Fore in a Jeep

Yes, I am a golfer. And golfing is always more fun when done with family and friends. Recently my wife and I, plus our son and his wife started a Monday night golf outing. We load the four of us plus our equipment in my Jeep Grand Cherokee and head for the course. We like to walk the course because that gives us some good exercise. So we each have pull carts to put our bags on. It is nice that all of us plus our equipment fit in one vehicle. That way we can enjoy each other's company during the drive to the course as well as the time on the course. Before it was a tight squeeze to fit two sets of clubs and carts in the trunk of my car. This works so much better. Four for fore! One more reason why I like my Jeep Grand Cherokee. Fore anyone?

Jeep heater problems

A while back I was having problems with the heater controls on my Jeep Grand Cherokee. During some of our cold Nebraska days, the temperature from my heater would suddenly become very cold. At first, I jiggled the temperature switch and it would get warm again. After a while nothing seemed to help. It was unpredictable. Some days it would work fine. Other days I couldn't get it to work. I finally broke down and took it to a repair shop to have it checked. They diagnosed it as a leaking water pump which caused a low antifreeze level resulting in bubbles in the hoses leading to the heater. The bubble would get trapped somewhere along the way and not allow the water to flow, thus causing the cool down. That sounded plausible, so I paid the $380 bill and thought my problems were over.

Check # 2: However, the next day, the same problem occurred on the way home from work. So I took it back to the repair shop. They said they must not have gotten all the bubbles out. They disconnected all the hoses, drained everything, and sent me on my way. On the way home, same problem.

Check # 3: So I turned around and went right back. Of course, by the time I got back, the heater had started working again. They didn't want to believe me. So I left it there overnight for them to check the next morning. They had one of their employees drive it home (a 45 mile round trip for which I had to pay the gas.) He claimed it worked all the way home that night, and all the way back to work the next morning. The bubbles must have finally worked their way out. So they sent me home again.

Check # 4: The next day, it wouldn't work for me again. When I arrived at the repair shop, they thought I was joking when I said it did it again. When they realized I was serious, I told them I left it running. They should come out and check for themselves. This time the air was still cold. They called their "specialist" out to take a look at it. He determined the motor that moves the device that actually determines the temperature was shot. So I left it there for them to work on the next day. I thought this time surely they had it fixed. When they tried to charge us another $100 for the motor, my wife said, "I don't think so." They ended up taking off the charge.

Check # 5: That night on the way home from work, the same problem. By now, I was getting very frustrated. I think they could tell when I came back the next time that I was getting serious (read furious) about this problem. The general manager happened to be the one there when I came in this time. He said they would get it fixed, so I left it one more time. This time they changed the entire heater control panel, including fan switches, temperature control, and selectors (heat, air conditioning, defrost, etc.) When I came back, the general manager was there again. He said the only thing they hadn't figured out was how to pay for it. I knew I wasn't going to pay. When he handed me the bill, it was for $0.00.

Finally: That seems to have taken care of the problem. Now that I think about it, my air conditioner would kick off once-in-a-while last summer. If I turned it off, then back on, it would work again. Perhaps that was the beginning of the problem way back then.

Conclusion: I write this mainly to alert you to a possible problem. If you are having heater problems, suggest to your repair shop that it might be the heater control panel. If they start there, you and they will probably save a lot of frustration.

One final note: A couple of weeks ago, I was going to use my GPS to find a place in Lincoln. I took it along in my Grand Cherokee. I placed it where I usually did, and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't stand up like before. Then I realized I had velcro on the heater control panel which had now been replaced. The velcro was missing. I think they owe me!

Drive a Jeep, save the world.

Mother nature dumped another 10 inches of snow on us Thursday along with winds from 35 - 40 miles an hour. That was on top of the 6 inches we had last Saturday. The ice from the sleet that fell then is still underneath it all. It is also snowing some more today. The forecast calls for another 2 inches. The wind is really blowing and causing a lot of blowing and drifting snow. Today while out getting gas, lunch and some groceries, I saw many vehicles sliding around, having trouble getting started at intersections, and generally just having a bad time out there. Meanwhile, I had my 4-wheel drive engaged on my Jeep Grand Cherokee and was having no trouble at all.

While at lunch, we overheard some people talking about the fact that the bridge over the Platte River south of Fremont is closed until 5 p.m. tonight because of the road conditions. I was tempted to drive out there just to see. I'm sure if they saw me coming, they would say, "Oh, you're driving a Jeep. Come on through. You'll be able to make it fine!" However, I resisted the temptation and went home instead.

I'm at the point of thinking the phrase from the TV show Heroes should be "Drive a Jeep. Save the world!"

No trade

There is no way I would trade my Jeep Grand Cherokee 4X4 for anything right now. Last Saturday we had a bad storm. It had rained about 1/2 inch during the day. It was just starting to sleet as I left for work. By the time I drove the 2.5 miles, the ground was already completely white with sleet. The parking lot was slushy with the sleet mixed with the water from the rain. A little later it started to snow and the temperature dropped just below freezing. We had about 6 inches of snow with wind which really filled up the parking lot. The water and sleet underneath froze into a sheet of ice which was covered by the snow. By time I left work at 4:00 a.m. I had to help push the cars of my employees out of their parking spaces. Two had front wheel drive. It took four of us to push one of those out to where the snow plow had gone through and cleared a path. It was really funny when the snow plow got stuck trying to clear out the rest of the parking lot. He had to call a friend with a tractor to pull him out. I laughed as I got in my Jeep and drove right out without even spinning the wheels. Four wheel drive is fantastic in situations like that.

Jeep-sized ice

I'm not sure what to make of this headline: "Jeep-sized chunks of ice cause concern." The article in the Fremont Tribune on 2/23/07 talked about the flooding on the Platte River caused by ice jams. People described the ice breaking up and chunks floating down the river the size of jeeps. They didn't say "SUV sized" or name any other particular brand. Jeep-sized. I guess that means Jeeps are a force to be reckoned with!

Snow - no worries

I'm taking vacation for a few days. My mother-in-law doesn't drive, so she planned to take a "handy-bus" Friday morning to Lincoln where we were to pick her up. Overnight on Thursday, we had about two inches of snow. It was near zero degrees overnight, so the snow wasn't going to melt the next day. Normally that would make me a little nervous. The snow packs down on the streets and highways and makes them slick enough to be a concern. However, now that I have 4-wheel drive on my Jeep Grand Cherokee, I don't get near as nervous about snow. It was an adventure driving the snow packed city streets, and the somewhat snow covered highways. With the added security of anti-lock brakes, it was no problem. The scenery was beautiful with the newly fallen snow. And I enjoyed it much more since I wasn't so concerned about the road conditions. I just wish I had not washed my Jeep the day before. After driving in Lincoln, and later in Omaha, my maroon jeep is almost white from the liquid deicer they applied to the city streets. Oh well, I guess that's what keeps the Car Wash businesses in business.

There's a lot of us

I have noticed, there are a lot of us Jeep drivers out there. Whatever make or model of car I've driven over the past years, I usually watch for others like it. I would see some, but not what I would consider a lot. But now that I'm driving a Jeep, I notice there are a lot of Jeeps on the road. Last Sunday afternoon on the way to work, I counted ten. That may not sound like a lot, but I only live about 2.5 miles from work and it was a leisurely Sunday afternoon in Fremont with hardly any traffic on the streets. You can imagine how many I see as I drive the streets of Omaha. Yes there are a lot of us Jeep lovers out there.