My Other Mopar

So this is Eos my Jeep. Its a 2004 Jeep Liberty.  I was lucky enough to receive it as a gift from my parents for my birthday/ Christmas this year.





'Merica




Can you tell I am used to driving a lowered car?


Next to her brother


Proper introduction to IL

I had the whole story of how I got it home typed out and I lost it. Too tired to re-write it tonight will do it tomorrow. Enjoy the pics.

like the pic next to ares

the engine looks really clean. nice.

Very cool, congrats

Merica.....

Should do fine in the snow. I've locked 'em in a couple of times in my Wrangler and it's awesome. It also does quite well in two wheel drive. I figure because of good tires, short wheelbase (I bet the soccer mom Unlimiteds aren't as good), and all the shit I have in the back.

I want two feet of snow to give me a challenge.

HiPwr wrote:

Should do fine in the snow.  I've locked 'em in a couple of times in my Wrangler and it's awesome.  It also does quite well in two wheel drive.  I figure because of good tires, short wheelbase (I bet the soccer mom Unlimiteds aren't as good), and all the shit I have in the back.

I want two feet of snow to give me a challenge.

Fuck snow, I dont want any of that shit

Yeah Jon I told my dad that I think the engine was cleaner then the Chargers. Ok next post will be the long ass story of my three weeks in FL.

The story of getting Eos to IL.

The original plan was I flew to FL on December 13th and my mom and I were going to drive back on December 28th and 29th and she would fly back on the 30th.

To start the story off my dad’s friends run a used car lot, they buy cars (mostly wrecked or theft recovery) and fix them to sell.  My dad has gotten at least 5 cars through them so this is nothing new to us.  Eos was a theft recovery; she was missing seats and the passenger side seatbelt I believe, and maybe some of the panels.  They left the airbags, radio, etc all the stuff that you can make you money.  So I have my theories about what happened with this car.   Eos had a little over 169xxx miles on her when she was purchased.  At the same time they bought her they bought 4 other Liberties, 3 to fix and 2 parts cars.

Eos was supposed to be ready before I got there but she wasn’t so I actually did not go get her until the 19th.  Drove her back to my parents’ house and I got a check engine light when I gave it a little more than half throttle.  Did the key trick and got a general misfire code.  Dad’s friend the travelling mechanic said he would come over the next day.  It was running a little rough and I could hear it surging at idle but it had been sitting for 6 months so I figured maybe it just needed to be driven to get things flowing.

Dad’s friend came over and did stuff, I was working and baking cookies so I was not out in the garage with them the whole time.  I know he dumped a two or three of those cleaner liquids into the Jeep and it smoothed right out.    I drove it to the beach the next day and on the way home it popped on the oil light for 30 secs and the check engine light.  I got it home, did the key trick and 4 codes, 2 codes about the cat, one ref bank 2, and 2 codes about the 4x4 system, which I had not touched.  So friend of dads comes back. The seats stopped having power so that was fixed as well, had to do some rewiring or something.   Cleared the codes and not sure what else he did.  Jeep seemed to be fine.  My parents took it out on Christmas Day and drove it for an hour and a half no issues.

Got ready to leave on the 28th and at the last second I went to use the windshield wipers to get FL water off the car and nothing.    Worked on it checked fuses and resistors nothing.  Met dads friend half way to  his place and he got them to work. Yay.  And we were off.  Mom and me in the Jeep and aunt and cousin behind his, headed up 95 North, stopped got gas, kept driving.  2 miles outside of Savannah, 2 hours into the trip, I notice the temp gauge is climbing.  I turn on the heat, aunt calls to tell me that they see black smoke from the Jeep.  Within a mile the temp gauge is pegged.  We pull over I open the hood and boiling coolant.  Neat.   Called dad he said let it cool off and it might be best to bring it back to FL.  Went and ate at a diner that was still in 1954, good pulled pork though.

Jeep was 100% empty of coolant, added water that we had (little known to me it had been running hot weeks before I went home and no one said anything to me, my dad kept asking me about the gauge moving but never told me why).  Jeep seemed to be ok and we left, made it about 500 feet and gauge began moving again.  Back to the diner.   Dad called to say he was going to pick up the tow dolley and he would head our way.  Let the Jeep cool off for 30 more mins and it seemed fine so we took off, made it 6 more miles south before it went to the red again.  Got to hang out in a parking lot for 2 hours waiting on my dad.  Talked to Adam about possible causes and how to burp the lines, took a pic of the gas station sign that said we not have chewy ice (I love the south).    Got the Jeep on the dolley and headed home at a speedy 55 mph.  The straps my dad’s friends gave him with the dolley were meant for cars with smaller wheels, they barely fit on the Jeep.  One of the straps gave up the ghost about 3 turns from my parents’ house, we did not notice it until we were in the driveway and saw the Jeep was kinda sitting sideways on the dolley and it was missing a strap.

