Finally got Scope Creep put together enough to go for a spin

After tearing into the rear axle swap and rear suspension project the day after Thanksgiving last year, I finally got my heap back in order. Took off on Friday the 17th to go on the Death Valley trip with the DR0NK group. Stopped on the way to deliver to Tim his crossmember. Made it up Cajon Pass and most of the way to Barstow. And then completely lost power.

Not a good start.

(And no Tim, it had nothing to do with the belt. You may have never heard the end of it if it had though.)

Had 49 psi fuel pressure and no spark. With a storm coming up my back I tore into replacing the CPS. One of the first things I did when I bought Scope Creep was to go to the dealership and get a spare CPS. Even had them look it up by the VIN. Well, I still got the wrong part. Fortunately Bruce had hung back from the rest of the DR0NK group when I stopped to meet Tim and he was able to run into town and get me the correct CPS. Got that installed and still no spark.

Dang.

The next thing would have been to try another coil. For a moment we thought about pulling Bruce's coil, but then immediately realized that wouldn't work since his '01 has the coil rail system. Phooey.

With a storm on the way running back and forth into town didn't seem like a bright idea. Time to break down and call AAA.



I simply had the Jeep towed to a shop in Barstow where they proceeded to systematically diagnose the problem and came to the conclusion I needed a new coil. $185 later Scope Creep started, and proceeded to blow bits of the catalytic converter out the tailpipe. Hot cats don't seem to appreciate raw fuel. But at least we were running again. Off to catch up with the rest of the group.

Saturday we went to Ibex Springs and boy did it start to rain while there. Things were damp going in, but absolutely running with water on the way back out.




And this was on the way to Furnace Springs:





Camp was outside of Beatty, NV:





The weather cleared up a bit for Sunday. We got a nice view of the not-quite-so-dry lakebed:





And the mountain reflected in said lakebed:






Monday, while the DR0NK group headed south to go back to San Diego I turned north to take advantage of some of the extra flexibility homeschooling allows. And right off the bat noticed that Scope Creep had picked up some extra vibrations while on the trails. I finally decided that tire balancing would be worth checking. Found a shop in Fallon and had the tires balanced. Sure enough, one was way out of balance. That made a big improvement.

Got to Weiser, Idaho and the CEL came on. Stopped at a shop to have that checked and it came back as a code for the cat. Okay. I know what that is about. Clear the code and back on the road.

Halfway to the North Pole:





That night I think my SoCal Jeep got the shock of its life:





And Scope Creep got even for that the next day. The alternator went out. I never have liked the idea of an alternator at the bottom of the engine. What a PITA.

We got two nights in Idaho and then had to head for home to beat the weather for Donner Pass.

The Varmints had noticed this sign on the way up and thought we should stop and get a picture on the way home:





The good news is that nothing else broke coming home. The CEL came back on in Torrance. I will have to replace the cat to pass smog.

A few more trips like this and I should have Scope Creep fixed up like new.

Thanks for the share, that's quite the trip you had.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

Cool trip Tom, glad to hear you didn't throw a belt.

It was probably a blankie stuck in the hatch that caused the coil failure.

He doesn't have my blankie, I do cause it is still stuck.


Man that looks like a nice trip. Besides the break down I hope you had a great time.
Some day mine will make a trip like that

The Varmints had a good time.

I think I spent more time worrying about what was going to break next. I started paying more attention than usual to the locations of parts houses we passed.

The Bride is particularly critical of the fact that I spent the last three months working on this thing and it still broke down multiple times. The fact that none of the things I worked on were the ones that broke doesn't seem to help much.

It is a good thing she didn't go along for the ride.

Whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do?

Throw more time, money and energy at it of course.

Nice report. Death and Panamint Valleys have been wet this year, though I didn't get any rain this weekend.

David Bricker / SYR - PHX

Just stumbled across this thread while searching for another thread of mine.

I will note that The Bride still gives me grief about this trip. It is known as the "car repairs in three states" trip. And she sat comfortably at home the whole time.

I am going to have to get her a Jeep of her own.

Don't do it. It has doubled my work load.. Remember you'll always have to fix her jeep first trust me.

Anak said:

Just stumbled across this thread while searching for another thread of mine.

I will note that The Bride still gives me grief about this trip. It is known as the "car repairs in three states" trip. And she sat comfortably at home the whole time.

I am going to have to get her a Jeep of her own.

Click to expand...

I brought my wife on my trip from hell, too many decades ago. Seized alternator, slashed tire, bent rim, destroyed inner wheel bearing, failed alternator, destroyed tree limbs. It was an epic trip.


It was also the last time she has gone camping. I have to go alone now. Darn.


David Bricker / SYR

I see words of wisdom from my elders.

Nice write up and pics, man! I missed this the first go round. 100% agreed about alternators at the bottom of an engine... :slap: