2011-2014 Jeep alternator issues!

[TimC]

On 20/07/2022 at 13:09, Surfer said:

Dealer has now confirmed that the alternator is the root cause of the failure and is quoting £1250 for the repair.  Nearly £900 for alternator and balance in labour.

 

Not sure which of these might be yours exactly but interestingly one of them does say "remanufactured" . All around $600 or thereabouts, not exactly cheap but 2/3 the price you've been quoted.

[Surfer]

45 minutes ago, TimC said:

 

Not sure which of these might be yours exactly but interestingly one of them does say "remanufactured" . All around $600 or thereabouts, not exactly cheap but 2/3 the price you've been quoted.

 

I guess that after paying shipping and custom costs etc may work out the same.  Besides if there is an issue within the next year or so with the alternator I can go back to the dealer.  I must admit that I did not think it would take about 3 hours to remove the old alternator and fit a new alternator a labour charge is over £300?

[TimC]

Even with tax duty and VAT that will still be cheaper. As a rough guide you can convert the USD price into GBP as what you pay so roughly, $600 means you will end up paying about £600 with shipping, VA,T tax and duty. Although now that the £ is down at $1.19 it'll be more than it used to be when it was at 1.4. Does also depend on what you are shipping for the freight cost. I had a complete JK Rubicon front sway bar shipped direct from these guys using USPS and saved several hundred pounds on what the dealer was quoting.

[jerryg]

28 minutes ago, Surfer said:

 

I guess that after paying shipping and custom costs etc may work out the same.  Besides if there is an issue within the next year or so with the alternator I can go back to the dealer.  I must admit that I did not think it would take about 3 hours to remove the old alternator and fit a new alternator a labour charge is over £300?

Chances are the remanufactured one will have better components than the original so will be more robust. When weak spots are discovered on any part the remanufacturing/refurbishing fraternity often use better quality components when rebuilding them.  I know this from a small outfit that I used to refurbish the ECU on my Nissan ZX Turbo many years ago which suffered ECU failure, they swapped faulty components for better quality one's, £250 as against over £1000 for a Nissan replacement. Re mapped, 6 months warranty, no problems after!

[Surfer]

Thanks for really useful advice, but we need the vehicle as we live in a rural village with hardly any buses and have already told the dealer to go ahead.  Just means I have to cancel some booked holidays due to rather large and unexpected expense.

[Surfer]

The Jeep dealer phoned and gave me a price of £1226.38 and having already shopped around for brand new alternator the price was about £800 and then labour on top about £250.  As it was not a huge difference I gave the Jeep dealer the go ahead.  This morning they phoned to inform me that the Jeep was ready at a cost of £1471!  I queried this and they said that initially they quoted me excl VAT and later in the conversation they gave me a price incl VAT.  I honestly do not recall the price incl VAT.  Obviously when given the higher price I flipped my lid as it would have been a lot cheaper to uplift the vehicle and get a local Indie to do the work. 

 

Secondly they told me that the original P0741 code fault why I had taken the Jeep to them in the first place would cost £462 to resolve.  Previously I was told that the issue related to a faulty glow plug and that it was best to change all the glow plugs a at a cost of £330. They needed to change the transmission fluid and filter.  The fluid was changed less than 12000 miles ago in late 2020.  I ask what would happen if changing the fluid and filter did not resolve the issue and was advised that there would be another charge for changing the solenoid and if that did not resolve the P0741 they may need to open the transmission case.  On contacting the previous Jeep dealer that did the ATF fluid change they stated that the manufacturer had told them that there was no necessity to change the fluid? 

 

I asked for the old alternator and was then told that there may be a surcharge.  I pointed out that the alternator belonged to me and saw no reason why I should have to pay a surcharge.  I asked if if the alternator fitted was brand new of a refurbished unit. At that point I was told it was brand new and the old fault alternator was produced with no surcharge.

 

The EML is no longer showing and the vehicle is driving okay with no flat spots as previous.  I think I will be returning to Oxford if I have any further issues with the Jeep that cannot be done by a local Indie.

[jerryg]

Jeez ... I'm glad my dad brought me up on Meccano and I gave the Easter Eggs to my sister and lit up the boxes with battery lights! 

Stood me in good stead to become an electrical engineer and learn how to maintain and repair cars. 

[Surfer]

7 minutes ago, jerryg said:

Jeez ... I'm glad my dad brought me up on Meccano and I gave the Easter Eggs to my sister and lit up the boxes with battery lights! 

Stood me in good stead to become an electrical engineer and learn how to maintain and repair cars. 

I used to be able to repair my own cars in the sixties and seventies, but now they are so complex.

[V]

1 hour ago, Surfer said:

I queried this and they said that initially they quoted me excl VAT and later in the conversation they gave me a price incl VAT.

