How many miles on your Patriot? The CVT should have it's filters(2) and fluid changed at least every 50,000 miles. If that hasn't been done, you could be coming up on a premature failure. The symptoms you're having could mean the CVT belt is slipping. If so, it's new tranny time. If you're past 100,000 and haven't had the tranny serviced, this is likely your problem. Whether it's worth fixing is up to you. Really, it comes down to whether you like the vehicle otherwise and your gut instinct about future repairs. Except for the CVTs, my 2008 Patriot was rock solid. Precious few repairs in the nearly 300,000 miles that I owned it, so forking over the $$ for repairs wasn't so hard to do. My CVTs were covered under the factory warranty so those didn't figure into my repair costs. Otherwise I got to 200,000 on only regular maintenance. I had to replace the engine harness at 210,000.

If it's the tranny, I suggest you either get yours rebuilt or get a factory rebuilt. Don't trust a junkyard tranny, because the owners manual wrongly says the tranny doesn't need service till 120,000. Many Patriots got junked around those miles because the tranny failed, and those that didn't may be on their last legs. No sense putting out the money for a CVT that will only last a little longer. Go the distance and get a tranny that should be good for the life of the vehicle (assuming 50,000 mile maintenance intervals). My 2014 Patriot is at 190,000 miles on nothing more than scheduled maintenance and a couple brake jobs which I consider maintenance and not really repairs, so as I said, except for the CVT, Patriots are otherwise pretty durable.

Your symptoms may also be a plugged catalytic converter. I wouldn't expect a catcon problem till after 300,000 miles unless something else is contributing to a premature failure. If it's the catcon, it's not cheap, but it's less than a transmission.

In any event a dealer is probably more expensive than a local shop, but hopefully they're better qualified to work on a Patriot since all they see are Jeeps so they're well familiar with them. Local shops see every brand out there and Jeeps are just one more in the vehicles they see.

 

First, thank you for the reply!

I have 157k on the engine. Had 99k on it when I bought it. Had the transmission oil changed/serviced at about 110k. Just got it inspected (paid $1000+) for new tires, brakes and rotors 2 weeks ago.

I am hoping this could be a "convertor or regulator" module type thing and not a bad tranny.

I had it towed to the dealer I got it from for diagnosis. Was going to give this car to my Grand Daughter soon but not sure now. It will depend on the amount to repair this.

KBB says around $5k for Private Party value and $3-$4k Trade In.

How many miles on your Patriot? The CVT should have it's filters(2) and fluid changed at least every 50,000 miles. If that hasn't been done, you could be coming up on a premature failure. The symptoms you're having could mean the CVT belt is slipping. If so, it's new tranny time. If you're past 100,000 and haven't had the tranny serviced, this is likely your problem. Whether it's worth fixing is up to you. Really, it comes down to whether you like the vehicle otherwise and your gut instinct about future repairs. Except for the CVTs, my 2008 Patriot was rock solid. Precious few repairs in the nearly 300,000 miles that I owned it, so forking over the $$ for repairs wasn't so hard to do. My CVTs were covered under the factory warranty so those didn't figure into my repair costs. Otherwise I got to 200,000 on only regular maintenance. I had to replace the engine harness at 210,000.

If it's the tranny, I suggest you either get yours rebuilt or get a factory rebuilt. Don't trust a junkyard tranny, because the owners manual wrongly says the tranny doesn't need service till 120,000. Many Patriots got junked around those miles because the tranny failed, and those that didn't may be on their last legs. No sense putting out the money for a CVT that will only last a little longer. Go the distance and get a tranny that should be good for the life of the vehicle (assuming 50,000 mile maintenance intervals). My 2014 Patriot is at 190,000 miles on nothing more than scheduled maintenance and a couple brake jobs which I consider maintenance and not really repairs, so as I said, except for the CVT, Patriots are otherwise pretty durable.

Your symptoms may also be a plugged catalytic converter. I wouldn't expect a catcon problem till after 300,000 miles unless something else is contributing to a premature failure. If it's the catcon, it's not cheap, but it's less than a transmission.

In any event a dealer is probably more expensive than a local shop, but hopefully they're better qualified to work on a Patriot since all they see are Jeeps so they're well familiar with them. Local shops see every brand out there and Jeeps are just one more in the vehicles they see.