OPDA modification updates?

bedhed

bedhed

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Back when I was frequently visiting JeepForum, over a year ago, I had seen a couple of folks who had modified their OPDA in various ways and reported back with positive results, but their modification was fairly new.

Has anyone here modified or know anyone who modified their OPDA? How has it performed over the years?
 
bedhed said:
. . . Has anyone here modified or know anyone who modified their OPDA? How has it performed over the years?
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The modifications were popular during a time period prior to availability of the replacement OPDA units from Crown.

The current thinking is to replace the factory OPDA with the Crown unit while retaining the original MOPAR sensor rather than use the one supplied by Crown. The modifications to the factory units seem to have fallen out of favor. My guess is that the time and effort to do the modifications just isn't cost effective any more because the Crown unit is a bolt-in solutions that costs only $100 or so.

Dorman also offers an aftermarket OPDA but the Crown unit is generally considered the superior part.


Chris said:
Modified them how?
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Here is an article on the subject: https://www.rubiconownersforum.com/threads/2005-2006-opda-modification.64784/
 
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Get the Crown unit.

My original OPDA failed at 142,000 miles. I replaced it with Dorman but that one only lasted about 6 months and the began making a knocking sound on cold days (Minnesota winter cold).

I replaced Dornan with Crown at 176,000 miles. I’m at 246,000 now and it’s doing fine.

Do keep the OE sensor. Both the Dorman and Crown sensors set P0344 after a few months for me.
 
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yeah I remember seeing that mod, shortly after I'd paid something like $250 for a replacement Mopar OPDA that I knew would eventually have the same fate. It was not within my resources to do the required machining and I'd just had gasoline belched onto my shoe for the 5th time and I said to hell with this, I'm never buying another Jeep as long as I live.

2012 was a tough year among 05-06 TJ owners.
 
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Mr. Bills said:
The modifications were popular during a time period prior to availability of the replacement OPDA units from Crown.

The current thinking is to replace the factory OPDA with the Crown unit while retaining the original MOPAR sensor rather than use the one supplied by Crown. The modifications to the factory units seem to have fallen out of favor. My guess is that the time and effort to do the modifications just isn't cost effective any more because the Crown unit is a bolt-in solutions that costs only $100 or so.

Dorman also offers an aftermarket OPDA but the Crown unit is generally considered the superior part.




Here is an article on the subject: https://www.rubiconownersforum.com/threads/2005-2006-opda-modification.64784/
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Oh okay. I suspected as much, since there isn't much talk of them anymore. I'm at a point with this issue now where I'm feeling desperate, so I figured I'd reconsider doing one of them if this comes to that point.

The Dorman unit is what I have in there now. It did fairly well for the past year and a half, maybe 10k miles or so.

So the return of this issue is most likely due to wear in the OPDA bushing? With the Crown unit it's the use of a brass bushing that makes it better, correct? Or have they done further improvements to it since the addition of the brass bushing?
 
I think the mod mirrored the factory "solutions" by drilling a hole in a pin so the oil can flow thru.

Not entirely sure if thats the mod your talking about... but thats what dealerships where instructed to do back in 2005.
 
freedom_in_4low said:
I said to hell with this, I'm never buying another Jeep as long as I live.

2012 was a tough year among 05-06 TJ owners.
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I'm nearly there myself, tbh. In 2013, two of the engine's driver side mounting points for the motor mount broke loose from the block. From 2017 and on, I've continued to have other issues. Definitely the most problematic vehicle that I have ever owned.

But, from what I understand, GM had nearly the same exact problem as this OPDA issue. So many going into limp mode and not able to surpass 45mph or so. It seems like I'm hearing of very catastrophic problems from most, if not all manufacturers of vehicles beyond the year 2000. Buying any vehicle now feels like playing Russian roulette.
 
Sancho said:
I think the mod mirrored the factory "solutions" by drilling a hole in a pin so the oil can flow thru.

Not entirely sure if thats the mod your talking about... but thats what dealerships where instructed to do back in 2005.
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I'll have to read through the link that Mr. Bills sent, but the modifications that I remember was the "Oil Cup Mod" and another where the OPDA is modified to have a bit of oil poured into it, having the oil level just below the tone wheel.
 
bedhed said:
I'm nearly there myself, tbh. In 2013, two of the engine's driver side mounting points for the motor mount broke loose from the block. From 2017 and on, I've continued to have other issues. Definitely the most problematic vehicle that I have ever owned.

But, from what I understand, GM had nearly the same exact problem as this OPDA issue. So many going into limp mode and not able to surpass 45mph or so. It seems like I'm hearing of very catastrophic problems from most, if not all manufacturers of vehicles beyond the year 2000. Buying any vehicle now feels like playing Russian roulette.
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I feel ya. I sold that LJ later in 2012 for a number of reasons - primarily I needed a truck as I was building a house, and was getting a divorce and thanks to our collective financial decisions there was no way for either of us to keep the LJ and pay the other for their half. Back then, the Crown OPDA didn't exist and the fix for the fuel filler burp hadn't been discovered so I had regular annoyances and an engine problem with 70k on the odometer that I had no hope of permanent fixes for. Because of that, I wasn't in love with it enough to do a bunch of financial gymnastics to hold on to it.

Nowadays, with known fixes for those issues, I'd be willing to buy and keep an -05-06 and get 2 Crown OPDA's - one to install, one to keep as backup if the first one fails before the engine does.
 
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freedom_in_4low said:
I feel ya. I sold that LJ later in 2012 for a number of reasons - primarily I needed a truck as I was building a house, and was getting a divorce and thanks to our collective financial decisions there was no way for either of us to keep the LJ and pay the other for their half. Back then, the Crown OPDA didn't exist and the fix for the fuel filler burp hadn't been discovered so I had regular annoyances and an engine problem with 70k on the odometer that I had no hope of permanent fixes for. Because of that, I wasn't in love with it enough to do a bunch of financial gymnastics to hold on to it.

Nowadays, with known fixes for those issues, I'd be willing to buy and keep an -05-06 and get 2 Crown OPDA's - one to install, one to keep as backup if the first one fails before the engine does.
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Same here. If installing the Crown unit is all it takes, I'll be content with that being the repair. It definitely could be worse.
 
bedhed said:
Same here. If installing the Crown unit is all it takes, I'll be content with that being the repair. It definitely could be worse.
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As soon as I learned that the combination of Crown OPDA and OE Mopar sensor was the "fix" I stopped trying to learn about the modifications and purchased a replacement OPDA to keep on the shelf for future use if necessary.
 
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Mr. Bills said:
As soon as I learned that the combination of Crown OPDA and OE Mopar sensor was the "fix" I stopped trying to learn about the modifications and purchased a replacement OPDA to keep on the shelf for future use if necessary.
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Yeah, those mods that I mentioned weren't something I ever looked forward to doing. Kudos to those guys who did go that extra mile though. Pretty crafty mods, no doubt. It seems a simple addition of a zerk fitting might work also, but idk.

Was this with your original sensor or a new mopar sensor and the relearn, like you shared in your thread?
 
What thread? My Crown OPDA is still on the shelf "just in case."

However, to answer your question as best I can, my recollection is that the OE Mopar sensor is either prohibitively expensive or unobtainable or both, which is why those who use the Crown OPDA typically re-use their existing Mopar sensor. [The other reason being that the sensor supplied by Crown all but guarantees error codes.]
 
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