New to Jeep, old to life....

vanclanmike

New Member
Joined
Dec 24, 2022
Messages
4
Location
Corvallis, OR
Just got my first social security check and went out and bought a jeep. So I am a jeeper for life. Had a brother a jeeper and a son in law. Been putzing with mechanics most my life but made my living at HP for 30 years. Anyhow I jumped in and went on the hunt for a used jeep. Sure alot of them out there, 4 doors aplenty. Lots for $10k or so, mostly just beat to crap. Had to learn a few lessons here. Yes the 3.8l is a dog (arf arf). Glad I was told this and then tested it in real life. Next lesson was it could have 150k miles of 70k miles, it did not matter. Lower miles did not indicate a better used jeep. I was amazed how some folks just trash a jeep and then sell it. Dents and rust everywhere usually covered with car lot rattle can black. Upon driving them I became aware that some are just too dangerous. I hit the brakes on one and it pitched me into the next lane. Just because it has big tires or a lift don't mean crap, drive it first. Drove at least a dozen and settled on a few points. I wanted the 3.6l, not year 2011. Any after market stuff would be great, but I will deal with it. I just need a clean vehicle and I can deal with the rest over time. After 300 miles of driving and seeing just some crap vehicles I finally picked up a 2013 120k miles, after market tires/rims bumpers....$18k. Here we go....

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the rest of the story....

I always shudder when I sign a form that says "AS IS". Oh come on it's a used car, they wouldn't lie. I only got to drive it for a few miles, took it on the highway up to 80mph, no wobble, one of the cleanest drives of the ones I tested. So let's give it a run, up the mountain I go. thought I smelled a little coolant but gauge was steady. On the way back I thought i heard a scraping in the brakes, must be some cinder in there from the roads.....oh hum what could it be?...so now the real truth. The right front caliper was defective causing the pad to stick and had ruined the rotor. The ECT (engine coolant temp) sensor was defective and the ECM had no clue what the temp was. This is where most would have buyers remorse I guess. But I am a jeeper for life....here we go again

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Got it home, up on the stands. Okay let's tear into it. Yep right front rotor toast. Got j-scan, yep temp sensor is not reading. Fine, was going to upgrade a few parts anyway....mumble mumble...OK got some detroit-axle parts coming. Replaced the bad rotor, might as well pretty them up with some caliper paint. Also added some bilstein shocks plus front stabilizer. Spent 2 days underneath jeep with wire wheel brush, rust reformer. (I am old, this shit just hurts my back). Frame is in great shape. Got it back together and still had some cooling issues. Had to replace thermostat and radiator cap to finally get it to work correctly.....(hint: there is a error with the new installation: my son spotted it)

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Attachments

  • new bilstien.mov
    7.7 MB
Let's roll. Got it up and running and feel like it's a bit more reliable. So off to the trails. Lot's of snow and wet weather here in Oregon. Trying to get up back side of Marys Peak had a bit of slipping. Then a huge tree had uprooted in the wet soil and caused us to ponder. I wonder if this happens to all jeep owners at one point. "Over it or remove it?" With a jeep nothing is impossible. But no chainsaw or desire to go farther just to find another downed tree. Installed a winch and started to gather for a recovery bag. So I am up and running and will be jeeping mostly the west coast. Planning to be down on the Mojave desert in March. Cya out there ! ham radio - N7MLV

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