This is a reply I got from Jeep when I asked why I could not "build and Price" a Grand Cherokee with a diesel. Doesn't make sense.It is great to read of your interest in Jeep!Please be advised that the "Build & Price" feature on the Jeep website is meant to reflect the Jeep Grand Cherokee models within the dealerships' inventories and not the ordering system. With that being said, because the 3.0L EcoDiesel was pending EPA Certification for the 2017 model year we are just beginning production now. Until these vehicles equipped with the EcoDiesel engine begin arriving within dealership inventory the Build & Price feature will not be updated to reflect this option. Please keep in mind that not all dealerships will take delivery at the same time, therefore, your preferred Jeep dealership would be able to provide you with the anticipated timing within their inventory specifically.If you have any further product questions about the current Jeep lineup,you are always welcome to reply back to this email and I will respond back to you as promptly as I can. If you prefer, you can also reach us directly with your questions at the Jeep Product Information Center by calling 1-877-426-5337. When you call, we can connect you directly to your local dealership, providing your call is during the dealer's hours off operation.

So, "build and price" really means "Pick out a Jeep that is already built and priced" and sitting on a lot somewhere.

RSD559 wrote:So, "build and price" really means "Pick out a Jeep that is already built and priced" and sitting on a lot somewhere.Must be gun shy and afraid to actually let people build and price it. They haven't even updated their website on the Grand Cherokee. It still says"EcoDiesel now available on the 2014Jeep® Grand Cherokee"

EcoDiesels run EXTREMELY HOT and FAIL while towing over time.Research this. The evidence, particularly regarding this engine in the Grand Cherokee, is out there in droves. A particularly enlightening story was written on the Airstream forums about failure going up 550 in Colorado. He got rid of his EcoDiesel soon after his engine caught fire in the middle of the road.Stay away. FAR away from Fiat.

Here is the post from the Airstream forums that I referenced in my post above:I am regretfully parting with my lifetime favorite vehicle. After over 26K towing miles, our 2014 Grand Cherokee Overland EcoDiesel has hitched to our FC23FB for the last time. I’ve written many posts herein praising the capabilities and comfort of this vehicle, and now must share the unhappy ending. My intent is not to complain or frighten, but simply to inform other 2014 GC EcoDiesel owners.Upon return from our annual migration to our sailboat in Florida, I was unhitching the Airstream when I noticed movement in the receiver hitch. I advanced the 60K maintenance and brought the GC to the dealer. The receiver hitch had completely fractured where it attaches to the chassis on the starboard side. Needless to say, this could have been catastrophic on the recent 2350 mile tow. The dealer replaced the hitch (not under warranty) and completed the full 60K service - all fluids, filters etc. Dealer explanation: “You must have overloaded the hitch”. I disagreed. This is a 7200 lb tow capacity vehicle that has beautifully towed this 5680 lb trailer (wet weight loaded for camping) for over 26K miles over all sorts of terrain in all sorts of weather.Three weeks later, with the GC all serviced, and the Airstream as well (new brakes at 52K miles), we decided to take a short (for us) camping trip to visit Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. Taking off on a Sunday, we drove Hwy 550 N from Durango. It’s a gorgeous drive which we’ve done with the Airstream four times previously, and many times without the trailer. Traffic was fairly heavy, and we were climbing at about 45 mph in 74ºF ambient. Just 1 mile short of Coal Bank Pass, coolant temp went max, engine power fell off, and the engine went into ‘limp mode’. Fortunately there was a pullout on the opposite side and a break in traffic. I got the rig well off the highway before the engine shut down with a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust. It felt to me like a blown head gasket.Now, 2014 EcoDiesel owners will know that this engine runs hot when climbing under load. This was a concern of many owners, and I’ve seen the coolant temp go high when climbing many passes in CO and WA. Dealers have assured me that there was no problem, and I knew what to expect. This time it was abnormal.A Sunday afternoon during peak tourist season is not a great time to get a tow vehicle in this area. We sat beside 550 for four hours, but fortunately had a comfortable Airstream in which to have lunch and a rest. Telluride Towing finally arrived with a platform truck, loaded the GC, hitched the Airstream and towed us home and dropped the GC at the dealer in Durango.The diagnosis after two weeks in the shop: “DPF got clogged and overheated and took out SCR cat and sensors and DEF injector”. Replaced several sensors that melted, catalytic converter, turbo exhaust outlet seal, DPF exhaust, exhaust gasket, injector dosage module ……Fortunately we were 800 miles short of the 60K warranty expiration, and all was covered, including the $730 tow. I picked up the GC and it is running as sweetly as ever, but it will tow us no more. With the expiring warranty, the hitch failure and this engine failure, prudence dictates a change of tow vehicle. A 2017 RAM Longhorn Limited with the 5.7L HEMI, Crew Cab, 4x4, 8 sp automatic and active air suspension will be delivered next week. Silver, of course. It won’t get the 17.6 overall towing mpg of the GC EcoDiesel, but it should be a fine tow vehicle with greater capacity and reliability. I received Kelly Blue Book trade in for the GC. So, 2014 GC EcoDiesel owners, enjoy your vehicle as we did, but inspect the hitch (not easy, requires removal of rear bumper and fascia) and good luck with the engine.

Sounds like an issue with the DPF and not specific to the engine in question. A plugged cat or DPF with exhibit the same results regardless of engine type or make.

EcoDiesel Ordering | Good Sam Community

59 Replies

itguy08
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
Still don't get the allure of the EcoDiesel...

Diesel prices here (PA) are higher than premium unleaded.
In the 1/2 tons the payload is junk, many under 1k.
The engine has serious quality issues.
The engine has lots of emissions stuff to go wrong.
The Ecoboost 2.7 gets about the same MPG, takes regular unleaded, and tows "like a Diesel".
It's bolted to the lowest quality vehicles on the road.
NJRVer
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
ggoat!!! wrote:
EcoDiesels run EXTREMELY HOT and FAIL while towing over time.

Research this. The evidence, particularly regarding this engine in the Grand Cherokee, is out there in droves.

A particularly enlightening story was written on the Airstream forums about failure going up 550 in Colorado. He got rid of his EcoDiesel soon after his engine caught fire in the middle of the road.

Stay away. FAR away from Fiat.

I didn't see where the engine "caught fire"
NJRVer
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
TurnThePage wrote:
Gosh ggoat, you should tell VernDiesel about that worthless Ecodiesel. He's been towing Airstreams for a living with one for quite some time.

The Grand Cherokees are known to run pretty hot due to marginal cooling though.

OP, I would also speculate that if you were trying to build a 2017, we have to be very close to 2018 models coming out.

I was trying to build any ecodiesel, not just 2017. I would consider 2017 over with.
TurnThePage
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
Gosh ggoat, you should tell VernDiesel about that worthless Ecodiesel. He's been towing Airstreams for a living with one for quite some time.

The Grand Cherokees are known to run pretty hot due to marginal cooling though.

OP, I would also speculate that if you were trying to build a 2017, we have to be very close to 2018 models coming out.
mich800
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
Sounds like an issue with the DPF and not specific to the engine in question. A plugged cat or DPF with exhibit the same results regardless of engine type or make.
ggoat___
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
Here is the post from the Airstream forums that I referenced in my post above:

I am regretfully parting with my lifetime favorite vehicle. After over 26K towing miles, our 2014 Grand Cherokee Overland EcoDiesel has hitched to our FC23FB for the last time. I’ve written many posts herein praising the capabilities and comfort of this vehicle, and now must share the unhappy ending. My intent is not to complain or frighten, but simply to inform other 2014 GC EcoDiesel owners.

