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2018 high mileage High Altitude

7K views 25 replies 13 participants last post by  Mongo53 
#1 · (Edited)
So, last summer I took a poll to see if anyone would be interested in a longevity post that would be continually updated and the feedback was positive. I drive A LOT so I figured I would be a guinea pig and post my maintenance/issues as the miles build. This past week marks the one year mark since I purchased my 2018 so I figured this was a good time to start.

I purchased new on March 8, 2018 and it had 28 miles on it when I drove off the lot. As of the end of the day on March 8, 2019 it had 50,865 miles on it. I am covered by 5 years/Unlimited miles MaxCare that I purchased for $1795 from Zeigler.

Maintenance and issues to date are...

-7 oil changes
-6 tire rotations
-1 cabin air filter and 1 engine air filter.
-New tires will come within 5-10 thousand more miles.
-#6 parking sensor (right front) was bad right off the lot. Took almost 2 months for the dealer to get the part and get it painted.
-My suspension is very clunky, sounds like shock mounts are bad but I have not had it checked out yet. Other than that I have had no issues to date with the air suspension.
-I have a weird issue where on startup the whole vehicle will shake and it makes a banging noise. It is very hard to explain, but again have not had the issue checked yet.
-My drivers seat makes a popping noise when my weight shifts in the seat. For example, coming to a stop and then accelerating again.

Over all it has been a good experience so far. It is a really comfortable ride to spend so much time in. I will keep this post updated in real time as issues arise and I have them taken care of.

Here are some pics I took while traveling this past week. It is a real pain to keep clean when you drive so much.
 

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#3 ·
I used to drive fleet cars like Taurus, Pontiac Gran Prix or Dodge Minivans and put 55-70k miles on them per year. Minus some quirks, if you did your preventative maintenance they usually worked quite fine. Living out of your sedan or minivan is terrible though. Long drives on I-80 or I-35 throughout the Midwest. One decent thing was books on CDs or audible now. Kept you from going nuts listening to SiriusXM or political talk shows.
 
#5 ·
I drove from our area to San Antonio TX for a business trip (I don't fly anymore). Drove for 24 hours before I got tired, and yea, the repeating shows on sat radio do get annoying.



Previous to my WK2, I bought a WJ in 2004 (02 Laredo 4.7 NV242). First trans at 200K, rebuilt t-case (my fault), dropped valve seat at 309k. The rust made my decision to not drop another engine in it. I swear NY uses more salt on the roads than mother nature used in the ocean.
 
#12 ·
Update - New tires

I got 57,366 miles out of the old ones. I'm sure some people would have pushed it a little further than I did, but with how much I drive I'd rather have the safety of fresh tread under me. Especially now that it's spring and there will be more rain. I chose to go with the Continental Crosscontact LX20. Partly due to research done here and partly by reading about them and competing tires on Tirerack. I need to do some more driving with them, but first impression seems to be that they are a significantly more comfortable ride compared to the Bridgestone Ecopias that came on the vehicle. They seem to absorb imperfections in the road much better.
 

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#14 ·
Update - 75,479 miles.

The Jeep has developed a nasty nasty rattle somewhere and I just cannot figure out where it is coming from. Its a metallic sound, almost like golf clubs clanking together. Seems like it is probably coming from the headliner/Sunroof but I have searched and searched and just can't pinpoint it. It is driving me out of my mind.
 
#18 ·
Does it seem like it's coming from right above your head (drivers)? I had this issue. I pulled down the headliner above the drivers rear door:
-Remove weatherstripping from top of bother front and rear doors
-Remove lower B pillar trim, remove 7mm screw from bottom of upper B pillar trim and slide trim down away from headliner
-Pull back as much of lower C pillar trim as you can, remove 7mm screw from bottom of upper C pillar trim and slide C pillar trim down and away from headliner. C pillar trim is all connected to trim in the cargo area so do you best.
-go around the the sunroof opening and pop off the velco holding the headliner to the sunroof assembly.

Standing at the rear door gently pull down the headliner and peer into the rear corner of the sunroof assembly you'll see this:



I wedged a piece of fuel line between the sunroof assembly and the roof at this location and it stopped the noise so far. If you do this can you confirm if there is a bolt in the spot where I have the brush bushing?

If your noise is coming from the passenger side there is a TSB which is very involved to fix the body seam at the C pillar on the passenger side.
 
#19 ·
If your noise is coming from the passenger side there is a TSB which is very involved to fix the body seam at the C pillar on the passenger side.
Mine does seem to be coming from the passenger side. For the most part it goes away when the shade is closed.
 
#20 ·
i have the sunroof rattle on the drivers side. if i push up on the headlining on the side of the glass, it goes away. such a pain to go with my dealer since im usually stranded there (no loaners, and I live in city so hard to make it by the time it closes) so i guess i'll live with it...
 
#21 ·
Hi topsider,
We certainly understand your hesitation with visiting a dealer. If you end up getting your concern addressed and need further assistance with the process, feel free to private message us!
Laura
Jeep Social Care Specialist
 
#22 ·
I posted these pics in the members rides area but I thought I would put some here for any High Altitude guys who might be following the thread. I bought these rails from Justforjeeps.com. The gray on the rails perfectly matches the accents on the 2018-2019 HA's. They bolted right up to the existing holes.
 

