[giribhai]

Hi All,

Need your advice and support to raise this issue that I am facing with my almost new Jeep Compass.

I have a Jeep Compass Limited Plus 2.0 Diesel, bought in Feb'20 and I had a pretty normal experience till 15,000 Kms that the car has done so far.

Last week, my parents went for an outstation trip and while returning when they stopped at the Toll plaza - they were alerted by the toll manager that fumes and smoke was coming from the car engine bay.

My parents immediately got off and called the RSA who took a lot of convincing and over 3 hours to reach the spot, the car was towed and sent to the nearest service center.

We thought we would get a call from Jeep and as the car is literally brand new whatever the issue is will be fixed, after two days we started calling people and finally got in touch with the service center that the car was sent to.

Now, the SA and supervisor there started saying that this is because the clutch has blown away and the clutch is not covered in Warranty - without checking they were able to make this comment means this has happened with other cars too and is a known issue.

We are not novices in terms of driving that we will blow the clutch in 15,000 Kms. I mean, my last car - a Honda city - is still going good without any niggles on the clutch at 1,50,000 Kms even. We never let the clutch slip and this car has been driven with a lot of care, 95% of the time by myself.

Now, the other bit is that it's been a week and Jeep Service centers and dealers and even customer care has been extremely non-responsive and their attitude has been pretty bad for a brand that's trying to position itself as a luxury brand.

What are my options here? Has anyone else faced any such issues? Should I get the car repaired taking the hit and possibly sell the car? I have called Jeep customer care multiple times but they are not helping, dealership is out rightly misbehaving and they are not even providing contact numbers or emails of higher management in Jeep.

Any help is appreciated, also a lot of people are buying Jeep and it's a good product but there are niggles and the customer support is really pathetic - so I would request mods to put this on the home page so more people can actually know what they are stepping into.

[sunikkat]

Depending on driving in extreme cases clutch can give up in 15k kms. But wouldn't it give signs / warnings rather than a full blow out and smoke from the engine bay? Atleast from my experience whenever the clutch is weak there will be burning smell or increased revs with less acceleration or in some cases gear wont get engaged. Also did the service center highlight weak clutch in the last service?
Honestly this looks like a manufacturing defect where the clutch gave up without any warnings.

[Turbojet]

MOD NOTE : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by giribhai

Last week, my parents went for an outstation trip and while returning when they stopped at the Toll plaza - they were alerted by the toll manager that fumes and smoke was coming from the car engine bay.

My parents immediately got off and called the RSA who took a lot of convincing and over 3 hours to reach the spot, the car was towed and sent to the nearest service center.

Now, the SA and supervisor there started saying that this is because the clutch has blown away and the clutch is not covered in Warranty - without checking they were able to make this comment means this has happened with other cars too and is a known issue.

Please accept my empathy, unfortunately you are not alone and twitter is full of such complaints. Its a good product but ASS is pathetic. My last interaction with the dealer was not good where he was trying to sell me a used car by portraying it as a new car.

[sharan_si]

I recently bought Jeep compass petrol AT, for sake of testing I did TD of compass Diesel MT, though the diesel has better power and mileage, clutch of the TD car with 5k on ODO was very heavy(cant expect the TD car to be smooth) but car from other manufacturers had softer clutch in TD car.
First thing clutch is heavy and the sales manager himself agreed that clutch needs to be replaced more frequently than other cars, if you can run the car with single clutch in compass for 50k without it becoming heavy or failing. you should consider yourself lucky.
you better demand them to replace under warranty as its known for failure.

[PaddleShifter]

As a FIAT owner, let me share a few points:
1. Fiat or FCA management is a highly committed group of professionals first of all. Its the dealers (many, not all) who are pathetic. Back in 2010, Fiat replaced plastic slave cylinders with metallic ones but the service advisor lied to me stating that the one in mine is metal. It broke on the road sometime later leaving me stranded and the dealership billed me the repair cost. I had to escalate to Fiat for resolution.

2. Why would a dealership lead you to the management? Try to get email IDs of executives from FCA. I am sure some must be here at Team-BHP else try in facebook/telegram groups etc. You will surely find reliable email IDs there.

3. There is no point wasting time with the customer care or should I say all centres. They are the NOR there between management/dealership and customer.

We FIAT owners used to believe that wear and tear parts are covered under warranty for some distance for sure (most 35,000km was the norm).

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by giribhai

Any help is appreciated, also a lot of people are buying Jeep and it's a good product but there are niggles and the customer support is really pathetic - so I would request mods to put this on the home page so more people can actually know what they are stepping into.

Can you post some pictures of the worn clutch, flywheel and pressure plate? It will be easy to see if someone has been riding the clutch. For a clutch to wear out so fast, it has to be mishandled.
My clutch was replaced at 340,000 km and my car is very heavy at 2700 kg.

[giribhai]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

Depending on driving in extreme cases clutch can give up in 15k kms. But wouldn't it give signs / warnings rather than a full blow out and smoke from the engine bay? Atleast from my experience whenever the clutch is weak there will be burning smell or increased revs with less acceleration or in some cases gear wont get engaged. Also did the service center highlight weak clutch in the last service?
Honestly this looks like a manufacturing defect where the clutch gave up without any warnings.

No warnings, and really nothing on the last service which was not very long back.

I keep coming back to the fact that the moment we told the symptoms they said yes it would be the clutch meaning this is a specific problem with this model.

Originally Posted by PaddleShifter

As a FIAT owner, let me share a few points:
1. Fiat or FCA management is a highly committed group of professionals first of all. Its the dealers (many, not all) who are pathetic. Back in 2010, Fiat replaced plastic slave cylinders with metallic ones but the service advisor lied to me stating that the one in mine is metal. It broke on the road sometime later leaving me stranded and the dealership billed me the repair cost. I had to escalate to Fiat for resolution.

2. Why would a dealership lead you to the management? Try to get email IDs of executives from FCA. I am sure some must be here at Team-BHP else try in facebook/telegram groups etc. You will surely find reliable email IDs there.

3. There is no point wasting time with the cuatomer care or should I say vall centres. They are the NOR gaye between management/dealership and customer.

We FIAT owners used to believe that wear and tear parts are covered under warranty for some distance for sure (most 35,000km was the norm).

I would like to politely disagree with 1) because they need to own up their dealers if they are good.

They are not selling a ₹5 Lakh product wherein they can have a poor customer service.

Any help with any contacts in FCA or even an email would be a big help.

Originally Posted by Indian2003

Can you post some pictures of the worn clutch, flywheel and pressure plate? It will be easy to see if someone has been riding the clutch. For a clutch to wear out so fast, it has to be mishandled.
My clutch was replaced at 340,000 km and my car is very heavy at 2700 kg.

I don’t have the pictures as the dealership wants me to agree on the charges before they can start working. The car is really parked there now for over a week.

Having said that, the fact that they were able to make this judgement that it is the clutch means that it is happening with many cars.

I’ve cars that are running perfectly fine - even something like a WagonR - that has run like 200k KMS without the need of a clutch replacement. I remember posting in my first post when I got the car that if there are any tips for running in - I was really hoping to hold onto the car for a long time and ergo was extremely mindful of how I was driving.

Originally Posted by sunikkat

Depending on driving in extreme cases clutch can give up in 15k kms. But wouldn't it give signs / warnings rather than a full blow out and smoke from the engine bay? Atleast from my experience whenever the clutch is weak there will be burning smell or increased revs with less acceleration or in some cases gear wont get engaged. Also did the service center highlight weak clutch in the last service?
Honestly this looks like a manufacturing defect where the clutch gave up without any warnings.

I wouldn’t jump the gun and call it a manufacturing defect as the car drives really well and was super reliable - it feels really well built too.

