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I found this board because I was searching for a problem I am having of my passenger side floor getting soaked. Through this board I have figured out that it is my heater/evaporation drain tube. My Jeep is a 98 (Wrangler). There is no warranty left. Do I need to take it back to the dealer or has anybody fixed this themselves? If so, how?
thanks--dave
The cure has two parts. First, make sure the drain tube isn't blocked. Second, fit a 90º elbow to the tube so that it drains down, rather than straight out. The correct part will cost less han $10 from a dealer, or you may find something in your local hardware store that will suffice.
I have no delusions that anyone would act upon hearing an alarm going off, merely that it would let me know (should I be within earshot), and hopefully the sound of it wailing would reduce the amount of time a thief would feel comfortable hanging out rifling through the interior looking for something to take. I thought about getting a paging alarm, but for what? So I can catch the person in the act and get myself shot by some druggie? :surprise: I also am thinking about adding door lock actuators (in a Jeep? I know, sacrilage! ) so that I can have the convenience of keyless entry this winter. If the starter disable won't really add much protection, I probably won't wire it up. Any other thoughts?
Marcus
I toyed with the idea of door lock actuators, but in the end turning a key seemd like less work than fitting them.
One way you can cut down on your risk is to leave your Jeep empty, and to leave the console and glove box lids open.
Sorry to hear you're still having CB problems. The ground plane for a vertical antenna is like a reflecting pond for the radio signal you transmit. For trasmitting, it is just as important as the main vertical element we actually see as the antenna. There are a multitude of variables at play to achieving the best SWR and a good or bad ground plane definitely can impact it. Certainly, the Wrangler won't have a good ground plane due to its soft top or non-metallic hard top.
I suspect the best ground plane location on a Wrangler would be with the antenna up near the front where the metal hood would give the best transmission...of course, mainly in the forward direction. Rearward transmission would not be as good. I would guess your through-the-glass antenna is on the front windshield would be about as good a place to have it. Through-glass antennas used to have about 3db antenuation (loss) of transmission signal which is like cutting effective power in half. However, the last I paid attention to such things was back in the late 80's so that may no longer be true about those antennas.
A simple vertical vehicle antenna usually has the negative or "ground" connection of your transmission cable connected to the chassis of the vehicle. This is usually the outside braided shield of the coxial antenna cable going from your CB to the antenna. At the antenna mount, the center conductor is connected through to the vertical antenna element you see sticking up and the coax shield is connected to the metal mount which hence connects to the chassis of the vehicle. The metal roof or trunk lid on cars then acts as the antenna's ground plane.
I would have thought the through-the-glass mount would have some sort of grounding connection to allow the transmission signal to use your chassis as part of a ground plane effect. Magnetic mounts and hard metal mounts usually rely on that physical contact with metal of the vehicle to produce the desired ground plane effect.
If you stick your mag-mount antenna on the hood of your Wrangler and test the SWR does it improve? For fixed home transmission antennas, the idea SWR ratio is 1.5:1 or better. With vehicles, I'm sure your shooting to get at least 3:1 or better.
I wish I could help more...I'm hoping to get back into ham radio. Getting my Wrangler has been such a joy and it was something I wanted since I was a teenager. Now that I have it, it's made me realize I need to get back to some of my other passions...ham radio was one of them.
Good luck and I'll be happy to offer more input if you think I can help.
Jim
Lo and behold, wobble problem solved. I was skeptical at first, but so far, no sign of it returning at all. I can only think that all 5 (I rotated my spare in as well) of the original Goodyear GSAs were out of round.
If your tires are close to being needed to be replaced, I would go for it.
jeff
its alot easier the second time. i had 4 people to help take it off, that was more than enough help so we figured 3 would be plenty to put it on. could have used another set of hands to get it on. its not the weight, but the size.
Jeff
I don't have a garage I'd get a hoist for the hard top if I did.
I have been to two different dealerships -- one local and the one further away where I bought the car in May -- and neither can fix the problem. I picked the Jeep up this past Saturday after a 7-day-stay at the second dealership. The Jeep was sent to their body shop twice, had the doors realigned, had multiple parts replaced (including the molding around the doors and windshield) and they said it was not leaking anymore. Wrong. Today we did the "water leak test" with the hose and it is still leaking.
The service mgr. at the dealership where I bought the Jeep said (off the record, of course)that if it leaks again I should pursue the Lemon Law, as there is nothing else they can do. But I should bring the car back to them anyway to create a paper trail. I have heard that other 2005s are having similar water-leaking problems. Anyone?
The Jeep has 3200 miles on it. I had a 2004 that was totalled last summer and that one never had a problem. What a mess.
Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated.
-Rob
Missed you this weekend! Hopefully, we will have another chance before the end of the year. The weather was great...sunny and 70's. I'll try to post a few pics when I get them.
-Rob
Thanks
Don't you live in Henderson? Did you get any storm damage this weekend?
Terry
Prayers are with those affected.
-Paul
Thanks for asking, Terry.
Tom
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
I definitely want us to hook up for some wheelin'. Let's try again to set something up.
Tomster
Have you hugged your Jeep today?
As far as oil - the '98 Sport gets 10W30 dino oil and oil changes every 3,000 miles. It's still doing well with well over 130,000 miles on it (I haven't checked the odo recently). The '04 Unlimited gets Mobile 1 10W30 every 6,000 miles, and that's been working so far at 60,000 miles (she's now almost 14 months old but hasn't had much use in the past month or 2, or she'd have a whole lot more miles on her. Her 60,000 mile servicing got postponed as a matter of priority - for some reason my other half thought that having a working hot water heater was more important).
