Hello all!
I'm new here, and I'm a big fan of my 2009 Patriot. It's 4x4, has a little over 200k, and is in great shape for the most part...BUT it has the dreaded CVT automatic (without the crawler option). When I was looking at buying a Patriot 3 years ago, I wanted a 5spd (I've never owned an automatic vehicle in my life until this one), but couldn't turn this beauty down...so, alas, here I am now with transmission issues.
The symptoms: Once, about a year and a half ago, I was on a 4-hour road trip in WV and was hauling a** when my trans temp light came on. I pulled over and took a break for an hour, and when I hopped back in, all was well. I never had another instance like that again or other adverse symptoms, so I chalked it up to doing 80-90mph up 5% grades. Lately however, I began noticing that on hilly interstate trips at higher speeds, I'd start to hear a high pitched whine under acceleration after about 30-45 minutes of faster driving, so I'd back off the throttle a bit and all was well. Around town and during my daily 25 mile round-trip commute on 55mph roads, there were never any symptoms like that. I should also note that when this interstate "whine" first started happening, I checked my trans fluid in accordance with the charts, and the level, as well as the "look" and smell of it seemed perfectly fine. Then, a couple weeks ago, I let my wife borrow it while I was getting work done on her car and I received a panicked call that she's only able to do 35mph up the interstate with it floored. After immediately barking for her to back off the throttle and pull over, she made it to a gas station at 35-40mph under slightly increased throttle. When I went to pick her up 20 minutes later, the Jeep didn't want to move very easily - out of the inclined parking spot it was in where she'd arrived. So, I left it for the day and went back the next day to re-check the fluid (on level ground, of course). All was still well, and it didn't smell burnt - surprisingly. Additionally, to my amazement, after plotting the flattest route back home, I was able to drive it 25+ miles through a couple towns and even on a 55mph road (at speed) with no issues - BUT, I was intentionally keeping the revs low. When I finally got within sight of my house on a flat"ish" road, I floored it, and while it did "try" to accelerate, it had drastically less acceleration than it normally would have been under the same conditions. Since then, I've driven it a few miles at a time at low RPM's, basically to keep the tires round and run the engine. Under these conditions, it runs perfectly fine, and you'd never know anything was wrong. Despite this, ALL of the transmission shops I call say, "Bad transmission...you'll need to replace it." as soon as they hear the three initials "CVT" come out of my mouth. However, after reading some threads and describing the symptoms to my mechanic buddy, I'm beginning to wonder if it's just a bad torque converter.
So...long story even longer...My question to the fellow Patriot aficionados (and hopefully experts) on this site is...based on your ACTUAL experiences and knowledge, do you think it's the transmission, or just a bad torque converter that I have? I'm trying to decide whether to sell it cheap or repair it, and I'm REALLY hoping for the latter option if possible. But, I can't justify a $2,300 USED transmission replacement job on a vehicle that's only worth ~$4k in its entirety. Thanks in advance for the help!!
I'm new here, and I'm a big fan of my 2009 Patriot. It's 4x4, has a little over 200k, and is in great shape for the most part...BUT it has the dreaded CVT automatic (without the crawler option). When I was looking at buying a Patriot 3 years ago, I wanted a 5spd (I've never owned an automatic vehicle in my life until this one), but couldn't turn this beauty down...so, alas, here I am now with transmission issues.
The symptoms: Once, about a year and a half ago, I was on a 4-hour road trip in WV and was hauling a** when my trans temp light came on. I pulled over and took a break for an hour, and when I hopped back in, all was well. I never had another instance like that again or other adverse symptoms, so I chalked it up to doing 80-90mph up 5% grades. Lately however, I began noticing that on hilly interstate trips at higher speeds, I'd start to hear a high pitched whine under acceleration after about 30-45 minutes of faster driving, so I'd back off the throttle a bit and all was well. Around town and during my daily 25 mile round-trip commute on 55mph roads, there were never any symptoms like that. I should also note that when this interstate "whine" first started happening, I checked my trans fluid in accordance with the charts, and the level, as well as the "look" and smell of it seemed perfectly fine. Then, a couple weeks ago, I let my wife borrow it while I was getting work done on her car and I received a panicked call that she's only able to do 35mph up the interstate with it floored. After immediately barking for her to back off the throttle and pull over, she made it to a gas station at 35-40mph under slightly increased throttle. When I went to pick her up 20 minutes later, the Jeep didn't want to move very easily - out of the inclined parking spot it was in where she'd arrived. So, I left it for the day and went back the next day to re-check the fluid (on level ground, of course). All was still well, and it didn't smell burnt - surprisingly. Additionally, to my amazement, after plotting the flattest route back home, I was able to drive it 25+ miles through a couple towns and even on a 55mph road (at speed) with no issues - BUT, I was intentionally keeping the revs low. When I finally got within sight of my house on a flat"ish" road, I floored it, and while it did "try" to accelerate, it had drastically less acceleration than it normally would have been under the same conditions. Since then, I've driven it a few miles at a time at low RPM's, basically to keep the tires round and run the engine. Under these conditions, it runs perfectly fine, and you'd never know anything was wrong. Despite this, ALL of the transmission shops I call say, "Bad transmission...you'll need to replace it." as soon as they hear the three initials "CVT" come out of my mouth. However, after reading some threads and describing the symptoms to my mechanic buddy, I'm beginning to wonder if it's just a bad torque converter.
So...long story even longer...My question to the fellow Patriot aficionados (and hopefully experts) on this site is...based on your ACTUAL experiences and knowledge, do you think it's the transmission, or just a bad torque converter that I have? I'm trying to decide whether to sell it cheap or repair it, and I'm REALLY hoping for the latter option if possible. But, I can't justify a $2,300 USED transmission replacement job on a vehicle that's only worth ~$4k in its entirety. Thanks in advance for the help!!
