Jeep Renegade Forum banner

Class Action? Burning Oil, Engine Dying

136K views 173 replies 96 participants last post by  clementsdiscountprod 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello,

let me give you some context about what's going on and then I would like to hear from you.

I have a 2016 Jeep Renegade, with about 42K miles. When I first got my Jeep I read online about complaints regarding Jeep Renegades going through a lot of oil between oil changes. I very rarely wait until 10K miles to do an oil change. I usually do them around 4, 5, or 6K miles. Every time I take my Jeep in they always tell me, "oh, your Jeep was a little low on oil." They never made it sound dire and it probably wasn't because I change my oil often.

Well, lately I've been under financial stress and haven't been able to do my multiple oil changes, so I had to wait.

Long story short, my Jeep died yesterday at a stop light. Just completely shut down for no apparent reason. I was able to get it to start again after a few minutes. Later that morning I noticed a warning pop up when I was making a hard U-Turn. "LOW OIL PRESSURE." That's odd, I thought. I pulled into a gas station and I was almost completely OUT OF OIL (yes, I let the Jeep sit before checking). I was in disbelief. I checked 4 or 5 times just to be sure. There was about 1/8" of oil on my dipstick.

I took it to the nearest Jiffy Lube and got an oil change. The service guy tells me "you didn't have any oil in your engine." -yeah, thanks.

It has been 10 weeks and 9,500 miles since my last oil change. There is NO WAY an engine should burn 4-5 quarts of oil in 10 weeks OR 9,500 miles. My old Toyota had 178K miles and barely burned half a quart between changes.

A little research and I found out.. I'm not alone. Other people are having this problem too. There is no way these engines are passing emissions standards burning through that much oil.

CHECK YOUR OIL. I didn't think I had this problem and I found out the hard way... Thank God I wasn't on the freeway or far from home.

Please let me know your thoughts, comments, and experiences below.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
A US quart is near as dammit a litre, so you're using about half a litre per 1000 miles. It's not good for a modern car but most manufacturers won't really sit up until you get past a litre (or US quart) per 1000 miles.

The marks on the dipstick are a quart apart. If your level was still on the stick it won't have been empty (I suspect your service guy was exaggerating a bit) and you were probably only a couple of quarts off full. So your actual loss is probably only half what you suggest.

The handbook says "Check the oil level at regular intervals, such as every fuel stop." Going 9500 miles without checking it is clearly not complying with that. And you actually say above "When I first got my Jeep I read online about complaints regarding Jeep Renegades going through a lot of oil between oil changes." so not checking it regularly is quite frankly bonkers.
 
#3 ·
Mike,

let me be clear about one thing first.. As far as the marks on the dip stick: The oil was not even on the hash marks. It was literally a drop of oil at the bottom of the dip stick. Hence I had to check 4 or 5 times as I was in disbelief.

I have never owned a vehicle that burned itself out of oil. I don't care what the manual says... That's not right. I guess part of the fault does lay with me for trusting that since I have a new, modern vehicle, I wouldn't have these issues. I've owned several vehicles over the course of my life and this kind of oil consumption is unheard of to me. I could understand if my Jeep had 150K+ miles on it and questionable maintenance, but 42K miles and well maintained? No. Sorry. An engine burning this much oil is either broken or a piece of Sh*t and they're hiding behind the fact that "the manual says to check the oil."

Thanks.
 
#5 ·
Good suggestion.

However, the undercarriage was inspected by the service tech at my request and no leak was found. I park in a garage every night, every morning I let my engine warm up before leaving. The floor of my garage is squeaky clean. So, that is why I assume it is burning oil.
 
#6 ·
I change our oil at 8,000 miles and have not seen it drop one bit. This is my 3rd oil change in 2 & half years. I check it monthly in all of our Jeeps.
I use
full synthetic 0W 20 in our 2.4-liter I-4.
 
#8 ·
FPT engines used to use a fair bit of oil. (About 0.5l between services for the good ol' TwinSpark.)

But the current generation has been solid in my experience with zero oil added between changes.

So I'm guessing this is the 2.4?

Haven't there been threads about badly fitted filters?
 
#10 ·
What he said ^^
Cars are like any machine, they can malfunction / break. Checking your oil is free and cheap to add a few quarts on your own if needed. I'm guilty of not checking it more often but it never looks even close to low when I do. But I still top it off, makes me feel better when it's full!

That being said, I feel pretty confident following the oil change indicator. When it comes on, it's time. No sooner, no later.
 