Jeep Information
As for glass-mount antennas, they are always inferior to a hard-mounted antenna. I have a FireStik mounted above the rear tail light and it works pretty well, under a 2:1 SWR.
At SEMA, I found that Midland is still making an SSB CB too.
Other than replacing gaskets and doors, what does your dealership suggest doing next to try to remedy the problem?
I've pretty much been written off by Chrysler -- complaining is getting me nowhere. (Even though I told them that many Wranglers on the new car lot had water in them after a recent rain; Chrysler has a serious problem and will not acknowledge it.)
I am taking the Jeep back to the dealership where I bought it again tomorrow morning because NJ Lemon Law says you must bring the car in 3 times, or lose use of it for at least 20 days because of attempted repairs. Tomorrow will be the third time it is in the shop -- and we are almost at the 20 day mark.
Anyone else with this same problem? Any ideas on potential solutions? (Maybe if we get enough people together to complain about this issue, we can get Chrysler to admit there is a problem and come up with a solution.)
tidester, host
Okay, it DID get wet when I left the top off one day at work and it rained.
When I looked at where water could come in from the passenger side, I did a few things:
1. I installed the J-tube for the A/C since mine didn't have that and thought it might be a problem.
2. I noticed the black plastic along the windshield frame near where the doors meet the top of the windshield wasn't in very good contact and the weatherstripping between the plastic and the metal was gone or seriously worn. Taking that plastic piece off (3 screws), I noticed that the top and bottom of the piece had no stripping. I COULD have put new stripping on, but didn't feel like messing with that. I just got some silicon and caulked the seam from the top to bottom. I used clear, but black would probably have been a better choice as the clear really isn't very clear.
3. I made sure my soft upper doors were bent in a bit to make a good seal all the way around. I think over time, they bow out a bit, so I bent em back in.
At this point, I have had no additional water in the Jeep.
-Paul
Errr.......how abought right now! It's not just wear of the friction material that matters, but also seizing of components and possible hydraulic leaks. At the very least they need to be cleaned regularly. However, if you mean when will the drums need resurfacing or replacing, the answer may be never, as the rear brakes handle very little of the braking effort. Keeping them clean will prolong their life tremendously.
I inspect the brakes every 3k when I change the oil, and although the rears do very little work there's always a good amount of brake dust that needs to be cleaned out. The automatic adjusters don't work well at the best of times and often need to be reset manually. You should also peel back the dust boots on the ends of the wheel cylinders to look for any moisture, indicating a leak from the piston seal.
Finally, as the wheels are off anyway, you can do a tire rotation with no extra effort!
They're clean now (well, relatively) and I should be good to go for a long while.
-Paul
I have heard and read of the problems regarding synthetics on higher mileage vehicles (mine has 108 000 kms, not miles), but I didn't have any oil seeping problems before, and everything seems fine so far afterwards (i believe my seals are all good). Plus, I did this myself, for the very first time! Needless to say, I'm happy with myself and the results (though, I must admit, it was pretty messy!). I'll keep everyone updated as to how well the synthetic holds up on my 'moderately' old engine, as I see that has been a topic of some interest on here and elsewhere. Since my engine has been strong since the day I first test drove her, I don't anticipate any problems.
Hopefully, everything will work out ok, and I will have the confidence to work on my jeep myself and save myself a few bucks, not to mention introduce myself to a new hobby--working on my jeep!
Ryan
Good for you...........well done!
Why not put a FSM on your Christmas list?
So let me get this straight, they are "designed" to leak water all over you when you are driving? "Yes" they said.
This a.m. I hit the Jeep with a hose before taking it back to the dealership to make sure we still had a problem with leakage. Sure do. Water was pouring in through the rubber gaskets on the plastic door frames. POURING in, not dripping. All over the floor. All over the seats. Saturating the rugs. (And we only hit it with a hose for about 15 seconds or so.)
Oh, and the great part is that the dealership service mgr. told me that if it leaks again (IF??? The only time it doesn't leak is when it's not raining) not to bring it back to them, because if I do, they will not open a new service order for it, as Chrysler the almighty has spoken.
Chrysler has a massive problem here -- problem is present in 2006 models too I have found out. Anyone out there who thinks this is wrong and wants to resolve this problem, let me know. Maybe if we get a group together who have the same problem with their new Jeep Wranglers, we can get some satisfaction.
At any rate, I would consider changing if you have GSA's with more than 30,000 miles, even of they still have tread. New tires probably would improve traction significantly.
Good luck, and I hope that you get your problem solved.
Thank you.
Hopefully they're aware that some adjustment can be made to the angle of the windshield by adjusting the length of the tube connecting the windshield to the 'roll' bar.
What gets me is that Chrysler's party line is now that Wranglers are designed to leak. They originally said something about a "buyback" when I spoke to a customer service rep last month -- the last time they would speak to me before writing me off and telling me to contact their corporate headquarters. Then their tune changed abruptly and they said it was my problem to deal with.
The guys at the service dept. obviously do not feel that Wranglers are supposed to leak this way (duh) as they have been working on solving the problem for the better part of a month. They have replaced all the molding, seals, etc. around the windshield and doors, and had the doors adjusted at their bodyshop twice. No dice. In fact, I think the leaking is worse now than it's ever been. Now when water hits it, it leaks on the seats too. Used to just go dirctly to the floor and not hit anything on the way down, then pool by the drain plugs.
And the other scary thing is that when the service manager pulled a new 2006 off the lot to test it, that Jeep leaked in the same way.