04’ JMT’s Twin Teenagers Build

Well if you can stop the rust from progressing , tub corners and sliders cover those areas and fenders can be dealt with many ways, in fact I have seen more complete fenders on CL than half doors. = .02
That’s the best way IMHO too! Quick, easy, and clean finish. Aluminum corners or silver painted steel corners look good with Patriot blue rig! Match the front fenders with some silver painted front MCE’s and you are done with all that for around $750. For another $150 you could do rear MCE fenders and paint them silver too. Sell the Rubi flares to recoup.
 
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Replacement front fenders both sides $206
Poison Spyder Corner Armor $173.99

Cheapest solutions I can think of for the rust areas except the door issue, which they may just live with until a cheap door shows up.
 
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Replacement front fenders both sides $206
Poison Spyder Corner Armor $173.99

Cheapest solutions I can think of for the rust areas except the door issue, which they may just live with until a cheap door shows up.
You might have the twins practice welding too... They can try to repair (or you can) that corner. If it turns out nice, great! Paint it. If it turns out like do-do, corner armor hides all sins!
 
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Thats a bitchen price for a Rubi.
WE'll see how bitchen the price is when I get it on Saturday. I'll start posting up some pics. It's throwing 2 codes (P0133 and P2069). I've got all the 02 sensors on order, I'll be cleaning the fuel injectors new iridium tipped plugs, and start checking exhaust for any pin holes to weld up. Hopefully that will clear all codes.

Then we will get started on the rust. I think this can turn out to be a nice rig. It's just going to be one of those where it's a lot of work, but the end product could end up meaning we got a steal. Just depends on how much we get after the rust and what we find when we get into it.
 
Reference back to this post in July 2021. Overheated during long idle. A year and two months later and overheated again.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/04’-jmt’s-twin-teenagers-build.48334/post-922057

Idling again when it overheated this time. I wasn’t there and my son tried to turn the radiator cap while it was hot and of course fluid came out but the Has the safety so it did not come off all the way. He put it back on and of course fluid was on a lot of stuff and smoke was everywhere when I arrived. They let it cool down and drove home last night.

As you can see from last year‘s post we replaced the thermostat (Stant), fan clutch (Hayden), water pump (Chrysler), and thermostat housing. I assume the pump and thermostat are OK. This morning we went out to try to figure it all out. Crank up the car let it get up to temperature with the radiator cap off. He was low on coolant. Don’t know if it was leaking or just lost from my son trying to remove the cap. There was quite a bit running down the radiator cap side and underneath in the pitman arm, drag link, et al. We added some more coolant, removed the cap and cranked it up. When it got to running temp the top hose did get hot suddenly indicating the thermostat was working and we could also see coolant flowing through the radiator so the pump is working. Drive to the auto parts store to get some more coolant and distilled water. Everything seemed fine. When we came back out and got in the jeep and cranked it up immediately lots of steam came out of the engine bay. We stopped and took a look. We couldn’t see anything leaking. So, we cranked it up again and everything seem fine so we drove home and the temperatures never got over to 10. Most the time it was slightly lower than that. Oh well, I don’t know but we’re going to keep an eye on it and keep some coolant in the jeep and check it before each time we leave and look for drips. If nothing is leaking Will do a radiator flush. It’s possible that the radiator has a lot of rust and it’s not permitting cooling.
 
Reference back to this post in July 2021. Overheated during long idle. A year and two months later and overheated again.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/04’-jmt’s-twin-teenagers-build.48334/post-922057

Idling again when it overheated this time. I wasn’t there and my son tried to turn the radiator cap while it was hot and of course fluid came out but the Has the safety so it did not come off all the way. He put it back on and of course fluid was on a lot of stuff and smoke was everywhere when I arrived. They let it cool down and drove home last night.

As you can see from last year‘s post we replaced the thermostat (Stant), fan clutch (Hayden), water pump (Chrysler), and thermostat housing. I assume the pump and thermostat are OK. This morning we went out to try to figure it all out. Crank up the car let it get up to temperature with the radiator cap off. He was low on coolant. Don’t know if it was leaking or just lost from my son trying to remove the cap. There was quite a bit running down the radiator cap side and underneath in the pitman arm, drag link, et al. We added some more coolant, removed the cap and cranked it up. When it got to running temp the top hose did get hot suddenly indicating the thermostat was working and we could also see coolant flowing through the radiator so the pump is working. Drive to the auto parts store to get some more coolant and distilled water. Everything seemed fine. When we came back out and got in the jeep and cranked it up immediately lots of steam came out of the engine bay. We stopped and took a look. We couldn’t see anything leaking. So, we cranked it up again and everything seem fine so we drove home and the temperatures never got over to 10. Most the time it was slightly lower than that. Oh well, I don’t know but we’re going to keep an eye on it and keep some coolant in the jeep and check it before each time we leave and look for drips. If nothing is leaking Will do a radiator flush. It’s possible that the radiator has a lot of rust and it’s not permitting cooling.

