Spending more to keep your car on road? CAR WIZARD shows why putting $3K into this '05 Jeep is wise 

Was going to say the same thing 👍

That thing is begging for an oil spray

Bingo!

Was my first thought as well

By George you got it

I’m the 69th like

Those are all solid makes/models. If you can do the labor yourself, its a home run.

That marquis and Honda will run forever. I honestly think that marquis may be more reliable than the Honda too be honest lol But the Silverado is a good runner to.

I saved a 1999 Chevy Blazer LT 4d 2wd (LSD w/3.42 gear) it's got 260k on the clock. I had to rebuild the emission system but it passed the California high emitter profile smog check after about $1,000 in work. It's a good feeling when you can take something that it's basically destined for the scrap yard and turn it into a word worthy vehicle again I did all the work by myself with a lil help from my buddy

Solid advice. Especially if you can get one that is rust free.

@@12yearssober They are all rust free. The rockers on the truck were just starting to go. Replaced them. The bed is Rino lined. We fluid filmed all the cars. The whole process was enjoyable. Was offered $6K for the Honda and $9K for the truck. Keeping them for the moment.

Why would they do that,you can't even go to a junkyard and find parts for them,they've already crushed them all,you'll be lucky to find parts for a 2005 vehicle.

90s cars were that blend of simple tech reliability and easy to service. my newest car is a 97 regal gs and I daily a turbo k car

Plenty of parts for a 2005 vehicle unless its somethinglike a SAAB

Bidin's economy...

Now that’s a SMART move , if I’m not mistaken that’s the 3800 engine and we all know that’s a great engine that will treat you good for many many moons, as long as u treat her right!

@@B0xlife1 I have a 2015 Ford Flex Ecoboost as well but I chose to put the money in the Buick over the ford honestly

Lucky to find anything that runs for $2500

Watch for rust on the front crossmember. I’d find someone to inspect it if you live in an area that treats the roads for snow & ice. If ok, find a shop that can apply Fluid Film to inhibit further rust.

We have a 17 year old Lexus SUV with 133,000 miles on. Never once did it need a non-maintenance part replacement. It's all wheel drive and averages 25 MPG. Of course, it's a hybrid.

Have you ever experienced noise on acceleration at about 20mph? Mine has 186k miles and its driving me crazy bcs mechanics cant figure it out.

Tink it was a ho issue I have 2005 dakota with 4.7 and over 200k and no issues

I have bought and sold more wj jeeps with the 4.7 then the 4.0 and never had any major problems the space in the engine bay is the worst part when doing manifolds tho

Yes...Yes he is.

It's called planned obsolescence. Even Toyota is starting to move in that direction slowly. Most other manufacturers are there already. Especially German and American cars.

Look up Planned Obscelence and how it started with the Phoebus Cartel and the story of the Centennial Light Bulb

@@danielmirlach4655 true ☺

That's what is so hilarious, big corporations scream about climate change and protecting the environment and meanwhile the nation's land fills are filling up faster than ever becuase of this phenomenon.

Thanks for the advice.

Doorman junk is likely a install error as doorman makes many oem parts. It's like saying Bendix or Hitachi junk. The oem installation is normally crap now a days. As cris rock sed, do you really think after 150 years Cadillac can't make a car without the bumper falling off?! Of course they can but how could they sell you a new Cadillac!?

@@adamlewellen5081 If you feel Dorman is a good product, feel free to use their items. My experience says no

Haha or don't buy a jeep! Problem solved👍😀

@@mph5896 Dorman should’ve remained a hardware manufacturer only ! They did make high quality nuts and bolts ect.

It’s designed to be thrown away

That doesn't work in the east coast those poor guys

My 99 Grand Cherokee Laredo 4.0 still runs like a champ with over 275k!

Once there is not enough repairable cars left, people will realize the value of them, and at that point the smart people will be the ones holding them :)

Designed for self destruction

In WJ circles the 4.7 is usually regarded as fairly reliable, if not as much as the 4.0. The main cause of its bad Rep as far as we can tell mostly comes from the RAM trucks, where the extra heat from the engine bay + extra strain from towing and other truck duties caused them to blow a fair few headgaskets

I have the 4.7 in an 03 Ram 1500. I tow with it all the time and am at 234k. No blown head gaskets. I think it is people that overheat them. My radiator started to leak at 200k(original) and I immediately stopped driving it, never overheated and just replaced and did the cooling system.

@@zaphodbeeblebrox5580 That's the key point. No modern engine with aluminum heads can ever be overheated without doing major damage very quickly. People forget about the cooling system until it overheats, but then it's often too late.

