What would be a reasonable maintenance schedule for my JK?

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For better or worse, I’m not one to do every single thing factory says to do. I bought a used JK (2013) from an employee at a Jeep dealer. Saw many oil change receipts, approximately 5k inervals. Vehicle has 53k on it.

What would be a reasonable maintenance schedule? Jeep is 6 cyl, auto.
Thanks,

Richard
 
Maintenance schedule for what specifically?

I don't want to be insulting by any means but why are you so adamant to go against who designed these jeeps in the factory?
 
Thank you for responding....I've had dozens of cars, and I find that the suggested maintenance is very often overkill. My Mercedes says I should replace spark plugs at 40k, which seems ridiculous to me....so, I just wanted to know what most JK owners do in the way of maintenance. If most people follow the factory suggested, I'd like to know that.
 
It really depends on how you plan on using it. While the engineering suggestions may seem like overkill, but they are there to maintain optimum performance.
Certainly follow the oil change suggestion, 5k for synthetic is reasonable and pretty standard across all makes as far as I know.

Spark plugs on the 3.6 are a huge hassle, though you should be good for quite awhile. I think I changed mine at around 110K or so.

120k for transmission fluid is also reasonable, per the suggestion.

Now if you plan on offroading, or it's no longer stock things change. You may want to do maintenance more often. Especially if it is not stock, possibly meaning it was used for offroading by the previous owner.
 
thanks for your input...honestly, the Jeep is my dog's car...I don't care if he gets it dirty...or hairy, etc...I just clean it weekly....it's never been off-road, nor will it while I'm the owner. I don't take long road trips because I have another car more suited (holds more luggage, no wind noise, etc). what about differential fluid? I am in snow a few times a year, so I do use 4wd...any belts that need changing?? Brakes?? Radiator flush?? is there a PVC that needs changing? By the way, everything is stock, except former owner changed lights to LED's. Thanks again.
 
One thing to know about JK brakes is that they are 4 wheel disk. The previous owner of mine apparently didn't know this so I had to replace the rotors, calipers and all the bits. So change rear brake pads at the same time as the front.

Belt is a serpentine and pretty easy I believe. I have a 3.8 now, my poor 14 with the 3.6 got totaled so I can't run outside and check to verify.

is this a 4 or 2 door? Doesn't really matter as far as the maint is concerned, just curious.

For a stock vehicle that will be doing no offroading just follow the suggestions. I believe there are different numbers, like the tranny fluid in my last post, depending on your type of usage listed in the manual. Regardless, you should be good for quite awhile with only 53k.

Do you plan on doing this stuff yourself or take it to a shop? Most of the stuff is an hour or an afternoon, but that depends on your comfort level with mech-a-nic-ing. Oil change in a 3.6 is amazingly easy with the filter on top of the engine. I miss that.

That's been my experience at least.

LEDs are nice, and unless they are some of the overpriced fancy ones, they won't melt the snow off as you drive. Just something to know.
 
MacGuyver said:
Do you plan on doing this stuff yourself or take it to a shop? Most of the stuff is an hour or an afternoon, but that depends on your comfort level with mech-a-nic-ing. Oil change in a 3.6 is amazingly easy with the filter on top of the engine. I miss that.
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Have you tried to replace the spark plugs yet :)
The OP is not a gear-head by the nature of his/her post.
He/she got a dog, and so the "car" is a 4 door sedan.

Edit: I stand corrected (2 door "Jeep" it is)
 
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MacGuyver said:
One thing to know about JK brakes is that they are 4 wheel disk. The previous owner of mine apparently didn't know this so I had to replace the rotors, calipers and all the bits. So change rear brake pads at the same time as the front.

Belt is a serpentine and pretty easy I believe. I have a 3.8 now, my poor 14 with the 3.6 got totaled so I can't run outside and check to verify.

is this a 4 or 2 door? Doesn't really matter as far as the maint is concerned, just curious.

For a stock vehicle that will be doing no offroading just follow the suggestions. I believe there are different numbers, like the tranny fluid in my last post, depending on your type of usage listed in the manual. Regardless, you should be good for quite awhile with only 53k.

Do you plan on doing this stuff yourself or take it to a shop? Most of the stuff is an hour or an afternoon, but that depends on your comfort level with mech-a-nic-ing. Oil change in a 3.6 is amazingly easy with the filter on top of the engine. I miss that.

That's been my experience at least.

LEDs are nice, and unless they are some of the overpriced fancy ones, they won't melt the snow off as you drive. Just something to know.
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Thanks for all that info....I'll probably change oil myself, and have the rest done at a shop. F/Y/I, mine is a 2 door.
 
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Oscar-Mike said:
Have you tried to replace the spark plugs yet :)
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I haven't on the 3.8 yet. It's on my to-do list. I glanced at it and it seemed like it will be much easier than the 3.6, but I didn't look very hard. Am I going to be looking at a quick thing? an afternoon? or a weekend?

Edit: Yeah, just looked up a video on it, tons easier than the 3.6, would still rather have a 3.6 but I take my small wins where I get them.
 
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When replacing plugs, be sure to have band-aids and antibiotic cream. I am sure there will be some skinned knuckles and some OMG I am bleeding on the back of the hands.😭
 
Ballermaris said:
When replacing plugs, be sure to have band-aids and antibiotic cream. I am sure there will be some skinned knuckles and some OMG I am bleeding on the back of the hands.😭
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lol, that sounds like pretty much anything done under the hood.
 
I believe the FSM (Factory Service Manual) has the recommended scheduled maintenance charts in it.

Of course it's all going to depend on what you do with it. Are you daily driving it, only driving it on occasion, etc.? Is it primarily an on-road or off-road vehicle?
 
While talking maintenance
Does the Oil Change Light continue the count down when you have disconnected the battery, does it remember the last reset, or does it get reset to zero miles on the oil?

Don
 
The oil change light system will not reset. It is kept in protected memory, so in order to reset it you have to follow the reset procedure.
 
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Thanks for you info. I read the manual, and found out the oil reset procedure. I also have the receipt for the last oil change, so if the light doesn't come on at 60k (now at 57k), I'll have the oil changed, and reset.
 
The oil change light system can vary from Jeep to Jeep year. One thing I found was the oil change percentage of life will help with the determination of when the oil change is due. I will by the rule of thumb generally change mine out at 30% life remaining. If the light does come on sooner, I will of course take it in too.
 
I got a 2008 with an unknown maintenance history and 150K - except that it came with new brakes and a new muffler. I have changed the serpentine belt, the coolant, put on new rear shocks, and I have the new spark plugs and wires (not looking forward to that) and also new gear oil to put in the front and rear differential. I have not yet purchased the fluid for the transfer case. Doing all that should "baseline" the maintenance for me, so I at least know that it was done and when. the transmission fluid seems pretty good - but probably should do that too. I generally change the oil at 5000 mile intervals. I also plan to wash the underside and paint the frame anywhere I can see any corrosion starting (NH is terrible for salt on the roads).
 
I would half the interval for the transmission service. After doing research I found that people who get the longest life out of the W5A580 are those who change the ATF at about half of the recommended service interval. It is a robust transmission but is also sensitive to dirty ATF.
 
fljeeper said:
I would half the interval for the transmission service. After doing research I found that people who get the longest life out of the W5A580 are those who change the ATF at about half of the recommended service interval. It is a robust transmission but is also sensitive to dirty ATF.
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You did R&D research or just a google research?
I do not agree with your findings. How you use a vehicle is a big factor of its gears longevity. Not the oil being always new.
 
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