DodgeaWrench

Hello Admin. Just dropping a note to say I appreciate all the work you/team put into keeping this site active and relavant. This site has immensly helped me maintain my 2014 DJ, saving time and $$$. Please continue the great job. (I also appreciate all the input/responses to my inquiries from those in the know and those who respond sharing their experiences.) THANK YOU. Wyandotte MI?? Im just up the river a ways. Its on my list to one of these days, check out the river front park(s) in Wyandotte.

Ive had great results with Deka batteries. Made by East Penn in the USA. I use them as replacements in my cars and toys.

Time to replace the rear license plate. 10 minute job, right? Ah.... No. (2014 DJ - plates last replaced 10 years ago-ish.) I was unable to remove the bolts that hold the plate on. Both fastening devices attached to the tailgate for the bolts just spin, and spin, and spin. (They are not the plastic square nut type.) On researching further, this is a common problem across multiple manufacturers. To jump to the middle of the project, below is what the fastening devices look like AFTER the license plate was brutally removed. They are a type of soft metal, not plastic, internally threaded to accept the bolt. The license plate bolt corroded inside of these, locked tight, and these would just spin (instead of the bolt coming out). Temperatures were in the mid 30f's, which probably didn't help. The (red) body panel these are inserted in is fiberglass (not plastic nor metal). Multiple attempts to grip these and/or stop them from spinning failed. I needed to hold these from the backside to get the bolts out. After removing the inside tailgate panel, there is not direct access to them. I was able to snake my fingers to one of them through an access hole, but not able to grip it with pliers or vise grips. Luckily the inside panel covering the devices is fiberglass or plastic, is easily identified, and easy to cut with a dremel tool. Below is picture of the access holes cut. I then clamped on vise grips and was able to turn the bolts out. Even then, the bolts did not want to easily release and turn. They definitely were corroded in tight. With the vise grip still on, from the outside I then drilled off the device. To replace the hardware, now with access to both side, there are options. Simplest would be to use a standard nut, bolt, & washers. Granted if/when the license plate would be to be changed again, it would require removing the inside tailgate panel again. Another option would be to reverse the orientation of the bolt and nut so it becomes a stud. The license plate would then be fastened on with a nut/acorn nut. I went with option 3, those rubber expanding gizmo's from the hardware store (below). The holes had to be enlarged slightly to access these, but again, its a fiberglass panel (easy to drill out). The hardware store also had the plastic square nuts that snap in place, but I passed on this option as I was unsure about the thickness of the fiberglass and if the plastic nut would securely snap in. For grins, I gooped on some adhesive caulk I had lying around and bolted up the plate. The rubber expanded as expected when the bolts were tightened and gripped firmly. When researching solutions, there are several postings in this forum mentioning incorrect license plate screws, screw that fell out, screws that would just pull out, etc... This explains why. The PO or used car dealer may have had a similar experience. Merry Christmas!

2014 FWD 3.6 SXT 164,000 miles I thought so too. When ordering, some of the 'Mopar' parts sites listed it as not in stock, others did not. I ordered from a Mopar seller I had used before. They did not indicate it was not in stock, but when I called them when the order had not shipped in a timely manner is when they indicated it was on order and due "soon". LOL. I guess I earned another badge! After driving a bit yesterday and today, I slide under to check, and all 4 connections were dry (and I am able to steer the car in the direction I desire)! I'm assuming I won't have another good opportunity for months to check again. Hopefully I wont see spots in the snow.

