Before leaving for our vacation, we had another good experience with a auto repair garage. I POSTED before about an oil pressure problem we had in the Jeep. A co-worker suggested trying a different garage that time, and since the experience was good, we gave them another try for the state inspection.
Since taking the Jeep in the last time, I noticed that after the car warms up, the oil pressure goes down when idling. I know that some cars do that, but it was dropping below 20 PSI. When I took it in for the inspection, I mentioned it and asked them to take a look at it and give me an estimate. After reading some things and talking to others, I was sure it was a bad oil pump.
The guys at the shop thought it couldn’t be the problem since oil pumps are usually very dependable. On top of that, Jeep Cherokees have a great reputation for not needing repairs, even beyond 200,000 miles. They said they would take a look at it and let me know.
Like the last time, they looked at smaller, less expensive ways to solve the problem first. They hooked up another gauge to verify the one in the dashboard was working properly. Then they looked up information from the manufacture, since the car was showing no other signs of problems. Turns out that Jeep says the engine can run safely at PSI readings as low as 13!
So over the course of two visits with “car trouble” and a state inspection, I have spent only $200, and that also included two oil changes and necessary replacement items. Not too bad.
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:01 am
You (with this post) and my wife have inspired a future post of mine. And, BTW, I’ll do the meme, but it’ll probably be in a week and a half.