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Hello from Colorado!

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Jasmine 
#1 ·
I’ve owned my 2012 Jeep for two years and it seems like I’ve had problems since the day I bought it. First it was fuel tank issues that was repaired twice. Now it’s transmission issues. I took to Aamco for the free inspection and was told it was the CVT. They said 5000 to fix! How is this possible? The car is having trouble shifting to second gear. Some times it won’t even go into gear and I’m stuck in a intersection. I end up having to turn the car off and then back on again and then it works. No extended warranty. Is this a lemon? What am I to do? I’m still making payments, if I trade in it won’t be worth anything and I’ll be upside down in a new loan. Any suggestions as to fixing it? I love the car really won’t to keep it but not if these issues are only going to get worse and I definitely don’t have 5 grand to fix. Kelly blue book shows it’s not even worth that.
 
#2 ·
I'm not sure what you mean by second gear. CVTs don't have gears. If you're in D you're just working your way up and down a belt between two pulleys.

How many miles? After 150,000 miles any transmission is getting elderly so problems shouldn't be a surprise. The other issue is that people tend not to change the fluid till 120,000 and that's too late. It should be changed around 50-60,000 miles. Changing the fluid might solve your problem, but obviously I can't promise.

As for what to do, I'd get a second opinion on the CVT. Your description of the problem is a little sketchy. A lot of other things could be causing hesitation. Start with the cheap stuff first. I thought my tranny was giving me problems but it turned out that my tires were inconsistently sized and the wheel sensor data was confusing the ECM so it seemed like I was getting dead spots when I accelerated. On the bright side I had a Pontiac transmission that was giving me trouble. Fortunately I had an honest dealer that found a cheap fix. When that dealer switched from GM to all Chrysler I stayed with them. Its been 20 years and 6 vehicles since -- so far so good.

Finally, if the tranny really is dying consider the overall condition of your Patriot.
  • If its in good shape, why not do the repair? I'm fond of saying "the cheapest care you'll ever own is the car you own today." I thought long & hard about spending $1000 to replace my engine harness on my Patriot at 200,000 miles, but I got another 75,000 miles out of it so it was a good investment on my part.
  • If its a bucket of bolts then it might be a good time to trade. Shop carefully and get something reliable. A higher sticker gives the dealer more room to move and HOPEFULLY you'll have a vehicle that will outlast the payments. I had a '74 Cherokee with a bad transfer case. I traded for an almost new Volare. On the face of it I made a bad deal, but I was so glad to be rid of that squawking transfer case! The Plymouth was better suited to an old man -- power everything.ard very unexciting, but we were newlyweds and we just needed something that wouldn't give us trouble, and it didn't. :) Four or five years later we were in a much better position financially.
Good luck and please report back.
 
#3 ·
Do yourself a favor and try this first. Go pickup a package of 4' foot plastic zip ties. Take one of the zip ties and pull the plug where the dipstick to read the CVT fluid would go and push the zip tie all the way down it. Then pull it back out and see if there is any fluid on the end of the zip tie. My bet is there isnt enough fluid in the tranny. Lmk if this helps any.
 
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