Dad and I burped all the air out of the system the next day, so much air, and he took it back to the car lot and I talked to my boss and was able to get one more week in FL.  I am very thankful I have a job that allows me this flexibility, they drive me nuts sometimes but I am really lucky.  Found out on Monday that the radiator was clogged at the bottom so from the parts Jeep came a radiator and then they bought another new thermostat.   Also before I got there they changed out all the hoses, brakes, thermostat, and put in seats from one of the parts Jeeps.    I also told them it sounded like a chain was being drug under the Jeep so they pulled the exhaust off and found out that whatever was in the cat had melted into a ball and then when they were blowing it out it somehow got into the muffler and clogged it, so new muffler and gutted cat. Yay!  They also read there was a service bulletin for the surging issue so they took it to the dealership on the 31st to have the ECM or PCM flashed.  They got it back and it was still kinda rough so it was suggested to use this stuff called Liquid Glass, they thought maybe the heads were cracked or something.  I read up on the Liquid Glass stuff for engines and said why the hell not.  

They did the engine stuff on the 2nd and I brought it home.  Plan was to leave on Saturday the 3rd.  Drained the Jeep of all coolant the night before and let it sit, if you run the Liquid Glass stuff in the coolant it will eat the water pump.  Also was told to put octane boost in it so that went in as well.  Next morning dad put water back in and started the Jeep and it sounded like someone ran off with half the engine.  It was sputtering and shuddering and was way down on power.  Dad wouldn’t let us leave and he took it back to the shop and barely made it.  So I cancelled my mom’s flight (again) and booked mine.  Sat around all day until about 4 when dad sent me a text to come get him from the shop.  Mom and I pull in and the 4 of them are around the back of my Jeep and my dad is grinning as we pulled in.  I remember muttering they fixed the damn thing.

They started with the fuel pump in the tank, I apparently have a access panel to the tank. I didn’t ask, I don’t want to know about the redneck engineering that created that.   They said it was clogged up, blaming the other mechanic for putting all that junk in to fix the stumbling weeks ago.  Was still running horrible so they looked at the coil packs.  I guess when they first got it one of the coil packs was bad, when they checked again the other 5 were bad.  They were all white and two had holes in them where they could see the sparks coming out the holes.    Parts Jeeps, new coils, and its 100%, great.    Took it down to Palm Coast to have dinner with Tom C and Mary and on the way check engine light.  Pulled over, key trick, cat codes and 1 4x4 code.  I talked myself into the cat codes making sense because I had gutted cats so it made sense and I was hoping the 4x4 was because a sensor was going bad.

We left FL at 532 am EST/ 432 am CST on Sunday and I walked into my condo at 1:30 AM CST Monday morning.  Never in my life have I been so stressed out driving a car, I wouldn’t let my mom drive any so I did the whole way.  I might have lost it around Lafayette when it was snowing and with a slight tap on the gas leaving the gas station the back end jumped out a bit.  

So that is the story of the Jeeps journey from FL to IL.  I am very attached to it already, I put a CAMM decal on the first night it was at my parents and it also has a Vic decal.  It is not pretty inside, this Jeep was not treated well at all but it’s all cosmetic.  The only thing I have to figure out now is I do not have airbags, it’s because of the missing passenger side seatbelt, the airbag plugs are at the bottom, and the current seatbelt does not have the plug.  We pulled a replacement from a parts Jeep but did not have time to mess with it so I am going to have to bribe Adam to help me with this.  Check engine light is still on but it’s the same codes, cat codes and the one 4x4.  The other day I put it in 4x4 but then took it out and the part time light stayed on.  On the way to the airport that light was fluttering and it went off, so that makes me think sensor because I could tell it was not in 2x4 or 4x4.  The heat is acting a little strange but this thing has never been out of the state of FL so I am thinking the cold might be a shock for it.  

I have to get it registered and a real tag on it then I will see when Adam can fit it in and have him go over it with a fine toothed comb.   So welcome my new pain in ass to the group, she is just like her brother Ares.  I have no plans to mod it any outside of a few cosmetic things.  I want to put seat covers and I would like to fix the headliner (someone burned it with cigs).  The wheels are shiny chrome I might plasti dip them black or grey to match the trim.  I have to take it to a dealership to get a hitch put on per a recall.  

Thanks for reading my long story.  I am very thankful my parents did this nice thing for me and was really upset by all the stress it put my dad under so I am going to do something nice for him once he is back from SC next week.

Ok so now the question. This thing is VERY VERY floaty. Dry or wet road. I know its taller and its about 100 pounds less than the Charger so I am hoping I just have to get used to being in tall Jeep again. But I don't know if there is anything I can do to make it feel more stable. Do not really want to put too much money into it but I want to be safe.

Suggestions.

First warm day I am going to clay it, seal the paint, and get something on the trim pieces to bring them back. There is a scuff on one so I need to address that too. Outside of that and a few small dings the body on this thing is better than my Charger.

What an adventure! Important thing is you got home safe and with FL oranges . Let's bring out our redneck and go muddin. LOL

Right now I'm scared it will fall over in the mud. I told my dad one day we will look back on this and laugh.

Wow, sounds like a great time!

The best thing was I was in FL for three weeks and got to spend so much time with my nephew. Would go through all the stress again to have that time with him.

Im glad you were able to get it back. The floaty thing sounds like the shocks can be worn out (might be the originals). The jeep should be slightly bouncy, not floaty. Also the heat thing, might be due to the heater hoses being clogged. If you turn the heat on and cold air comes out but you do not smell antifreeze, then I'm leaning towards clogged hoses. You can check them by having the engine running and warmed up, then touching each of the hoses. If one is hot and one isnt, then you have a clog.

I started a trend of owning a red Charger and a white Jeep.

I don't know about "floaty" but they certainly handle poorly on the street. There's a reason they have factory roll cages.