CONFIRMATION of the JL Wrangler 3.0L Diesel Engine

If it's the same 3.0 ecodiesel that's in our Grand...the 3.0 is quiet. I can tell it's a diesel but it's quiet in the cabin.

I learned 2 things after buying a diesel;
1. Not all stations have diesel, even ones right by the highway...Gas Buddy is my friend now.
2. Some diesel pumps are cleaner than others...we now keep baby wipes in the glove box.

We are working on 43,000 miles with zero issues.

Stock performance is good with 365 ft. lbs. at the rear wheels. We swapped ECM's with a Green Diesel Engineering tune and bumped that up to 420 ft. lbs. Matched with the 8 speed trans and we're still getting 24 mpg combined, on 35's. Added mods include AFE filter and cat-back exhaust...not sure what that contribution adds up to, if any.

Next: GDE is reportedly going into production with a turbo kit that will bump that up to 550 ft. lbs....waiting patiently for this.
 
It will be the same 3.0 that we see in the Ram and Grand Cherokee. There's already a decent amount of aftermarket support for those, and I know that it would catch up super fast for the JL crowd. I've driven a few EcoDiesels and the low end torque is quite hard to beat.


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This is great news and I'm very very interested, especially if it makes it into a 2500 series J truck but yeah, see below


EdL said:
I think I'd wait a couple of years before I invested in one to make sure that all the bugs are worked out of the system first production run usually isn't the best one to buy

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JL JK fight off

As I said in the other ways life discussion...
"I'm this close to finishing my JK Unlimited X...only thing missing is the 3.0 VM Motori diesel. I was able to get info almost 3 full years ago on a militarized J-8 that was being developed for a ULTV proposal to the govt. I have done nearly every upgrade envisioned for that ULTV proposal...everything but Kevlar armor mats in all the body cavities, the diesel, oh, and the two M4 guns on side swivels and a .50 cal remote controlled machine gun."
BTW - the same exact motor is used in a European masarati...bi-turbo putting out over 800 ft lb of torque, so, 'de-tuned' to the stock 410 ft lb torque and it will out live even the owner and the chassis.
 
Waiting

The Jeep community has been waiting too long for this. Enough talk I want to see action. I'll most certainly get one.
 
Saharaunlmtd said:
It will be real interesting to see what a diesel adds to the Rubicon base price. It's already hard to find a sub 40k JKUR.
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Early in my marriage, my wife had a VW Rabbit diesel. In many ways, a cool car with that engine. But when it gets well south of 15F, the block warmer became our best friend. That first year we had -25F, in Michigan. I've spent time in Iceland, yet the coldest I've personally experienced has been in bloody Michigan. Diesels, looking at 0F are a pain.

Later, a number of years ago now, my wife and I were shopping for her next car. Where diesels were an option, the bump was about $5K. Problem is, diesels also have other higher maintenance costs. Urethra is a small one. More significant are things like pre-filters, cold weather considerations, and changing timing belts every 60K vs. 90K, and so on. It's not just 'drop in this engine and get 25 MPG.'

At the time, compared to the Durango she was driving, we figured she'd have to drive 20,000 miles/year, with $3.75/gal gas, for four years, before we'd break even on the $5K uplift. From a purely economic standpoint it just didn't work. We kept the Durango another year or two and then went to the Suburban (yep, about same mileage as our stock JKs).

The diesel definitely has an appeal. They're far quieter now; not much diff than a gas engine in some vehicles. But if I were to spend a lot of time in cold weather climates, say north of the 40th parallel, I'd stick with gas. Once in a while, having to run the extension cord to the car/JLd might be cool. Every day for 90 days, gets old :)

:)
 
If it's true, the Eco Diesel JL Unlimited will be my next Jeep and DD. I was impressed with the power and torque the 3.0L diesel WK2 Grand Cherokee I test drove had. Was great with the 8 speed auto.
 
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It took me a few years before I could finally get a JK. I love the idea of a diesel in the JL, but also miss having a pickup. I think I'll wait to see the pickup with (hopefully) the diesel and make the decision to upgrade, and to which model, at that time. Very excited to this evidence though! Options are never a bad thing.
 
Hope Jeep Engineer it Properly

3.0 diesel Wrangler sounds great, BUT I really hope Jeep engineer the cooling system (coolant and other fluid cooling) to be sufficient for the Wrangler's typically smaller engine bays.

I currently own what has been my dream Jeep for a while which is a JKU with a VM 2.8 litre CRD (I'm in Australia) 6sp manual and I've built/building it for overlanding. Out of all the 3 engines we have avail to us in Australia, the CRD was the obvious choice for me as it has much improved fuel economy and the same torque numbers as the Pentastar (but I have also added a dyno tune, 3” exhaust, DPF delete, EGR delete, snorkel, etc to help make more power and torque).

But the prob a lot of us have in Australia with this engine is the cooling system is at its limit in when the Jeep is stock. As soon as you put bigger tires on, or weigh it down with accessories or camping gear, or tow something, or all three like I do, coolant temps run high and if not careful damage is done. Guys with autos trans are suffering overheating and are needing trans rebuilds very early (545rfe which is a solid trans, but don't last in the JK CRD's cos they keep overheating).

Basically the issue is that there’s a giant intercooler mounted in front of a tiny radiator, for autos the trans cooler is shared with the AC condenser to save space (so kind of useless in summer when the AC is on), then the engine bay is small and wedge shaped meaning the grill/frontal area is narrower than most other vehicles. Plus the engine oil cooler mounted to the side of the engine block is too small and engine oil capacity is 7 litres (not enough for a diesel engine that does any work).

By comparison the 3.0L CRD Mercedes engine that Jeep used in export WK/XK’s and early WK2’s (which the 3.0 VM EcoDiesel is supposed to be better than) has no cooling issues whatsoever (my brother has a XK Commander CRD as a tow rig, with a GDE tune as well), the auto trans works flawlessly (NAG1) and never gets hot, the radiator is about 70% bigger than my JK one, and same with the intercooler, the auto has its own separate cooler with is huge, has ridiculous amounts of power and torque and economy when towing, I haven't seen the engine oil cooler but engine oil capacity is 12 litres which is good for a diesel engine (and the high volume helps keep it cool).

So I have my fingers crossed that Jeep do it right this time and offer the 3.0 EcoDiesel that can work hard all day long reliably.
 
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For those thinking they'll get better mileage with a diesel, don't forget that we're talking about a Jeep here. Shitty gas mileage is a given, so the engineers will probably set an option in the computer to cut the mileage down by half so people don't complain about breaking tradition. To unlock the better mileage you'll have to install a grumper grille. 😂😂

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The reality is that it will likely come, but delayed. FCA is just waiting for the EPA lawsuit about them programming the diesels to pass during testing to clear up. But good news that they restated the Ram 1500 Diesel production.
 
If its anything like the 2.8 - GREAT!

After 100k on my 2009 2.8 JKU which had been chipped to give around 220 bhp I moved over to the Pentastar for my 2015. I really miss the torque and slow revs of the diesel. The CRD really suits the JKU, low range it could trickle climb most anywhere, feet off on tickover, just like the hill descent but going up!
 
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