2012 Engine rebuild/maintenance

Hey all... been lurking for awhile on this board... lots of great information. I thought i'd ask a question i cant seem to find any opinions about when searching.

I have a 2012 JKU with the 3.6 engine. As it approaches 90k miles... what's your opinion on rebuilding the engine or do you just replace items as they wear out? I've built it up to be our overland and adventure vehicle. We did the Rubicon July 2016 and that was a blast. Signed up for the Jamboree Moab trip coming up October 2017.

The reason for my question is i would hate to get stuck out in the middle of a trail with engine failure from a part that should have been replaced.

It seems to run fine with no noticeable noises or issues. I'm in Orange County California if you know of any reputable mechanics you'd trust working on your Jeep. I have limited mechanical skills and an engine rebuild is not on that list... lol

Sorry if this question has been discussed before. Thanks for any input.
 

WJCO

Meme King
Engine parts can wear over time, but if you've kept up on the maintenance, I wouldn't worry about anything. Obviously the future can't be predicted, but you can control current maintenance. I wouldn't rebuild anything in the engine if you aren't having any issues.
 

MacRubi2

New member
Hey all... been lurking for awhile on this board... lots of great information. I thought i'd ask a question i cant seem to find any opinions about when searching.

I have a 2012 JKU with the 3.6 engine. As it approaches 90k miles... what's your opinion on rebuilding the engine or do you just replace items as they wear out? I've built it up to be our overland and adventure vehicle. We did the Rubicon July 2016 and that was a blast. Signed up for the Jamboree Moab trip coming up October 2017.

The reason for my question is i would hate to get stuck out in the middle of a trail with engine failure from a part that should have been replaced.

It seems to run fine with no noticeable noises or issues. I'm in Orange County California if you know of any reputable mechanics you'd trust working on your Jeep. I have limited mechanical skills and an engine rebuild is not on that list... lol

Sorry if this question has been discussed before. Thanks for any input.

I have read that the 3.6 Pentastar engine is a high tolerance engine and that it is tuff to rebuild properly.

Best solution was to either snag one out of a wrecked vehicle or just buy a short block from Mopar.
 

Lil Nasty

Member
Engine parts can wear over time, but if you've kept up on the maintenance, I wouldn't worry about anything. Obviously the future can't be predicted, but you can control current maintenance. I wouldn't rebuild anything in the engine if you aren't having any issues.

This. Follow your maintenance schedule and don't "fix" things that aren't broke. If you are following your maintenance 250-300,000 miles should be where the crank bearings or rings wear enough to start causing worrisome noises.


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catahoula

Caught the Bug
This. Follow your maintenance schedule and don't "fix" things that aren't broke. If you are following your maintenance 250-300,000 miles should be where the crank bearings or rings wear enough to start causing worrisome noises.


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X's 2! Follow your manual on recommended procedures.
 

cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
As already mentioned, the modern engines are really durable especially with routine maintenance. Just make sure your using the oil the manufacture recommends and not something else. I have seen recently some small shops who only carry 10w-30 and that's not what the vehicle takes. The bearing and ring clearances are so small that you need to run what the mfg says to run.
 
Good advice provided. In addition to staying on top of your maintenance, once a week check your oil and get under the jeep....have a look around for things out of place, really get to know the business end of the jeep, and when something doesn't look right you will know.

Listen to your jeep, it will tell you something's not right.

IMO 90K is way too soon for a rebuild unless there's a valid reason for it.

Yes I had my 3.8l rebuilt at 65,000km for oil consumption, but anal on maintenance had zero issues when I traded it in at 250,000km. Never once left on the side of the road or trail....trust my 3.6 follows these footsteps



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cozdude

Guy with a Red 2-Door
Good advice provided. In addition to staying on top of your maintenance, once a week check your oil and get under the jeep....have a look around for things out of place, really get to know the business end of the jeep, and when something doesn't look right you will know.

Listen to your jeep, it will tell you something's not right.

IMO 90K is way too soon for a rebuild unless there's a valid reason for it.

Yes I had my 3.8l rebuilt at 65,000km for oil consumption, but anal on maintenance had zero issues when I traded it in at 250,000km. Never once left on the side of the road or trail....trust my 3.6 follows these footsteps



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How bad was the consumption? I know that Mopar says that 1qt every 1k is normal
 
^ Consumption started around 40,000 KM at a rate of 250ml per 700km traveled...a typical work week for me. The consumption at its worst point was 450ml per the same 700km pretty week driving.

Worked with my dealer on a number of oil consumption test cycles, and they came to the conclusion at 65,000KM it was time for rings, pistons, bearings, valve seals.....hello warranty, all covered.

Post rebuild my motor settled down to 950ml of oil consumption for every 5,000KM oil change.....right up to the last change I did on it.

Mine was a 2008, with a build date of April 08, automatic. My driving is 98% all highway.

Bellow -3C motor would have start up noise, use the block heater down to -35C fired right up no noise no issues.

Ran dealer dino 5W20 until 90,000KM, then switched to dino 5W30, never a drop of synthetic. Always used Mopar filters.

Jeep ran strong, solid, very happy with it.

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