My mom was kind enough to give me her 2004 TJ in September. I just moved to California and we drove it across the country together from the Midwest. The drive did a number on the car and I had to get some work done on it because it was overheating. Now I’ve been trying for the past two months to get my car up to California standards for my smog check. I went and got a new catalytic converter at a muffler shop and they told me I had an evap emissions leak, and that I had to go to a mechanic to fix that. Since my visit to the muffler shop, I have been hearing rattling when accelerating in low gears, and scraping when I made right hand turns into driveways or drove over speed bumps. I finally got in to a mechanic after about a week or two, and told them about my evap leak and the rattling and scraping. They confirmed the evap leak, but they said that my transfer case was making the noises and binding up. They also said I should go back to the muffler shop because they needed to fix their welding up a bit. They said need to take apart the transfer case to figure out the scope of the repair. Anyone have any advice on a shop in the Thousand Oaks, CA area that I can go to for a second opinion? Still looking for a shop that I can really trust with the Jeep. I really love my TJ, and I want to make sure it’s getting the best work it can from people who are knowledgeable about Jeeps. Also want to make sure I am not getting fleeced with the cost of labor (their estimate was $1000+), but I don’t know a lot about cars. Thanks in advance for any advice for my situation.
New TJ Owner, Not Well Versed in Cars
- Thread starter sydney
- Start date
Hmmm, sounds like the mechanic just wanted to get rid of you. Transfer case binding up? I would quicker think the double cardan joint on the front driveshaft is binding. That is a bad situation but a lot cheaper to fix than a “binding up” transfer case.
I reside in Thousand Oaks but do all repairs myself so can't help with a repair shop. Evap issues are easy to identify with a smoke tester, which I've done many times. I'd be willing to take a look at your rig and help you diagnose some of these issues. However, before you dump money into your jeep I recommend evaluating the condition of your undercarriage. Midwest rigs tend to have rot from road salt so I'd hate for you to spend money on a vehicle with material rust issues.
Man the support in this group is amazing. Rare anymore to see strangers willing to help each other. Have had a couple members save my ass on mechanic fees, "It's a Jeep thing" is real
Dylan_See_TJ
New Member
This. This right here is good advice. After spending a lot of debatably unnecessary time and money saving a rotted out TJ (would totally do it again, but I'll inevitably be dealing with slowly returning frame rust until I either frame swap it or scrap it in the next decade), I'd also be inclined to make sure your frame and torque boxes are in good shape, especially if you're not inclined to do repairs yourself. And yeah, inkedrose, the support from the TJ community and jeepers in general is indeed amazing.
Isn’t the first fix for an evap code a new gas cap?
You’re in Ca now and cops will not stop you for out of state plates. I would drive it until your registration expires or you are the one in a million who gets pulled over for it. All but one of my vehicles are registered out of state in all these years have never had an issue. You need to change your insurance to Ca though.
Welcome to the rat race it’s not as bad as the people who have never been here say.
You’re in Ca now and cops will not stop you for out of state plates. I would drive it until your registration expires or you are the one in a million who gets pulled over for it. All but one of my vehicles are registered out of state in all these years have never had an issue. You need to change your insurance to Ca though.
Welcome to the rat race it’s not as bad as the people who have never been here say.
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Id have to disagree on the plates thing. Its gonna depend on how desperate that county or city is for $$$$.DAHIK. Your gonna have to reg it anyhow so personally Id wait till they pop you and then do it if you still have the thing. At least Ca dropped the bend over tax for the privilege of "coming into Ca" like the did years ago. It was something like $300 extra IIRC. F'ing scum bags.
If you don't have to pass smog or get inspections where it is currently registered, just change your address with the dmv where it is registered to your new address in Ca. And get insurance for where it is garaged.
And just keep renewing the registration out of state until you cant. You will save a lot of $$.
And just keep renewing the registration out of state until you cant. You will save a lot of $$.
Local authorities get Very little money from the tickets they issue. The vast majority goes to the state and they hate that. Been driving here 20 yrs with out of state plates with zero issues. My insurance is here in Ca and they don’t seem to care where it’s registered just where you drive.
I brought a Wisconsin 81pickup into the state back in the early 80s. Back then truck registration was based on unladen weight verses gross weight in Wi. I striped everything off that I could. Battery, tailgate, glovebox door, spare tire w/mount etc before weighing. Turned a certified weight ticket to the DMV lady and she said “ You made the lower weight by 20lbs”. I said imagine that, my good luck. Saved me thousands in fees over the 20 yrs I had that truck. Because I bought the truck and registered it in Wi for a year there was no additional sales tax which save more money.
I brought a Wisconsin 81pickup into the state back in the early 80s. Back then truck registration was based on unladen weight verses gross weight in Wi. I striped everything off that I could. Battery, tailgate, glovebox door, spare tire w/mount etc before weighing. Turned a certified weight ticket to the DMV lady and she said “ You made the lower weight by 20lbs”. I said imagine that, my good luck. Saved me thousands in fees over the 20 yrs I had that truck. Because I bought the truck and registered it in Wi for a year there was no additional sales tax which save more money.
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