FIRST POST!!! WOO!!! (problem too - melting rubber)

BrendonR · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 12:59 am

Hi folks, I've been lurking here for awhile now - not in a creepy way, but in a "can't get my registration" way.

Thanks DiggerFreek for the setup!

I suppose I should introduce first...

Brendon R. - Calgary AB Canada
2008 Jeep Liberty Ltd.
Red Rock Crystal Pearl
Sky Slider
18" wheels

My fiance and I have had our KK for 9 months now, absolutely love it!

BUT... Dun Dun Dun... we've now had our first issue.

Lately, when I get the jeep into my garage, i can smell burnt/melted rubber! main location is from the back driver's side wheel. I had to change out the spare tire, and it looks like the full sized spare is melting against the frame rail (the furthest FRONT the tire goes).

I wedged a piece of cardboard in there for now, but I'm wondering if anybody else has had this come up? I can't see any reason why it would be getting excessively hot down there - there's nothing above it other than the cargo area.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for all the great posts so far!

BrendonR.

Mr Nick · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:02 am

If something is causing the spare tire to get hot enough to melt, I sure wouldn't want a flammable piece of cardboard in there...

I'd hate for you to have a fire in your new Jeep.

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:30 am

Welcome

the only thing I can think of is the heat shield got bent while your were winching up the spare so now it is sitting on the exhaust

BrendonR · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:50 am

I feel compelled to tell the whole story here... this MAY get wordy, so I appoligize in advance.

Long ago, in a galaxy far far away....

wait... no, it started in Calgary maybe a week or two ago.

My fiance and I started to notice, when we pulled into the garage, a burnt/melting rubber smell - most noticable toward the drivers rear tire. I shrugged it off, as there's a ton of snow, and thought, "eh, ESP".

Next up, a few days ago (Monday maybe), we started to notice a noise. At first I thought it sounded like worn brakes on a warped rotor - but soon realized it sounded more like a metal on metal squeek. I could not reproduce the noise on purpose, it just seemed to happen randomly. Next day, it's worse, and getting progressivly worse all the time. (appointment at chrysler made at this point)

I changed to the spare tire (full size) and bam, the noise went away, but there was still the melting smell. Took it into the shop - explained all of this as best I could - and went to work.

Well surprise surprise, they didn't find anything wrong. I took the Jeep home, and changed the tire back (put the cardboard in now). The roads are wet enough right now, that i'm not too worried about any fires - but the "regular" tire was even a little melty in the same two spots as the spare was.

Under the jeep, where the spare is, is a frame rail which the tire presses up on (roughly 2/3rds the way to the front of the tire). THAT is what is melting the tire!

I realized this morning (in the shower - where I'm sure EVERYONE does their best thinking... :lol:

) where the noise is coming from (or, was). As the tire up under melted, it got smaller, allowing it to move around a little bit under the frame, rubbing, and... *drumroll please*... squeeking!

I guess I'm just looking for an answer now to the question of WHY!?! Has nobody else had this issue? I'm going to head back to my dealership tomorrow and explain/request 5 new wheels... but new tires aren't exactly a fix for the heat/melting issue....

Any help would be appreciated as always!

BrendonR

BrendonR · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 1:20 pm

And here's a photo - stole your pic Digger, hope you don't mind.

The red line is roughly where the crossmember is that I'm talking about. Anybody have any theory's as to why it's getting hot? doesn't look like exhaust flows through there...

http://s435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/BrendonR00/?action=view&current=Kissitv2.jpg

BrendonR

silverfox · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:13 pm

This is not a good thing to know.....just another list of problems :evil:

BrendonR · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 6:21 pm

I talked with the service manager at my dealership earlier today.

When asked if he's heard of this, his response was a definite, "no, never. Get this into the shop Monday, put "attention Dave" on the w/o and I'll be looking at this myself. It's definitly wrong."

At least THAT was somewhat encouraging. for the weekend, I'll be taking the tire out of it's normal spot - and just carying it in the cargo area. Attached to the W/O will also be a certain, "customer requires new spare tire as his first has MELTED!"