Upon return from our annual migration to our sailboat in Florida, I was unhitching the Airstream when I noticed movement in the receiver hitch. I advanced the 60K maintenance and brought the GC to the dealer. The receiver hitch had completely fractured where it attaches to the chassis on the starboard side. Needless to say, this could have been catastrophic on the recent 2350 mile tow. The dealer replaced the hitch (not under warranty) and completed the full 60K service - all fluids, filters etc. Dealer explanation: “You must have overloaded the hitch”. I disagreed. This is a 7200 lb tow capacity vehicle that has beautifully towed this 5680 lb trailer (wet weight loaded for camping) for over 26K miles over all sorts of terrain in all sorts of weather.

Three weeks later, with the GC all serviced, and the Airstream as well (new brakes at 52K miles), we decided to take a short (for us) camping trip to visit Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP. Taking off on a Sunday, we drove Hwy 550 N from Durango. It’s a gorgeous drive which we’ve done with the Airstream four times previously, and many times without the trailer. Traffic was fairly heavy, and we were climbing at about 45 mph in 74ºF ambient. Just 1 mile short of Coal Bank Pass, coolant temp went max, engine power fell off, and the engine went into ‘limp mode’. Fortunately there was a pullout on the opposite side and a break in traffic. I got the rig well off the highway before the engine shut down with a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust. It felt to me like a blown head gasket.

Now, 2014 EcoDiesel owners will know that this engine runs hot when climbing under load. This was a concern of many owners, and I’ve seen the coolant temp go high when climbing many passes in CO and WA. Dealers have assured me that there was no problem, and I knew what to expect. This time it was abnormal.

A Sunday afternoon during peak tourist season is not a great time to get a tow vehicle in this area. We sat beside 550 for four hours, but fortunately had a comfortable Airstream in which to have lunch and a rest. Telluride Towing finally arrived with a platform truck, loaded the GC, hitched the Airstream and towed us home and dropped the GC at the dealer in Durango.

The diagnosis after two weeks in the shop: “DPF got clogged and overheated and took out SCR cat and sensors and DEF injector”. Replaced several sensors that melted, catalytic converter, turbo exhaust outlet seal, DPF exhaust, exhaust gasket, injector dosage module ……
Fortunately we were 800 miles short of the 60K warranty expiration, and all was covered, including the $730 tow.

I picked up the GC and it is running as sweetly as ever, but it will tow us no more. With the expiring warranty, the hitch failure and this engine failure, prudence dictates a change of tow vehicle. A 2017 RAM Longhorn Limited with the 5.7L HEMI, Crew Cab, 4x4, 8 sp automatic and active air suspension will be delivered next week. Silver, of course. It won’t get the 17.6 overall towing mpg of the GC EcoDiesel, but it should be a fine tow vehicle with greater capacity and reliability. I received Kelly Blue Book trade in for the GC.

So, 2014 GC EcoDiesel owners, enjoy your vehicle as we did, but inspect the hitch (not easy, requires removal of rear bumper and fascia) and good luck with the engine.
ggoat___
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
EcoDiesels run EXTREMELY HOT and FAIL while towing over time.

Research this. The evidence, particularly regarding this engine in the Grand Cherokee, is out there in droves.

A particularly enlightening story was written on the Airstream forums about failure going up 550 in Colorado. He got rid of his EcoDiesel soon after his engine caught fire in the middle of the road.

Stay away. FAR away from Fiat.
mich800
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
RSD559 wrote:
So, "build and price" really means "Pick out a Jeep that is already built and priced" and sitting on a lot somewhere.

Must be gun shy and afraid to actually let people build and price it. They haven't even updated their website on the Grand Cherokee. It still says

"EcoDiesel now available on the 2014
Jeep® Grand Cherokee"
RSD559
Explorer
Sep 14, 2017
So, "build and price" really means "Pick out a Jeep that is already built and priced" and sitting on a lot somewhere.

Forum Discussion

EcoDiesel Ordering

59 Replies

About Travel Trailer Group

Related Content

Ecodiesel orders

Ordered!

Ordering a ‘23 Powerstroke

Ordered Host Mammoth

Ram ecodiesel problems?