The power steering hose gods are sending me a gift (or setting me up for a cruel joke). After about a month wait, the hoses arrived yesterday in the AM, AND the weather yesterday and today is unseasonably warm, in the 50f's, AND I had previously, randomly, scheduled the day off to use up unused vacation days. I took the opportunity to replace the hoses. *** TAKE NOTE *** If you are planning to do this repair and you are a driveway mechanic (with just basic+ tool inventory), you will need a 18mm crowfoot flare tool. Prior, to prep for this repair, I had purchased a metric crowfoot flare set at HF. I now know it does NOT include 18mm. I had not researched the size I would need, I figured I'd be good with a 'set'. In hindsight you may be able to get by with a 18mm crowfoot flare wrench (but I dont own those either). UGH! As I found out when I went to remove the old hoses , I didn't have the correct 18mm crowfoot flare tool, I used a dremel tool and file to grind out the 17mm in the HF set to 18mm. Replacement is straight forward. The same 2 bolts hold them both to the frame with a hose connection at each end. The rub is the high pressure connection at the power steering pump. While on your back in the driveway, its at a full arms length in, and once your arm is in, you cant see it. After the usual set of 4 letter words, grunts, groans, and dropped tools, that connection was completed. I hope its tight enough. I'm no longer in my 20's. My arm strength is no longer what it used to be. Initial test drive was successful. I'll check Saturday afternoon for leaks. I refilled the P/S system with Valvoline power steering fluid and did not bleed it. I'll provide an update. High Pressure P/S Hose Low Pressure P/S Hose The 'easy' hose connections. Low pressure (silver) in on top. High pressure (black) below it. High Pressure P/S connection on the power steering pump (black). This is the beast to reach. Another view of the same, from the ground looking up.

Still waiting for parts to arrive. I ordered both the high pressure and return hose. I figure I'll do them both while I'm under there. If the weather was decent, I was hoping to replace the hoses over the Thanksgiving weekend, but without the parts, that window appears to be closing. As for the recall, I've only been able to find info that it applies to Canadian vehicles that have a block heater, and possibly only the return lines. Regardless I did try a couple more lookup sites and did call the Chrysler customer service line, but no luck. It did not apply to my vehicle. Hey, it was worth a shot. I watched those power steering pump replacement videos too. Agreed, it looks like engineering revenge. After my lugnut fiasco, I was walking the dogs and came across someone in their driveway wrenching to try and get the 2-piece nuts removed. We shared a few 4 letter words and best I could offer was good luck and advise to throw them all out.

I had a chance to crawl under today, and its an ever so slight leak in the power steering high pressure hose. (I did have to add fluid too.) Again, its a 3.6. You cant even see the p/s pump from above. The picture below is an odd angle, from underneath. The dry hose is the low pressure and the wet hose is the high pressure. Its leaking at the fitting. Above the fitting is dry. Getting to where this hose connects to the p/s pump is the challenge. If I attempt this myself, I'll need to get a set of metric crow feet flare wrenches. Below is where the low pressure hose return (left) and high pressure hose (right) route under the vehicle. The only good thing throughout todays inspection was that this was the first time removing the front passenger tire after replacing the (crap) 2 piece lug nuts. No slips, no slides, no hammering needed... no issues.

Argh! Im experiencing what I believe is the start of another leak. Its NOT the p/s cooler that was replaced earlier this year. I'm noticing a few drops (of something that doesnt appear to be motor oil) on the driveway, equivalent to near under the front passenger seat-ish area. P/S fluid? Antifreeze? Opening the hood , looking down, the engine compartment, looks dry, both sides, including the oil cooler. I wont be able to slide under for a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed that it remains only a small drip and the weather holds up until then. More to come...

Yep. Agreed. I figured someone would call me out on that. I bought M8-1.25 x 30mm. Should have got 40 or 50mm. Maybe next trip.

To follow up, its been a week and all is good. Did an oil and filter change yesterday on the DJ, and snapped a few pics of the exhaust work. Enjoy your weekend. This 'nut' is welded to the flange. Was unable to remove the remaining bolt piece on this one. Drilled it out, ground down what was left of the welded nut and replaced. This is the the other connection, from the rear cylinders to the 'Y' pipe (that I am not dealing with at this time). Its slightly different than from the front to "Y", and includes some type of gasket between them.

The weather was nice yesterday. I crawled under and did the work myself. The remaining bolt was extremely rusted down in diameter. Easily cut out with my trusty Dremel tool. The backside flange has the nuts welded to it. For one I was able to remove the piece of bolt in it. For the other I could not. It was drilled out and the "nut" ground off the flange. So, one bolt and one nut and bolt was used for the repair. This fixed the exhaust leak and all is quite. This connection is where the exhaust manifold from the front cylinders connect to the 'Y' pipe. Most likely the bolts from the rear cylinders exhaust manifold to the 'Y' pipe will eventually need replacing too. I'll wait until the dead of winter when its freezing, snowing, and dark, to do those. LOL. I'll follow up in a week or two to confirm all remained good, with a pic or two.

