MY worst thought was IF all ( with fire problems ) came from factory with 3.21 gear and 28 inch tire and auto ......and you add 33 or 35 inch tire that could surely make the trans overheat in alot of circumstances ( hill mud whatever)
and I would say that is not "Jeeps fault"

But now I see you both have 4.10 gears ( so that is obviously not the case )

That was my only reason for wanting to know what factory options and mods were performed ???!!!!

AGAIN .. I AM SORRY IF THE POST CAME ACROSS THE WRONG WAY

 

I think everyone is pretty scared of this, maybe more so those of us with small children.

At least i know I am & i want to know if these are isolated instances, or if something that was added to or changed on the rigs may have led to the burn.

no, a bumper wont cause a fire.
no, a properly installed winch wont either,
nor will a lift,
nor will larger tires,
nor will rock rails...

however, and i am only congealing opinions i have heard & speculating myself here, so flame on if you must (ignore the pun, i am in absolutely no way trying to be funny)

If the tranny or the pan is designed in such a way that it lacks the ability of cooling properly on uphills with modifications such as the added weight of bumpers/winches etc., or running with the overdrive on with larger tires, or in sustained long trips, or with all of that combined...

could this amplify the possible underdesigned or weak cooling of the tranny to the point of it boiling over fluid?

quite possibly so in my reasoning. Trannies overheat a lot.

Now, for arguments sake, say it IS the tranny overheating and belching fluid onto the exhaust. The fluid on the exhaust caused by an overheated tranny... Now, what caused the tranny to overheat? Did the tires cause the fire? no, certainly not by themselves, but they may have helped lead to overheating in conjunction with other factors. for this argument, more spinning mass on the axles? more overall weight? I dont know. I am just tossing a S.W.A.G. into the mix.

I really hope someone comes up with the real reason instead of the bucket of horse-conjecture i just tried to make sense of.

 

I think asking about modifications is a good question. I asked the same thing earlier. Just thinking that if something was attached to the battery it could have caused a fire.

But the other Jeep to burn had no mods, which is concerning. Sounded like he was just driving down the interstate and it started to burn.

It has been said before, but it seems to me that this could be related to the automatic trans overheating.

I think everyone is trying to figure out if there is something to worry about or not.

 

I dont think it is the consumer's responsibility to figure out why these Jeeps spontaniously combusted. Jeep needs to take this into their test centre and work on it, and either put out a fix, or add an addendum to the manual. If it is indeed the transmission, there is a chance they will overheat when pulling a trailer as well, and this needs to be looked at.

 

And I'll add that I have 5.13 gears with my 35's, and still had a problem with the transmission overheating. Not to the point of fire yet, but I was with Trailbud when we had the problem the first time, and the next run he went on is when his tranny blew...makes me pretty concerned about my next serious run.

 

I agree with both of you. I was only speculating on mods & I am aware there where not really any to speak of on the ones in question. Just saying that that there could be a lot of factors leading to the fire~that was all i meant by that. If it overheats without mods, they are going to increase the frequency of it.

Towing a trailer would simulate a lot of this.

 

I think we just got a new sticker for the sun visor:

The tranny or the pan is designed in such a way that it lacks the ability of cooling properly on uphills with modifications such as the added weight of bumpers/winches etc., or running with the overdrive on with larger tires, or in sustained long trips, or with all of that combined..."


I'm with you all here. I will be climbing in the back to throw my little ones out and to a safe distance. The sad part is that the gov't doesn't react quick enough for any of us and our safety. Look how many roll overs Ford had before they stepped up.

 

the overheating on the Auto Tranny seems to be a possible cause. I have not experienced any over heating issues yet with my auto with 4.10 gears and 35" tires on long 6+ hr trips.

Here is something i was thinking about... When i was washing my brothers 4-wheeler after using it a few weeks ago i noticed how A LOT of grass, leafs and other such things were piled on top of the skid plate that was right behind the engine. I thought (man if things got to hot, that stuff was dry, it could go up in flames." Is it possible with all our skids on the bottom side they are trapping a natural kindling right under our tranny and exhaust?



I agree this is a huge issue. One thing everyone has says is the Jeep was up in flames in seconds! I already fear for my own life in that situation but what happens when i have my neice in her car seat in the back (no kids of my own) or my dog in the back?

 

Be careful..........nobody wins in a class action suit except the lawyers (ask an honest lawyer if you can find one). You are correct however, that multiple incidents will help your case as it tends to demonstrate a problem with the vehicle's design rather than operator error. Sue them (DCX) yourself, not as part of class action and use other people's similar experiences as evidence. Just my .02. I'm not a lawyer but I worked with them for years and managed to absorb a little knowledge. Good luck.

 

I want to point out what may or may not be obvious: If this issue is determined to be transmission-related (whereby the transmission cooler, etc., is inadequate to handle STOCK operating conditions) then if your Jeep has any modifications, you're likely going to be S.O.L.

If 4.10 gearing and 32" tires cause enough "strain" to overwhelm the tranny cooler, think what taller gearing and larger tires would do. Think about the extra weight of an all-steel off-road bumper, front and/or rear. Think about the added weight of a PowerPlant winch/compressor... In reality, nothing you can add to your Jeep should cause such issues, but if Chrysler gets sued over this, you can bet that they'll try to weasle out using just such an argument.

I hate to be pessimistic, but want to get this thought in people's heads early (i.e., prepare for the worst, hope for the best). If there's anyone out there reading this that doesn't have fire coverage on their insurance policy, I would STRONGLY urge you to add that coverage now, just in case!

Additionally, just to be safe, those of you with kids may want to purchase (and carry inside your JK) one of those seatbelt-cutter blades... again, just in case!