But I believe, clutch seems to be an issue with this line altogether.

I guess I have to factor in the cost of keeping the car stranded at the dealership for too long and I might just take the hit.

I just posted this so people could know better, I think people need to be more vocal about the issues with their cars so someone could atleast benefit.

I am sure this will blow up in the future like ŠKoda’s infamous DSGs and until then we got to be Jeep’s Guinea pigs, so to say.

Really a let down, though. Now I know why Toyota is Toyota.

Originally Posted by sharan_si

I recently bought Jeep compass petrol AT, for sake of testing I did TD of compass Diesel MT, though the diesel has better power and mileage, clutch of the TD car with 5k on ODO was very heavy(cant expect the TD car to be smooth) but car from other manufacturers had softer clutch in TD car.
First thing clutch is heavy and the sales manager himself agreed that clutch needs to be replaced more frequently than other cars, if you can run the car with single clutch in compass for 50k without it becoming heavy or failing. you should consider yourself lucky.
you better demand them to replace under warranty as its known for failure.

I think Compass diesel manual is a very engaging car to drive, clutch could seem heavy for people who are coming in from a different experience, let’s say a Petrol manual car.

I recently drove a 530i and felt compass was more likeable to me. That’s the kind of driving pleasure it really has.

I guess I am being pushed to buy a new car by the universe

Could be the only positive that I might derive from this. Suggestions welcome, I should probably do a what car thread soon.

[IamNikhil]

If the clutch had really failed, it would have given a prior warning, especially with high revs. It cannot be a sudden failure. There's definitely a catch somewhere. You should create a stink on social media tagging the Jeep management and also mail the relevant people. Be polite but firm. The dealer cannot hold you to ransom in such brazen fashion.

[Kosfactor]

Sadly this is a common complaint and certainly a reminder that is is a Fiat afterall. Hope the OP gets it changed free of cost considering the vehicle was driven with care.

https://youtu.be/S_AXrs179Lc

I do not think it is a good idea to buy any 2.0 MJD equipped vehicle with an MT, the gear ratios, clutch, throttle mapping etc are not properly tuned for Indian traffic - they are very much at home on the open roads while returning fantastic fuel efficiency.

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by giribhai

Having said that, the fact that they were able to make this judgement that it is the clutch means that it is happening with many cars.

Warranty covers manufacturing defects and not user faults. This judgement is very easy to make. The car was smoking and lost drive. You dont need to be a rocket scientist to know that. This is standard procedure for all makes.

Your dad did not even notice the smoke, loss of drive and had to be told by someone else. An extremely worn clutch starts to heat up and smoke quite fast and he should have noticed it earlier on. He should also have noticed the very high engine revs.

Sorry to throw cold water on you but I say this is user related and not a manufacturing defect. Give them the green light to repair and take the old clutch with you and go on from there.

Make note of the part number of the new clutch for comparison purposes so you know that you get the correct clutch back.

Take the old clutch to any workshop and ask the what they think is the fault with your clutch. I doubt anyone will say it is a manufacturing defect if there are no leaks or broken pieces of metal.

The only manufacturing faults I can see is oil leaks from the gearbox and or engine causing the clutch to slip. Be there when they take out the old clutch and post pictures of the insides of the bellhousing and clutch components. The clutch components and bellhousing should be dry. If there is any oil inside, it is a warrany case.

I can imagine all the signs of overheating, deep groves and worn rivets and blueing of the friction surface of the flywheel.

He was on an outstation trip. Was he up on the mountains or on hilly territory?

[shancz]

Not a Jeep but our wagonR got its clutch plate, cover, release bearing and flywheel replaced at 15000kms.

fighterace and Indian2003(active above) helped me out, kudos.
Indian2003 was spot on with his analysis on looking at the pics

Here's a link to the thread started by ECM, starting with the pics : ECM (How many KMs before clutch overhaul)

Pics of the damaged spares are the only way to zero in on the cause and they're consumables so no warranty holds.

