"Hola and welcome to the Wrangler Cantina. I'll be your waiter today, Mike."
Actually...well, a few things to say before we get started on our list of specials, as it were. First and foremost, I apologize for the dust - this site looks like it's going to be under construction for a LOOOONG time. Second, well, if you were/are expecting nifty graphics and cool pics of Jeeps, there aren't any here [yet!] Give me time - I know where I want this to go, and I'm working as fast as I can here.
Anyhow - my name's Mike, and I drive a '99 Jeep Wrangler. This page is [hopefully] going to evolve as does my Jeep - and while the Jeep's still relatively shiny on the outside, there's some problems within, and THAT's what I'm here to address.
With a little luck, hopefully one of two things will happen:
1) The nice people at DaimlerChrysler will read this, contact me, and fix the multiple problems plaguing my Jeep or
2) Enough people will read this, say to themselves "Gee, Mike makes a valid point here," contact DaimlerChrysler and ask that they un-Yuppify the dang things and make it so that Jeeps can be treated LIKE Jeeps again.
(In reality, I'll probably get a "cease and decist" letter from the above mentioned conglomerate and the page shut down, but it's worth a shot.)
I went inside, called the dealer, and explained the problem to them. "Well, when can you bring it by?" they asked. "Are you sure this thing's safe to drive?" I asked them. "How about a tow truck? This seems to be a warranty problem from where I'm standing." It was then explained to me that it was NOT a warranty problem until they determined that it was, and that I could call AAA or a random towing service instead, if I didn't think it was roadworthy!
Against my better judgement, I DID drive this Jeep in to the dealer - where they examined it and decided that the insulation on the "daisy chain" was worn, causing the problem. That part, they explained connected the computer to "everything," but especially the dashboard, and airbags. "You were lucky the airbags didn't go off while you were driving it," said a man at the parts counter while I was waiting.
THAT sounds unsafe to me - and I pointed that out to the service writer when I got the car back. "Aw, he doesn't know what he's talking about...that's why he's in "Parts." "Well, he must know SOMETHING about it. And now what do I do if this happens again down the road and it's out of warranty?" I asked. "Oh, this'll never happen again," he replied.
Now - I'm a big believer in "Murphy's Law," or "whatever can go wrong, WILL go wrong." And I plan on keeping this Jeep for quite some time. As it starts to look a little "older," for lack of a better word, I plan to buy another one for everyday use and build this one up for an off-road machine. A 3" lift to better accomodate, say, 3" tires...a winch...fender flares to keep it street legal...off-road lights...the whole package. I'd hate to have this happen again in five years when this thing (at current pace) will have 84,000 miles on it. I called DaimlerChrysler when I got home and started complaining and asking for "the person above you." [I was in customer service for five or 12 years, and understand well that yelling and acting like a complete idiot is NOT the way to get ahead with the person on the other end of the phone. I was polite, I listened, and when the person I was speaking with didn't answer my question of "what's going to happen down the road," I asked to speak to their supervisor or manager. I did this until I got to the "upper echelon" of management - where the secretary or administrative assistant no longer answers with "Mr. Johnson's office - may I help you?" but with "Bob Namegoeshere's office - this is Sylvia Madeupname - may I help you?"
Eventually, I spoke to someone (name withheld for obvious reasons) who said that I'd apparently gone a level TOO far, and that the previous person had made a note on their computers that this problem WOULD be solved, at no cost to me, should it ever happen again. I thanked him and the company profusely, pledged my allegiance to the company, and so on, and hung up very satisfied.
Some months later, perhaps March 2003, when the roof had been on for months, I had another problem on a somewhat rainy day. It had been raining steadily - not hard - for hours, and I was driving along, minding my own business, when the "check engine" light came on. This is normally a small worry - and one that (to my understanding) does NOT mean "pull over and kill the engine" like the oil light coming on. I drove about 200 yards more, and the "airbag" light came on. I was a little more concerned at this one, hoping that the airbags didn't deploy and wondering if the rain was the culprit again. As I couldn't pull over, I went another 200 yards or so and then noticed that the aforementioned lights were back off! Unfortunately, so was the entire DASHBOARD!
The speedometer was reading "zero," as was the tachometer. All of the gauges (and not "idiot lights" - thank you, Jeep!) were reading "zero." The odometer was off. The dashboard looked exactly like it does when you first climb in and before inserting the key - not a good thing when you're doing about 35 mph down the road!
I got to my destination, parked, and worried about the problem for the next hour and a half. When I went to leave, the Jeep started right up, and within a minute or so, the "normal" lights went off, and everything was fine!
Well, everything was fine for the next few minutes, when I was again stunned by the same exact situation as before: "check engine" light, a pause, "airbag" light, a pause, and a dead dashboard! I got home, parked it, worried, and the next day, it was fine - but it had stopped raining, too.
I didn't worry about this much, as it didn't happen again for about three months - when it happened the second time, I called the dealer and took it in. Unfortunately for me, the previous owner had elected for the "3 year bumper to bumper" warranty - and by July 2003 (?) I was no longer under warranty for this. The dealer explained that this wasn't the first time that he'd heard of this, and that they'd need to take the dashboard apart to see if this was the same thing.
"One of the wires in the back of the dashboard is, in my opinion, too short! When it's assembled, this wire is taut - and sometimes a bump or something is what causes the dash to go out. It'll be several hundred dollars - all we need to do is take out the dash, make an extension wire with the right adaptors and reassemble it - the problem is, it's really labor intensive."
"THAT sounds like a warranty problem," I said. "If it's a manufacturer's defect, the company should fix it." "They don't consider it a defect," I was told. I didn't have several hundred dollars at the time, and took my Jeep and left, hoping that it wouldn't happen again.
A month or so later, on another rainy day, it happened again. I was complaining to a friend about it, when an acquaintance wandered over, and said "what year is your Jeep? I've got a '98, and it does the same thing!" I told him that it was a '99, and the dealer's solution to the problem.
"Well, MY solution is to just "whap" the dashboard (demonstrating with an open palm) in the center - right above the center air vents. That usually fixes it for a while."
I opined that I didn't think it much of a solution for a four year old car, but that I'd keep it in mind.
Sure enough - the next time it happened, one good "whap" was enough to bring the dashboard back to life! And the second, and the third, and the fourth.... And somewhere along the way, after complaining to friends and family, it dawned on me to complain to all the Jeep owners on the internet - and here I am. Lousy webpage and all.
Has any of this sounded familiar? Or am I the only one (besides the guy with the '98 Jeep) that this has happened to? Have you got any similar stories, or solutions to these problems?
Please let me know, and I'll be adding them to the page.
Thanks!
Interesting Links
DaimlerChrysler's Jeep Page
A source of all things Jeep
Angelfire's FREE Webpages
