A broken clutch can literally leave you stranded in the cold. When a clutch breaks, it cannot engage the gears, i.e. it’s dead in the water, which can be quite costly without an extended Jeep warranty.
A common and well-documented problem with many manual Jeep Patriots, especially model year 2008, is the failure of the clutch and/or master cylinders. Without an extended warranty it is not only costly in itself [upwards of $900] but can lead to other problems on your Jeep, most notably brake failure [YIKES!] and transmission damage. And, nobody wants to hear the words transmission and damage in the same sentence.
Here’s the crazy thing about a Jeep Warranty:
Clutches are “wear and tear” items. Yep, that’s right. Just like brakes, they’re NOT covered under the basic Jeep warranty. So even though this problem typically presents itself with less than 50K miles [in some cases it’s under 3K…] you can be left to foot the bill with a proper Jeep warranty. That includes the entire damage that results from a broken clutch. Of course, if you had protected yourself with an extended warranty for your Jeep, this wouldn’t be a worry.
An extended warranty purchased directly from Jeep can be costly, so make sure to do your research and compare auto warranties wisely. In this case, you want to make sure at the least your drive train and clutch are protected under the extended Jeep warranty. Determining the root cause of a transmission failure can be timely and costly and because of the ins and outs of what [little] the basic Jeep warranty covers, it’s crucial to make sure you have covered yourself with an auto warranty for your Jeep. Check out options for an extended Jeep warranty at CARCHEX.
Helpful tip for Patriot Owners:
If you’re having any clutch related issues [chattering, shuddering, shaking, squeaking, low or no response from the throttle or trouble accelerating] take it in for a look.
