Little secret: I HATE OFF-ROADING!!!

Well the good news is they got the new clutch in and it works great, bad news is the engine is probably shot. They said it was throwing codes faster than they could clear them and they can't diagnose it so I gotta take it to a Jeep dealer for a full diagnosis. My buddy is coming by tomorrow morning with a trailer and we're gonna go down and pick her up. It'll be the first time the Jeep has been home since we went there back in September and I'm more than a little terrified at what we're gonna find and find out.
Me and my friend are gonna play with it for a day or two before we take it to a dealer, he's in to vehicles the same way I'm into computers so he's just really curious to see what all the codes are. He's being kind enough to spend 4-5 hours towing my mess home I ain't got no complaints with him playing with it.
If it's bad or has gremlins we're probably gonna get a new engine, but I don't want to replace it I want to upgrade it and so does my wife. She will live again it's just after an annoying and scary amount of money, time and energy has been expended. That's the bit I'm not looking forward to.
And her top is still in my garage, and it's supposed to rain tomorrow. <sigh>
 
My wife just gave me a shiny new credit card for the Jeep, I'M READY! 14 hours from now I'll be rolling. :cool:

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(Yes I'm actually terrified and can't stop freaking about what I'm gonna find out!!!)
 
We left at 8 and got home at 4, it's only 4 hours of driving normally but it was pouring out the whole way so it was slower. VERY glad my friend came and helped me out, thanks again Groo!
The Jeep is totally dead, no electric whatsoever. I pulled the winch connections from the battery and connected them directly to a portable jumper and even that wouldn't get it working, so getting the damned thing up our driveway was a freaking nightmare and a half. (We have a long and steep driveway with no good winch points in it)
Some help from my buddy's pickup got it most of the way up, then we had to use a hand-ratcheting come-along to get it the last 20 feet up. We had to reposition the come-along every 20" since that's all the cable we had on it, but we managed to get her in. Today I'm gonna pull her battery out and see if it's dead or just a victim of electrical system abuse, then try and figure out what the what is. I was tired and chilled to the bone when I finally got done with everything around 8 and passed out for dang near 12 hours solid. Feeling a little readier today to try and fix it. :)


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Disconnected the battery last night and charged it, this morning I got the electrics to fire up and the starter to make a good loud jammed noise! PROGRESS!!!

Even better I didn't see the check engine light, but I wanna hook up my ODB2 reader to it anyways to see what's happening. Not total deadstick is such a massive improvement from where it was at, next up I'm gonna rehook up the winch wiring and see if it works so I can back the Jeep out into the driveway and clean it without worrying too much about getting her back in. I think just high pressure washing as much as I can off her might help, there is mud/dirt caked everywhere and I wouldn't be shocked if it got in some connectors and shorted 'em. That reminds me, I gotta check the fuse box too.
Just encouraged that there's some signs of life, might be able to salvage the engine after all. :D
 
Reconnected the winch and it works! Rewound all the cable. Then on a whim I said the magic words and tried the ignition and SHE BLOODY STARTED UP FOR ME!!! :D

I freaked so bad I turned her off after only a minute. It sounded a little rough but she responded to throttle input and didn't have any engine lights. Gonna check her fluids and open the garage door so I can try the clutch.
 
i went for a ride around our circle, (1/4 mile), and she went! A little smoke when it started my wife said, she was behind me in the other Jeep going to work. She got to see it drive out under her own power and get back up again, I think I may have a shot at getting this working! :D :D :D
 
Some of the lights/sensors won't trip until upto "a full drive cycle" later. Every auto manufacturer has different definitions of what a "drive cycle" is. for some it can be up to 120 miles later, for others it's so many on and off cycles.
 
Yup. Got a P06DD after a bit of riding around. Some problem with an oil sensor or worst oil pump, I'm betting on a sensor since it seems to be a known Jeep issue after too much off-road fun.
 
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! After playing with her for a few days I decided either her battery was fried or her alternator was, today my wife told me that the dealer had told her she needed a new battery before we went down to the Badlands. The battery in the Jeep is 6 years old and barely able to hold a charge if I charge her overnight. Picking up a new battery for her tomorrow that should..I'm going out tonight to get it as my wife just told me that I should since they're opened for another few hours. <sigh>

I'm actually elated to find out the battery is shot, that should clear up a whole bunch of issues and eliminate a number of variables. Very excited!
 
The new battery means it starts reliably, but her oil pressure starts dropping after 2-3 minutes or so of running and then bottoms out. I've been researching it with a friend and we've pretty much decided that maybe it's time to take it to a shop and get an estimate. The place that fixed my car is 1-1/2 minutes away so it's in driving range, thinking of taking her in tomorrow.

Which meant putting her top and doors back on today. We've had below freezing weather the last couple of days, today it hit 45f so I decided it was time. She's all capped and ready to travel now. This project is going no where fast, but that's ok because I just want to make sure we do it as properly and as inexpensively as possible.
 
MTI called. Cracked oil filter housing needs replacing. $1,180us including the diagnosis, I told them to go ahead. I could technically do it myself, but after watching a 30 minute video on it I just don't feel confident in doing it and our Jeep's engine is muddy halfway up the air intake cover!
Should be here tomorrow and they'll start putting it in, they say it'll fix it all better and they'll guarantee it so I'm cool with paying too much. Just glad someone seems to finally know what's wrong. :)
 
I'd say the root cause is simple. It all started with driving a perfectly fine vehicle off road.

😏
 
BRiT said:
That's most likely the vehicles' cycle where it reads and evaluates the sensors?
Click to expand...
I don't think so, it only took a few minutes before for the engine light to come on after clearing the code but I have no real clue. The oil pressure was dropping to 5psi on idle after a few minutes of driving was my first major concern, so I decided to take her and get her washed to see how she held up. She didn't.

Next time I'm bringing my OBDII scanner with me so I can read the code before I drop it off.
 
They called today. They wanted me to authorize another $240us for them to take off the oil pan and check the oil feeder tube and the o-ring in there as well as to check for metal shavings. If there's metal shavings in there it's game over for this engine and time for a new one, I suggested the feeder tube as I'd read a number of posts on Wrangler forums about similar issues after submarining and that being the problem.
I also let them know that I'm not happy about the $1,265us we paid to fix it which includes a couple of hundred dollars worth of diagnostic time, but I told them the time for discussing that is probably best left until after we find out what the state of the oil pan/feed tube is and what kind of approach they take to what happened and what happens next.
Anyone have any experience with a repair shop telling you something would fix your car, doing it and having you pay for it, and then finding out it did nothing to fix the problem? I figure that can't be right/proper, but haven't looked in to my recourse options yet. Right now I'm working on not going psychotic and keeping my cool whilst plotting in the back of my head on how I'm gonna walk down to their shop every morning for the next few months to sit on the sidewalk with a sign explaining how they ripped me off and recommending people go elsewhere. It's legal and I could use the exercise/socialization so I'm keeping that one in my back pocket to keep the angry part of my brain happy, don't worry I haven't been stupid enough to say it to anyone 'cept you good folks. :p
This is really, really, really annoyingly stressful to me and I just want it over. I got this awful,"Damn it, gonna have to call in another favor from a lawyer friend!", type feeling that I hate...but I'm really glad I fix PCs for a bunch of people who practice law. ;)
 
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