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what's more, my commander stalled getting onto I-95 in rush hour last week and again this week getting onto the meritt parkway also during rush hour...terrifying.
but, still they will not admit that the problem was never the starter but this other cause; i have had two other technicians check out the car, and both said that there is nothing wrong with the car so it must be the software. and, mind you, these other technicians would have made money telling me it was anything else because anything else other than the proprietary software they could fix.
chrysler should be ashamed of itself.
and, you are also right that the solution that i was charged for, nobody is sure that it actually required a new starter.
all that said: fundamentally the Jeep Commander has electricical problems that on a driving level = problems starting The Commander, problems with The Commander stalling when merging onto a highway, problems with The Commander dashboard flickering more often than not, and, too, problems getting the Chrysler Jeep dealers to fix problems before the warranty is up.
short of long: before your warranty runs out and before The Commander totally refuses to start contact Chrysler, Michigan. you will have to go through Chrysler, India first, but once you do get to michigan they might encourage The Jeep Dealer to replace the parts they know the symptoms you are describing are an inidication of.
First of all, an engine stalling problem should never be a "terrifying" situation. If you can't handle this common emergency, sell your car and walk or hire a taxi. Panicking on the highway is the safety issue. People run out of gas, get flat tires, and get cut off all the time, and they don't whine about the terrifying situation. Regardless of the cause of the problem, it is your responsibility to know how to control the vehicle in a safe manner. It's up to the people behind you to worry about themselves. Part of their driving experience includes watching out for you. Pilots learn how to land a plane safely with dead engines. A stalled engine in a car is a relatively harmless inconvenience.
A lot of people can't jump fast enough to find someone else to blame. Look at the type of car you bought. Manufacturers have gone WAY overboard incorporating unnecessary, unreliable, complicated computers for every aspect of modern cars, and you can't wait to buy them because of all the silly gimmicks. I shake my head in disbelief every time I replace a $700.00 heater computer that does what a simple lever and cable used to do. If you don't know how cars are built today, put the blame for high repair bills squarely where it belongs; on the shoulders of the person who bought it, not who built it.
Next, how on earth can anyone develop the faulty logic that a starter motor can cause a stalling problem? This proves you are not knowledgeable about cars and have no business complaining about the repair shops. They ARE educated about your complicated car, but you're going to second guess them? The starter only spins the engine to start it running. After that, you can remove it, stomp on it, drive over it, scream at it, and throw it at someone; it will not cause your engine to stall. It's job is done and it just sits there after the engine is running. Now, some people have mentioned a different problem of intermittently failing to crank the engine. Again that has nothing to do with stalling once it's running. Intermittent failure to crank is caused by worn contacts in the starter solenoid. The contacts can be replaced separately but to insure reliability of the repair, almost everyone replaces the entire starter motor. This is an EXTREMELY common problem, but no respectable mechanic would ever replace it without witnessing the problem, especially if they recognize that they can't rely on your confusing descriptions of the problem. Very few owners can provide all the details and clues that a mechanic will pick up, but at least they understand the mechanic is trying to get as much information as possible so they can find the cause in as little time as possible. You seem to think the mechanic is the enemy, so you can expect to be treated as such. Try treating them as your partner in solving this problem, not your adversary. I once had a customer come back nine times before I finally found the problem. I was more frustrated at letting him down than he was at having to keep coming back. Thank goodness he understood how complicated his car was.
As for recall issues, these are generally reserved for safety or emissions problems. When the cause of a problem is identified, it is pretty easy to figure out which vehicles are affected according to the date of manufacture. If your vehicle isn't on the list, it means the problem was corrected by the time your car was built. Some people seem to think their problem is so special, the manufacturer should cover it under some special warranty program. If that were true, GM would be busy fixing all their expensive, common problems.
Other known problems that might be hard to diagnose will generate a service bulletin to save time for other mechanics, but you won't find a bulletin for easy-to-diagnose things like starter solenoids.
Finally, every customer has to learn how to present helpful information to their mechanic. I answer questions on another web site, and the lack of information is amazing. "Does not start", "won't run right", "my heater doesn't work; what's wrong?" If this is an example of what you would tell your mechanic in a face-to-face meeting, don't be surprised if you get a "could not duplicate the problem". If all I tell my doctor is "I'm in pain", would you expect him to treat me for a hang nail, a stomach ache, or I cut my foot off with a chain saw? He's going to ask a lot of questions, perform a few simple preliminary tests, and make some observations, but he won't do any of those over the phone or internet. There are exceptions, but most people are better at describing their pets' ailments than what their car is doing.
