I just wanted to give Mark @Wranglerfix a big shout out and major Kudos for providing a great product and unparalleled customer service. Sorry for the verbosity but I had to tell this story.
Here's why.
Last week my son flew out from the east cost to Albuquerque and we then drove to Moab to spend the week wheeling in my LJR 6spd. Moab is about a 6h drive. I had done all the pre-trip maintenance I could think of and the Jeep was running and driving great. On the way to Moab on 10/23, the weather turned to shit and we drove through a snow storm and a lot of rain. The Jeep never missed a beat getting to Moab but the next morning was a different story.
Monday morning we got up to a cold, sub-freezing morning but Moab was amazingly gorgeous draped in white. We were all excited to do Top of the World which I wrongly assumed would be snow-free by the time we got up there. Anyway, since it was so cold, I fired up the Jeep and let it warm up to operating temperature while we loaded drinks, snacks, etc. No problem so far. We drove north from where we were staying toward town which was about 5 miles before things started to get weird. As we were driving through town, it seemed to misfire a couple times while on the gas. Then I noticed while coasting in gear, the speedometer would randomly drop to zero and bounce back to actual speed. Then it stalled while sitting at a light. It restarted. Then it stalled at a light but would not immediately restart. I coasted over to the parking lane pondering the situation. Then it restarted again. This time I pulled off in a parking lot and checked all the obvious stuff, visible grounds, battery connections. I also reseated all the PCM connectors. All of them looked clean and dry. Anyway, after that stop, the Jeep started and we decided to take a chance and continue on unless we had further problems.
At this point, I'm thinking my PCM is failing, I'm 6 hours from home with my son who is spending a precious week of his vacation time to spend the week wheeling in Moab with me and my now not-so-reliable Jeep.
So onward we went and the Jeep behaved perfectly but I was pretty unsure how long that would last. We started up Top of the World and the upper, more challenging part was completely snow covered and quite a bit more challenging than the only other time I did that trail. While on the trail waiting for a slow group in front of us, I thought about the issues earlier in the morning and took some action since we had cell phone service. I decided that my PCM was almost certainly the cause of the earlier issues and called WranglerFix. I asked if they had a replacement PCM for my rig and what it would cost to ship it quickly. I spoke to Mark and he said he had one he could overnight to Moab and that the forum discount would basically cover the very reasonable overnight shipping cost. I was pleasantly shocked but now I needed to find a good address to ship to in Moab. I didn't want to ship to the rental unit we were staying in. Fortunately, the sweeper for the group in front of us was a business owner in Moab and agreed to having a new PCM for me shipped to their address right in town. Another call to WranglerFix and a brand new PCM was on its way to Moab.
Next day, Tuesday, it was again pretty cold in the morning with heavy frost but the Jeep behaved normally and, with some trepidation, we decided to risk another day of wheeling with my suspect PCM while waiting for the new PCM to arrive. The Jeep never missed a beat fortunately and around noon I got a call that my new PCM was in! This is really the most amazing thing. In less than 24 hours after my phone purchase, I had a new PCM waiting for me in Moab. This is why I had to start this thread. Kudos to Mark and his company on the most amazing customer service imaginable!
We wheeled the rest of the day without issue and made sure we got back to town early enough to pick up the new PCM before closing time. Since the Jeep was behaving, I decided to just keep the new PCM on board as a spare and swap it out at home unless events dictated otherwise. Fortunately, the weather warmed somewhat during the week and the Jeep never missed a beat after the initial scare. I knew my old PCM was a possible if not likely failure candidate and planned to purchase a spare when funds allowed. Events sped up that timetable and I planned to swap in the new PCM as soon as possible after getting home.
So 2 days ago I swapped in the new PCM. It turns out it would have been a bit of a nightmare to swap out in Moab. One of the mounting screws was seized in the PCM itself. I had to drill out close to 1/2" of the screw to get the old PCM out. Those mounting screws are odd, torx/flange head 1-3/4" long sheet metal screws. A 2" screw will hit the firewall behind the mounting plate. Anyway, the new PCM so far works perfectly, no discernable difference from OEM.