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#24 · (Edited)
My experience a little different, if I didn't get such a great deal on well equipped WK2, and if I didn't enjoy working on it, I'd probably be sour on the experience...

It needed the front sway bar end links replaced right away, no biggie....
It also needed to fluid in the XFR case to smooth out the wet clutch engagement, again not biggie, I planned on replacing all fluid anyway....
I had bad motor mounts, a little bit of biggie, just a poor choice in types of motor mounts in a vehicle that their other design choices made replacing motor mounts so difficult, so if you make these design choices, that require special lifting tools that also requires pulling the intake manifold, you then choose motor mounts that only last 60k miles?...
The Sirrius/XM died in the OEM Head Unit, I replaced it with an Aftermarket unit.....

I've had to throw a lot of parts at it, mostly brake and cooling system.... ....I thought it was previous owner neglect but it was worse than that, perhaps previous owner ignorant mistreatment...

I've got to wonder if the previous owner put something other than brake fluid in the brake reservoir, it was only after replacing every part in the brakes except the ABS module and hard lines, till I finally got the brakes feeling right... ...I've still yet to replace the reservoir itself, because the brake fluid had become so gunked up, I can not get the gunk off the walls of the reservoir and its clearly contaminating the new brake fluid that is darkening much faster than it should be.... ....this WK2 only had 70k miles on it....

The cooling system, I'm convinced the previous owner or someone she took it to, put aftermarket OAT in the HOAT, it needed a new water pump within 2 months, it required draining and flushing with distilled water for two weeks... ...I had lots of cloudy white stuff in the water, even chunks of soft white residue floating in the old radiator.... ...then I replaced the leaking radiator.... ...everything seems to be working fine with the cooling system now, no signs of leaks, but the hoses don't get as hard as they should when at operating temp, which still makes me think something is not right....

I have a ticking in the passenger side manifold for 10 sec after starting a cold soaked motor, I'm convinced its either cracked or has a broken stud, this I can live with until it gets worse, but I have another difficult job awaiting me in the future....
 
#25 ·
Update - 96,035 miles. This one might be a little long winded, stick with me.

A few weeks ago I got the dreaded "Service Air Suspension System Immediately" warning. I made an appointment to get it checked out on the day after New Years. They told me that the stored code was for a bad valve on one of the front air struts. Since it wasn't throwing a code currently, they didn't do any repairs. "Sometimes when its cold the valves can stick. If the warning comes back give us a call." were the exact words the service writer said to me. I got in the Jeep to leave and the warning came back on within seconds of starting it. So I walk back in and tell him and he went out and sat in the Jeep for about 10 minutes. While he was in there I could hear the compressor running but nothing was moving. He says they will have to order the parts (doing both struts because the code doesn't tell you which side is bad), should take a day for parts to come. 5 days later I had not heard from them. I call and ask if the parts are in and of course they had been there for days and nobody let me know. Other than that, I had a pretty good experience with this dealer. So, I go in for my appointment to get the valves replaced. It only took them about 2.5 hours to replace them and recharge the system. The service writer drove it himself for a few miles to make sure everything was ok. I leave and get about a mile down the road and the warning comes back. I turn around and they scan it again and now it is saying the valves for the rear air struts need replaced. Of course the parts needed to be ordered so I had to make another appointment to go back. That brings us to today. I go in this morning and they take care of the valve replacement for the rear. He comes to find me and tells me that when they were testing the system after the repairs, it kept blowing the fuse for the compressor. Now, it is time for a compressor replacement. Surprisingly they had that in stock. It took about another 2 hours to do that part and I am happy to say I have not seen the warning again since I left the dealer a few hours ago. Now for the important part. The valve replacements were about $400 for all 4 corners. The compressor was about $2200, for a grand total of $2600 in repairs. Thankfully I am covered by MaxCare and I only had to pay my $100 deductible. My MaxCare plan has paid for itself 140% in one repair. I am sure it is going to pay for itself many times over in the time I will own this Jeep.
 
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#26 ·
-My suspension is very clunky, sounds like shock mounts are bad but I have not had it checked out yet. Other than that I have had no issues to date with the air suspension.
-I have a weird issue where on startup the whole vehicle will shake and it makes a banging noise. It is very hard to explain, but again have not had the issue checked yet.
-My drivers seat makes a popping noise when my weight shifts in the seat. For example, coming to a stop and then accelerating again.
All three are common issues, often with simple (perhaps expensive in one case) fixes, there are multiple threads on each one.

The swaybar endlinks are known to wear out early, causing a clunk noise as the swaybar loads/unloads in different directions..... ....the aftermarket has improved/sturdier end links that are suppose to last longer, look for Moog Problem Solver End Links....

The engine mounts are hydraulic, so they don't last long, seen a lot of threads complaining they are shot at 60k miles.... ....bad motor mounts will make engine starts a very rough and noisy experience.... ...this is the kicker, since the Hemi has a plastic oil pan and intake manifold, changing motor mounts has gone to a cheap, quick and simple job, to a huge hassle using special tools to lift the engine from above after removing the intake manifold, they'll charge you something like $800.... ....hopefully you can get it covered under your extended warranty/service contract.....

The seat noise has multiple sources, but all come down to something working its way loose in the seat.... ...mine it was the plastic trim panels screwed on to the side, once I tightened them up, no more noise... ...you'll see threads about the cause being loose or missing bolts deeper in the seat than mine....
 
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