Not that this will solve the problem but I've seen someone with a 4.0 have overheating problems fixed by using another jeeps cap. Since you have 3 jeeps that could be an easy experiment.
 
Not that this will solve the problem but I've seen someone with a 4.0 have overheating problems fixed by using another jeeps cap. Since you have 3 jeeps that could be an easy experiment.

Thank you. Great idea!
 
my son tried to turn the radiator cap while it was hot and of course fluid came out but the Has the safety so it did not come off all the way.

I'm glad nothing bad happened. I assume you told them about not doing that. My cousin just spent a few days in the hospital treating burns for a similar situation.

The cap will be a simple test for you. If that doesn't work, maybe you have an air pocket? I don't know if the 4.0 is prone to air pockets, but sometimes a trapped air pocket can cause overheating issues that show up at low rpm.
 
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I'm glad nothing bad happened. I assume you told them about not doing that. My cousin just spent a few days in the hospital treating burns for a similar situation.

The cap will be a simple test for you. If that doesn't work, maybe you have an air pocket? I don't know if the 4.0 is prone to air pockets, but sometimes a trapped air pocket can cause overheating issues that show up at low rpm.

Yeah, I told his brother on the phone to tell him not to take the radiator cap off. His brother told him and he proceeded to do it anyway. I ranted to my wife for 3 minutes as we drove their. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Read the caps on things kids! Don’t ruin you face or eyes. That was so dumb. I’m still mad about it.

If their was an air pocket we probably burped it on the refill when we brought it up to operating temp with the cap off. Maybe that’s why it’s running fine now. I cleaned all the coolant off so we could see if there’s a leak. It looks fine. I suspect we just need to do a coolant flush so we can increase the radiator efficiency.

Thanks for help.
 
When my daughters TJ was doing this I found a crack in the upper radiator tank.
Go back to the auto parts store and rent a coolant system pressure tester. If you don't have one of course.

20220930_131906.jpg


It'll have this pump in it to pressurize the system with. You pump it up and see if it will hold the pressure. I think 16 lbs but check.

20220930_131915.jpg


Then it will also have this adapter to check the radiator cap.

20220930_131929.jpg


Again you pump it up to the specified pressure to see if it holds.
 
When my daughters TJ was doing this I found a crack in the upper radiator tank.
Go back to the auto parts store and rent a coolant system pressure tester. If you don't have one of course.

View attachment 363353

It'll have this pump in it to pressurize the system with. You pump it up and see if it will hold the pressure. I think 16 lbs but check.

View attachment 363351

Then it will also have this adapter to check the radiator cap.

View attachment 363352

Again you pump it up to the specified pressure to see if it holds.

Good plan. I’ll rent one. We flushed it today. Didn’t see much. Seems to be running fine today, but the system has something weak in it.
 
Good plan. I’ll rent one. We flushed it today. Didn’t see much. Seems to be running fine today, but the system has something weak in it.

If it's a leak some place by pressurizing the system, you should be able to find it. You want to let it sit for 10 minutes of so once it's pumped up. And most auto parts stores rent them for free. You put a deposit on the tool and then once you bring it back, they give you the deposit back.





Just a couple to give you an idea.
 
Another problem with the cooling system. This time in 8*F weather. He started it up and let it warm up (idle) for 10-15 minutes. Then started driving. The temp just kept going higher way on past 210. He said it was boiling in the overflow tank. I pulled it off the road. Went back 3 hours later and it did fine. When it reached 195* the thermostat opened and the temp never got above 205 or so. 🤷‍♂️ This is the third time I’ve had a problem with overheating. I’ve replaced the thermostat, the fan clutch, the water pump, and I’ve flushed the radiator.

Thinking the only thing left is the radiator. 🤷‍♂️ It just happens randomly.

Any advice?
 
Another problem with the cooling system. This time in 8*F weather. He started it up and let it warm up (idle) for 10-15 minutes. Then started driving. The temp just kept going higher way on past 210. He said it was boiling in the overflow tank. I pulled it off the road. Went back 3 hours later and it did fine. When it reached 195* the thermostat opened and the temp never got above 205 or so. 🤷‍♂️ This is the third time I’ve had a problem with overheating. I’ve replaced the thermostat, the fan clutch, the water pump, and I’ve flushed the radiator.

Thinking the only thing left is the radiator. 🤷‍♂️ It just happens randomly.

Any advice?

It sounds like a sticky thermostat possibly. Did you ever pressure test your system? Just because it's new doesn't mean it can't be bad.
 
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It sounds like a sticky thermostat possibly. Did you ever pressure test your system? Just because it's new doesn't mean it can't be bad.

That was the first thing we thought of since intermittent. Not sure what to do about it though. Get another thermostat? It was cold. Can that cause it to stick? It was a Stant and I put the hole at the top. It happens once every 5-8 months. 🤷‍♂️
 
It sounds like a sticky thermostat possibly. Did you ever pressure test your system? Just because it's new doesn't mean it can't be bad.

I can’t remember if I pressure tested it or not. Is the pressure test to check for leaks?