[Albatross]

Hi.
New-ish owner here. Had the thing one year so far. 2014 Overland diesel, not quite 70,000 on it.
Have had a few issues with it, what I'm looking for are tech tricks to deal with potential failures. Basically anything that might make the thing decide to just shut down and refuse to play.

Bought 9/2017. Ran fine for the next 3 months. Hit the coldest day of the year, about -5 F, it dropped dead in my driveway after warning of "battery protection mode" and "Air suspension maintenance" the night before. Dealership had it 10 days, solved nothing. I'd thought bad alternator, dealership's opinion was air suspension valve had frozen, causing compressor to get stuck running when parked, killing battery. I asked dealership guy, if it is known that these things do this, does Chrysler have a plan in the works to deal with it? Having a jeep that drops dead when it's cold kind of defeats the purpose of a jeep. It's a $50,000 truck, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect the thing to be able to tolerate temps down to -20 or so.
Dealer said, "No." Chrysler case manager gave me a weak, lame, "Sometimes cars don't quite work right when it's really cold." Bullshit. My rusted-out 2000 GC started immediately under the same conditions.

I did my homework, apparently flawed design, sealed system, but will periodically top itself up with plain air, introducing moisture, giving rise to frozen valve, overheated compressor and dead battery.

Weather warmed up, problem did not repeat. My temporary workaround is to use "Jack mode" to disable the suspension anytime I park it when the temps drop below 10 F or so in the hopes of preventing it from killing the battery.

First question, is there a way to manually disable the suspension during driving, so that if it freezes again, it isn't frying the compressor while I'm driving it?

2nd issue: Exhaust system regen... it gave me "Regen in progress keep driving" twice in 6 months which included lots of idling over the winter. Lately, it did it 3 times through a single tank of fuel, in late summer, with nearly zero prolonged idling. I've heard lousy fuel can cause this, and it may stop recurring after this fuel is done.

However given all the reports of regen failures, I want to have both the ability to manually trip a regen, and clear the latched state if it ever gives me "XX miles till vehicle will not restart"

2nd question: Scangauge- says it can clear codes. If the emissions system malfunctions and gives, for instance, a false read of clogged DPF, will a scangauge at least temporarily allow the vehicle to be restarted?
3rd question, which scan tools will give me manual regen ability? I know the dealership's "Starscan" can, but those are $5k. Anyone else get into this stuff?

 

[Albatross]

Oh, and, just so I don't sound so negative...
I FxxKing LOVE this thing! It appears to be inhabited by a slightly confused artificial intelligence who considers it its job to try to keep the owner warm, safe, and comfortable. The A/C in this thing is insane. First time I ever had to turn the A/C -down- on a hot day in any car because it was so powerful I was freezing. Now, THAT'S the A/C I want! The traction control is relatively unobtrusive and more than compensates for the pathetic factory Forteras. The vehicle refuses to slide or spin even if I am deliberately stupid on icy roads.
The engine is... a work of art. I can't believe this thing gets big-block levels of torque and power out of... a friggin' 3-liter!? I have a steep on-ramp on a nearby highway. If I punch it while still on the entry curve the vehicle is clearing 90 mph by the top of the ramp. First time it displayed the ability to do that my jaw dropped. It's... a diesel! Diesels are not fast! (This one is.)
And, like everyone else who owns one, I see anywhere from 25-29 MPG on the highway.
I just want to be sure I can deal with any weird stuff it may choose to do. Everything I read says these things are glitchy and prone to various hiccups. I can put up with the hiccups, if I have a way to deal with it if and when it decides to drop dead again.

 

[salazar27]

New 2014 JGC owner had it for 4 months and its been in limp mode for two weeks. DPF 100% Full. Extended warranty doesn't cover exhaust components. Cant wait for the lawsuit to be over so I can return to Fiat-Chrysler but to answer your question I just bought the Autel Maxicheck Pro on 9/10/2018 for $200 it says it can perform a manual regen on chrysler and fiat. Did you have any luck finding a scanner? Will let you know if the Autel works.

 

[Albatross]

New 2014 JGC owner had it for 4 months and its been in limp mode for two weeks. DPF 100% Full. Extended warranty doesn't cover exhaust components. Cant wait for the lawsuit to be over so I can return to Fiat-Chrysler but to answer your question I just bought the Autel Maxicheck Pro on 9/10/2018 for $200 it says it can perform a manual regen on chrysler and fiat. Did you have any luck finding a scanner? Will let you know if the Autel works.