Hello. My 2014 DJ 3.6 FWD has developed a minor exhaust leak due to a broken/rust out bolt on a flange. Anyone been through this? What was done? Cost? Thoughts? See pictures. (In the world in my head) I'm hoping an exhaust shop can extract the bolts somehow and replace them without having to dismantle either the manifold or pipe. Hopefully I can get it to a shop next week to have someone take a look and give a price. Weld on a bolt head and extract, replace both bolts, couple hours labor??? Im guessing an exhaust shop would be more experienced in this area than my usual big box tire service center. The longer story is that for the past month or two I've noticed larger than normal puddles of water under the front of the car, such as when running errands and returning to the car from a store. I was thinking maybe the AC was working hard and dripping a bit more, or the puddle was there previously. In hindsight, I now know it was water leaking from the exhaust. Only this past week did I notice the DJ sounded ever so slightly different when at a drive thru (got to have my morning coffee). Today I crawled under and confirmed my suspicion of the exhaust sounding slightly different. Assuming the repair price would be reasonable (bwaaaahahaha when is it ever reasonable), I'm not looking to tackle this one myself. Thanks.

Random update on the power steering cooler. All is working well, no leaks. In cleaning out my notes, Plews & Edelmann make an aftermarket p/s cooler for the DJ - P/N: 58040. Its approx $130 from Summit. I would have gone with it as it appears to have the correct mounting brackets, but I needed one fast and it was not in stock. Have a safe Summer.

I installed a Curt #12134 class II hitch receiver on my 2014 DJ. It came with the gizmo 2late4u described used to feed the bolt and hardware through the frame channel. Curtis has several installation videos specific to the DJ showing the process. Easy install.

On a previous thread for my power steering cooler replacement we also got into a discussion regarding the 2 piece lug nuts on the DJ. Its been discussed multiple times on the forum, but I feel I should post my experience separately to re-remind everyone of the issue. *** If you have 2 piece lug nuts on your DJ - replace them or risk being stranded if you experience a flat tire on the road.. *** (For me, this became an issue, during the not the best of weather, on a Sunday afternoon, when the tire needed to be removed to accomplish a non-related repair.) Generally, I'm a DIY'er, and If I experience a flat on the road, I will change it myself, on the spot, on the road. Although, switching to getting my oil changed, I often use a local tire store service center to do the oil change and have the tires rotated as its included with the LOF. I mention this as sometimes it seems they over torque the lug nuts during the rotation. They too will mention 2 piece lug nuts can be a pain in the arse. There are many, many, youtube videos, complaints, law suits, and even recalls across multiple OEMs on these 2-piece lug nuts. (I'm not aware of any recalls with the DJ. As mentioned earlier, this Spring I experienced the issue, but I'll jump ahead to when I was swapping out the 2-piece lug nuts. Between the 2 piece nut issue, many rotations over the years, possibly being over-torqued from a somewhat recent rotation, possibly rougher surfaces between the nut and wheel due to age (2014 DJ), and I'm getting older, the defective nuts were EXTREMELY difficult me to remove, to replace, in my driveway. Eventually using additional hand tools, I was able to accomplish the task, but my point is, that if I were on the side of the road, with a flat, I would not have had the additional tools in hand (different sockets, hammer, longer breaker bar, etc) to remove the lug nuts. I would have been stranded. (I do carry a longer non-OEM tire iron, in the car, but it was not enough.) Murphys law also includes that when things go bad (ie flat tire), its always Sunday night, in the rain or cold, in a bad place, out-of-town, ... I used McGard 64012 one piece replacements, purchased from Amazon. They come in 4-packs. I don't use any locking nuts, (5) 4-packs are needed. While researching the lug nut issue, (luckily or unluckily) I also can across that Ford also used these nuts and my wife's Ford Escape has them. There are just as many complaints on the Escape forum. I've since replace those too. The Escape used the exact same McGard model replacement. Her car is relatively new and the 2 piece nuts came off like butter. In the upcoming weeks, on the DJ I will take a moment to confirm these can be removed with just the tools I carry in the car. Arguably I should not have to, but I also will try to remember to check the nuts, to torgue specs, after a rotation. Be safe, be proactive, check your nuts.