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AUTOMATIC CAR WASH PROBLEM

FirstTimeJeepYooper

FirstTimeJeepYooper

Member
The town I live in recently had two separate automatic car washes installed. These are the washes with the long conveyer belts that drag your car through the tunnel.
When I first purchased my GCL Summit Reserve, I asked if I would be okay taking this full-time 4WD vehicle through the wash. He said "no problem". Being a skeptical person (and reading about towing behind a motorhome in the manual), I contacted two other Jeep dealerships to ask the same question. Both said "no problem". Since I purchased the vehicle and monthly subscription for the car wash, I have ran my Jeep through at least 75 times. (I like a clean car...)
I recently worked with someone with the exact same make and model who purchased his car from a dealer in Chicago. While we were talking about our likes/dislikes, the car wash came up. When I told him I take mine to this wash, his jaw dropped. He said the FIRST THING his salesman said to him as he got in the car to leave was to NEVER GO INTO AUTOMATIC WASHES with this specific model. He was told that it had something to do with the transmission/full-time 4WD/transfer case.
I finally called JeepCare to confirm this. I was informed that my specific model (ALL Summit models in V6/V8) absolutely can NOT be taken through any washes that pull/push your car while in neutral, especially when two tires are not spinning because they are on the conveyer belt. (On top of this, this model MUST be hauled/towed on a flatbed, as it cannot be hauled in neutral)
Why this is not a sticker on the inside of the windshield is beyond me. On top of that, the owners manual says NOTHING about it.
Has anyone experienced this? (and please don't say "everyone knows this", because they clearly do not. The fact that 3/4 dealerships said "it's fine" says that this is not common knowledge.)
 
Will

Will

Member
I never heard of this before. Does anyone know the limited trim has same issue too?
 
S

SweetAndLow

Well-known member
First automatic car washes are terrible for your paint and scratch everything. But I can't think of any reason you couldn't use them with a full time 4wd vehicle. Towing over long distances needs the disconect but not a car wash.
 
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FlyingAvocado

FlyingAvocado

Well-known member
Seems odd to me since 4WD isn't actually full time unless you engage it manually in 4-Low. The rest of the time the front wheel disconnect is engaged and the vehicle is a RWD vehicle. That being said, I wouldn't trust any dealership to actually know any detailed information about the vehicles they sell. When you do enough research you'll find most dealership reps usually know just enough to sell it, if that, and at the end of the day that's all they care about.
 
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SweetAndLow

Well-known member
FlyingAvocado said:
Seems odd to me since 4WD isn't actually full time unless you engage it manually in 4-Low. The rest of the time the front wheel disconnect is engaged and the vehicle is a RWD vehicle. That being said, I wouldn't trust any dealership to actually know any detailed information about the vehicles they sell. When you do enough research you'll find most dealership reps usually know just enough to sell it, if that, and at the end of the day that's all they care about.
Click to expand...
This isn't true. It's a 52/48 split.
 
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SweetAndLow

Well-known member
FlyingAvocado said:
I was just trying to look this up, but the only thing I found that references 52/48 is the weight distribution on the V8. The weight distribution on the V6 is 50/50. Where did you find this information?
Click to expand...
www.jdpower.com

Jeep Quadra-Trac vs. Quadra-Drive: What's the Difference?

When it comes to adventuring into the wild, buyers of the Jeep Grand Cherokee get a choice of three 4-wheel-drive (4WD) systems—Quadra-Trac I, Quadra-Trac II, and Quadra-Drive II—each one designed and geared to take on different levels of capability. Here's how each system works.
www.jdpower.com www.jdpower.com

There should be hundreds of search results. The jeep 4wd system is not new, it's been basically the same for the last 23 years.

Jeep four-wheel-drive systems - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

And the eLSD doesn't make a difference that only affects the way wheel slip in the rear directs power.
 
FlyingAvocado

FlyingAvocado

Well-known member
@SweetAndLow Thank you! I see what you mean rom that article. However, I think the front axle disconnect is a feature on MY21 and MY22 WL models, which unfortunately appears to have been entirely overlooked in this article. For what it's worth, my MY22 GCL SR buildsheet has the part listed as, "Conv Diff Frt Axle w/Disconnect." My understanding of this part/feature, is that under *normal road conditions* it makes the vehicle operate as a RWD vehicle improve fuel efficiency, and can quickly engage the front axle if needed -- this is to say, not entirely full-time 4WD... but it is when it needs to be. I believe this feature became standard on all 2022 trims, but I am not sure about MY21.

In any event.. I clearly don't have the definitive answer the OP is looking for. Nevertheless, I brought this up is because it seems if the front axle disconnect is doing it's thing, you *should* be able to put it into a conveyor-style wash. Who knows though, it maybe that as the vehicle is getting pushed down the wash track it thinks there is wheel slip and engages the front axle - also seems equally possible. 🤷‍♂️
 
S

SweetAndLow

Well-known member
FlyingAvocado said:
@SweetAndLow Thank you! I see what you mean rom that article. However, I think the front axle disconnect is a feature on MY21 and MY22 WL models, which unfortunately appears to have been entirely overlooked in this article. For what it's worth, my MY22 GCL SR buildsheet has the part listed as, "Conv Diff Frt Axle w/Disconnect." My understanding of this part/feature, is that under *normal road conditions* it makes the vehicle operate as a RWD vehicle improve fuel efficiency, and can quickly engage the front axle if needed -- this is to say, not entirely full-time 4WD... but it is when it needs to be. I believe this feature became standard on all 2022 trims, but I am not sure about MY21.

In any event.. I clearly don't have the definitive answer the OP is looking for. Nevertheless, I brought this up is because it seems if the front axle disconnect is doing it's thing, you *should* be able to put it into a conveyor-style wash. Who knows though, it maybe that as the vehicle is getting pushed down the wash track it thinks there is wheel slip and engages the front axle - also seems equally possible. 🤷‍♂️
Click to expand...

Yeah you are talking about this, my overland has the same thing on the build sheet but I have never actually got a verification if it's actually there. I'm not sure the build sheet actually represents what is on your vehicle, for example it says you have projection headlights but you do not.
 
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wowsa

Well-known member
The front axle disconnect only occurs at like 35 mph plus in normal conditions and there seems to be a lot of logic that can effect it to not disconnect or disconnect at a higher speed. For example this past winter it only ever disconnected at 65mph for me so definitely temperature dependent.

It is as simple as putting the uconnect screen in the off-road page that shows 4WD high in yellow in the bottom left and then drive around and notice when it stops displaying 4WD high and displays nothing, this means the front axle ia disconnected.

So all of you thinking you are driving around in a RWD car are wrong, from zero to at least 35 mph you are in 52/48.

This is my experience in a limited, unsure if higher trim models have manual switches to engage 2nd only.
 
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Sarge

Sarge

Well-known member
The car washes only grab one front wheel, and being as every production car I've ever heard of has an open front diff (like all WL's) or (on some FWD cars) they have an LSD which would also allow enough slip for the wash to grab a front wheel on one side and have the other side roll with no resistance at the 2mph speed the car wash moves.

I can't see how this is an issue unless you went in with a Wrangler or something and had the front and center diff locked.
 
S

SweetAndLow

Well-known member
wowsa said:
The front axle disconnect only occurs at like 35 mph plus in normal conditions and there seems to be a lot of logic that can effect it to not disconnect or disconnect at a higher speed. For example this past winter it only ever disconnected at 65mph for me so definitely temperature dependent.

It is as simple as putting the uconnect screen in the off-road page that shows 4WD high in yellow in the bottom left and then drive around and notice when it stops displaying 4WD high and displays nothing, this means the front axle ia disconnected.

So all of you thinking you are driving around in a RWD car are wrong, from zero to at least 35 mph you are in 52/48.

This is my experience in a limited, unsure if higher trim models have manual switches to engage 2nd only.
Click to expand...
So I actually did some driving above 35mph today and yeah I noticed in the off road pages the 4wd high icon disappears when I'm just cruzing, the second I accelerate or speed decreases the light comes back on. So axel disconnect is a thing and working on my Overland trim.
 
M

MxRacer965

Member
FirstTimeJeepYooper said:
The town I live in recently had two separate automatic car washes installed. These are the washes with the long conveyer belts that drag your car through the tunnel.
When I first purchased my GCL Summit Reserve, I asked if I would be okay taking this full-time 4WD vehicle through the wash. He said "no problem". Being a skeptical person (and reading about towing behind a motorhome in the manual), I contacted two other Jeep dealerships to ask the same question. Both said "no problem". Since I purchased the vehicle and monthly subscription for the car wash, I have ran my Jeep through at least 75 times. (I like a clean car...)
I recently worked with someone with the exact same make and model who purchased his car from a dealer in Chicago. While we were talking about our likes/dislikes, the car wash came up. When I told him I take mine to this wash, his jaw dropped. He said the FIRST THING his salesman said to him as he got in the car to leave was to NEVER GO INTO AUTOMATIC WASHES with this specific model. He was told that it had something to do with the transmission/full-time 4WD/transfer case.
I finally called JeepCare to confirm this. I was informed that my specific model (ALL Summit models in V6/V8) absolutely can NOT be taken through any washes that pull/push your car while in neutral, especially when two tires are not spinning because they are on the conveyer belt. (On top of this, this model MUST be hauled/towed on a flatbed, as it cannot be hauled in neutral)
Why this is not a sticker on the inside of the windshield is beyond me. On top of that, the owners manual says NOTHING about it.
Has anyone experienced this? (and please don't say "everyone knows this", because they clearly do not. The fact that 3/4 dealerships said "it's fine" says that this is not common knowledge.)
Click to expand...
Any updates on this? Noticed the wife’s 21 Summit V6 has issues when pulling into the automatic wash. Ours has conveyor belts on both sides. When we put the transmission into neutral as the front tires are on the belt the vehicle “shudders” until the back are on. Thinking the back wheels aren’t turning and it’s just getting “dragged” into the wash? I intend to take video in the next day or two to confirm and then ask the dealer about it if I find this to be the case.

Side note, I have a 2011 Summit Hemi that I’ve owne since new and it does not exhibit this behavior. Which is why this is foreign to me. My Ram 1500 and Expedition also have 4 Auto modes in addition to dedicated 2WD modes, of course neither do this either.
 
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Sarge

Sarge

Well-known member
Does yours do it on the way out of the wash as well?

I would expect it to have the same problem exiting as entering?

I drove mine through the wash dozens of times and it always just rolled in and rolled out just fine, no problems. (Hemi 4x4)

As long as you’re in ‘auto’ mode with the transmission gear selector in Neutral the center diff should be open, and it should roll in and out without issue. I’m pretty sure I t’s more or less the same ZF design transmission as used in BMWs and other brands, so I can’t imagine why you’d be having a problem unless the center diff is locked (it shouldn’t be).

Have you tried pulling up the 4x4 screen that shows when the center diff is locked to see what it shows at the time?
 
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E

eleceng1979

Well-known member
The transfer cases are always engaged e.g. the front is always somewhat locked to the rear via an electronic clutch on higher trims, locked solid on lower trim transfer cases. Flat towing for example if forbidden unless you have the 2 speed transfer case & have it unlocked by pushing a special button and placing the transfer case in neutral. Lower trims are always locked and cannot be unlocked.

I never noticed, but didn’t have mine that long. My WK2’s never did this. Obviously there is a software difference with the electronic torque splitting clutch in the transfer case on WL platforms. Crazy idea… if Jeep deployed a Quadra Trac in a higher trim vehicle that is supposed to have a Quadra Drive transfer case, this would happen 100% of the time. Technically possible due to shortages, downright shady as fuck if they did. Your build sheet/window sticker would confirm which transfer case/system you have.

You can read here…
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mo...ee-l-four-wheel-drive-system-differences/amp/
 
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