in his car and didn't see any smoke or anything coming out from the hood. His recommendation now is that if my diesel will start without plugging it in, don't plug it in, especially in the garage. I've been plugging mine in occasionally, not because it needs it, but I figure it will help the engine get up to temp a bit quicker improving economy and cabin heat. Any theories on what happened?
I know what happened. It was a FORD PICKUP. :lol: My MIL's husband has had two Ford pickups (one Ranger, one F150) spontaneously catch fire and burn to a crisp. That die-hard Ford lover actually replaced the F150 with a Chevy. I was shocked!
Damn never saw that.
My experience with 189K miles on my Super Duty was that it never used oil, 7.3L diesel by the way. Never did anything until 125K miles when I replaced the water pump preventative maintenance. Evans Waterless Coolant never changed it. Changed the diff and transmission fluid every 50K miles. Oil every 5K per manual.
Nothing ever broke. Changed brakes at 91K but had more pad and rotor left.
Fantastic truck.
I expect the SFU to be the same.
I am averaging 27.3mpg...
I am Jimbo from south Louisiana. I have been looking around the Jeep site for a couple of months to see how the new ECODiesels were performing. I was looking to get a new ram 1500 ECODiesel when they come out. Well the reviews you wrote and the 10/10 powertrain ratings won me over. I realized that the JGC fit my needs better than the pickup. I purchased a new JGC ECODiesel last week. As follows:
Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4 X 2
Maximum Steel Metallic
ECODiesel 3.0
Luxury Group II
Trailer Tow Group IV
Uconnect 8.4AN
20" Wheels
The JGC drives great. It is solid, rattle free and fit and finish are great. Midway through the first tank of diesel it is 28.0 MPG on an equal mix of city, country and interstate driving. More later
Hi Guys, I am Jimbo from south Louisiana. I have been looking around the Jeep site for a couple of months to see how the new ECODiesels were performing. I was looking to get a new ram 1500 ECODiesel when they come out. Well the reviews you wrote and the 10/10 powertrain ratings won me over. I realized that the JGC fit my needs better than the pickup. I purchased a new JGC ECODiesel last week. As follows: Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4 X 2 Maximum Steel Metallic ECODiesel 3.0 Luxury Group II Trailer Tow Group IV Uconnect 8.4AN 20" Wheels The JGC drives great. It is solid, rattle free and fit and finish are great. Midway through the first tank of diesel it is 28.0 MPG on an equal mix of city, country and interstate driving. More later Jimbo
YES! Finally took delivery last night. We didn't get out of the dealership until 9pm so I haven't had a chance to set much up but it was an amazing drive home.
I concur. I used to hate driving. Now I can't wait. Even though my wife's Jetta TDI gets better mileage, I'd rather take the Jeep. It is just so much nicer to drive.
Should be an interesting start to a new car, they are talking about up to a foot of snow here on Thursday. I've read a bunch of complaints about the stock tires in snow, but with no chance to get Cooper A/T3s installed before the snow I will have to make do.
I'm looking forward to it! According to AccuWeather, they shifted the 12-18 band of snow slightly West, which now includes my area... we'll see how close they are. I drove back from Philly Sunday night and I had a TON of wheel-well buildup. Tires were rubbing pretty bad . Not a pleasant odor - so when I stopped I removed as much as I could.
1Zach1
Enjoy and glad you have your hands on it.
I have had mine 1 week and have a 1000 miles on it. Only one small issue was alignment being off.
Dealer in Fort Walton Beach took care of it no problem and now tracks perfect.
I am very happy with the ride as you are too...
I just joined the group. I just ordered 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited ecodiesel, maximum steel, black interior, 8.4, tow package. I was originally going to wait for the Ram 1500 ecodiesel and was torn between the 2 vehicles. So after much debate I went with the Grand Cherokee. It is probably a better fit for me anyway and fits in my garage. I can't wait until the middle of March to pick it up. Thanks to this forum I now know what to look for when I inspect it.
I think you be completely satisfied when you pick it up on Monday. I bought mine after owning 2 TDI's over an 12 year period. The new Diesels are great and while I am no where near the mileage I got before I believe the trade off is worth it. The snow storms of this year certainly made my commute less stressful. The ride I think is much nicer than the 2012 version of the Jetta. I guess they realized they screwed up because this years Jetta has a new suspension setup. This JGC handles like my older jetta in that it really tracks well and you never feel like you are on the verge of losing control.
