So I've had a couple issues with my '16 Trailhawk that I purchased late in November. The starter has been making a noise intermittently when starting in the morning. It makes a 5-10 second whining noise as if something is stuck, and then it either stops trying and turns itself off, or I hear a grinding noise and the starter engages. I'm fairly certain the Bendix isn't engaging properly when the noise occurs. I took a video of the noise it was making to show to the service department. Also, I've had a couple instances where power to the engine cuts completely when taking a corner at a reasonable speed. Luckily nobody has been behind me when it happened. I know from the forums that this is a known issue that is fixed through a software update, and I figured I probably had some other software updates that needed to be done as well, so I made sure to bring that up to the dealership. I made an appointment with the dealer last Saturday morning since I work 7-7 M-F and it's not convenient for me to drop it during the week. I went in and was told they wouldn't be able to look at it until Monday morning since they were closed on Sunday. I asked if I could just drop it off right then and get set up in a rental since that was the most convenient for me. They declined to give me a rental until Monday for whatever reason, so I had to rush over after work on Monday to drop it off and get my rental (The rental was a shitty Mazda 5 that smelled like cigarettes and BO, by the way. Couldn't drive with the windows up because it smelled so bad...). They rushed me through the process and made me feel like I wasn't worth their time, but assured me they'd call me Tuesday to update me. I still hadn't heard from them by Wednesday at about 6PM, so I reached out to them. They said that they didn't immediately hear the issue on startup, so they had to get someone else to look at it, but they wouldn't be able to do anything until Thursday morning. But again, they said they'd call the next day to give me an update. Thursday came and went with no word from them. By Friday (yesterday) morning I was getting irritated because I was supposed to camp and do some offroading over the weekend and didn't want to just ride along in someone elses rig. I reached out to them again, and I was told that they weren't able to replicate the issue with the starter or the cornering issue, so they weren't able to do anything. They also said there were no software updates available, even though I shouldn't have the cornering issue if I had the appropriate update, and I think there was an update released after I purchased my Renegade. Since they weren't able to do anything, they said I could pick up my Renegade, BUT the guy that was working with me was leaving early that day, so he said I'd have to come by in the morning. Apparently nobody else could sign me out? But what I don't understand is how someone else was able to sign me out saturday morning (today), but nobody else could sign me out last night, when it would have been much more convenient to pick it up. I was going to have to push back my departure time for my trip to pick it up today. The trip ended up getting cancelled, but still. So in the end, they had my Jeep from Monday night until this morning, they failed to communicate when they said they would, I had to reach out to them to get any information, AND they ended up literally doing nothing but wasting my time and my gas (They gave it back on red when I dropped it off with about a quarter tank, though I guess they had to burn some gas to try to replicate the cornering issue.). I figured they could at least check out the starter since I had already done the work of diagnosing the issue for them, but since they couldn't replicate the issue themselves, they wouldn't even turn a wrench. I also asked for information about the price of installing the Daystar lift, and they were in such a hurry to get to the next person that they didn't hear me specify Daystar and could only tell me that "Oh, there's no Mopar lift, we don't know what the aftermarket is like, but if you can bring us in an aftermarket kit we'll see if we can do it and how much it costs.". I'd do it myself if I wasn't worried about warranty issues. I'm going to try taking it to another dealership to see if I have any better luck, but is this a pretty typical experience? I figured I'd get a higher level of service after throwing thousands of dollars at someone, and even shelling out extra for the Mopar lifetime warranty. I'll never set foot into that dealership again. Even a friend of mine with a Wrangler said that dealership is known to be shitty after I told him what happened.
That sucks, just try a different dealership, sounds like this one is giving you to much of a headache. Also my dealership said that they wont do any after market unless is mopar. I installed Daystar lift kit myself and I have little mechanical know how. There is a forum on here that was a big help, also a video on youtube. ps make sure to get a wheel alignment done after you put your lift kit on. Good Luck
The dealership I take mine too has been awesome. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using ToasterJeep mobile app
Try contacting Customer care at Jeep corporate. They were extremely helpful to us when the dealer failed us. Great follow up and commitment to satisfy problems. We were very impressed with their follow through.
Hey Numl0k, I'm sorry about the experience. The TSB for the traction control has been kind of confusing, so I'm happy to reach out to whatever dealership you'd like to use and make sure they understand what they need to do. Please PM me with your VIN if I can help. Kori Jeep Social Care Specialist
Our experience with the dealer is also negative. The vehicle displayed a "service vehicle within xx miles" message when it was below 10,000 miles and I don't think they bothered to check for codes, they just updated the computers. They told us that the computers needed updated but when I asked how the vehicle could know that they just said that's why it displayed the message. Circular reasoning. Very very disappointed.
