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Another HOT OIL Warning Light Question...

16K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  TomDabb 
#1 ·
Hi All,

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Here is my question. Two weeks ago, I bought my first Wrangler...a used 2013 Sahara JK with 14000 miles on it.

I did not get a chance to take it to a dealer to get it inspected yet, or to even read the owner's manual completely, but I had to travel from Chicago to Ohio to see my family for T-giving. I left yesterday morning, and about 50 miles into the trip, the HOT OIL light came on. I got off at the next exit, and looked up a dealership on my phone. I called them, they said go ahead and drive it over to them (55 miles away).

I drove in and they took a look at it...said that there is nothing wrong with the tranny, nor is the tranny fluid actually overheating in this case. They said it was a failing Oil Sensor, but that they do not have the part in stock. The Jeep is still under warranty. They stated that it is safe to press on to Ohio and to look up a dealer here while I am here, and get it serviced.

So my question here is, "is this a normal failure for a jeep with only 14000 miles on it"? Is there anything else I should be concerned about here? Do you think the dealer was blowing smoke about not having the part? And, were they telling me the truth about it being mostly a failing sensor? I do believe them, and we will find out when I take it to a dealer here in Ohio this weekend to get it replaced. Needless to say, after I did make it home to Ohio last night, I got the owners manual and read it cover to cover, and found out about what to do if the HOT OIL light comes on (This is a testament to why you should ALWAYS read the owners manual when you get a car before driving it a long distance!!). I also googled the issue and found out about the 07-11 Jeeps that were recalled over the issue, but supposedly this model year I have (2013) should already be fixed.
 
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#2 ·
It very well could be a bad or failing sensor. I would have it checked out with your local dealer like said.
I had the oil pressure sensor go out on my 13 JKU around 4500 miles I believe it was ..lol
Did you get any type of pryer maintenance records with it ?
 
#3 ·
Parts do fail and FCA contracts out their manufacture to others. Some go bad at 150,000 miles and some go out at 150 miles. It is random probability.

Why would a dealer go to all the trouble to diagnose an issue (at about $120 an hour for labor) that is under warranty and then not repair it (FCA reimburses them for the part and labor)? It is counter-intuitive and makes no financial sense for the dealer not to fix it.

I am kind of surprised that the dealer didn't contact another dealer where you are going to in order to schedule you a repair appointment with someone who has the part/s in stock.
 
#4 ·
Thanks all, for your answers. Yeah, I figured that it was a random failure, that not even an Inspection would have found. Auto parts sometimes just fail at random, and an inspection cannot "predict" that most of the time. They did ask me over the phone "Do you see/smell any smoke etc" and fortunately, there was no smoke or smell of burning at all.

But you are right, if they had the part, I am sure they would have installed it, since they get paid for that by the Company. But it was literally an hour and a half before closing time when I got there, on Thanksgiving Eve, so I wasnt sure if they wanted to just go home, or if they really did not have the part. They did tell me though, that they do free inspections, so if I want to schedule the inspection to happen on my return trip, I could do so.
 
#5 ·
One other thing I should mention, for everyone's general awareness, is that the Light came on IMMEDIATELY after I had turned on the Rear Wiper for the first time since I got the car. I turned on the rear wiper and squirted the wiper fluid too, and then after a few seconds, turned it off. About 2 seconds later, was whent the HOT OIL light lit up and I could hear the beeping...so I suspect that it truly was electrical in nature, and not really anything to do with the Tranny fluids themselves.
 
#8 ·
It could be bad sensor or plugged transmission oil cooler. Dealership should perform flow rest for the cooler. The other thing i can think of is the can-bus system if one of the modules is bad that can send wrong signal to the information center.
 
#9 ·
Hey everyone,

Just wanted to post an interesting update to this issue.

So, the dealership I had it at here in Dayton told me it was a failed Oil Sensor, which was the same diagnostic that the dealership in Indiana told me.

I had to wait several days for the part to arrive. They finally got the part, called me to tell me that the issue was fixed, and to go ahead and pick up the car.

I picked up the car, and drove about 20 miles, and the HOT OIL warning comes right back on!

I called the Service Dept at that dealership, and left a message, but they never called me back.

So I found another dealership in the area and I drive it there. I explained the whole story, and this is what the head mechanic told me:

-The HOT OIL warning was changed in 2012, and it now refers to Engine Oil, not Trans Oil.
-An overheating trans will instead, generate a message that says HOT TRANS.
-The Other dealership replaced the Engine Oil Sensor (per the receipt), which is fine...but that is not resolving the issue.
-He stated that starting in 2012, the Transmissions on Wranglers are very reliable; he then said that it is actually "a Mercedes transmission" (Chrysler and Daimler are one company).

So, he turned the car on, and put it in Drive, and immediately, the HOT OIL alert starts flashing/dinging!

Also, when I was driving it to the dealer, it started to make a weird sound and was shifting rough (its an Automatic). One of the Service Advisors even heard it as I was pulling into the service bay. The mechanic stated that the car will begin to downshift in an attempt to cool down the engine. They have the car now and are looking at it of course, and I am hoping they find what is wrong.