Here's why.
Last week my son flew out from the east cost to Albuquerque and we then drove to Moab to spend the week wheeling in my LJR 6spd. Moab is about a 6h drive. I had done all the pre-trip maintenance I could think of and the Jeep was running and driving great. On the way to Moab on 10/23, the weather turned to shit and we drove through a snow storm and a lot of rain. The Jeep never missed a beat getting to Moab but the next morning was a different story.
Monday morning we got up to a cold, sub-freezing morning but Moab was amazingly gorgeous draped in white. We were all excited to do Top of the World which I wrongly assumed would be snow-free by the time we got up there. Anyway, since it was so cold, I fired up the Jeep and let it warm up to operating temperature while we loaded drinks, snacks, etc. No problem so far. We drove north from where we were staying toward town which was about 5 miles before things started to get weird. As we were driving through town, it seemed to misfire a couple times while on the gas. Then I noticed while coasting in gear, the speedometer would randomly drop to zero and bounce back to actual speed. Then it stalled while sitting at a light. It restarted. Then it stalled at a light but would not immediately restart. I coasted over to the parking lane pondering the situation. Then it restarted again. This time I pulled off in a parking lot and checked all the obvious stuff, visible grounds, battery connections. I also reseated all the PCM connectors. All of them looked clean and dry. Anyway, after that stop, the Jeep started and we decided to take a chance and continue on unless we had further problems.
At this point, I'm thinking my PCM is failing, I'm 6 hours from home with my son who is spending a precious week of his vacation time to spend the week wheeling in Moab with me and my now not-so-reliable Jeep.
So onward we went and the Jeep behaved perfectly but I was pretty unsure how long that would last. We started up Top of the World and the upper, more challenging part was completely snow covered and quite a bit more challenging than the only other time I did that trail. While on the trail waiting for a slow group in front of us, I thought about the issues earlier in the morning and took some action since we had cell phone service. I decided that my PCM was almost certainly the cause of the earlier issues and called WranglerFix. I asked if they had a replacement PCM for my rig and what it would cost to ship it quickly. I spoke to Mark and he said he had one he could overnight to Moab and that the forum discount would basically cover the very reasonable overnight shipping cost. I was pleasantly shocked but now I needed to find a good address to ship to in Moab. I didn't want to ship to the rental unit we were staying in. Fortunately, the sweeper for the group in front of us was a business owner in Moab and agreed to having a new PCM for me shipped to their address right in town. Another call to WranglerFix and a brand new PCM was on its way to Moab.
Next day, Tuesday, it was again pretty cold in the morning with heavy frost but the Jeep behaved normally and, with some trepidation, we decided to risk another day of wheeling with my suspect PCM while waiting for the new PCM to arrive. The Jeep never missed a beat fortunately and around noon I got a call that my new PCM was in! This is really the most amazing thing. In less than 24 hours after my phone purchase, I had a new PCM waiting for me in Moab. This is why I had to start this thread. Kudos to Mark and his company on the most amazing customer service imaginable!
We wheeled the rest of the day without issue and made sure we got back to town early enough to pick up the new PCM before closing time. Since the Jeep was behaving, I decided to just keep the new PCM on board as a spare and swap it out at home unless events dictated otherwise. Fortunately, the weather warmed somewhat during the week and the Jeep never missed a beat after the initial scare. I knew my old PCM was a possible if not likely failure candidate and planned to purchase a spare when funds allowed. Events sped up that timetable and I planned to swap in the new PCM as soon as possible after getting home.
So 2 days ago I swapped in the new PCM. It turns out it would have been a bit of a nightmare to swap out in Moab. One of the mounting screws was seized in the PCM itself. I had to drill out close to 1/2" of the screw to get the old PCM out. Those mounting screws are odd, torx/flange head 1-3/4" long sheet metal screws. A 2" screw will hit the firewall behind the mounting plate. Anyway, the new PCM so far works perfectly, no discernable difference from OEM.
