Car Talk!

[RedFury]

[SoloCamo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedFury

You can pretty much pull anything you want to with anything you want to, but it doesn't mean it'll be safe!

Exactly...Safety is the key issue.

Getting started isn't the problem, it's stopping and maneuvering. Hell, they don't even recommend towing more than 5,000lbs in the comanche due to it's lightweight.

Imagine a crossbreeze making your load start to sway all while driving in something 2,000lbs lighter with a somewhat short wheelbase? No thanks.

[RedFury]

[RamonGTP]

Speaking of towing boats, here's an interesting story that happened about 5 years ago...

I was driving to work one the freeway one morning, behind a SUV towing a boat, when all of a sudden, my car was being pelted by small debris. I couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from, only that it was coming from either the boat or the SUV towing it. I switch one lane to the left and slowly accelerate past the truck. As I'm next to him, I notice the boat and the SUV SEPERATING!!! The debris was parts of the road and metal being grided away as the front of the trailer was sliding on the asphalt! At this point I'm in shock and don't know what to do, as I continue to pass him the boat starts to veer to the right (away from me) and just so happens there's an exit coming up which the now out of control boat+trailer take, pretty cleanly I might add. By this time the driver has realized his boat is no longer attached and pulls over on the right shoulder. I slow down as much as I can and start looking in my rear view. The last thing I saw is the driver out of his car, looking down the exit ramp with this hand on his forehead.

I've always regretted not pulling over for that incident. At the very least to see the fate of that boat. I don't think anyone was hurt, I did watch the news that night, I figured if anyone was injured/killed by a runaway boat, it would have made the local news.

[RedFury]

Guy must have had his safety chains on and crossed if he didn't lose the boat completely. Gotta make sure you check those pins and latches folks! Just the same, make sure you have your gunwale straps and safety chain attached to the winch eye...once a boat starts coming off the trailer, there isn't much you can do about it, and things do break!

[SoloCamo]

Hmmmm. So my fan clutch is shot, as it sounds like a dying animal...going to have to get that replaced immediately. That would probably explain the extremely slow, but annoying temp climb when sitting in traffic...thank god it's "winter" now

I've also got a somewhat minor power steering leak that I cant' seem to locate but from what I've heard I should have fixed due to risk of fire (power steering fluid spraying all over)

I've also got a minor belt squeel that is very consistent as it makes the noise in exact intervals. Can a bad clutch fan have any bearing on ruining the belt or power steering at all?

Either way...I have a feeling it's going to be an expensive trip to the mechanics yard as I've never done the stuff myself, but need the Jeep safely running ASAP.

Good times...good times. 20 yr old Jeeps FTW!

[RobRich]

How big is the power steering leak? If only a few drops each time you drive, if could just be a worn seal, meaning a bottle of power steering stop leak might resolve it for only a few dollars. Use a turkey baster to extract fluid from the reservoir, then add the bottle of stop leak. The problem might disappear after a few days of driving.

[RobRich]

Found an Eclipse GSX supposedly with under 50k miles. Price is a little high. Front seats are crazing due to age. Automatic trans, though, thus why it has probably not interested the kids. I thought about going to look at it, but the 7-bolt 4G63 almost scares me. I can imagine it crankwalking in a few thousand miles, then I would be looking at a 6-bolt swap. Not my idea of fun.

[SoloCamo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobRich

How big is the power steering leak? If only a few drops each time you drive, if could just be a worn seal, meaning a bottle of power steering stop leak might resolve it for only a few dollars. Use a turkey baster to extract fluid from the reservoir, then add the bottle of stop leak. The problem might disappear after a few days of driving.

It's gotten progressively worse, and the past week alone has leaked a lot more than usual.

It's already fixed, along with the clutch, albeit it almost $280 later

Apparently the "main pressure hose" was leaking pretty badly when they got their hands on it.

The clutch fan was also completely shot as I expected.

Expensive, but money well spent as I need the Jeep to be drivable 24/7 and I didn't want to risk blowing the hose *major fire hazard ) or having the clutch fan seize up or worse, breaking off and tearing through the radiator.

Regardless, it's much louder now due to the fan being much stronger, and the steering seems to be more responsive as well. However, there is a slight whine when moving the steering wheel in any direction that is consistent and was never present beforehand so I'm going to call them up tomorrow.

[RedFury]

probably just a little air in the power steering that needs to be worked out. Simply turn the wheel lock to lock a few times and it should go away if its air.