Other engine problem on the 2016 Jeep Wrangler
1 crash 1 fire 2 of the 57 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2016 Jeep Wrangler report other engine problem at a median of 52,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles, from 34 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 20,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 99,250 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
35% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19,650 miles | 29,948 miles | 53,377 miles | 76,000 miles | 118,900 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash and 1 a fire are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 27 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2004, at a median of 1,500 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2024 carries the most reports, with 187; the 2016 has 57. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
I have a 2016 jeep wrangler unlimited with 20,000 miles., today I was going up a hill stopped at a mailbox then started to take off and the motor stalled while in drive. It cased me to roll back about 3' befor I could hit the brake almost caused a accident. I then restarted the jeep placed it back in drive and it wouldn't move! It acted like it was in neutral. I also tried reverse still wouldn't do nothing. So I rolled to a flat spot in the road check the trans fluid, it was good then turned it of checked the oil, it was good to. Then started it back up and put it in drive and it was working fine again!
2016 jeep wrangler unlimited rhd. The check engine light and traction light came on while driving. Restarted the vehicle and traction went off. Check engine went off later that day, but came back on. Traction was intermittent, but would turn off when restarted. Next day, check engine light and traction came on and twice while moving the engine died. I lost total control of vehicle, but was going slow at the time. Once on a curve and the other time while turning. Second time was toward a deep ditch, but stopped short. This is very dangerous. Quality motors tried to fix once. Will take back tomorrow when they could fit it in.
Engine ticking on left side. This seems to be a common problem with the 3.6 penstar engine. I've taken it to two different jeep dealerships and both of them said pretty much that this is something I'll just have to deal with. That is totally unacceptable. This was over a 30 thousand dollar investment. This jeep didn't have this problem when I purchased it otherwise I wouldn'thave bought it. Looking to the NHTSA for a solution.
Also reported on the 2016 Jeep Wrangler
ABS module or sensor failure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Control module (ECM/PCM/BCM) failure
Other brake problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 57 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2016 Jeep Wrangler?
Across 34 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 52,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 30,000 miles and a quarter after 75,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2016 Jeep Wrangler?
57 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed