al_burpe
Observer
My wife and own a 2013 Jeep Compass with 68K miles on it. It is the 2.4 automatic with the CVT transmission. We are prepping to move from Idaho to Pennsylvania the end of September. I recently took it to a shop to have it looked at to see if there were in glaring problems before we took it on a 2000 mile road trip. I knew that recommended service interval on the transmission fluid was 60K, so I asked them to look at it. They told me that it would be $500 to change it but thought it would be fine for another 20K miles and recommended that I not change it. That was a week and half ago. On Friday, my wife and I drove on a 400 mile trip. Part way there, the temperature light for the transmission came on. This put the car in limp mode and we pulled off the highway at the next exit. The owner's manual said to let it idle for 15 minutes or until the light goes. We did that and it was fine the rest of the trip. It was about 85 degrees and we were going 80MPH when the light came on. This is the first time it has happened. I have read a ton online about how common of a problem this is for the Compass on Patriot. A lot of people were never able to get it fixed and some had to get a new transmission. Does anyone on here have experience with this? I will talk to a mechanic tomorrow (not the one that recommend I wait another 20K to change the fluid), but I was wondering if anyone on this site had encountered this issue. I really don't want to be taking a vehicle I can't trust on that long of a trip. We were planning on driving both our vehicles along with our two kids (ages 4 months and 2 year old). Our other vehicle is a 2005 Expedition which is scheduled to have its rear differential rebuilt next week. I am wondering if I should just sell the Compass and plan on getting a second vehicle when we get to Pennsylvania. The car was a gift from my parents and has been in an accident prior to us receiving it. Neither my wife or I particularly care for it. I will never understand how Jeep knowingly put such a crappy motor and transmission in a modern vehicle. Part of the issue is that we need the vehicle while the other car gets its work done on it, so there won't be much time to either get the Compass fixed or sold before we need to be on the road. If you have any thoughts or advice, let me know.