Spliced loom and overfilled oil.... Great way to start my first Moab trip!

[Troop92]

All of this the past year I upgraded/solidified Trooper in prep for Moab. Two good friends here in Layton, Dustin in his Rodeo and Anthony in his TJ, and I had decided long ago we were going to go down, and take the families with us. So we've been planning this for a while.

So, this past weekend we did just that. We all took Friday off, and headed down for a long weekend. I, due to a lack of time, committed a sin and dropped my Trooper off for an oil change at Jiffy Lube first thing Friday morning, ran across the street to Smith's to get a few supplies, packed up and hit the road. We of course left later than intended, happens to us all. When accelerating onto the freeway in Kaysville, my gauges and blinkers stopped working. Huh. Everything else was working great, figured just a fuse. We continued along our way, got to Spanish Fork and pulled off for a bathroom/stretch for the kids. Checked fuses - I had blown "Turn/Back", "Elec Ign", and "Meter/Gauge" fuses. Odd. So I replaced them, did a thorough overview of all I could and didn't see anything amiss. Just figured it was a fluke thing. So we get not a mile down the road, almost to the mouth of the canyon, and gauges go nuts, lights illuminate, lost power, and Anthony said my reverse lights were flickering. We pulled over, found some shade in a vacant business complex. I was pretty mad at that point, so I tore off the skid plate to find.... An anchored zip tie immediately left (driver side) from the oil filter was snapped off, and further left (more driver side) was broken too. This had allowed the electrical loom to become closely acquainted with the cooling fan...



Yeah, that's what's left in Anthony's hands.... my wire loom. Awesome, right? Of the 14 wires, 13 were mangled or completely severed. I'm grateful that Isuzu used wires of all different colors. We spent the next long while using butt-end connectors and electrical tape to repair everything. I'll solder them later. Started right up, no ill effects, so we continued on our marry way.

 

[Troop92]

Just a mile or two up the canyon, when pulling up a hill, Trooper started to buck, I lost power, throttle was deadened, and black clouds spewed out my tailpipe... Sonofa... So we pulled off to a level pullout. I let it sit for 20 minutes. Then I checked the dipstick.



Look at my glove - where the kink is in the dipstick. Yeah, that's where the oil was, figure that's about a quart (easily) over my fill line. Out of earshot of the wife I might have let a few expletives fly. You have one job, Jiffy Lube, one job. Change oil. I might give you a pass on the loom (okay, not really, you're the only one working on that part of my car in the past few months) but overfilling my oil? Really? FAIL.



So we drained out a bunch (into various cups/containers scavenged on the side of the road) and THEN it was at the full mark. Three checks on the way down to Moab (lots of stops with kids) verified that my "drain to full" job was super accurate. Take note, Jiffy Lube, you can get oil level spot on...

So we got rolling again, Trooper felt better, but all weekend exhibited issues under load -- felt like if I went past full throttle it would stutter, hesitate, as if power/throttle was a garden hose and someone was kinking it above half-throttle. If I feathered back on the throttle, I could gradually get it to go gradually. It was fine around town, but on the freeway maintaining speed was terrible... At any rate, we finally made it to Moab, nearly 8 hours after we started from Layton, and we were all tired and cranky. Ended up in a condo down south of town (out by the Branding Iron) that was really nice. We didn't run anything that night, just relaxed with the families.

 

[Troop92]

Saturday we were out the door by 10 or so, drove around Moab a bit, and then headed out to Gemini Bridges Road with the intent of driving down Bull Canyon to look up at the Bridges.



The drive was fun, kids behaved (my 6 month old slept the whole way) but come to find that you can no longer drive out close to the Bridges due to people driving where they shouldn't out there. It's gated off, so that was a bummer. Nevertheless, got some good shots of the Isuzus.





Drove back up and walked out on Gemini. Really cool, apart from the section that's falling down under your feet that isn't roped off, slightly unnerving.



Home that afternoon to play in the pool with the kids, then had dinner with families. Guys left that night and hit up Fins & Things - and promptly turned around after looking down the first Fin. While DBAIRD99 and TJ had done Fins before, they'd never done it at night, and it's pretty daunting. We felt good about not going on the trail. Consider our entrance fee a good donation to the park. Instead, we hopped across the river to Poison Spider Mesa and had a BLAST. I don't think we had any pictures, but we took our time and made it to the rock garden above the Waterfall before turning around due to time - as it was, we didn't get home until 4am anyway. What not may write-ups say about the trails is the condition of the trail getting to the named obstacles. That's a pretty gnarly trail in places. But, I'm really happy with how Trooper did, honestly. Made the climb great, handled the Chutes and Waterfall with ease. Didn't try Big Ledge or the Launchpad. We determined that we for sure want to complete that trail when we have more time.

 

[Troop92]

Saturday we slept in, packed up and headed out. On the way back to SLC we hit up Tusher Tunnel and had a lot of fun. The wives/kids really liked that one.





Coming home we battled incredible headwinds the entire way, so with my hesitation issue I wasn't ever in 5th gear I don't think. 4th and even 3rd all the way led to some pretty abysmal fuel economy. BUT, was it awesome? Yes. Are we taking more time next time? Yes. Best take away is all of the little things that I want to tweak and change on the Trooper. First I have to get it running well again I suppose..

 

[Cascadia]

Sounds like a good time. Too bad for all the issues though. Fins is a trail I always hit first thing when I come down. Sometime before we unpack. It's right by our place and is one of the easier trails around. If you go back in the light you'll see it's not a sketchy trail. Way to keep on after the problems.

 

[Troop92]

@Cascadia, thanks. It really was a good time, but Friday and all the issues threw everyone off. We had a grand master plan that included Fins right when we arrived and wives/kids were unpacking and swimming, but.... We weren't concerned with difficulty, more with it being dark and us being tired. At that point in our minds a "flat" mesa vs steep fins sounded better.

