Soon to be Jeep owner!

JWFlash

JWFlash

New Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2017
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22
Location
Georgia, United States
Hello everyone! Looking at buying my first Jeep and it being a retirement project for me. Sounds like a lot of work but I enjoyed working on cars when I was (lots) younger. And on top of that I worked in the auto parts business for 15+ years. Anyway...been soaking up all the info I can on the 04 - 06 Jeep's and what sort of issues to look for. This forum is great and you guys have tons of knowledge that I'll be needing.

I recently found a 2004 Rubicon that looks to be my victim. But I need some expert advice on it. According to the Carfax it has never been in an accident and has 79k miles on her. Now it doesn't look like it was taken very good care of but I think most is cosmetic. I have talked them down to under 14k so I think that is an ok price. Best I can tell is it will need new tires fairly soon and lots of TLC. It is the 6 cyl with 5 speed. Only saw a little rust around the bottom of the windshield and a spot on the hood.

Below are several pics I took so let me know if anything stands out. In one pic I circled something leaking that I noticed in the pic after I had left. Any idea? Maybe coolant?

Thanks for any advice.
jeep.jpg jeep3.jpg jeep4.jpg jeep5b.jpg jeep5aa.jpg jeep7b.jpg jeep9a.jpg jeep8a.jpg jeep8.jpg jeep9.jpg jeep7a.jpg jeep5.jpg jeep7.jpg jeep6b.jpg

jeep6.jpg
 
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14K for that mileage is pretty good compared to what I found a few months ago when I was looking. I paid 19K for a 2005 Rubi with 58K miles on it for the sake of comparison. The exterior actually looks pretty nice and some of these guys around here will pick apart your underbody pictures!

I would see if you can figure out what the liquid is leaking. One thing I didn't know before looking at Jeeps is that a lot of them have AC compressors that put off a ton of condensation, especially when it is humid. Sometimes I have a pretty sizable puddle of water under the front right of the Jeep, but that's all it is.


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Good point about the air conditioner condensation. We did have it on for a little bit but I will look closer at the spot to see if it has dried up. I am looking for advice on the underside to see if there are any red flags. Thanks for your feedback.
 
First off, welcome to the forum!

That Rubicon looks like it's spent most of it's life outside and exposed to the elements (namely the sun, which explains the oxidization). Two things that immediately jump out at me are that issue you've circled on the frame. What is that? I'd say it was damaged and re-welded, but that doesn't look like a weld at all...

The other thing is the rust below the windshield. Now that could be just a small area, but these TJs are notorious for having the entire windshield frame rust out, and it can get very bad if you don't get it when it first starts happening. So I would inspect that area more carefully.

The frame doesn't look too bad. There's rust on the axles and drivetrain, but it mostly all looks like surface rust. So as long as you don't mind treating rust with something like Fluid Film, you should be fine.

As far as engines go, the engines on these things are pretty much bullet proof internally. What I always think about is things like the transmission, the cooling system, etc. Those are the parts that would fail long before the engine did. There's a guy on here with 600k miles on his stock 4.0 engine and has never had to do any internal engine work, just basic maintenance, a few transmission rebuilds, and typical things like cooling system repairs, etc.
 
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Chris...thank you for the insight on the pics. After some (lots of) thought...I've decided that this will be too much of a project for me or one that is more than I want to do for my first Jeep. So now I'm back on the hunt for the perfect (first) Jeep. If anyone is interested in this one, PM me and I will send you the dealer info.
 
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Good call. To me, that Rubicon looks like it's a much bigger project than most might think. If it's been outside all it's life, there's probably a lot of things waiting to happen. The plastic components on the cooling system are probably ready to go, among other things. Sun does a lot of damage over time, as do the elements!
 
I tend to go overboard on things I do, so I figured that I'd end up with 3 times what I paid for it just to get it to my standards. Of course my standards are "if it is worth doing...it is worth over doing"! :aplastao:
 
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What state is this Rubi located in? That can play a big factor. All in all I'd say it has pretty common wear for a 13 year old Jeep. Generally the frame looks solid, but if you pull the trigger you're gonna wanna treat the surface rust and you should be good to go. For the price it's a pretty good deal, but there are some immaculate Rubi's out there that I would consider before pulling the trigger. All depends on what you're looking to do with it long term and how you will be storing it. If you're in the salt belt that undercarriage can get away from you really fast, but if it's an occasional/daily driver in a dry climate then you should be fine. As far as that leak, you might want to beconcerned. Looks like an AC/Evap leak. I recall mine having a similar leak. I ended up replacing my whole AC unit. Try to track that down, could just be condensation run off as said above. Best of luck in your search and welcome!


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Sheesh...I think that looks pretty excellent for a 2004 vehicle. Yeah, the axle housings have some rust...big deal. Easy to clean up and fix. Big heavy steel tubing and castings, don't need to worry about rust through there. The frame looks great, the heat shields have some oxidation on them...Windshield frame...replace it for 300 bucks.

The Leak is the ONLY thing that would concern me about that jeep. It looks green to me which indicates anti-freeze. Probably a water pump.
 
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Welcome aboard. The Rubi looks to be in overall good shape for 13 years old but if it looks to be more than you are wanting to tackler right now, I'm sure the right one is out there.
 
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Yes she is! Only 49k miles. Hasn't been on the road much over the last four years as the owner passed away and the heir was too young to drive her. So the mom would take it out every so often. He decided he wanted a truck and wasn't really interested in a Jeep so it went up for sale last Tuesday. I looked it over on Wednesday and we came to a fair price that made us both happy. Picked her up this morning and have been smiling sense!
 
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Very good buy, no doubt! Still can't get over how clean it looks. I'd swap the bumpers out for something a little better looking, but other than that, it looks great!
 
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