I will disagree a bit about servicing a diesel being a lot cheaper. You do not have wires and plugs but you do have special Oil that is not always easy to find and the fluids are pretty expensive. Oh my Jetta's never used oil. My older one was traded in with 286K on it and I never had to add oil between my 10K change cycle. Oh fuel filters really need to be changed or drained. Trying to figure this out. In the Jetta the filter captured the water so after a period you had to change it. Overall I would not say it is much more expensive than gas engines. I will say that in the long run it is far cheaper because from past experience these engines last a long time. My Jetta really stepped up the MPG when I got to 50K.
A slight negative about this engine is that when it is cold like below 20 or 10 it controls fuel differently so that your mileage drops even more than just because of the winter fuel. Last week was extremely cold and my MPG dropped at least 2 MPG from some previous tanks. This week has been cold in the AM but warmer during the day and I am back to the range I was at on my first few tanks where temps were in the 30's. I also noticed that at speeds below 15 or so when it is cold your MPG goes really low even if you are coasting into a stop sign or light. The Jetta pumped no fuel until you were almost stopped and it had to disengage the clutch. This transmission is possibly smoother but with a different configuration so it is not as efficient at those slower speeds.
Went through a lot of snow this week and it handled great.
Just got home with the 14. Loving it so far. The nav is very nice. This is much nicer than the 11 overland I just got rid of. I'm also impressed with the transmission.
Picked up mine finally after waiting on that train from MI, I'm really pleased with the diesel: performance, sound, mileage.
After nearly 13 years in an Xterra that I loved but was a bit rough, I truly enjoy the GC. I feel like I've gone from driving a buckboard to well, someone else's nice ride... Can't wait to get to Big Bend for off-road miles.
Picked up mine finally after waiting on that train from MI, I'm really pleased with the diesel: performance, sound, mileage. After nearly 13 years in an Xterra that I loved but was a bit rough, I truly enjoy the GC. I feel like I've gone from driving a buckboard to well, someone else's nice ride... Can't wait to get to Big Bend for off-road miles. Only get to see this once:
Wow, it's been quiet here on JeepGarage! At 2800 miles I've had to add a second quart of oil, and the oil life remaining is at 30%. At this rate I'll need to change my oil at 4,000 miles, not anywhere near 10,000. What is going on here? Should I be concerned (I already am...)? I suspect is has to do with the unusually cold winter here in MN this year and mostly very short trips, but still, only 4,000 miles on an oil change? It would be interesting to know the algorithm that goes into calculating the oil life remaining, and what the primary factors/inputs are.
Mine is showing a similar timing for an oil change. Short trips, idling to warm up, and bitter cold is what I'm thinking is the problem here. My MPG is also pretty low... around 17mpg average over 1000 miles according to one of my trip odometers.
I talked to a local CRD owner today who just received his oil change message with 1800 miles on the odometer. He has been doing only cold weather very short daily commutes since he purchased the Jeep in November. I've got 3000 miles on my second oil change with the EVIC showing 57% oil life remaining. I do at least 20 miles each way on my daily commutes. With 8000+ miles on my CRD, I have yet the need to add a quart of oil.
Oil analysis is a great tool to see the condition of an engine and how long it's got left. I recently had an oil analysis done on the big truck to check on the bottom end and see if it needs to be overhauled yet. 750k on the clock. CAT says it's good for now.
On a smaller (passenger) vehicle, I'd probably have one done if I was worried about something, but other than that, it's kinda overkill. Reason being, most of these engines in passenger cars (gas and diesel) never see the maximum stress load they can handle, even in stock form. Well, unless you tow/haul everyday with passengers inside, through the mountains. But even then, the suspension and driveline are usually the weak point. The engines can handle a bit more. Whereas conversely with heavy trucks (semis), the engines are stressed and pushed to the limit daily. So regular oil analyses are important to see what's up inside.
This may have been mentioned as I haven't been able to keep up with this long thread...but.., did any of you notice the insane amount of black dust fibers in the glove box and center console from the lining? the amount is really ridiculous! anything I put in there gets covered. When I fist took out my users guide package when it was new the plastic wrapping was filthy with black dust and I don't mean a little...I mean totally covered! . I know it's not a big deal but whatever lining felt material they use is bad!