And what kind of derogatory names would you call a doctor who doesn't cure you on the first visit? Can anyone explain to me why mechanics are held to much higher standards than doctors? Doctors bury their mistakes. Mechanics are all called crooks when a few don't find the cause of a problem right away. A big part of diagnosing a problem is listening to the owner. If you provide limited or confusing information, as you have here, you can't possibly expect an efficient, economical repair.
Itabot seems to have the most unrealistic expectations I've read in a long time. What in the world does the brand of tire or brake pad have to do with "keeping a Jeep a Jeep"? Tires, brakes, exhaust, spark plugs, fenders, . . . are all offered by a number of manufacturers and can be installed by thousands of different shops, a tiny few of which are Jeep dealers. Chrysler only makes 20 percent of their own parts. The other 80 percent come from independent suppliers who also supply the same parts to the Napas, Carquests, and Auto Zones.
It's common for a Ford / Jaguar dealer to fix a Jeep, . . . and the other way around. Who do you think does the safety inspections and repairs on trade-in vehicles. As for the comment about the mechanic who said he was only at the dealership for a year, that gives him one year more of factory training than the mechanics at the independent repair shops or other new car dealers. Tough problems will be handled by experienced mechanics, and many of them may have gotten their experience working somewhere else before they came to that dealership.
One final note, even though it doesn't really apply here. I answer questions from a lot of do-it-yourselfers who don't have a clue how complicated newer cars are. The days of the backyard mechanic are long gone, and all manufacturers have designed their products to only be serviceable by the dealer. When people don't understand how the systems work, they end up troubleshooting the wrong thing, or they blindly replace a bunch of parts hoping one w
and, i can assure you that as for driving skills, i drive automatic and standard, in this country and country's that require we drive on 'the wrong side of the road', off road and on the highway as well as suburban streets and even, though not in the past year, across frozen lakes in siberia...with brand new cars and old clunkers and never have i experienced the recurring stall issues that i do with this commander. it is not safe and it is not normal.
please do not apply your lower standards to jeep discussions, that isn't the point of the thread.
It will only get more complex. I worked in the Safety Office at Chrysler and personally investigated the Commander stalling issue for over a year. Prior to working at Chrysler I spent 15 years in dealerships working as a line tech.
that said, why don't you share with us what you found to be the problem during your year working on the commander stall, and let us know: if you were allowed to repair the problem the way you wanted to, how would you do it, what parts, what manufacturers of parts, etc.
I think that would be awesome information for us all to have, and I really hope your share it with us because when it comes to stalls at these speeds you are savign people's lives/quality of lives, etc.
and, think about it this way, it is a beautifully styled suv, i.e., very contemporary and bauhaus.
i told them i doubted that given past experience. they said that these lines should never need replacing they are not something that requires owner maintenance and that their experience with jeep is that under those conditions jeep will cover and be terribly sorry for the inconvenience that faulty parts caused me.
so, i call corporate but get the same run around i got the last time,i.e., has to go to a dealer to be diagnosed at $100 charge and if the dealer thinks that it should be covered corporate will do so; so, before i am willing to go for that (hook) line (and sinker) ,i call the dealer directly - not the one i purchased this commander from but the one my family purchased all the kids sweet 16 first car jeeps from - and, they explained that it is up to corporate and that they will only be able to do what corporate tells them to. so i said to them well, i don't want to bring the car in without an idea of what my bill will be, so what will you be charging me to do what the independent station said needs to be done, that is all i want done. that way, i told them, if corporate still won't cover, i won't be shocked by the bill. i want these exact parts replaced...and, they tell me that they won't replace them without also doing the complete diagnosis!!!
in the meantime, i called corporate to tell them what was going on, and the first person assigned to my car was totally intolerable, i.e., i'm explaining the situation to her and she was barely capable of giving me helpful information; she seemed to be more concerned with empty courtesy words,etc. so i didn't even call her back. i just gave up and decided i am better off not wasting time, (time=money) and just doing the $600 repair with an honorable independent staffed by actual jeep experts and enthusiasts.
then i get a call again from chrysler corporate and while it is from another person other than the dimmer bulb i started out with this new one assigned to my account, she left me a voicemail that clearly indicated jeep corporate still does not have my correct VIN, the name of the dealer that i purchased from, never mind a genuine solution to my problem.
i am going to try one more time with chrysler corporate,trying to go through their investor relations department, and, if that fails, i will be going to the US Government agency over-seeing. needless to say, jeep needs to take a lesson from toyota; it isn't un heard of that cars can have problems, it's how the manufacturer handles themselves during these crises that sticks.