 

[Kevin B.]

Once upon a time, I let a Jiffy Lube change my front diff oil right before a trip. When my front diff seized up on the pavement at 35 mph or so, I think I squirted out several green nickles. Unlocked the hubs, drove back to camp, found the diff empty, the fill plug seized, and not a leak in sight. The bastards had drained it, couldn't get the fill plug off, then gave it back to me and let me drive off with an empty diff. I'll never visit a quick change place like that again.

Bucking under heavy throttle could be a fuel issue? Thanks for the trip report, great pics!

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Sucks about the truck acting up man. Looks like it was pretty fun on the trails though. Exploring any part of Moab is a blast in my opinion.

Sounds like your truck is suffering from fuel starvation or some timing issues. I had a Mercedes I just got rid of that kept doing that. 3 fuel pumps later (finally got two that worked right) and it became a lot more fun car to drive.

 

[Pike2350]

Love the snowflake rims...they look really good on the Trooper. I've had that same issue with my Rodeo...where it seems now matter how hard I try and push it, it can't maintain a normal freeway speed. I have no idea what caused it, but I recall having it on the way back from Moab one time..and a few times around town. I haven't had it for quite a awhile, so I can't help. Sounds like a good trip...I hope to make it down there in a month or so.

 

[N-Smooth]

Thanks for reaffirming my hatred for anyone but myself working on my vehicles
I can see how fins could be daunting at night if you haven't been on it a lot. We pretty much only run that trail at night now because it's more fun that way. poison spider is an awesome night trail, especially if you stop just past the waterfall and do some star-gazing.

 

[jeeper]

It's right by our place

You've got a home in moab also?? You kill me...Literally..I'm dead right now.

 

[Troop92]

Thanks, guys. It was a blast. We're planning another guys-only trip and an adults-only trip too. Now that the wives have realized how awesome Moab is, wasn't too hard of a sell!

@xj_nate - we did that, actually. It was a really warm night, we circled up after the Waterfall, turned off the rigs, popped a few sodas, and watched the shooting stars. It was nice, nobody else out there.

I won't have time until this weekend, but I'm going to do a tune up, see how gummed up everything is. Hopefully new plugs and some injector cleaner will solve it, if not I'll look into doing a bigger tear down, haven't done one since high school. Would a too-full crank cause a timing issue? I've never had problems with Trooper before - doesn't burn oil, good top end - and now this. Went against my better judgement... Never again.

 

[idahoyj]

Looks like a good time. I REALLY need to get down there some day!
Did the jiffy folks touch the air filter? Sounds like it might not be getting enough air under load or at higher RPMs?

 

[Troop92]

No, they didn't check the filter, but they would have checked it since they usually do. I should probably go over everything they potentially touched and make sure more issues won't be popping up. I'm going to drop by on my way to work tomorrow and get loud if need be. Refund my money, I won't be more vocal in my boycott of the place...

 

[jeeper]

No, they didn't check the filter, but they would have checked it since they usually do. I should probably go over everything they potentially touched and make sure more issues won't be popping up. I'm going to drop by on my way to work tomorrow and get loud if need be. Refund my money, I won't be more vocal in my boycott of the place...

They really are liable for all the issues. Talk to a higher up, and make sure they cover all your actual costs and such. This will be much more than just your oil change money back.

 

[Troop92]

They really are liable for all the issues. Talk to a higher up, and make sure they cover all your actual costs and such. This will be much more than just your oil change money back.

Actual costs being what? And how do I go about fighting that? It isn't like it's a new car and my motor seized or something.

 

[Stephen]

Wow, yeah, that really sucks about the Jiffy Lube stuff. I'd be back there demanding my money back at the very least.

Good looking Trooper there, though. Glad the rest of the trip was a success.

As for your stumbling issue, as you said, a good tune up will probably help immensely. Run some Seafoam through it, hopefully that'll clean things.

 

[Troop92]

Wow, yeah, that really sucks about the Jiffy Lube stuff. I'd be back there demanding my money back at the very least.

What do you all think would be the best way to go about that? Start at the store and if they don't do anything go corporate?

Good looking Trooper there, though. Glad the rest of the trip was a success.

Thanks! I pulled some inspiration from yours, honestly.

As for your stumbling issue, as you said, a good tune up will probably help immensely. Run some Seafoam through it, hopefully that'll clean things.

I know they'll offer to do that for me - the engine or fuel clean - but like I want them touching my car again...

 

[moab_cj5]

Sorry to hear of all your issues! A little time in Moab can solve some ills though.

For your Jiffy Lube complaints, start with the store. If they dont do anything for you, send me a pm. I know some people that might be able to help you get results if the store is unresponsive.

 

[Troop92]

Went in and spoke with a friendly Assistant Manager. Calmly and clearly explained about the loom and the overfill. He seemed concerned about the loom, but less so about the oil. He took me in and showed me in his computer that "your Trooper takes 6 quarts of oil." I plan to take my manual back and show him how NEW from the factory it takes 6.3 quarts, with filter 5.7, and without filter 5.3 quarts. And that's assuming that you get all the oil out with a change. Yet, I always circle back to WHY a dipstick comes on every vehicle. It's to make sure you're where you're supposed to be instead of dumping in 6 quarts and calling it good. We took out a quart or more, and my two friends (one a mechanic) verified on the dipstick what I saw before we did anything. The JiffyLube Assistant Manager assured me that they "double check" every time....

He said he would have his manager call me tomorrow, and "if need be" they could get a regional rep involved. We'll see where this goes.... I just want my Trooper running well again. In the nearly 5 years I've owned it, it has NEVER run this poorly. As of last Thursday it was running better than ever. *sigh*