#163 ·
I have a 2018 Jeep Renegade, it is burning oil, I change every 5,000 but due to running dry of oil I have been changing oil at 4,000. Just this week, my vehicle died while in traffic, I was dry of oil, I am 1,300 miles away from the 5,000 oil change. Took 5 quarts. Dealership keeps saying "oil on the sensor", change me $100 for cleaning it off. I am getting no where with the dealership on this problem.
 
#11 ·
My 2015 Renegade has been having stalling issues as well... along with transmission issues. I have about 34,500 total miles on it and I was about 6,500 miles from the last oil change... I took my car immediately to service since it's still under warranty. The transmission was discovered to be faulty and it was replaced.

When I received the vehicle back, it stalled again the next morning. I checked the oil and it was surprisingly low... which means that the car was in service with reported stalling issues, kept for 2.5 weeks, and no no one there pulled the dipstick.

I filled it up with 0w20 and took it back to service. Since it was due anyway, I told the dealership to diagnose and solve the problem, then perform the oil-change so that there is NO way that they can blame my mechanic shop if oil continues to deplete at an unacceptable level.

So far, I have been told that service discovered "a leak in the exhaust" and the manifold is being replaced. As far as the stalling, they are currently blaming the low oil-level... which makes sense, but the question remains "Why did the oil level get so low"?

Once I get it back, I will drive the vehicle and check the oil level regularly... if the level drops, it will go back to service.
 
#93 ·
My 2015 Renegade has been having stalling issues as well... along with transmission issues. I have about 34,500 total miles on it and I was about 6,500 miles from the last oil change... I took my car immediately to service since it's still under warranty. The transmission was discovered to be faulty and it was replaced.

When I received the vehicle back, it stalled again the next morning. I checked the oil and it was surprisingly low... which means that the car was in service with reported stalling issues, kept for 2.5 weeks, and no no one there pulled the dipstick.

I filled it up with 0w20 and took it back to service. Since it was due anyway, I told the dealership to diagnose and solve the problem, then perform the oil-change so that there is NO way that they can blame my mechanic shop if oil continues to deplete at an unacceptable level.

So far, I have been told that service discovered "a leak in the exhaust" and the manifold is being replaced. As far as the stalling, they are currently blaming the low oil-level... which makes sense, but the question remains "Why did the oil level get so low"?

Once I get it back, I will drive the vehicle and check the oil level regularly... if the level drops, it will go back to service.
And iif you have any more tranny problems, and they keep repeatedly having you bring back to service contact attorney generals office . The lemon law will protect you from this runaround . Read your states lemon laws ... you'll be glad you did . or look up lemon law attorneys
 
#12 ·
New here but I have a 15trailhawk2.4l had an oil change at 49kand some change at 53k low oil pressure light. I checked the dipstick nothing on it. Now I'm not saying to grab the pitch forks but Jeep/Fiat should offer some solution to this issue. Because 4qts for 4thousand miles isn't very appealing to consumers. And before I get people saying I have a leak the dealer verified and two other mechanics verified no leaks. It's very upsetting that my three year old vehicle has to be treated like a 97 Civic with two hundred thousand plus miles and an known oil leak.
 
#13 ·
Are you seeing oil on your driveway or wherever you're parking it? I would think that if the dipstick doesn't have any oil on it at all, then you would definitely be noticing puddles under your vehicle. So, if you're not seeing that then it makes sense that you're not losing oil. I seem to remember in the owners manual that the oil pressure can spike under certain circumstances, for example towing, and if the light comes on you should pull over and put it in park until the light goes out. Could it be something like that?
 
#14 · (Edited)
Let me tell you folks something.
As a previous Fiat Abarth owner.
These engines burn oil.

To keep things simple, it's a design flaw.
It's a known issue with Fiat owners. My abarth ate up about a quart of oil between 5k mile oil change intervals.
The manufacturer recommended oil change intervals was 8k miles for those which I thought was odd knowing that at least 2 quarts of oil would burn within that time. I replaced the spark plugs twice within 40k miles that I put on the car.

Can't say it's the same case for the 2.4.
Turbos are always a little different and not always the good kind of different.
I checked the jeep oil almost religiously. Gave it a good look through and checked the tail pipe often.
Yes, they burn oil. Yes, it's somewhat noticeable in the tail pipe. It was more noticeable in the abarth due to it having straight pipes after the cat'

The oil change intervals should be closer to 5k in my educated opinion.
The service people can not be fully trusted. They check what they are told to check and they work on what they are told to work on. Anything else that requires common sense or rational thinking is beyond their pay grade or at least that's what they think.
 
#27 ·
Let me tell you folks something.
As a previous Fiat Abarth owner.
These engines burn oil.