Actually I just went and ordered the same scanner. I went and read the manual for the scanner, available online. It clearly describes the procedure for doing a manual regen. So, the device may well pay for itself in a single incident. My own jeep hasn't yet given me any lockout warnings... but the anomaly I just observed with regen frequency says I ought to have the gear handy to deal with it if it does.
After owning the thing for a year, my impression is, this is a model that needed about 2 more years on the test bench and a lot more real-world usage-pattern testing before release to the public. I shouldn't have to exploit an easter-egg button combo just to be sure the vehicle will survive a cold night. (it turns out there's a ninja trick for Jack mode. Hold down the suspension up and down buttons simultaneously for about 10 seconds before shutting down the engine.) A 4 year old $50,000 vehicle should not drop dead in your driveway, period. But the plus side is, the price was cheap, because it is a glitchy new model. I picked the thing up for about half its sticker price less than 4 years off the factory floor. After driving it for a month I knew why the first owner got rid of it, it has all sorts of glitchy behaviors it only does one out of every 20, 30 times you drive it. The transmission shifted hard. But only twice. In a year. Dealership will never find this. Passive entry occasionally fails to unlock doors. Jeep was in some sort of sleep mode. Wakes up in a few seconds, then unlocks doors.
But, so far I'm willing to tolerate it for the price and for the sheer over-the-top sophistication of the vehicle. I can't wait to get a scanner into it just to see what the systems have to say. My driving is a lot of in-town and idling and two or three a month trips on the highway, so I'm half-expecting issues with regeneration. So far I've been pleasantly surprised, I thought I idled it excessively in winter yet it appeared to cause no problems.
I'll be very interested to know if your Autel lets you get your ride going again. Good luck.

 

[salazar27]

Bad news the Autel Maxicheck Pro scanner does not work for a stationary desoot (manual regeneration) in order to clear 100% Diesel Particulate Filter. Maybe it will work for manual regen before it gets to 100%.

 

[Albatross]

Bad news the Autel Maxicheck Pro scanner does not work for a stationary desoot (manual regeneration) in order to clear 100% Diesel Particulate Filter. Maybe it will work for manual regen before it gets to 100%.

Bugger. You said it doesn't work for stationary, what happens if you try to start one? Also, I think the engine has to be up to a certain temperature before it can begin the process. Also, maybe it will work if you trigger one while moving? Just thinking. I haven't had a chance to try mine yet, will as soon as I have the time.

 

[Albatross]

If the Autel turns out not to be able to do most of what it claims, I'm just going to look into an industrial grade version. I know something pretty close to dealer level access can be had with a scanner in the 1000$+ range. It's worth it if it gives me a way to keep the thing from leaving me stranded just because it wants to quibble about a sensor or something stupid.

 

[Stevea]

My Autel maxipro started an idle regen process for a min and said finished. It was at 37%. If anyone in the Fort Wayne Indiana area has an 100% full message please hit me up. I will do it for free just to be certian it works!

 

[Stevea]

Albatross.... hav you updated the scanner to current?

 

[Albatross]

I have not.

Albatross.... hav you updated the scanner to current?

I just got it yesterday, haven't had a chance to fool around with it yet.
Even if it can do a regen, which I'd use as a periodic maintenance thing, I'm still probably going to invest in a more comprehensive hardware set, really serious scanner/programmer and a GDE tune once it's out of warranty and Chrysler says, "screw you from here you're on your own". I'd like to be able to service or control items like the suspension, the interior light timeout setting, maybe idle speed. Whatever GDE uses to create their tune and program the ECU? If I'm going to get into diesels I'd like to understand the vehicle that well. I've found mention of an "Engineering mode" for the dash, interact with the software, calibrate the screen, stuff like that. I haven't screwed around with that yet because I haven't needed to but I'd like to eventually just so I know how it works.
There's actually not a whole hell of a lot I'd want to change about the vehicle, anyway. I'd want it to leave the damn dome light on for more than 3 minutes at a whack. I like to sit in it on break at work with the door open and my feet up. The vehicle doesn't know how to deal with this. The dashboard and courtesy lights periodically wake up, cycle the software on the dash, turn on a bunch of lights, turn them off again, and then wait for me to exit the vehicle or do something. I screw with automated machinery for a living, tweaking this stuff is what I do. A few tweaks to the right values in one register or another would get the damn thing to calm down a little. I'm curious enough to want to find out how to do that.

