P0302 on a Jeep Wrangler
P0302 means cylinder 2 Misfire Detected. On the Wrangler, a few causes come up far more than others.
What P0302 usually means on a Wrangler
P0302 points at a misfire on cylinder 2 specifically, and on the Pentastar-powered Wrangler that is a location worth noting. Early 3.6 engines had a documented cylinder-head failure pattern that often surfaced as a left-bank or cylinder-2 misfire, sometimes with a P0300 alongside. Still, the everyday causes lead: a failed coil or plug on cylinder 2, or an injector problem. A head-related fault typically adds a rough cold start and a ticking noise and comes back after ignition parts are replaced.
Most common causes on the Wrangler
- Coil or spark plug on cylinder 2
Swap the coil to another cylinder; if the misfire moves with it, the coil is the culprit and the fix is cheap.
- Cylinder 2 fuel injector
A clogged injector starves that single cylinder and imitates an ignition fault.
- Early Pentastar head or valve-seat failure
A known pattern on early 3.6 Wranglers, usually confirmed by low compression on the affected cylinder.
- Low compression from a burnt valve
A leak-down test tells you whether the problem is mechanical rather than electrical.
What P0302 costs to fix on a Wrangler
If it is a coil or plug the repair is minor, well under two hundred dollars. If a leak-down confirms the early-build head problem, you are looking at a cylinder-head job in the low-to-mid four figures. Testing before buying parts is what separates a cheap afternoon from an expensive one on this engine.
Year, engine and mileage change the answer. Start a case and Redline weighs these causes against what your car shows, then names the check that would settle it.
Wrangler owners also ask
Is a cylinder 2 misfire on my Wrangler the head problem everyone mentions?
Not usually. Most cylinder-2 misfires are a bad coil or plug. The early Pentastar head failure is real but should be confirmed with a compression or leak-down test before you commit to major work.
Can I keep driving with a single-cylinder misfire?
A code alone can't settle that. Sustained misfiring dumps raw fuel into the exhaust and can damage the catalytic converter, so fix it promptly. If the check-engine light is flashing, stop driving and get it checked.
Other codes on the Jeep Wrangler
Related symptoms
Jeep Wrangler problems & recalls by year
Based on widely reported patterns for this model; individual causes vary by year, engine and history. Generic P0302 behavior is covered on the main P0302 page. Confirm with a scan tool before buying parts.
P0302 on your Wrangler?
Every problem becomes a Case. Tell Redline what your Wrangler is doing: it shows what the evidence supports, what’s still missing, and what to check next, before you approve a repair.
“Inner pad ~1 mm. Outer pad 3 mm.”
Next: check the slide pins move freely before buying parts.