I am starting to think it is actually the car's COMPUTER. Anyone else have any input? The car is still under warranty, but I have to drive back to Chicago at some point and I am hoping it will be reliable enough to actually drive back....
 
#10 ·
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#11 ·
I would say that the Tech. hasn't read the 2013 owner's manual: “HOTOIL” Transmission Temperature Warning Message
The “HOTOIL” cluster message will appear in the odometer
accompanied with a chime to indicate that there is excessive
transmission fluid temperature that might occur with severe
usage such as trailer towing. It may also occur when
operating the vehicle in a high torque converter slip condition,
such as 4-wheel drive operation (e.g., snow plowing,
off-road operation). If this “HOTOIL” message turns on,
stop the vehicle and run the engine at idle or faster with the
transmission in NEUTRAL until the message turns off.

"Hot Oil" means Trans. oil. Whether it's the trans. itself or a sensor is an issue that has to be diagnosed. What was changed in 2012, along with the switch to the 3.6, was a separate transmission oil cooler was incorporated into the system that was supposed to alleviate the trans. hot oil problem.
 
#12 ·
I would say that the Tech. hasn't read the 2013 owner's manual: “HOTOIL” Transmission Temperature Warning Message
The “HOTOIL” cluster message will appear in the odometer
accompanied with a chime to indicate that there is excessive
transmission fluid temperature that might occur with severe
usage such as trailer towing. It may also occur when
operating the vehicle in a high torque converter slip condition,
such as 4-wheel drive operation (e.g., snow plowing,
off-road operation). If this “HOTOIL” message turns on,
stop the vehicle and run the engine at idle or faster with the
transmission in NEUTRAL until the message turns off.

"Hot Oil" means Trans. oil. Whether it's the trans. itself or a sensor is an issue that has to be diagnosed. What was changed in 2012, along with the switch to the 3.6, was a separate transmission oil cooler was incorporated into the system that was supposed to alleviate the trans. hot oil problem.
You are totally correct. I read that in the manual as well; and when the mechanic tried telling me about "Hot Trans", I was thinking "What? Thats not what the manual says". But I didnt want to challenge him on that issue at the time. So I do not know what he is talking about. He also said that the warning message is only supposed to come on for a few seconds and then go off. I am not sure about that either.

I asked the earlier dealership to perform an inspection when swapping out the oil sensor; when I looked at the Work Order receipt, it specifically says "Performed complimentary visual inspection". They also gave me a second receipt that says:

"SENSOR: FLUID TEMP FOUND OIL TEMP SENSOR SHORTED INTERNAL R AND I UPPER AND LOWER INTAKE REPLACED OIL TEMP SENSOR EVERY THING GOOD AT THIS TIME"

So, with all of this, they claimed everything was good. When I asked for an inspection, I was hoping that they would do something to actually inspect the transmission, since that seems directly related to the HOT OIL warning.
 
#13 ·
I have no mechanical knowledge at all, but does this have anything to do with the transmission oil cooler tube? That was a recall that I got sometime last year on my 2013 JK.
 
#14 ·
I have no mechanical knowledge at all, but does this have anything to do with the transmission oil cooler tube? That was a recall that I got sometime last year on my 2013 JK.
Actually, this may or may not, have anything to do with that, BUT, that was one of the things the dealer from earlier today did swap out. I forgot to mention that, but they did service that recall, or so it claims on the first receipt:

"PERFORM RECALL #N28 FOR TRANS COOLER TUBES IF NEEDED
INSPECTED TRANS LINES NEED TO REPLACE N28 RECALL
COMPLETED CHANGED LINES AND TUBE EVERYTHING GOOD"
 
#15 ·
Ok - an update!
I googled the N28 recall, and found the letter that Chrysler sent out to the owners back in 2013. I called the 1-800 number listed and informed Chrysler that I have just bought a jeep that did not get the recall implemented, and I am experiencing issues. I told them that the first dealer claimed to have fixed the issue, but the issue persisted and so another dealership has the car and is looking at the issue. I did this on Monday night.

So, last night, I stopped by the dealership that has my car, to check the progress. They advised me that the previous delership did not correctly implement the N28 recall. They have redone the recall, and the lead mechanic who is working on my Work Order, advised me that he found the issue. Not only did they not do the recall correctly, but the Thermal Coupler INSIDE the cooler line, was blocked somehow. The previous dealership did not look deep enough to find the issue. I didnt think to ask him at the time what was blocking it...but the blockage was causing the overheating. After clearing the block, he put the Jeep up on the riser and let it run in Drive, while monitoring the coolant flow, and other diagnostics as well. HOT OIL light did not come back on, and he then took the car out for a 30 mile drive; light did not come on there as well. This is all good news. They still have the car and I will provide another update here soon.
 
#19 ·
**ISSUE RESOLVED**

So that other night when the car was shifting hard from 2nd to 3rd, I returned it to the dealer and the next day, I stopped by the dealership...they did discover that the entire trans had been destroyed from the overheating...all the parts were burnt up, chewed up, punctured, etc.

So they agreed to replace the trans with a new one (I do not know for sure if it was a "new" transmission, or a factory rebuild). But, they did complete the work and the car seems to drive well so far.

Thanks for everyone's responses here (especially Zayed - you were right the blocked cooler tubes!).
 
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