Sean's Total Car Care

My 1990 Jeep Wrangler has not been running right for some time.  A couple weeks ago on the first day of an 11 day vacation I found a lot of water in the oil.  Now I have been having a little bit of cooling problems for about a year.  Always had to fill the radiator with a couple quarts of water a week.  There were always water leaks around the thermostat and water pump.  Did not have time to fix it until recently.  A little leaking water as long as it is on the outside of the motor is alright as long as it is monitored and filled.  When I got around to replacing the pump and t-stat is when it worsened.  Still loosing coolant but not on the driveway.  That is when I found it in the oil. 

An honest mechanic. 

An honest mechanic is hard to find.  But I have known of Sean's Total Car Care for a while now.  A friend of mine recommended him after working on his Subaru, and my girlfriend has her Hyundai serviced by him.  Never once does he try to up sell you with some BS part.  He gets the vehicle running right and stands by his work.

I am not a motor guy, anything but the motor.  Was able to drive it to his shop and told him I had water in the oil.  My thoughts were motor replacement and already accepted that.  He told me it was just a head gasket and little bit of machining to the head.  My Jeep was not a rush job so I let him take his time and when he got done it ran great.  Put 200 miles on it the next day and still have all the coolant.  Has not done that in quite some time.

If your in Ft. Myers, Florida and need work done:

Sean's Total Car Care
11100A Summerlin Square Dr.
Ft. Myers, FL 33931
(239)985-0244

 SEANSTOTALCARCARE.COM
   

Jeep Wave Rant

You drive a Jeep you wave. Period, I wrote out period in case you did not see it.

 Yeah is it is stupid but it goes with owning a Jeep.  You just do it.  Harley riders all wave at each other and wear leather.  We don't have to wear leather or be a douche.   Just wave, nod or acknowledge the other Jeeps existence.  You do it, it is part of owning a Jeep.  Ever since the end of WW2 Jeeps have been sold to the public.  First as farm implements and then as a great off road vehicle.  The sales people have informed the buyer about the Jeep wave.

 I called my local Jeep dealership and asked the salesman if they were still informing the buyer about this responsibility.  They basically laughed and asked if I was serious.  I told them I was.  He said no they don't.  In the middle of my speech about how this was the height of irresponsibility he hung up on me.  I called back and was immediately hung up on.  That is a real problem.

 
Our new Pope is in a Jeep and he knows about the Jeep wave.  The Pope people.

 I find the JK owners to be the biggest offenders when it comes to not waving.  I blame the dealerships for this.  They are not informing the customers.  I pity these owners and feel sorry for them.



So here is a guide to some basic Jeep waves: 

1. The basic hand up wave.  When an approaching Jeep is coming at you raise your hand.  All 5 fingers up and wave.
2. Palm on the steering wheel and four fingers up.  Basic and gets the point across.
3. Palm on the steering wheel and three fingers up.  Same as above, one less finger.
4. Peace sign.  Two fingers in a "V" formation.  Classic
5. The one finger, not the middle one.  
6. Hand above the windshield.  When the top is down this gets style points.
7. The out the door low high five.  Place arm out the door like you are going for a low high five.
8. One finger salute.  From the brim of your ball cap make a salute with one finger.
9. The "Nod".  The most subtle of Jeep waves.  Just nod your head.  Perfectly acceptable.

Not cool at all:

1. The middle finger.  Your a dick if you do this.
2. Looking the other way like you did not see it. 

Nuff said!

YJ misfiring.

It has been 13 months since the Jeeps last tune up.  The odometer does not work but I estimate around 3000 kilometers max.  My Speedo is actually in Kph, annoying but it is  going to be replaced soon.  The four plugs below are the ones that came with the Jeep when I bought it.  They were not too terrible.  The brand was Champion.  Once I seen that they had to come out.  My luck with Champion plugs is terrible.  These were removed November 2014 along with the cap, rotor and plug wires.

 So these were removed in January 2016.   They are Autolite as was recommended on Jeep Forum.

 

All the plugs had worn away electrodes.  They looked like crap.  But I found the problem when the number 4 cylinder pug was pulled.  The ceramic insulator was cracked badly.  I believe this to be the cause of the misfiring.

The plugs, wires, cap and rotor were all replaced at the same time.  It runs like a top now.  I am curious as to what was the reason for this plug failing as it does.  The Jeep does not get abused.  I did run it at 70 mph on a 3.5 hour trip to Orlando and back.  But it worked fine on that trip and after that.  The only fuel additive I use is Seafoam once in a while.  That mostly dries out the gas.  Around here it is common to install a water separator in the fuel line, same one used on a boat.  Perhaps that will come next for my Jeep.

Jeep fishing - phase one

So this ain't much but this is my "phase one" for outfitting the YJ for fishing. I had bought one of the 4 pole surf rod holders for the Jeep. Did not like where it sat when I mocked it up for drilling the bumper. Lucky for me I had a bolt on receiver hitch for a rear bumper sitting in the garage. So I drilled a couple holes and mounted it. Then I used some scrap metal I had to weld up a receiver mount for the surf rod holder.