To avoid unexpected price uplifts after receiving a verbal price quote, ask the supplier to send the quote by email while you are still in conversation with them.

 

1 hour ago, Surfer said:

Secondly they told me that the original P0741 code fault why I had taken the Jeep to them in the first place would cost £462 to resolve.  Previously I was told that the issue related to a faulty glow plug and that it was best to change all the glow plugs a at a cost of £330

I can't see how a P0741 would have anything to do with glow plugs. The code indicates a problem associated with torque converter lock-up.

 

1 hour ago, Surfer said:

On contacting the previous Jeep dealer that did the ATF fluid change they stated that the manufacturer had told them that there was no necessity to change the fluid?

If the transmission fluid is burnt it should be changed and the reason for being burnt investigated.

If the transmission fluid is old, it doesn't hurt to change it and helps eliminate fluid problems from the diagnosis.

• The first check is the fluid.
• The second check is the laborious one with a multimeter, checking the operation of the solenoid

If a solenoid problem is found, disconnect all wiring plugs/sockets in circuit between the solenoid and Transmission Control Module (TCM) and/or Powertrain Control Module (PCM) ONE-AT-A-TIME and clean the contacts with contact cleaner spray before reconnecting. If possible check resistance and voltage across the connection then move on to the next plug/socket.

A wire in the solenoid circuit could be chaffing and shorting or is corroded or broken.

If the technician has prior experience of the same fault condition on many examples of the model, they may choose to go straight to the 'usual fix' whatever it is to avoid wasting time checking circuitry that is usually OK.

 

If the transmission fluid is expensive and the solenoid comparatively cheaper, it may be worthwhile replacing the solenoid while the transmission is already drained and open.

 

1 hour ago, Surfer said:

I asked for the old alternator and was then told that there may be a surcharge.  I pointed out that the alternator belonged to me and saw no reason why I should have to pay a surcharge.  I asked if if the alternator fitted was brand new of a refurbished unit. At that point I was told it was brand new and the old fault alternator was produced with no surcharge.

Well done!

Now it is off the car you should be able to identify it accurately and test/inspect the diodes. If you can fix it for £30 you can choose to keep it as a spare or sell it as end-user refurbished to offset your bill.

 

[V]

1 hour ago, Surfer said:

I used to be able to repair my own cars in the sixties and seventies, but now they are so complex.

They get more complex with every year. I think my own limit now is with vehicles produced somewhere between 2001 and 2010. It is an investment in time to learn about it. If I'm interested in how something works, I will investigate it. If it is a problem that affects my own vehicle, I want to know as much as I can about it. But then, my Jeeps are my hobby. If your time is more valuable to you doing the things you enjoy most, then paying someone else to resolve the problem quickly is better than you struggling with it yourself not really knowing what you are doing.

[Surfer]

1 hour ago, V said:

To avoid unexpected price uplifts after receiving a verbal price quote, ask the supplier to send the quote by email while you are still in conversation with them.

 

I can't see how a P0741 would have anything to do with glow plugs. The code indicates a problem associated with torque converter lock-up.

 

If the transmission fluid is burnt it should be changed and the reason for being burnt investigated.

If the transmission fluid is old, it doesn't hurt to change it and helps eliminate fluid problems from the diagnosis.

• The first check is the fluid.
• The second check is the laborious one with a multimeter, checking the operation of the solenoid

If a solenoid problem is found, disconnect all wiring plugs/sockets in circuit between the solenoid and Transmission Control Module (TCM) and/or Powertrain Control Module (PCM) ONE-AT-A-TIME and clean the contacts with contact cleaner spray before reconnecting. If possible check resistance and voltage across the connection then move on to the next plug/socket.

A wire in the solenoid circuit could be chaffing and shorting or is corroded or broken.

If the technician has prior experience of the same fault condition on many examples of the model, they may choose to go straight to the 'usual fix' whatever it is to avoid wasting time checking circuitry that is usually OK.

 

If the transmission fluid is expensive and the solenoid comparatively cheaper, it may be worthwhile replacing the solenoid while the transmission is already drained and open.

 

Well done!

Now it is off the car you should be able to identify it accurately and test/inspect the diodes. If you can fix it for £30 you can choose to keep it as a spare or sell it as end-user refurbished to offset your bill.

 

 

Thanks as mentioned the fluid is less than 2 years old and has done less than 12000 miles!  The previous dealer charged £43 for the 3 litres so not sure how the current dealer can even think of wanting to charge over £400?  On our return trip the EML never came on at all and neither did the car have a flat spot in the 2 weeks that we were away.  Returning today no flat spot present.

 

I am wondering if because of the Covid lock downs and the Jeep hardly been used under load or worked hard whether the solenoid became "lazy", but putting load on while towing has released it?  Just a wild guess?