Hope it helps.

[Indian2003]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Sadly this is a common complaint and certainly a reminder that is is a Fiat afterall. Hope the OP gets it changed free of cost considering the vehicle was driven with care.

Stellantis owns the Jeep and Fiat and there are many common parts in the compass. A friend of mine has a Renegade. The engine is a Fiat Multijet. In the engine bay I saw many Italian parts.

This car in the youtube video has a cracked pressure plate and the owner could not engage gear. A totally different case from a slipping clutch.

Check out this link on a Compass.

https://www.700r4transmissionhq.com/...utch-slipping/

[PrasannaDhana]

Recommend the OP to check out D-BHPian arun_josie's Jeep compass ownership thread. He has completed 75000+ km in his compass diesel without any clutch issues.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-...ce-update.html

Clutch giving up at 15000 km is not normal for any brand.

[giribhai]

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Originally Posted by Indian2003

Make note of the part number of the new clutch for comparison purposes so you know that you get the correct clutch back.

Take the old clutch to any workshop and ask the what they think is the fault with your clutch. I doubt anyone will say it is a manufacturing defect if there are no leaks or broken pieces of metal.
I can imagine all the signs of overheating, deep groves and worn rivets and blueing of the friction surface of the flywheel.

He was on an outstation trip. Was he up on the mountains or on hilly territory?

My dad was not driving, it was his driver and he is very skilled at it. There were no warning lights and the smoke was very low and thus not visible from the inside of the car. Also the car didn’t lose the drive, they were doing normal speeds coming back from a nearby town in Haryana - so not on a hill.

With all due respect to your analysis, I still don’t understand the following:

- I drove the car 90% of the time and I know for a fact that I drive very sedately. Following the rules even things like idling at start/stop, the car has 0 scratches - literally 0. I won’t call myself an enthusiast but I know how the clutch slips and how to not do it. So the question remains - how did the clutch become weak in 15,000 kms of sedate driving

- if above is ruled out then the only possibility is the clutch going bonk in that outstation trip - seems highly unlikely and if that happened then well, what else is there to say.

But I get your point and I’ll get it repaired. I just want to say the following:

Reliability of a product has to be defined based on how a general user will experience it

So definitely inclined towards fixing it and getting rid of the car. We buy new and expensive cars so that they give us the driving pleasure, peace of mind, and reliability, not an added constant stress wherein if we aren’t an enthusiast then our clutches would start to blow up.

Toyota gets this, jeep definitely doesn’t.
Even Maruti Suzuki does a great job - most first time buyers get a Maruti - ever heard of a clutch failure at 15,000 - nope.

Originally Posted by shancz

Not a Jeep but our wagonR got its clutch plate, cover, release bearing and flywheel replaced at 15000kms.


Hope it helps.

Thanks, how’s the replaced one holding up.

[Turbolove]

Originally Posted by giribhai

I have a Jeep Compass Limited Plus 2.0 Diesel, bought in Feb'20 and I had a pretty normal experience till 15,000 Kms that the car has done so far.

Last week, my parents went for an outstation trip and while returning when they stopped at the Toll plaza - they were alerted by the toll manager that fumes and smoke was coming from the car engine bay.

Now, the SA and supervisor there started saying that this is because the clutch has blown away and the clutch is not covered in Warranty - [b]without checking they were able to make this comment means this has happened with other cars too and is a known issue.

Hey, something similar happened to our Compass Limited 2.0 manual in 2019 too. The car was less than a year old, was driving with no issues, had done just under 8k kms and one suddenly we see smoke from the engine bay and the service centre people in Mumbai told us the clutch is blown. They replaced it for free for us and said that this had been happening to multiple other cars too. That being said the replacement clutch has been running pretty well till 30k kms till now. Please push the service centre guys to replace it for free.