 

[salazar27]

Bugger. You said it doesn't work for stationary, what happens if you try to start one? Also, I think the engine has to be up to a certain temperature before it can begin the process. Also, maybe it will work if you trigger one while moving? Just thinking. I haven't had a chance to try mine yet, will as soon as I have the time.

My Autel Maxicheck Pro gave me commands to start the regen process : vehicle must be in park if automatic, foot of the brake pedal, and coolant must be above 70C. It would just fail to start the process once all the requirements were met. I also cleared the codes before but as soon as I would turn on the engine the codes would pop up immediately. I believe this is the reason it would fail to start.

 

[Albatross]

My Autel Maxicheck Pro gave me commands to start the regen process : vehicle must be in park if automatic, foot of the brake pedal, and coolant must be above 70C. It would just fail to start the process once all the requirements were met. I also cleared the codes before but as soon as I would turn on the engine the codes would pop up immediately. I believe this is the reason it would fail to start.

As an automation freak, that alone gives me a few clues as to what else to try. I often see persistent state-information impeding a machine. Sometimes you have to bootstrap it somehow. If that were my jeep, I'd go for some kind of total-brain reset. The thing cannot refuse to start a command set if it doesn't know the circumstances forbid it. If I were stranded in whereever, I'd do something like, disconnect the battery. Wait for the entire system to die... capacitors discharged, absolute shutdown. Reconnect it, wake up the dash without starting the engine. It HAS no recent record of operation now. An inspection station will refuse to inspect it because it hasn't been driven enough to have a record of the state of the emissions system at all. Clear any codes... THEN start the engine, and immediately, request a regen. Before the damn thing has even collected enough information to know it's 100% clogged.
I don't know if that would work, but it's what I would try.
As soon as I get a chance I'll try doing a regen regardless of state, just to see if I can set one off at will, while it is working correctly and isn't clogged. That way, at least I can intervene -before- it reaches that state, and, hopefully, keep it from ever getting to 100%.

 

[salazar27]

That's a good idea, to disconnect the battery but I threw in the towel yesterday and took it to the dealer. I noticed on the Autel scanner manual( see below), it doesnt specifically call out Jeep for DPF but it does for Oil Service Reset, but it does have Chrysler so there is still hope. Lol. Will be looking out for your response on the Autel DPF regen before 100% full message.

 

[Albatross]

Yeah... I studied the manual carefully and spotted the same detail. I should have read that online manual with an eye for details like that before I bought it. Still, Stevea's experience says maybe it will work on my jeep anyway.
That said...
I just made a serious drive this weekend, 250 miles exactly each way, nonstop.
I filled the tank on my way out of town. The jeep's estimates of range are almost absurdly conservative, which is good... on my way out of town it estimated 468 miles range at the then-current average low-20's mileage resulting from lots of driving around town.
Then I actually drove it 500 miles in a weekend.
I knew this was gonna be good when I arrived at my destination and it still had well over half a tank remaining. After putting the first 250 miles on that tank, it -still- estimated about 400 miles range left.
If I hadn't run into a traffic jam that slowed me down a bit, it would have cleared a ridiculous 700 miles to the tankful. As it is, it's going to make about 660 miles. When I pulled into my driveway at exactly 501.3 miles on that tank it said we -still- had about 168 miles range remaining. It wasn't low on fuel, wasn't even close!
The jeep reported an honest 27.3 MPG average for the trip.
Done mostly at 80 mph on the interstate.
While producing enough power that it pulls like a big-block.
Out of a puny 3-liter with a hair dryer nailed to it.
I recently saw this engine made Ward's ten-best engines list.
I can see why.
The gung-ho giant displacement fanboy types like to boast, "There's no substitute for cubes."
Actually, yeah, there is.
It's called Fxxking Engineering.
Whoever developed that thing deserves a medal.

 

[salazar27]

The Autel MaxiCheck Pro cannot perform a regeneration cycle on the EcoDiesel. Only certified service dealers can perform this function. My DPF was replaced due to the oil separator failing.