DanW
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #61
Two things....First is the obvious. You know we can't sit here and restrain ourselves from asking what the heck happened, right? There just MUST be an epic story involved here that would make SportsCenter for Jeeps, if there was such a thing!
Secondly, it is amazing what these complex pieces of machinery are capable of surviving. Wow!
My brother had a 91 YJ 2.5/5 speed. My nephew was 16 and snuck it out to do a little off-roading on some sand flats by White River in Indianapolis. He was driving along in the water when his left wheels went over a drop off. The Jeep landed under water on the driver side. My nephew crawled out the passenger side and got up on the sand flat and sat on a log for two hours before finally calling his Dad. When my brother got there, I can only imagine his reaction. When he realized it had been sitting under water for well over two hours at that point, he asked his son why he waited so long to call him. His response? "I was trying to think of what I was going to tell you." LOL, my brother blew a gasket at that point and said, "WHAT?!?" "What story did you imagine you were going to come up with that would explain this?!?"
So, that Jeep was pulled out by a wrecker and taken to a local shop in our town west of Indianapolis. They removed the gas tank and cleaned mud out of it, cleaned it out, removed valve covers, etc, cleaned what they could, and changed every fluid, including the coolant, power steering, brake, axles, t-case, oil, tranny,etc, and even the window washer. They ran it for a few minutes around the parking lot, then drained and refilled again (everything but the window washer fluid at this point) They drove it a bit more this time and did it again. At that point, they told my brother to change the oil again at 200 miles and inspect it, as well as the transmission and axle fluid. They all looked good at that point, but he changed it again. That little Jeep was later sold to another family member who ran it until it rusted out. It had well over 300k miles on it with no rebuilds, but only a couple clutch replacements. The engine ran great and the tranny had no issues, even when the rest of the Jeep was pretty much toast. Amazing!
So based on that, the only thing I'd recommend is inspecting and changing the tranny and affected components' fluids one more time after a couple hundred miles, just for good measure. It might not be necessary, but it sure couldn't hurt.
Secondly, it is amazing what these complex pieces of machinery are capable of surviving. Wow!
My brother had a 91 YJ 2.5/5 speed. My nephew was 16 and snuck it out to do a little off-roading on some sand flats by White River in Indianapolis. He was driving along in the water when his left wheels went over a drop off. The Jeep landed under water on the driver side. My nephew crawled out the passenger side and got up on the sand flat and sat on a log for two hours before finally calling his Dad. When my brother got there, I can only imagine his reaction. When he realized it had been sitting under water for well over two hours at that point, he asked his son why he waited so long to call him. His response? "I was trying to think of what I was going to tell you." LOL, my brother blew a gasket at that point and said, "WHAT?!?" "What story did you imagine you were going to come up with that would explain this?!?"
So, that Jeep was pulled out by a wrecker and taken to a local shop in our town west of Indianapolis. They removed the gas tank and cleaned mud out of it, cleaned it out, removed valve covers, etc, cleaned what they could, and changed every fluid, including the coolant, power steering, brake, axles, t-case, oil, tranny,etc, and even the window washer. They ran it for a few minutes around the parking lot, then drained and refilled again (everything but the window washer fluid at this point) They drove it a bit more this time and did it again. At that point, they told my brother to change the oil again at 200 miles and inspect it, as well as the transmission and axle fluid. They all looked good at that point, but he changed it again. That little Jeep was later sold to another family member who ran it until it rusted out. It had well over 300k miles on it with no rebuilds, but only a couple clutch replacements. The engine ran great and the tranny had no issues, even when the rest of the Jeep was pretty much toast. Amazing!
So based on that, the only thing I'd recommend is inspecting and changing the tranny and affected components' fluids one more time after a couple hundred miles, just for good measure. It might not be necessary, but it sure couldn't hurt.
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