To keep things simple, it's a design flaw.
It's a known issue with Fiat owners. My abarth ate up about a quart of oil between 5k mile oil change intervals.
The manufacturer recommended oil change intervals was 8k miles for those which I thought was odd knowing that at least 2 quarts of oil would burn within that time. I replaced the spark plugs twice within 40k miles that I put on the car.
I have yet to meet a turbo charged car that doesn't eat about 1qt every 3-4k. Which is why I don't trust any of the longer intervals on a turbo engine. Maybe if they manage to not use oil to cool it or work as a bearing/bearing lube.

Also, the 1.4 runs decent boost levels, which means the spark gap has to be smaller. Which means less time before you erode the electrode enough that you can't maintain the specified gap. 40k is a bit early unless they are just plain old non precious metal plugs.
 
#15 ·
The Abarth engines are more highly tuned than
the standard models. Hence the shorter oil-changes. It's a performance car.

The FPT MultiAirs shouldn't be drinking oil.

The 2.4, I've had no experience of but it can't be right for them to be drinking oil in only a few cases.
Something's wrong.
 
#16 ·
I’ve burned through 3quarts in 6000 miles, the last quart in less than 1000. Not a drop has reached the parking lot at my complex.

I just had an oil change and the dealer will be monitoring the loss. Every time it’s down a quart they’ll notate the mileage, top it off and repeat.
 
#17 ·
The turbo 1.4 engines are the same in every vehicle that uses them. The difference is the throttle mapping / "tune" associated with the sport button in the abarths. Mechanically they are the same. The weight of the vehicle it's being used in and the transmission determine how the engine responds. Same hp. Same torque. Same oil burning.
 
#18 ·
Well my 1.4 hasn't used any oil at all over a few thousand miles. I'm actually pissed because the dealer included a bottle of top up as part of the recent service (cost £15) and I haven't yet even broken the seal on on the bottle I got when I bought the car :mad:
Most of the complaints about oil use seem to be for the 2.4 which is a Chrysler engine, so really not comparable to the 1.4 (at least any more than comparing it to a Ford or Honda engine).
Unfortunately few people make it clear which engine or transmission they have when posting their beef (eg. post #11 above) so it's often hard to to make much sense of the 'collective knowledge'.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Nev
#21 ·
My 2016 Trailhawk 2.4 ltr had the same thing happen

I bought mine in October 2016. I am at 30,000 or so miles, but the last oil change...that's when it happened. I went to the dealer and said I am due. The service tech told me since the computer did not say I needed one yet that I didn't need to do it, so I left with the car. One week later I am going through Fairfax on the way home, I do a quick right turn, and the Low Oil warning light comes on, then goes off. Surprised, I took it to a dealer next to my job, and told the tech about the low oil level light, so he checks the dipstick and he goes whoah! You are like 2 quarts down. Good thing you brought it in. He says the Renegade is a dirty oil burner, a FIAT engine (his words exactly) and that you really can't go by the onboard computer's schedule, unless you want the engine to be destroyed. I told him the service tech at the OTHER Jeep dealership told me I didn't need an oil change until the computer called for it, and he said not to take my car there anymore! I don't think he reported it or did anything about though, and he acted like it was normal. I think I will go check my oil now...!

Anyway, I can hear pre-ignition knocking in the engine too under acceleration. Whatever I guess, I still love my car, but it never happened with my Nissan Frontier, Toyota Tacoma, Hyundai Santa Fe, etc. So yes, I experienced what you experienced with a 2016 Trailhawk. A surprise low oil level on a tight corner event and then finding out the oil was 2 quarts down, AFTER my standard Jeep service center told me I did NOT need an oil change yet because the computer had not called for it yet.
 
#22 ·
Okay, I am back. Just checked the oil. I think its been about two months since last oil change. Next service tag says 32000, and I am at 30500. Oil is 1 inch below the fill zone texture on the dipstick. GREAT. Guess I need to carry spare oil in this thing. Does anyone know the stock type/grade of oil?
 
#26 ·
My first oil indicator came on around 7,300 miles. I'm expecting it to come on again soon, I have around 14k miles. Just check your oil. If it's low, top it off. Unless it's looking dirty, save your money. 5k oil changes with synthetic oil is a huge waste of $$.
I can't speak for the 1.4T but my previous car was a turbo and it didn't necessarily burn oil faster, but it definitely got dirty quicker.
 
#29 ·
Well, I topped it off. Bought a quart of 0W-20 Pennzoil. Wasn't difficult, I just never had a new car eat oil between oil change intervals. Maybe its because many manufacturers have shifted to this '0W-20' super low weight synthetic oil, maybe that's why it seems to evaporate quickly? Anyway, will check on a regular interval now.
 
Top