My 02 ram had almost 570k miles on original engine and transmission before it got totaled by drunk guy.. never had any problem always ran like a top notch. Loved this truck and had it since it was brand new… regular oil changes and maintenance all it needed

I had two 4.7L WJs in my family. Both started slowly overheating. Both were leaking cooling system pressure due to a hard thermostat gasket. Best to replace the plastic housing, thermostat and gasket with Mopar parts every time the coolant is changed. Atleast every 10 years. My sister unfortunately must have severely overheated it, as that one dropped a valve seat about 5000 miles later and destroyed the engine.

not to mention the fishing tackle found there

The 3.7 and 5.7 engines made prior to 2009 also had this problem as well.

@@atx-cvpi_99 Yes sir you are correct. MY uncle retired from Chrysler, a decade ago. He worked on the dyno, and tore these engines down daily. His rule was to stay away from any Chrysler engine that ends in a 7. 🤣. I have learned to live with them, since I am a cheap bastard and buy these for a nickel.

@@mph5896 Slant six was a 3.7 and is one of the most reliable engines ever made.

@@12yearssober Newer stuff. Like 90's+. And you are still dead to me. ☠

@@mph5896 😄😄

Well done Colombo I agree

Seen an automotive junkyard lately? It's borderline criminal how wasteful motorists are with the use and throw away car culture.

The predecessors dashboard did look way better

@@CRAPO2011 indeed, they were very high quality.

I had the 1994, 1999, and now the 2005 all new, all top tier. The 1999 was very high quality leather and interior appointments but the 2005 has grown on me. I am 6 feet tall and 190 lbs. and the 2005 gives me more space in the drivers box and the interior has clean lines and the leather is outstanding and has held up like new. So, I prefer the 2005.

@@Sandbag1300 Hah, I remember that was in one of the advertisements when these cars were knew “room for both of us to grow”.

Indestructible

Did you ever got problems with “Ignition Start” Reason I ask it is Because your Vehicle Runs on Diesel and Very Cold Winter Season..Thx

@Zezu there was no recall regarding ignition switch for the 2008 model year; the 2005 to 2007 model years were affected. All I have had to change remotely related to ignition was the glow plugs.

Nickel & diming is what's called maintenance. Consider it a vehicle payment. Just look at airplanes' maintenance schedules. No skipped oil changes, no flying around with half the panel fasteners missing, no nursing it along with oil pouring out every seam. Fix that 💩 immediately and a ground vehicle can be as reliable as an airplane. For every $ of fuel, one puts another $ into the maintenance reserve. That way when the transmission needs rebuilding it's no tragedy. That's how one keeps vehicles forever.

Buddy has 250k miles on his with OG Engine and Trans, been pretty solid.

Radio, TV and VCR repair, a thing of the past. Sadly we're working towards the day when auto repair is a thing of the past, people are very quickly buying into the "just rent it" mindset where they take it to the official shop and whatever they say goes. If it's "unfixable" it's time for another, just like a crappy modern TV, and those delicate paper thin laptops that are irreparable. People continue to buy that stuff, and are buying more of it as the repairability goes to 0.

My wk is an 07 Laredo 3.7. It has 198k on it and been a tank. Has a small vacuum leak currently. Ive done wheel bearings, ball joints, water pump, belt, alternator, and a muffler. Very little rust from the eastern rust belt.

Some dude traded in the '02 Toyota Tacoma I just got because of a high idle and a little power loss. All it need was a new air filter, and a cleaning of throttle and MAF to get her running right. Upgrading the suspension for a few hundred bucks, and I have a nice truck for hopefully many years to come. I don't know why people just toss nice things away so easily, but one mans trash is another mans treasure I suppose.

@@volvo09 I only buy laptops with removable batteries for a reason

That grinding at full lock might be your rear differential. My 01 would let out a nasty guurrrrrrrr in the rear when I turned hard. The fluid needs changing often from new

Yeah if you drive many miles annually I can see that. No one buys a JGC, even a 6 cylinder, for gas mileage. Fortunately I no longer drive 60kmi per year so gas can be US$5 per *liter* and it'd be lost in the noise compared to the insurance rates here in the NJSR.

I may get a JGC in about a week...is it a gas guzzler?

And the oil changes itself, you just top it off every few hundred miles lol

We are doing all 3

@@CarWizard Go for the upgraded bushings and they will last much longer

True, just undo the three holding bolts and the differential swings 180 degrees for all bushings replacement. Absolutely no need to take down the differential - that was a clever design.

