So here's what concerns me!

[WhatExit?]

So here's what scares me...

I purchased a Base model to try and get the least electronics, sensors, bells and whistles possible. I'm scared these new rigs need too many signals and hand shakes to operate and if one is for some reason not seeing/ connecting like in the backwoods what the hell does one do?

What are the items that we need to know about our Jeeps? I'm paranoid I will one day jump in and the damn thing won't operate. And I'm 30 miles from any living human.

Loosing sleep on this.

EVERY vehicle built today is an electronic nightmare ........period....every one of them.....and EVERYONE of them will eventually leave you stranded...EVERY ONE of them!

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[ShadowsPapa]

Amen on the carb issues, and I could never get the hang of setting points properly.

I've had a LOT of carbureted vehicles - still own one today, it has two carburetors. I've never had one flood over due to float valve not seating correctly. It's almost aways a case of dirt - or someone messed up last time it was apart.
Ford did have a big issue with their composite floats absorbing fuel and dropping, running too rich, but we never worked on one that was actually flowing gas out anywhere. It was just way too ruch burning due to the high fuel level thanks for the soaked float material.

I only had to take one part of the automotive classes in high school as I was already running my own shop at that time, so I tested out of two of the classes, took the final as a formality - and the instructor had plans for me.
For the final exam for that class, he split the class up into teams of two. Each team was assigned an engine on a stand. He had messed things up - changed the points setting (dwell), turned the distributor, messed with all the carb settings. Each team was to get the engine running and tuned to factory specs. Each team had the full Sun scope, tach/dwell, all the tools they needed, including feeler gauges, timing light and so on.
Except me. I had to work alone. I did not get a scope, no timing light, no tach/dwell, no feeler gauges.
Worse, he pulled the distributor out and cranked the engine, pulled all the plug wires off, sabotaged the condensor by removing the clamp, drilling a small hole, shorting it with a tiny wire, putting the clamp back and putting the condensor back in the distributor.
I also had to get it running, and in specs as far as dwell, timing, curb idle, etc.
I had only basic hand tools, not so much as feeler gauges. I did get a test light as the only tool other than hand tools and used that to set the timing.
I passed. Everything was in spec.
I found out he was prepping me for contests (last I knew the trophies were still in the HS trophy case)

Earlier in the year he had lost a bet to me on my getting another engine running - as payment he had to make me a steel table I could use to test fire small engines (like lawn nore engines) in my shop.
I still have that table to this day.
He obviously remembered the name as he came to my father's funeral in 2018. I graduated 1975.

No fear of points, carburetors, whatever.............
I also drive an 82 with a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0 I installed. I moved PDC, PCM, etc. over to the car, put an electric pump in the fuel tank (found a Jeep pump that fit inside) and wired some of my car's systems through the PCM and PDC, including cruise control.

Plus I have engines over 100 years old. New, old, whatever. I love it all.

 

[Klutch]

I also have a carbureted vehicle and I'm pretty good with working on carbs. It was always the Quadrajets that I remember spewing gasoline everywhere from a bad needle and seat.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I also have a carbureted vehicle and I'm pretty good with working on carbs. It was always the Quadrajets that I remember spewing gasoline everywhere from a bad needle and seat.

I nearly forgot - besides the 4300 and perhaps some 2300s, the quadrajet also had floats that absorbed fuel and there were two plugs at the bottom of the float bowl where it screwed to the throttle body that leaked. There was a foam plug you could buy to put in that little open spot in the throttle body below those plugs to seal things up, otherwise fuel would leak into the throttle body past those plugs. Not frequent, but enough we kept packs of those foam pads around - and Quadrajet floats, as well. We always had those in stock.
I had nearly forgotten about those two issues with that otherwise pretty decent carb.
I had a 70 Chevy truck with SBC 350 and the Quadrajet. It got good mileage at low speeds but once those huge secondary plates opened up - watch out, watch that fuel gauge drop.
We did have a number of those coming in running rich. Put in a kit, replaced the float, put that pad in, good to go.
You could tell the float problem by taking a finger nail to the lower outer edge of the float - it would often get wet as you pressed, indicating fuel absorption.

 

[Blade1668]

I was driving my 2nd Eagle, an 81 SX4 with manual transmission through the middle of Mason City traffic. Lots of cars, lots of stop signs and stop lights.
I was coming fast upon a light and it turned red. I pushed in the clutch to downshift and hit the brakes - oops, clutch pedal to the floor. Luckily the brakes were good enough to stop the car and kill the engine. Light turns green - no clutch. The slave cylinder was toast, all the fluid ran out.
So I had to run that thing back home without being able to disengage the clutch, not even a little bit. I repaired the clutch slave cylinder with a kit and was good to go again.

My F250 the speedometer stopped working - then I went to back out of the driveway and the transmission acted weird. Got backed up onto the road and tried to go forward - it was in limp mode. I figured out - a FUSE was blown! I replaced the fuse and the transmission shifted fine and the speedometer worked again.

Still - neither left me really stranded.
My points were - modern, antique, classic, anything in between or at either extreme - stuff can happen. Simple or complex, stuff can happen.

If I worried too much about it, I'd never leave home - oh, but then what if........... (imagine all of the things with your house that can go wrong, or worse - fires, etc. You could say I'll just stay safe and stay in bed today and the dog chews a wire and set the place on fire and you die anyway)

Be thankful your truck isn't running on a Microsoft OS.