Like you, I'm not sure it's the starter, but it sounds like it would be. Of course, I don't necessarily want to replace the starter seeing as it works just fine 8 months out of the year. I'm only anxious during the summer months and it has repeatedly performed like this over the course of the past 3 years. It's maddening. If anyone can provide us with some additional information about the issue so we have a shot at correcting the problem, it would be much appreciated.
i just also had frozen caliper replaced.
the cost of rehabilitating this commander since i purchased from dealer is approaching $6k. The next new starter that i will need before end of summer = another nearly $400 and the lights on dash have never stopped flickering so what that will be...that said, at this point i have invested so many new parts in it, it should last quite a while.
the only sticking point is the dealership i purchased from. they should be reprimanded/fined by chrysler. how much control does chrysler have over quality of its dealerships?
Ump a third time in a year and a half. Something is very, very wrong here. What does it take to get jeep to recall????
last week on I-95 similar stall to yours happened, albeit i'm fortunate that i didn't have small kids in back of car because obviously that would have been much worse. what jeep did was - driving at about 65mph steadily for about 10 minutes and then all of a sudden it was like i had pulled up the emergency brake up (I hadn't) and the car dropped speed (this all happened over about 3-5 seconds) and then all dash board lights lit up like they do when you immediately start the car but then within 2 seconds the lights went off and the acceleration increased on its own...back to speed i had been driving it at/relative to how much i was pressing on gas pedal. i'm lucky there was no traffic around me at that moment.
if jeep were more responsible and if the government cared enough about this situation to do a recall i would of course, in the interest of public safety, bring car in to be looked at because if this happens again a major accident could be the result; but, as it stands - just look at this thread to see the efforts already spent to get jeep to take care of this - nobody in authority effectively believes that these are real or dangerous problems to have out there on the roads...so i'm not going to go all out to diagnose and fix on my dime. i am though when it becomes necessary replacing everything under the hood of my commander
I have a 2007 Commander w/Hemi. It stalls when stopped at lights or stopped in parking lights every time we drive it more than 15 miltes. Turn it off and start it back up and it will stall a little while later, sometimes 2-3 times on a single stop light cycle. Have had it into the dealer 3 times so far. They replaced the MAP sensor and poked around on it a bit, but it is definitely worse than before we brought it in the first time.
Today it stalled while approaching a light, rolling at about 15 MPH. I stuck it in neutral and started it back up while rolling, but that was a first. Check engine light stayed on for the rest of the 75 mile drive.
Any advice I can give the dealer? Is there any point to tsb 18-049-07 with the 07 w/Hemi? Thanks!
1st time- loose wire
2nd time-bad connector
3rd time- starter replaced
4th time- another bad connection
Anyone else having issues like this? As of now my wife won't drive it anymore due to fear of being stranded with our 2 year old (can't really blame her since it has happened 4 times within the last year). She has been on the phone multiple times with Chrysler with no solution in sight, "It's fixed." they say, I say "Sure it is, see you next month when it breaks down again..." :lemon:
I called Jeep today, the company, started a claim because I refuse to pay for something Jeep knows about.Its stuck in 3rd again, and it wouldnt start again this weekend, then it decided to get stuck in 3rd gear today. Complete BS, Jeep said they would process the claim , send it to a manager for approval and research?
Really, they need to RESEARCH problems with the JEEP COMMANDER?
I called Jeep today, the company, started a claim because I refuse to pay for something Jeep knows about.Its stuck in 3rd again, and it wouldnt start again this weekend, then it decided to get stuck in 3rd gear today. Complete BS, Jeep said they would process the claim , send it to a manager for approval and research?
Really, they need to RESEARCH problems with the JEEP COMMANDER?
