Newish Jeep Renegade needs new engine

CrazyCat

Some advice please as I really don't know what to do.

My Jeep Renegade 4xe is approx 4.5 years old with 34k on the clock.

It broke down a couple of weeks ago, the RAC man said he thought it was a cam gear failure. The garage we took it to says that a bolt has come off the bottom pulley(?) and the valves have lost timing, so therefore the engine needs to be replaced. Apologies if that description of the error makes no sense, it's all dark arts to me!

Long story short, a new engine will be £13k. The car is only worth £15k so it's not realistic to get it fixed.

I contacted Jeep as I felt such a drastic failure on a relatively new car should be covered by them. I was told they would need to take it in and judge for themselves. However they can't look at it until May, the diagnostic will cost a minimum of £250, plus the cost of transporting it over there. The last service was done by Halfords not Jeep, so I suspect they'll use that as a get out clause.

I've been offered £5k to sell it as a non runner, which at least will be more than the balance after paying for a repair.

My heart wants Jeep to pay, but my gut says they won't and I should just sell it and walk away.

Do any of you wise people have any suggestions?

Powapa

Morning, as long as you can prove it’s been serviced at the right intervals and taken care of I would say that Jeep have a responsibility to offer a goodwill contribution towards the repair if not all of it. With such low mileage and only 4 years old you should have a case.

Again it all comes down to if it’s been proper maintained.

facade

I'd try Jeep and see what they will contribute. (But it is possibly throwing away £5-600 more getting it there and back and paying for the diagnostic)

In The Olden Days, when things were made properly, the gears driven from the crankshaft that work the valves were keyed on, and then just held tight with the bolt, so if the bolt works loose they couldn't move.

Nowadays all that stops the gears turning round on the crank is the fact that the bolt is tight, so if the bolt does work loose the valves will hit the pistons and wreck the engine.

It might not need a complete new engine, the old one might be repairable, but it isn't cheap.

I suspect that Stellantis (for it is they who own Jeep) will say that checking the tightness of that bolt is a secret part of the service and Halfords didn't do it properly, or that for some reason they must have loosened it.

Woodstok2000

Jeep will definitely want to see exactly what's been done at any 3rd party service, so if you do proceed you can get ahead by getting all that info together (and asking halfords for their records) in advance.

paul_c123

Did Halfords change the cambelt? If so, the liability lies with them. If not, try Jeep but Good Luck on that.

Mr.Generous

It would be far beyond the scope of a service to check tension on a timing sprocket bolt. no easy access to them. If the vehicle has a specific oil requirement (don't they all) I can well imagine Halfords just using a stock 5w-30 from a big barrel - and this being discovered by Jeep and used as a reason to reject.

Goudy

This is a known problem with this engine which is also shared with other cars in the group like Fiat/Alfa. I would be gobsmacked if your Jeep dealership didn't know about it. (but not gobsmacked to find out they won't admit to it)

From what I understand it's the alternator causing vibrations to the aux belt system that takes out the tensioner, idler and eventually causing the aux belt to let go and wrap around the aux belt drive pulley on the end of the crank.

Behind this aux belt drive pulley on the end of the crank is the lower timing belt pulley and cam belt. Once the Aux belt jams up the pulleys it causes the cam belt to strip and jump teeth and/or snap taking the engine out.

Fiat and Alfa sold far more cars with this engine, so you will obviously find more on the internet about this with those cars.

CrazyCat

Thanks for all the comments, all very helpful.

My husband has spoken to the garage and as he understands engines better than I do it's all a bit clearer.

They say the bottom pulley has come loose as the bolt that holds it in place has unwound itself and this should not have happened and as it's not a serviceable part it has to be a flaw.

They recommend taking it to Jeep rather than scrapping it so I'll take that advice.

Many thanks for all the input 👍️

MattMattMattUK

If you were to replace the engine you would not want to replace it with a new engine, you would go for a similar second hand engine, so another 4-5 year old engine that had been refurbished that would cost a lot less than the £13k figure you have been quoted. The engine should cost £1-3k depending on the exact engine, the level it has been refurbished to any how many miles it has done, then around another £800-1,200 to fit it.

Mildly_Miffed

The big issue here is going to be proving that the crank pulley bolt came undone because of a manufacturing issue, rather than because of poor previous maintenance.

If it had been a manufacturing issue, then it's unlikely to have lasted 4.5yrs and 34k miles.
It's been serviced not just outside the dealer chain, but by a bicycle-shop-with-fast-fit-chain-pretensions rather than by a proper garage.

Could the cambelt issue have been caused by an external failure, such as the aux belt or something driven by it? Absolutely. Although there's been no mention of this - and you'd think it would be obvious, especially if the aux belt itself has failed.

born_again

Why does it need a new engine & not a reconditioned one which will be many £££ cheaper?