You've gone so far, you just might get it this time.
I know what you mean: How much is too much?
I'd hang in there at least long enough to where you're not selling a broken vehicle, and then take it from there.
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| KJ Stalling - Repeated Repairs http://www.lostjeeps.com/forum/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=59179 |
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| Author: | TallNorton [ Sun Feb 27, 2011 7:55 am ] |
| Post subject: | KJ Stalling - Repeated Repairs |
Hi Guys, I need some help from the collective before I make some rash decisions on selling my KJ. 105,000 miles. I was at my mountain property last weekend and was riding down the paved road when the KJ bucked a couple of times and died. I coasted to the side of the road and popped the hood to see that the vacuum lines at the t-connection to the right of the engine had disintegrated. I duct taped it up with no difference. Still stalled out. 20 minutes later, it starts and I make it 1000 yards down the road and it does a repeat performance. No restart. Wrecker comes 40 minutes later and the driver is no technician. It's 3pm on a Sunday and I'm in the outback. He says he can drag me back to the shop and install some new vacuum lines and see if that works. It's a AAA tow and he agrees to do the lines for $20 so, I figure it's worth the gamble. Replace the lines and it starts right up. Elapsed time from last start up is over an hour ( I think this is the critical factor). I thank him and run the KJ 6 miles down the paved road, 1.5 miles up the driveway and decided to load out of my cabin and come home (it's a 300 mile drive) I take 30 minutes to load out and the vehicle won't start. Plenty of fire, no sign of turning over at all. Decide I'm trapped for the night and will either drive it out in the morning or hike down to the road to seek assistance (no cell service). Starts right up in the morning (Monday) and make a dash for paved road. Get to the road successfully and decide to run it as far as I can towards the interstate where there is a dealer. That's 28 miles away. Make it halfway there and it quits. Wrecker #2 comes an hour later and we haul it to town to the dealer. Throws two codes, one for a crank sensor and the other for a cracked manifold. They can't get the crank sensor until the Tuesday and I have to be at work the next morning, so I tell them to keep it. I rent a car and drive the 250+ miles back to MD. On Saturday the 26th, my wife accompanies me on the drive down to turn in the rental and pick up the KJ. We pull out of town and I tell her it's still not right. It's sluggish. Well, the shop is closed and the rental car place is closed (VERY small town) so we're committed to making a run for it and hope it's my imagination. I tell my wife that the 40 mile mark will be the lynchpin as that seems to be where it quits. Sure enough, we hit the exit for the next interstate at 40 miles and it bucks a few times. I jump on to the secondary road, reasoning it would be safer to break down there. We run for another 30 minutes with a few hesitations and bucks along the way. Get to a stop light and it quits for 5 seconds and then runs again. Make it another 1/2 mile or so and it quits again. Call wrecker #3. By the time he get there, it starts again. Elapsed time 30 minutes. Take it to the shop and they diagnose cam sensor. Leave the vehicle for yet another week, though at least it's 80 miles closer to home. It appears that I have stumbled into the nightmare scenario on these vehicles as this is a recurring and apparently widespread problem. Lots of money and time sunk into repeated repairs only to continually get the same results. I see a long discussion here: http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0f7762/0 It looks like we are following the same script. Crank sensor, cam sensor and then on to ignition coils and eventually the PCM. I simply can not have a vehicle I can't depend on when I'm 300 miles from home and up on a mountain many miles from any other people. I'm seriously considering going back to get it next week, driving it to the car wash and then to the nearest dealer for a trade in. I love my KJ, but this might be the deal breaker. |
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| Author: | KJ 119 [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:19 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: KJ Stalling - Repeated Repairs |
You've gone so far, you just might get it this time. I know what you mean: How much is too much? I'd hang in there at least long enough to where you're not selling a broken vehicle, and then take it from there.
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| Author: | TallNorton [ Mon Feb 28, 2011 7:17 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: KJ Stalling - Repeated Repairs |
I'm a grand deep already so I'm at 20% of the value of the car in the last 2 weeks with no guarantee that I'll get it home still. I'm also out of AAA tows. Maybe I'll see if someone can take a trailer down and pull it home so at least it's here. This problem is definitely related to the engine heating up and shorting out something. With the cam and crank sensors replaced, I'd hope it would be fixed, but from what I read online it's likely going to continue. |
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