Do you know why they stopped manufacturing these supposed to be anice SUVs? The integrated electrical design was a flop. It came out in 2006 up to 2008, 2009 or 2010 was a carry over just to get rid of the previous stocks. Do you still trust your dealer's mecahanic of their guessing game? Not even Jeep, Daimler-Chrysler can resolve the occuring problems of these "Jeep thing"or if they do, they would not seized producing these nice SUVs. I used to loved my '08 V6, but when all the problems evolved, No other options but to get rid of it. My tow truck driver adviced me not to have second thought to trade it in and so I did. The driver says he towed a countless of times of similar vehicles, at least 5 Commanders per month. Well, good luck to those who still have it!!
Thank you,
jggr
If you're keeping the commander I would try to find out your area mechanics that actually are experts and enthusiasts...it's the only mechanic that is going to be able to steady the car's reliability. Good Luck!
Maybe some owners does not have the same problem or is it? We all love our Commanders, but is it a reliable SUVs? We can keep it and why not, but we have to brace ourselves when the rough gets going! Good luck.
Good Luck!
p.s. avoid the dealers at this point because 1. they are only towing the party line in a tough economy, a.k.a., customer service isn't a priority, and 2. non-dealer service shops seem to take greater pride in solving problems.
Try these diff things to see which works best for you. This will also help identify if this is your issue or not.
1. Rock your car while in park or in neutral. When it is in park you will hear it click, which is the sensor.
2. Roll car backwards or forwards and straighten the steering wheel.
3. Put in neutral and turn key to start. May also put in neutral then back to park a couple of times letting the car move a little helps.
Lastly to help your car NOT do this, watch how you park. Make sure the wheels are straight or car rolls a little after putting in park and removing foot from the brake.
For me this will happen when it has been raining a lot or when cold, but always starts after I rock it or put it in neutral and turn the wheel a little. Ihave never had to be towed.
I have not experienced any stalling issues or failure to start, but have experienced the delayed acceleration where the vehicle doesn't respond to pressing the accelerator, then suddenly lurches ahead.
Today, however, I experienced the weirdest thing ever -- I clicked 'lock' on the key fob and it did lock but all STARTED without any key ignition. I unlocked it, put the key in, and turned it off.
This is very weird and very unnerving -- has anyone experienced this??
http://www.justanswer.com/jeep/2qfq2-jeep-commander-2008-won-t-start-keys-good-b- attery-good.html
This has been the problem for us once on a 2007 and now on a 2008
Good luck!
Well after being at the dealership several times in April, each time the diagnostic testing showed nothing was wrong with my Jeep...I was told, they will try and give me a discount on services performed yesterday...hahaha
Lets just say, I will never trust my Jeep on a road trip let alone the freeway...I am trading it in as soon as I get it from the service dept tomorrow...
I have had this Jeep since October 2005 and I will never drive a Jeep again.. :mad: :sick:
Would love to know value Jeep gave you on the trade in. My independent service center that seems to have all problems under control since starting repairs over a year ago, they let me know that in the Jeep Commander I now had a classic on my hands, i.e., I won't be trading it in (I probably wouldn't get much for it and as for trading it back in to Jeep it's not like I will ever get a jeep again).
My dash lights also spontaneously blink sometimes and the clock on the radio flashes even when the radio is not on. I have also told the dealer this because my hunch was that there is a short or some odd connection causing all of these problems. They basically laughed at me.
I read on this blog that someone had inside information that Daimler Chrysler is aware of this issue, and that the problem is due to a lack of "communication" b/t the hardware and software; thus halting the production of Commanders. Yikes. Please provide me with more information please!
Thank you.
with all of these problems, this isn't the kind of car you put children into or anyone that isn't very quick with adjusting things to accommodate a stall. (and to think that most of us, I'm sure, purchased it for the increased safety that a good old reliable jeep offers no matter what the weather).
check the jeep on line forums for mechanics that work at independent repair shops in your area- that's how i found the one person who knew what to do to repair mine., and though it still almost stalls it doesn't go into a full stall.
one of many repairs/adjustments that that jeep expert did was to replace hoses that were clogged and deteriorating. you could see that they were worn thin to the point of fraying. that fraying slowed liquids from getting in and out.
i don't know exactly what stopped the stalling but this is another thing that i had done and was part of process of clearing up the problem.
just put aside at least $4k to rebuild it to point of safety (i shelved ideas of road trips in it because of it's earlier unreliability)