Or better still, rust killer/converter; then a primer; then a top coat...let it age over summer; then fluid film?

I forget which video I watched but they used a torch to make a super rusty bolt glow red, then it just unscrewed like it was brand new. I live in Florida so we don't have frequent rust issues, but my swimming pool filter had an issue where the nut that holds it shut rusted solid to the shaft that comes up from the bottom. It was in a position that made it impossible to tighten down enough to not leak. I lubricated it over and over for several weeks, then put it in a vice with two vice grips on the nut and it wouldn't budge. A new shaft rod and nut (which is imbedded into a handle with a bushing to seal it) were around $130. I tried the torch method and it also unscrewed with almost no resistance. The handle of course melted but that only cost $20 to replace and it's been great ever since. The biggest challenge I'd see is making sure you don't set the car on fire as any rubber bushings or sensitive pieces attached to the bolt will get very hot. For items not directly in the flame path, you can put a vice grip on the bolt between the flame and the fragile part (rubber, etc.) to act as a heat sink, and also have a helper with a spray bottle wetting the things you want to keep cool. I bought an old Jeep that had been up North and have done this on a few rusty items as well with good results. Hope this helps:-).

You should sell that Jeep as a rare vehicle because it’s the only one in the world with a mass air flow sensor. Lol. I’m just kidding with you but it most definitely does not have a mass air flow sensor.

@@jamesmccafferty7045 Well, whatever it was, I cleaned the hell out of it!🤣🤣🤣

Question...how is the gas mileage? I may be getting one next week.

@@RobertSpiller It now has 181,000 miles. Average 15.5/gal.

@@farcohollis1369 Thank you for letting me get some ideas about gas mileage.

No, it’s from too small of hardware!

That seems awfully expensive. My 2013 5.7L overland was under that new on the lot. And I agree, I owned WJs but never wanted a WK1. Ugly with ugly interiors. In my opinion.

just buy brand new or not at all then. Nobody seems to enjoy fixing their jeep properly

that should go for any car.

i just bought one that was ready for the junkyard. put like 650 in it for a total of 1k and it’s my daily driver. Jeep’s are great

I agree

Not near salt water tho

Not necessarily..???

East Coast in Winter Time!!! Tons of Salt…

The old 2005-2009 Durango's. I used to buy those for around $2k 6-8 years ago as government surplus. They were tanks.

I love those cars. Wish I could find a clean low-mileage one I could afford, probably not going to happen with used car prices the way they are.

Those Northstar engines were actually very efficient and powerful, they just had that head gasket weakness. The bigger issue with them was the labor to replace the HG since the engine was transversely mounted and less accessible. You could buy heavy duty head studs when doing the job and you'll never have another issue. The STS and platform were decent performers that rode smooth (hence the term it rides like a Cadillac!) and had a nice style. When you think of it, your $4k investment was 4-6 months of payments on a new comparable class car. You got to pocket the rest rather than lose it in depreciation.

We in Australia get it much better. I have a 1999 Ford fairmont wagon and did an oil change over easter and whilst under the car i had a good look around and there is zero rust. I live in Melbourne so i am only 15K from the coast. We do nearly all the work on it at our factory on the weekend so it has saved me heaps.

@@ianmontgomery7534 I live in Florida, USA and my 03 F150 is also rust free. The bigger problem we get, which I'm sure you probably share, is the Sun degrading the clear coat paint and plastic parts. I had to replace my window seals and re-spray the side that faces South when parked. It looks almost new again. My Northern relatives always talk about our rust free cars, I just tell them that ours rot from the top down instead of the bottom up! We have a beach 1 hour away where cars are allowed to drive/park on the sand. You can tell who the locals are by the rusty lower body panels:-).

I made the mistake of buying a project Jeep Liberty (Cherokee in UK, I believe) that came to Florida from the Northeast USA. We don't normally see rust here aside from surface coloring, so I didn't pay close enough attention to the underside. Once I got into it, I found a lot of corrosion in the suspension and had to replace all of the control arms as they were perforated. It wasn't as bad as some I've seen on videos, but it did add a bit of work. Kansas where the Wizard is located doesn't get as much snow as the more Northern states, so that probably saved this Jeep a bit. The scrap yards up North are full of rusted out cars with good drivetrains, while the ones down South are full of shiny, rust free cars with broken drivetrains. If shipping weren't so expensive, cars could be fixed so much cheaper!

Did you have a vibration from the front driveshaft at highway speeds?

EuroWerkstatt here in Vegas has this and it helps folks see the photos/videos of the underside of their vehicles (and what repairs are needed).