Yep on the clutch quitting. My LJ clutch quit on my way home on 5 January as I came to first traffic light in Decatur, AL. (right about 250k on it) pilots bearing clutch fingers was like razor blades half mm of pads short of rivets. Finished 30 mile drive home where I had a replacement clutch I bought 5 years back expecting to replace it. 13 days later driving to work my replacement radiator hose went. 11 days later I bought my JT.

 

[Fundamental Jeepster]

Check the fluids occasionally?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Check the fluids occasionally?

Nothing to do with it. When a hose goes, it goes. When a cylinder fails - it can fail with no warning.

 

[Fundamental Jeepster]

It's just me. I check fluids, hoses, belts etc. So sometimes you can prevent a mishap.

 

[Blade1668]

It's just me. I check fluids, hoses, belts etc. So sometimes you can prevent a mishap.

Yep like I had done I replaced the upper radiator hose as preventively maintenance when I replaced t-stat and water pump. Then the "new replacement" one failed. S### happens with no reason at times. I've got new replacement radiators that leak as bad as the one I was going to replace. The reason I keep old fan belt when I replace it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It's just me. I check fluids, hoses, belts etc. So sometimes you can prevent a mishap.

Yeah, preventative maintenance. At each oil change, or even in between, open the hood and take a look at things. Always.
I even do it after having warranty work done.
Some things, like rotted hoses or cracked or glazed belts can be caught, some things are just going to happen. But you minimize the simple stuff by making sure to check things every so often. They are all machines.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yep like I had done I replaced the upper radiator hose as preventively maintenance when I replaced t-stat and water pump. Then the "new replacement" one failed. S### happens with no reason at times. I've got new replacement radiators that leak as bad as the one I was going to replace. The reason I keep old fan belt when I replace it.

I replaced the radiator for my SX4 with a brand new one. I simply wanted to start fresh. I had it all installed and was topping it off I turned my attention to my son, who was at my place working on his own car. Suddenly he said "Dad, uh, take a look under your car" - all that new coolant leaking to the ground.
Rats - that brand new radiator had leaks at the joints.
So I boxed it up and took it back and got another one.
This one ended up being a 3 row core instead of 2 like the original and the first replacement.
It was also PERFECT. It's still in that car to this day, 8 years later. It's a perfect match to the original (other than being a 3 row core) it was like it was made at the same factory using the same tooling.
Not possible since it was made in Korea.

 

[Delhux]

So my brother just called. Reason for this post. He has a 2018 Ford F250 and it was completely dead. He had to take another vehicle to work luckily for him he was at home. He finally figured out the powered steering fluid need 3 oz! It was on the minimum line but apparently still needed it. The sensor didn't recognize the fluid at that level.

That sounds a little weird. Any chance he ended up tinkering with a half-dozen things (including topping off PS fluid) between attempted starts?

Low/somewhat low fluid levels, or even a sensor not registering doesn’t seem like a reason for the system to intentionally prevent an engine startup. I’d think that’d fall under “check engine light” at best—symptoms of low PS fluid are pretty noticeable to the driver.

Not doubting you, but I definitely doubt your brother.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

That sounds a little weird. Any chance he ended up tinkering with a half-dozen things (including topping off PS fluid) between attempted starts?

Low/somewhat low fluid levels, or even a sensor not registering doesn’t seem like a reason for the system to intentionally prevent an engine startup. I’d think that’d fall under “check engine light” at best—symptoms of low PS fluid are pretty noticeable to the driver.

Not doubting you, but I definitely doubt your brother.

Low doesn't mean empty. The difference between low and desperately needing fluid is often several ounces.

 

[Shootist]

It's just me. I check fluids, hoses, belts etc. So sometimes you can prevent a mishap.

Doing a little preventative maintenance like this is the best advice anyone could give. Doing this would lower your odds of A failure significantly from a pure mathematical viewpoint and subsequently real world scenarios as well by preventing any preventable failures.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Doing a little preventative maintenance like this is the best advice anyone could give. Doing this would lower your odds of A failure significantly from a pure mathematical viewpoint and subsequently real world scenarios as well by preventing any preventable failures.

Things like belts seldom "simply give out just like that".
There's almost always a sign - cracks, signs of age, glazing, cords exposed, etc.
Hoses can just go - but often show signs of ballooning, mushy ends, soft spots, signs of age......... and after a certain mileage, just replace them. (same for belts)
So checking belts and hoses is a DUH thing - it could save you from sitting somewhere for a long time - or engine damage.

Checking fluids may spot signs of a leak somewhere. Fluids don't just evaporate in most cases. Low master cylinder MAY be normal because as the caliper pads wear, the pistons stay out and the calipers retain more fluid, so that's natural to have to fill the master cylinder after so many miles, so much wear - but if it's going down faster than usual or normal, look for leaks.
PS fluid shouldn't need topping off for tens of thousands of miles.
Changing filters on a regular basis - that's just common sense. For me, when I change fuel filters, I sometimes open them up and look inside for signs of either tank issues, or fuel vendor issues (rust, moisture, particles that don't belong, etc.- after doing it for decades, you learn to see the signs)

Things can simply go - but the odds are indeed lessened if you check things over not and then.

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