A Week of Fixes

 Good day, afternoon, or evening and welcome to another boring blog by me. Today marks the first real time this year that the Jeep has been driven and not felt like it was totally falling apart. I am serious on that. The damn thing did actually self destruct, but more on that in a bit. The Jeep, after a few long arguments and faxes with the corporation was delivered to Heritage Motors here in town for some much needed warranty work. I bought Old Yellow when Jeep was offering lifetime power-train warranties. The problem is that they expect you to do certain things to maintain this benefit. Lucky for me I do read the fine print and I do save receipts. So after a two day battle I won and the Jeep got to go in and get new oil pan gaskets and a new front main seal. Plus, I supplied the new oil and filter so it got changed on their dime. The Jeep went in at 8am and was done by 1pm. No more oil leaks, I hope. So, that ended round one. I will give kudos to Heritage Motors for their help in all this and their fine service. I am a happy camper. 

 Round 2 arrived on Friday when the Jeep was slowly driven to K&N Automotive. And I mean slowly. The ball joints were toast and as one last act of defiance, the bastards shook the front end so bad it snapped the bracket that held the steering stabilizer. It was so bad, some dude in a truck got behind me and flashed his lights till I pulled over. He yells out his window saying did I know my front wheels were wobbling out of control??? Duh! Not like the steering wheel was sitting still. So, I limped it to K&N and had Nate slap in some new Teraflex ball joints as well as new front bearings. The problem showed it ugliness between 41 and 50 mph. The job was also done quickly and I drove out of there trying not to get a ticket while I checked to see if the problem was cured. Max speed limit between them and my house is 40 so I couldn't quite check it 100%. I will say this tho, the steering was nice and tight and it went strait down the road. Nate does great work and I highly recommend his shop also. 

Round 3 was a personal battle of sorts. I stuck in a hi capacity all aluminum radiator from Mishimoto a few years ago and it went bad. Not a real problem, lifetime warranty. Well, #2 went bad a month ago and I was not pleased. It had only been in just over a year. I called and bitched and they admitted the quality hadn't been good and they were awaiting the v2 or version 2 to arrive. Supposedly this is an improved radiator and the problem will go away. Lets hope so. I started it Friday night and finished it Saturday morning. It looks the same but there was one noted difference; one of the bolt hole did not line up. Lucky for me it was one of the bolts that holds the A/C condenser. I got 3 of them in and said good enough. I did an initial fill Saturday night and topped it off today. I then took it out on a long 80 mile drive to see if it was going to hold itself together. And, so far, it has. The wheel has a minute vibration now but I am betting it has to do with wheel balance. The temp gauge held steady and no signs of any leaks. Knock on wood! The sun was out and it was just the perfect day. I folded back to top over the front seats and life was good. Of course I just read it might rain so I may be running out later to fold it back into place. Now, its time to plan a good trip out to some long lost mine and get back to doing what I love! Jeep on my friends!