I'll keep everyone updated.

corwyyn · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 9:47 pm

Diggerfreek wrote:

Welcome

the only thing I can think of is the heat shield got bent while your were winching up the spare so now it is sitting on the exhaust

Either that or some kind of transfer is going on between the exhaust and that crossmember. From that picture it looks to me like the exhaust pipe is routed up through that area but I can't tell for sure without looking at one in person.

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:13 pm

corwyyn wrote:

Diggerfreek wrote:

Welcome

the only thing I can think of is the heat shield got bent while your were winching up the spare so now it is sitting on the exhaust

Either that or some kind of transfer is going on between the exhaust and that crossmember. From that picture it looks to me like the exhaust pipe is routed up through that area but I can't tell for sure without looking at one in person.

If the pipe was pushed up against the cross member it could transfer I guess, how ever it would be really hard to do that unless you have been off road :twisted:

BrendonR · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2009 1:00 pm

Well the spare tire was off all weekend - parked it in the garage - and guess what? The smell was STILL there. It's not noticeable when I'm simply driving around on dry roads, but I'm in 4wd to get into my garage (8" of snow/ice). When I park in the garage, I can smell rubber.

It's in the shop today with the service manager, but jeeze this one's getting annoying. I'll let everyone know what they say this afternoon.

Brendon.

BrendonR · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2009 5:54 pm

Well I just got the phonecall from Jeep and here's their story.

Not sure why/how/when, but the spare tire appears to have been loose enough (under, in it's usual spot) that it could vibrate around down there.

Vibrating against the bedliner/spray liner underneath causes friction/mechanical heat, which eventually melted the tire (and bedliner)

As it vibrated, it wore through the bedliner, exposing the metal frame-rail underneath, causing the squeek.

Renfrew Chrysler here in Calgary has re-sprayed the liner, and tightened the tire back up inside @ no cost to me.

I'm still a little skeptical of their answer... but I guess I'll just drive it for awhile... or until something more important/expensive breaks. I've at least got it on record now that there was a problem. I'll have to check the hand-winch from time to time to make sure it's tight/nothing's shaking.

Rick K · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:15 pm

Oh brother, mechanical friction! I wouldn't even give the dealership credit for an unusual answer. That is totally bogus.

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:19 pm

yeah, unless you paid th have it under coated, there is no bed lining so to speak. Only paint and dirt down there

BrendonR · **Posted:** Tue Jan 20, 2009 6:16 pm

Well here's the update:

The Squeek noise IS gone (however was also gone when I changed the tire - no thanks to chrysler for that)...

The smell? still there when I come into the garage from my back alley/transferring out of 4wd.

I've seen online here in a few different places - many people seem to have strange smells coming from the underside of their cars when it's slushy/snowy/wet out. Not sure if that's the connection or not.

I guess the official answer is, "drive it until something more important/expensive" breaks. I've got it on my record here that Crysler looked at this, and couldn't find the real problem, so I shouldn't have any warranty issues.

Thanks for the help everyone.

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:19 am

drive it till is blows... do you have many cats in your neighborhood? :lol:

BrendonR · **Posted:** Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:43 am

Haven't seen many stray cats (only one "missing cat" poster up).... but LOTS of jackrabbits around though... they breed like... well... rabbits!

Don't think i've hit any of them though...

johnb · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:18 pm

BrendonR - manual or auto tranny?

BrendonR · **Posted:** Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:32 pm

johnb wrote:

BrendonR - manual or auto tranny?

Auto.

oddly enough - not saying the shop was right - there was no smell yesterday...

Guest · **Posted:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:55 am

silverfox wrote:

This is not a good thing to know.....just another rist of probrems :evil:

Totarry not even going to type what I was initiarry thinking :rorr:
Go buy your Pirot arready if you don't rike your Riberty.

SilverKK09 · **Posted:** Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:18 am

silverfox wrote:

This is not a good thing to know.....just another list of problems :evil:

I would not worry about you getting this particular issue... it seems like an isolated issue Silverfox:
How's your kk doing?? have you sorted out all the issues it had?

FIRST POST!!! WOO!!! (problem too - melting rubber)

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