This morning I was in the self-checkout line at Home Depot when the attendant walked over & picked up my jug of 10w-30 & asked me if it was only for cars or if it could be put in anything. I asked her what she wanted to put it in & she said a Wrangler. Suddenly she’s no longer bothering me & I’ve got time to chat
. I said of course you can in fact that’s exactly where that bottle is going. I asked her if her Wrangler was a TJ & she said “no, it’s a 1999”
, got really excited & started telling me that she had a CJ, and after that a “1990”, & now this one. I had a horrible feeling she probably wasn’t aware of certain issues so I asked her how the frame was, she said it’s good, there’s just a little rust around the bottom, then went on to tell me about a weird sound it makes when she starts it (thinking to myself that’s probably the least of her problems). We chatted a few more minutes & she asked me if I repaired Jeeps, I told her only my own but gave her my mechanic’s number to check out the engine issue.
I couldn’t resist taking a closer look at her rig on my way out & sadly as soon as I crouched down to look at the frame I could see the rust flake pile above the frame hole line, all of them. Stuck my finger in there & Jesus, had to be an inch & a half deep of pure rust chunks, honestly I don’t know how that thing hasn’t snapped in half yet. I couldn’t in good conscience leave without warning her so I went back in & explained the nature of TJ’s vs. Pennsylvania winters & what it meant in her particular case. She was really bummed out & went on to tell me she just had a new motor & tranny put in. I cannot believe the mechanic that did that work didn’t notice the frame issue & worse didn’t clue her in before swapping the motor/trans. The TJ looked pretty rough all around & I’m thinking it would’ve been the neighborly thing to do to alert her & give her the option of putting that money into a new ride rather than dropping it into that one. Regardless, I urged her to take it to my buddy asap & explained the SafeTcap repair to her, let her know he’d shoot her straight with w/n it was worthwhile given it’s overall condition & mechanical health.
I’m amazed that there are people that can own these vehicles for so long & yet know so little about them.
I couldn’t resist taking a closer look at her rig on my way out & sadly as soon as I crouched down to look at the frame I could see the rust flake pile above the frame hole line, all of them. Stuck my finger in there & Jesus, had to be an inch & a half deep of pure rust chunks, honestly I don’t know how that thing hasn’t snapped in half yet. I couldn’t in good conscience leave without warning her so I went back in & explained the nature of TJ’s vs. Pennsylvania winters & what it meant in her particular case. She was really bummed out & went on to tell me she just had a new motor & tranny put in. I cannot believe the mechanic that did that work didn’t notice the frame issue & worse didn’t clue her in before swapping the motor/trans. The TJ looked pretty rough all around & I’m thinking it would’ve been the neighborly thing to do to alert her & give her the option of putting that money into a new ride rather than dropping it into that one. Regardless, I urged her to take it to my buddy asap & explained the SafeTcap repair to her, let her know he’d shoot her straight with w/n it was worthwhile given it’s overall condition & mechanical health.
I’m amazed that there are people that can own these vehicles for so long & yet know so little about them.