Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Modern 4X4's, some good, some not so good.

I don't know about you guys, but I miss the good, old days when I could maintain my 4X4's. Here is Kalifornia we have such complicated vehicles that unless you have several test machines, you can't fix them when they go sour.
I took my 2014 Wrangler in three times because the "check engine" light was on. Turns out the software, which has been upgraded three times in the last year is suppose to monitor something like 500 different things. You need those expensive test machines to determine which one it is. Just to find out costs $100, almost an hour of shop time at a dealership.
My warantty runs out in June. Great. Keep getting mail offerings to extend it. What that means is I get to pay for repairs in advance.....
That's the bad news. The good news is somebody on the inside gave me a few hints. If the "check engine" light comes on and stays on, it could be the tiniest leak in the emissons control system. You know, Kalifornia's efforts to show the rest of the world how to save us from climate change.
If I ignore this, and keep driving it, probably won't have to fix anything until the next smog test is required. Bit if the check light comes on and blinks, I need to park it and call a tow truck. Something serious is going bad.
The other "good news" is I got to drive a 2017 Ram Power Wagon. They apparently they are becoming more popular, Great trucks, but the base price is $51,600 plus.
Ah, me. E

The old days of the check engine light coming on and pulling over and checking the oil and if that looked good continue on are gone. 99% of the time it was something emissions related and not a huge deal.

These days 1/2 the time when the check engine light comes on your vehicle will go into limp mode. Might not even be that big of a deal, but you're SOL at times.

open the hood, if all looks good then you did what it said and drive on.

Pick up code reader off Amazon. The run from $15 on up in price. I picked up one for about $40 that tells you what each code means. I occasionally get the small emissions evap leak as well, and with the code reader I know that is the issue and I can erase it so I don't have to see it anymore.

Most auto parts shops will have a loaner reader you can plug in. Some will allow you to reset the light, some won't.

It isn't just a CA thing anymore.
They are all like that now. In return, for the complexity, we not only get less smog, we get greatly increased power and efficiency, reduced maintenance and increased engine life, especially when compared to the older rigs.

Around here any auto parts store will read the code and turn the light off. Mine turned on while on vacation in CA. At the South Tahoe O'Rielly they wouldn't read the code--state law. They said they could over the border in NV. I was headed that way anyway, so they read the code there and it was a glow plug and some DEF issues. They couldn't turn it off--state law.

I stop back into O'Reilly in South Tahoe a few days later to get some DEF and other stuff. Talking to the counter guy, they can sell me a Bosch code reader for less than $100 that reads all codes and turns off the light. If it is still broken, the light comes back on when the condition returns.

As I was buying the code reader I asked him WTF didn't they tell me this two days ago they wanted to send me to Carson City? It was a good investment as I now have an idea what's wrong when the light is on. Glow plug? No problem, fix it at the next oil change. DEF sensor? Fix soon before the computer strands you on the side of the road.

You forgot greatly increased costs to buy and maintain. While their engines do last longer, they are alot more expensive to make. And the reduced maintanence intervals don't off set this by a long shot.
I bought a new 2000 Wrangler basic model in 2001. The 2014 I bought in 2014 wouild have been almost 50% more expensive than the 2000 I bought if I would have purchsed it as a basic almost no option model. E

I go to parts house and get a scan, easy cheap fix, fix. Pain in the butt that won't strand me, electrical tape over light.
We don't have E testing here, and the old crap I drive could break your wallet.

Umm, not so much in the case of diesels. EGR has proven to shorten the life of diesels engines measurably, due to oil contamination. That, plus the additional maintenance costs of the emission control systems, DPF's, SCR's etc. don't make the case for diesels as the better choice that they used to be. Unless, of course, you live in a state that does not require diesel emissions testing, and your vehicle "loses" some parts not essential to the operation of the vehicle.

If you've got an Iphone or other smartphone then get one of the many apps that lets you read codes and reset the check engine light. You can get a bluetooth OBD2 adapter off of amazon for about $10 that will pair with your smartphone act as a code reader. The basic apps usually cost around $2 with some fancy ones around $10. You can get the bluetooth adapters for around $2 off of ebay if you're willing to wait for it to be shipped from China.

Interesting. Thanks CH. E