I have seen lots of questions in social media regarding jeep wranglers maintenance costs. Some folks out there complain it’s a very expensive thing to maintain a jeep. They may have valid reasons to say so.

Through this article we’ll dive in to check what are the maintenance costs a jeep can have and try to get an idea of the amount of costs arise when using a jeep wrangler.

After going through this guide you may be able to find out what are the truths as well as myths regarding jeep maintenance costs. So without further ado let’s get started!

Actually is it so expensive to maintain a jeep wrangler? 

Truth is wrangler maintenance costs don’t have a significant difference with other vehicle maintenance costs, unless it has any huge modifications and/ doing hard off roadings with jeeps.

How can jeep maintenance costs increase?

With extra modifications –

like lifts, bigger tires as well as engine modifications, maintenance costs are drastically increased. 

A common problem is installing lift kits without considering the geometry of the jeep.

We can’t keep the jeep in stock parts after fitting a huge lift kit.

We have to change the steering wheel components as well as sometimes transfer case components also accordingly, Because all the angles are going to change with a lift kit.  

Stock mechanical parts are only matched for stock jeep height and stock angles. 

With changing the stock height we put extra stress on other stock components on the jeep like transfer cases steering components as well as drive shafts.

So we have to change all of those components accordingly when building a jeep. 

Even if we have done all of those things correctly we have to expect higher maintenance costs later because aftermarket parts are pretty expensive as well as most of the time they tend to wear out or cause problems more frequently.

Doing extreme off roadings

If you are doing extreme off roadings, you should expect extra maintenance costs.

Because off-roading applies lots of stresses on jeeps mechanical parts, they tend to wear and tear fast and cause failures more often than a street driven vehicle.

Braking parts like drive shafts, steering components, suspension components and oil pans are very common during extreme off roading activities.

With that also jeeps maintenance costs can increase than a normal street vehicle.

What are maintenance costs you have to expect in a jeep wrangler?

Regardless of whether it’s a wrangler or any other vehicle, there are essential maintenance costs that every vehicle owner has to bear. 

Periodical maintenance costs.

Costs for fluids

These are the costs that you have to bear  for changing the engine oil, transmission oil, radiator fluids, brake fluids according to the mileage.

Normally after every 3,000 – 5,000 miles you have to change the engine oil of a jeep wrangler. Average cost for a wrangler engine oil change costs you between 100$ – $150.

Above costs include the cost of the synthetic oil, oil filter and labour costs. But if you can do it by yourself wrangler oil change can be done under $100. 

For every 60,000 miles you have to change transmission oil. For that also you can cost between $80 – $250.

4WD transfer case fluids have to change for every 60,000 miles.

Front and rear axle fluids should change for every 40,000 miles. 

(Above prices are just put there for your reference. They can be varied according to your destinations.)

Normally radiator coolants are rated to change after 10+ years or 100,000 miles. So it may not affect your pocket much.   

But it’s better to check coolant from time to time and if there’s any difference in color or smell, it’s better to change coolant also. 

Those are the essential costs you will encounter for periodic fluid changes of a wrangler. 

Costs for other maintenance activities

Let’s look at what other periodic maintenance you have to expect.

It’s recommended to check for wheel balance and tire rotation for every 7,500 miles, Replace A/C filter for every 20,000 miles , inspect brakes for every 20,000 miles and inspect belts and PCV valves for every 100,000 miles.

Those are the essential maintenance costs you have to expect when using wrangler.

But I should remind you that apart from transfer case fluid change more or less all the other maintenance costs are common for any other vehicle.

Let’s look at what are the maintenance costs that may arise other than above.

Maintenance costs arise occasionally

These types of maintenance costs may sometimes be expensive ones. 

They can occur mostly due to not doing periodic maintenance properly, heavily using for off roading activities or as a result of modification you have done to the jeep.

For example if you use your jeep for heavy off roadings without changing your transmission or transfer case fluids on correct time periods, it can cause transfer case or transmission failures with the time.

Another example is doing rock crawlings or wheeling on extremely uneven terrains frequently, can raise frequent issues with suspension components, steering components as well as drive trains. 

So you have to expect those maintenance costs if you are doing lots of off roading with your jeep.

If you are using your jeep just as a daily driver or not doing lots of hard off roadings or haven’t done crazy modifications like heavy liftings with larger tires, wranglers are not more expensive to maintain than a normal vehicle.

Other maintenance costs

Apart from all of the above it’s not obvious that you have gas and tire changing costs like any other vehicle.    

Gas costs can be increased in some jeeps and there are various reasons for that as well as there are different solutions to get a better gas consumption with your jeep. 

You can read more about causes for jeep’s bad gas mileage and what are the solutions for that bad MPG by clicking here.

Final words

I wrote this short guide just to show you why some people say it’s expensive to maintain a jeep. Here I showed you what are the costs exactly you have to expect and when those costs arise. 

As you can see most of those costs are pretty same to a normal vehicle. They arise according to how much you use your jeep as well as for what purposes you use your jeep.

It’s not obvious that costs can get bigger if your sole purpose of using the jeep is for off roading with huge modifications.

But I think it’s not an unfair cost either. Because, if someone can build their jeep with spending lots of money, they must have the financial ability to maintain that jeep with those mods. 

Otherwise it’s better to modify wisely according to your financial strength, because maintenance costs are also high after most of those mods.

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Have fun and safe jeeping!!