All generations and engines together · 4,815 MOT tests in the 2025 data · typical mileage at age 7: 47k
Computed from DVSA MOT results, all of Great Britain, 2025. Nothing here is opinion.
Share of tests where each item was recorded. The dark tick is the class average across all tracked models; bars are scaled within each group.
The rows that judge the model rather than its keeper. 1,543 tests in this band.
Tyres, pads and stone chips say more about how the car was driven and maintained than about how it was built.
Owner folklore from forums and the motoring press. Most of it never shows up in an MOT, which is why this section exists at all.
A sudden, violent shake through the steering wheel, usually triggered by a pothole or bump at 40mph plus, that owners of both the JK and JL generation report on and off through the model's life. It comes from wear or play in the solid front axle's track bar, tie rod ends or ball joints, sometimes made worse by wrong caster settings after a lift kit. The measured MOT data for this model already runs hot on suspension work, and track bar bushes and ball joints are exactly the parts behind the wobble, so the folklore and the numbers point at the same corner of the car.
The Totally Integrated Power Module, the fuse and relay box in the engine bay, can fail and cause stalling on the move, no-start, a fuel pump that keeps running with the key out (flattening the battery), or wipers and lights acting up on their own. Chrysler/Jeep covered a chunk of 2007-2014-built Wranglers with recalls that replace the module free even out of warranty, but failures keep turning up outside those exact build windows too. Expect £150-£400 in parts if it's not covered, more with dealer fitting.
The VM Motori 2.8 diesel in JK Wranglers has a name among owners for injector failure, dubbed "black death" for the mess it leaves, plus EGR clogging and VGT turbo actuator faults that bring on limp mode and a check engine light. This is specialist repair work, not a job for a general garage, and budget well into four figures if more than one injector or the turbo actuator has gone. Doesn't apply to the petrol V6 or the later JL diesel.
JL Wranglers fitted with the 2.0-litre turbo petrol have a run of owner reports of using more oil than expected between services, put down to carbon building up on the intake valves on this direct-injection engine. Some owners also mention wastegate faults and valve cover oil leeps around 60-80k miles. It isn't officially acknowledged as a pattern, so on a high-mileage example ask for oil-check history and consider a compression or leak-down test before buying.
Built from the two sections above.
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