Looking for opinions on a 2010 JK Sport

[Ghstrydr]

As stated in a previous post, my '08 has 137500 and does not burn ANY oil and the engine still sounds strong. There are no guarantees with any vehicle, engine, mileage. Things can change at any time. You pays your money and takes your chances when you buy used. Just have the jeep looked over by a mechanic if you can.

 

[MacGuyver]

Thanx for the reply MacGuyver. Loosing oil through a leak is bad enough, I was referring to the engine actually burning the oil. I've heard that the JK's were serious oil burners.

I'm unaware of that reputation.

The 3.8 is the 3800 engine that Chrysler put in a ton of vehicles, and the 3.6 has been put in quite a few as well.

They are both good, reliable engines. The upper pan seal I mentioned does eventually leak, and I wouldn't be surprised if mine, with 193K on it burns a bit, but I don't think these are inherently oil burning engines.

 

[pixologics]

Out of curiosity I wanted to understand what does it mean when you say burn oil? Did it mean the leaking oil droplets that may fall on hot engine components or muffler and produce foul odor or something else is called burning Oil?

 

[MacGuyver]

My understanding of the general interpretation of "burning oil" is when oil slips past the seals and is burned internally usually by making its way past the cylinder rings and getting burned in the combustion chamber. Oil dripping out and landing on the exhaust pipes and burning externally is a leak.

 

[Ghstrydr]

It may also be look at it as using more then 1 qt. of oil between oil changes or 3,000 miles which ever comes first. So if you are down a qt. at 5,000 miles your vehicle is not consuming excess oil. You would be best to ask a tech at the local dealership as to what they consider excess oil consumption. Just for the record and I know I have stated this earlier, my '08 with 137500 does not consume any measurable amount of oil between oil changes and I do primarily city / local driving and change oil once a year or 5,000 miles which ever comes first.

 

[Dicvol]

2010 Rubicon 2 months now. No sign of any oil use, dipstick is still at the same spot since I brought it home and has 72,000 miles. Has enough power to do what I need it to do. If I need to go fast I will just drive the wife's hemi grand cherokee.

 

[Vman]

I have heard that 3.8s are notorious oil burners. So bad in fact that Jeep recalled the '09 engines for replacement. Also that the electrical system is plagued with problems. Leaks are the third issue that I've heard.

Are you sure that was an '09 that had engine recalls? I couldn't find anything on 3.8 recalls but might have missed something. Only recalls for 07-11's were mostly air bags.

The 2012 pentastar 3.6 had a bunch of recalls due to valve seat problems requiring head replacement though.

Most of the "electrical system" problems are one of two things in my experience: the TIPM (which admittedly is a bad design) and people loading on aftermarket parts to the existing vehicle, and usually cheap aftermarket stuff at that.

They throw on cheap garbage headlights, light bars, winches, remote starters, cameras and now they've got a ton of parasitic draw and other problems.

Any engine with 125k+ is going to burn a little oil. Mine is an '07 pushing 160k but the compression is in the 165 range across all cylinders. It was burning some oil but replacing the PCV valve resolved most of it.

The engines on these things don't have a lot of power....but as long as you gear it correctly for the size tire/transmission/engine you're fine. As mentioned, something like a Pedal Commander is also a nice add on for response....but the gearing is the real fix.

I have no trouble going 70 up a 7 mile steep grade after regearing on 35's with about 3k RPMs. Going 70 on flats at about 2400 RPM.

 

[Vman]

The JK that I am contemplating purchasing appears to be in good condition. However, I've heard so many negative reports about JKs, that I'm taking my time sealing the deal.

Other than what you've posted so far, what have you heard?

Most of the complaints I've seen are from people who aren't very mechanically inclined (no shame in that we can't know everything), put cheap and/or incomplete mods on, or their expectations are for a luxury vehicle.

A good example is that there are a lot of people who throw on a cheap (and usually incomplete or excessive) lift, larger tires, and start having problems driving it.

If you do it right and actually maintain it the JK is as dependable as anything else, other than maybe a Toyota/Honda daily driver.

For what it's capable of though it gives me plenty of smiles per mile.