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Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2018 10:22 pm
by 5chn3ll
I'd been 100% happy with the Cherokee, but...after a couple of hours working from above, I finally pulled off the driver side front wheel, removed three fender liner bolts, and folded back the fender liner all to...drum roll...change the driver-side HID bulb.

What a crapshow.

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 5:46 am
by 32wildbilly
5chn3ll wrote: Tue Sep 18, 2018 10:22 pm I'd been 100% happy with the Cherokee, but...after a couple of hours working from above, I finally pulled off the driver side front wheel, removed three fender liner bolts, and folded back the fender liner all to...drum roll...change the driver-side HID bulb.

What a crapshow.
Seriously? Wait...that a fairly new vehicle that has spent a significant part of it's existence at the body shop waiting to return to the groove of your life. How can a HID bulb be burned out already?

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:50 am
by FRUNKenstein
We had to remove the front bumper cover on my son's 2004 BMW X5 to replace the low beam bulbs. Unbelievable, isn't it?

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 9:21 am
by DTMiller
The Acadia requires a 78 pound contortionist to replace the $176 bulb.

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 9:27 am
by gnat
Yeah Porsche seriously spoils us with their head lights.

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 9:59 am
by Kalashnikov
Good old Chrysler engineering. In college one of the cars I had was an extremely heavily modified Eagle talon TSI AWD. The car epitomized the DSM acronym--driver slash mechanic.

Without exaggeration it was breaking something new weekly. Final straw came when I was pulling into work one day and saw a trail of trans fluid behind me. I towed the car home to find that driver's side axle carrier bearing bolts broke and axle popped out from transmission. The bolts broke inside the engine block and there was no way to squeeze a drill and an easy out into that spot. Forum members advised me to pull the engine after I spent a weekend trying to get to those bolts. As-is 'tow away' it went to CL.

Not surprisingly probably less than 12 months later I got a bill from towing yard saying the car was abandoned and I owe them $3k. I said FU and showed my release of liability and as-is no smog firm that buyer signed.

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 11:35 am
by 5chn3ll
I'm accustomed to historical Mopar/Chrysler quality issues; I've actually been really impressed with the quality and layout of the Wrangler. The double-jointed octopus that drew up the layout for the engine bay, though, needs an ass-kicking*.

* If octopuses have asses...

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 1:49 pm
by 5chn3ll
OK, Jeep, you earned back some cred.

I detailed the wife's Cherokee engine bay on Saturday (I'm wrong in the head).

On Sunday, we went out to the high desert to dick around and watch the SpaceX launch. It also wound up involving a lot of fast driving on a lake bed, which not-so-unexpectedly de-evolved into 40MPH drift-nuts and MASSIVE amounts of dirt and sand.

The engine bay is still spotless. I am blown away by how well they weatherproofed the whole mess...

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:20 pm
by gnat
That of course directly correlates with how big of a pain in the ass it will be to work on anything in there that is not directly accessible from the hood...

Re: Dammit, Jeep...

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 2:33 pm
by 5chn3ll
The Cherokee is an i4, transverse mounted, with the manifold facing toward the front; it's the same 2.4 liter "MultiAir" engine that's in a bunch of Fiats and the Jeep Renegade.

Turns out that Road Race Motorsports has a turbo kit for the inline 4...this text discusses the Renegade, but the kit (or _a_ kit) is also available for the Cherokee...

The all new 2014+ Jeep Renegade automatic 9 speed transmission turbo system development is complete.On the Jeep Renegade 2.4L it produces 290HP and 285 lbs ft of torque. The system includes all the necessary parts to turbo your Renegade, pre programed fuel management, 16g turbo charger, front mount intercooler, and all the piping. The intercooler piping comes powder coated wrinkle black and the manifold is ceramic coated to prevent rust or corrosion. This is a complete kit to just install and go. This turbo system was developed to produce the maximum HP that can be safely achieved on the Renegade to ensure proper diving characteristics and reliability. This item is a special order item. Once ordered and paid for there are absolutely no returns.


The bummer about the stock configuration is 171 lb-ft of torque; bumping that up another 100 lb-ft would address the one gripe (other than the headlight bulb location) I have about the car...

Hm...