2008 Aspen- Engine Light & Shaking
 

Hello, I have a 2008 Aspen with a little less than 60k. Yesterday I turned on the car, started to drive & the check engine light came on & there was a severe shaking. I parked the car. tried to restart it & issue went away briefly, but after parking & then restarting a couple more times the check engine light returned & shaking was severe. Had my Aspen towed via flatbed to the dealer where it was purchased & they told me it was a coil (spark plug area), supposedly not covered by the lifetime powertrain. After paying around $300, we drove the car off the lot & had the exact same issue. Returned to the dealer & now they are keeping it overnight. Any ideas what it could be? I am very concerned. <Sorry if I missed any similar posts, I tried the search function, but I'm not too forum savvy yet> Thanks for all your help!

kristinms8

I would suggest having your dealer review TSB's related to your vehicle. I was able to locate one that might apply to your concern but the dealer would have to verify this. Please see below:

TSB #18-006-10 REV. C

SYMPTOM/CONDITION:
The customers may experience that the vehicle has a harsh engagement or has a
buck/jerking feeling at low speeds of around 12 mph to 15 mph. The
customer may also experience a harsh engagement or buck/jerking feeling during highway cruise control operation from 65 mph to 75 mph. These conditions are caused by excessive MDS transitions.
The MDS low speed engagement point has been changed to 21 mph (34 kmh). In addition to the MDS low speed engagement change, enhancements from V8 to V4 and V4 to V8 in all ambient temperatures and operating ranges have been made to make all the transition less noticeable to the customer.

This bulletin involves selectively erasing and reprogramming the Powertrain Control
Module (PCM) with new software.

Hope this information may be helpful to you or another forum member.

Thanks for your message ChryslerCares. I will bring that up to them. I spoke with the service dept a little while ago & they said after testing again they did another test drive & had same issue so they inspected valve tappets. Apparently those need to be replaced, but thankfully its covered by Powertrain. May take several days for them to get the parts & get the work done though. When I talk to them tomorrow, I will mention the TSB below. I'll update everyone on the forum on final outcome as well. Thanks again for all your help & support!

Your very welcome!

I hope the dealer is able to resolve your concern quickly and correctly.

Based on your description, that TSB shouldn't have much to do with what's happening. The TSB is for early MDS engagement (low speeds), which causes sort of a jerky feeling at low speeds. It wouldn't affect driveability once you get over 15-20 mph, and certainly shouldn't trigger a check engine light.

Good luck - let us know if the repair they're doing fixes the problem.