I have an old Century flux core wire feed welder so this is what I can do.


Not too bad looking mounted.


And a close up. Two Penn Sargus SG4000's (china), a Penn Live Liner 5000 (USA) and a Penn Senator II w/AccuFrame (USA) all on Redbone rods. I spent a few bucks on those...


I am also testing out a Igloo 42 quart "3 day" marine cooler.  I loaded it up with 20lbs of ice and 24 Miller Lites.  At about 6 hours it is half ice and half water.  Don't have any high hopes for this being an actual 3 day cooler.  Bummer...



On the positive side I am making sure the beer does not go to waste. 

800CharityCars.org

So with the purchase of my new to me Jeep I had to get rid of the Dodge Dakota before the City of Cape Coral Code Enforcement ticketed me.  I have a history with code enforcement.  We had a little dispute with my Rubbermaid storage shed on the side of my house being not code compliant.  Here is what I did with that.

This did not go over well.  After two months they sent me a letter asking me to "please" remove it.  Anyways that truck is shot.  I could have called a scrap removal guy but they are known for being kinda shady.  So I decided to go with the donation route.  At least that way I can get a tax deduction and I can use that money better than the government. 

Going to 800CharityCars.org was a very simple 3 step process.  In the morning I filled out the web form and submitted it.  Later that day I received a phone call from a representative.  I was informed that they could not use my vehicle as a program vehicle and it would goto auction.  That was fine.  She scheduled pickup for the next day.  The next day I received a phone call from a towing company and they came and picked her up.  I was given a form stating I had donated the truck.  After it sells at auction in 2-4 weeks I will get a form stating how much it sold for.  That will be the amount of a tax deduction I will receive.  Both the charity and I come out winners in this one.  They get money for the work they do and I get to pay less taxes.  It was really nice to deal with these people and I highly recommend.

1990 Jeep YJ Wrangler

So I found this little Jeep on a car lot in North Fort Myers.  It had a repaint and was pretty much unmolested.  Looked at it a couple times and took her for a drive.  I promptly bought the Jeep.  It has the 2.5L 4 cylinder with a 5 speed manual transmission.  4wd works, suspension bushing all worn out and it drives like a old Jeep.  Power steering pump was dry.  No top but the bikini top.  Has daytime running lights and an aftermarket horn that is kinda like a air raid siren.  None of the bad are deal breakers just a little bit of work.

Here it is at home in the driveway. 

So here is the list of the bad:

1. Power steering works when fluid is put in but the seal on the steering boxes pitman arm is shot.  $30 on Amazon got me a rebuild kit.
2. It starts hard.  Will go "click", "click", then slowly crank the motor.  Battery is good and I suspect the wiring is bad.  Starter relay and cables are in hand and ready to be replaced.
3. Suspension bushing are shot.  Will all need to be replaced.  Poly bushings, shocks, steering damper all in hand.
4. Some frame rot around rear spring shackle mounts.
5. Horn, it has to go.  Have aftermarket in hand.
6. Daytime running lights.  Have to find the module and unplug it, no big deal.
7. 4wd motor on Dana 30 has been replaced with aftermarket mechanical unit.  That is ok but old vacuum hose have screws to block off old hoses.  Have to trace lines back and cap.

 List of the good:

1. Body and frame is pretty much free of rust.
2. Drives and puts a smile on my face.
3. Everything is fixable, just going to take a little bit of time

This will be my new ride as my 1999 Dodge Dakota has bit the big one.  Bought it 5 years ago for $1500.  It had a rough shifting auto transmission since the day I bought it.  Now it will not start and I am not putting any more cash into it.  Needed something to drive so I bought the Wrangler.  In no way am I giving up on the CJ.  It just takes me a while to do things with as little free time my job lets me have.

Dana 30 part 5 - Spindle inspection

The old G.I. Joe cartoons said it best when they say "Knowing is half the battle".  After picking up the new JP Magazine and reading about a Dana 30 they bought that was trashed it got me to thinking.  First was my Jeep had a lot of half-assed repairs on it.  Then I thought well the one side of the Dana 30 had the ball joints replaced.  In the JP Magazine article they stated that their spindles were ruined cause an uniformed shade tree mechanic used a metal hammer to remove the spindles.  Now with mine I used a rubber mallet or if needed a 2x4 with a 5lb sledge.  Did not even think of looking for poorly executed repairs.  Upon further inspection of my spindles sure enough one side had been hammered off and damaged.  Right on the bearing surfaces.



Unacceptable.  Lucky for me only one was hammered.  Ended up ordering two off eBay due to the place having them for $10 a piece.  Will take my chances and see if one is good.  Otherwise a new one is around $90-100.  OEM always is better than the crap made in China.  If this was a vehicle for just off road fun then maybe I would just smooth it over with a file, but I intend on driving this on the street.

DON'T CUT CORNERS AND MAKE HALF-ASSED REPAIRS.   TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO AND DO IT RIGHT TO THE BEST OF YOUR ABILITIES.