5000 miles and the problems are starting

CRuD Bucket · **Posted:** Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:17 am

At 5000 miles, I am now starting to experience the wrath of American engineering. I had the F31 flash done Thursday morning. I drove away from the dealership with my fingers crossed. I had numerous appointments that day and everything seemed to run well as it has for my first two months of owning my new Jeep. I had a long road trip Friday and after passing some slowpoke, I decelerated and then applied the go pedal again around 62 mph. At that point the Jeep began to buck (the infamous tranny shutter?). I backed off and accelerated again with no further problem.
Last night I took my Jeep to go hunting and parked it on a pretty steep hill, facing downhill. When I returned (empty-handed as usual), I started the Jeep (after one or two failed attempts---I thought maybe the glow plugs had to warm up but it was 65 degrees) and made an immediate U-turn in the road and headed back up the hill about 200 yards to where I turn right to go back home.) On the turn, the Jeep lost almost all power and was shuttering and bucking. By the time I made the turn, I was able to go less than 25 yards before it went into limp mode and would not go any further. The RPMs were low and I put it in neutral but that didn't help. Finally, I put it in Park, shut it off and rebooted (twice) before I could get going again. Once I got up to speed it seemed to run fine for my last mile home. I know I read a post about parking on a downhill and then backing up the hill that caused problems due to the fluid pickup tube in the tranny pan being at the rear of the pan (???). When I was in for the F31 recall, I showed the service rep a copy of the 18-023-06 bulletin and she seemed to think that the F31 brought everything up to date (I knew better). Other than an occasional clunk while decelerating after passing, I have had no problems until now. It's probably just a coincidence that these problems came immediately after the F31 reflash. I plan to use this vehicle for hunting and other outdoor activities and it's not always possible to find a perfectly flat parking spot. It's embarrassing and certainly dangerous to drive a brand new vehicle which stalls in the middle of the roadway. Luckily, it took a crap on a dead-end road with little traffic. Did I experience the (also infamous) torque converter lockup? Any thoughts on how I should proceed (other than cut my losses and bail out now and wait for a 2009 Mini-Touraeg TDI?). I wish I had more faith in the vehicle. I think I had at least as much faith in my 97 Passat with 245,000 miles and that’s why I sold it.

richardkf · **Joined:** Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:15 pm **Posts:** 167

CRuD Bucket wrote:

At 5000 miles, I am now starting to experience the wrath of American engineering. I had the F31 flash done Thursday morning. I drove away from the dealership with my fingers crossed. I had numerous appointments that day and everything seemed to run well as it has for my first two months of owning my new Jeep. I had a long road trip Friday and after passing some slowpoke, I decelerated and then applied the go pedal again around 62 mph. At that point the Jeep began to buck (the infamous tranny shutter?). I backed off and accelerated again with no further problem.
Last night I took my Jeep to go hunting and parked it on a pretty steep hill, facing downhill. When I returned (empty-handed as usual), I started the Jeep (after one or two failed attempts---I thought maybe the glow plugs had to warm up but it was 65 degrees) and made an immediate U-turn in the road and headed back up the hill about 200 yards to where I turn right to go back home.) On the turn, the Jeep L.O.S.T. almost all power and was shuttering and bucking. By the time I made the turn, I was able to go less than 25 yards before it went into limp mode and would not go any further. The RPMs were low and I put it in neutral but that didn't help. Finally, I put it in Park, shut it off and rebooted (twice) before I could get going again. Once I got up to speed it seemed to run fine for my last mile home. I know I read a post about parking on a downhill and then backing up the hill that caused problems due to the fluid pickup tube in the tranny pan being at the rear of the pan (???). When I was in for the F31 recall, I showed the service rep a copy of the 18-023-06 bulletin and she seemed to think that the F31 brought everything up to date (I knew better). Other than an occasional clunk while decelerating after passing, I have had no problems until now. It's probably just a coincidence that these problems came immediately after the F31 reflash. I plan to use this vehicle for hunting and other outdoor activities and it's not always possible to find a perfectly flat parking spot. It's embarrassing and certainly dangerous to drive a brand new vehicle which stalls in the middle of the roadway. Luckily, it took a crap on a dead-end road with little traffic. Did I experience the (also infamous) torque converter lockup? Any thoughts on how I should proceed (other than cut my losses and bail out now and wait for a 2009 Mini-Touraeg TDI?). I wish I had more faith in the vehicle. I think I had at least as much faith in my 97 Passat with 245,000 miles and that’s why I sold it.

Can't comment on the power loss issue, but after my F31, my transmission shifted harsh for the first few days, including engagement and dis-engagement of the torque converter. It had to re-learn the shift patterns. Also, my torque converter was engaging and dis-engaging (quite harshly) at around 53 mph. Today, one week later, the transmission's smoothed out, shift patterns are pretty good and the torque converter is somehow back to engaging/dis-engaging around 60/62 mph. So give the transission a few days and if you havent had the filter/pan TSB done, do it asap. As for the power loss, who knows, sounds like a dealer trip to get it checked out.

CRuD Bucket · **Posted:** Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:43 am

Oh BTW, build date was 5/17/06---not sure if that's a factor.

groucho · **Posted:** Tue Oct 10, 2006 5:54 am

CRuD Bucket wrote:

At 5000 miles, I am now starting to experience the wrath of American engineering. .

It isn't American engineering that consistently places Mercedes Benz in 18th place or so on the J.D.Power initial quality rankings. They couldn't buy their way into a top 10 ranking. Yet Cadillac is consistently near the top and regularly rotates with Lexus between first and second place. There is Bavaria, and there is Wolfsburg. And then there is Dr. Z.

usmcdoc14 · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 2:00 am

CRuD Bucket wrote:

...........

paragraphs, try them, they fully rawk.

TDI4BY · **Joined:** Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:56 pm **Posts:** 644

22000 miles here with no problems except the bucking after accelerating to get on the freeway. I have always said it was EGR related because it runs perfect on Bio. I have confirmed it (In my mind anyway) because now that ULSD is here it no longer does it. I have not taken it in for ANY of the Re-flashes or anything and i am happy as can be.

gd5092 · **Joined:** Wed Apr 26, 2006 4:11 pm **Posts:** 62

I've driven nothing but ULSD and still have the bucking, no BIO to test around here.

-G

offroadsubaru · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 9:57 am

TDI4BY wrote:

22000 miles here with no problems except the bucking after accelerating to get on the freeway. I have always said it was EGR related because it runs perfect on Bio. I have confirmed it (In my mind anyway) because now that ULSD is here it no longer does it. I have not taken it in for ANY of the Re-flashes or anything and i am happy as can be.

Ditto with the Liberty in the extended family. Close to 5k miles and no issues, but I'm sure it needs a ProVent or EHM done soon.

CRuD Bucket · **Posted:** Wed Oct 18, 2006 10:20 am

No Bio here in The Great Unknown. Are we “officially” ULSD?
Could some of the additives people are using be causing the EGR problems?
Since my above “limp mode” post, I duplicated that exact hunting trip/parking spot/return trip once with no issues. I have had another shudder or two and maybe an occasional bucking, but nothing to cause me any great concern. Maybe the sky isn’t falling after all (fingers crossed). At 6500 miles and 15 fillups, I’ve averaged 23.8mpg with a lot of highway driving and a heavy foot (75mph/2100RMP’s on the highway). It doesn’t seem to matter (economy-wise) if I buy crap fuel at the local Minitmart or “good” fuel at a truckstop.
This vehicle really suits my lifestyle and I really want it to work out.

5000 miles and the problems are starting

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