2002 Jeep Wrangler

PAULSJEEP

MEMBER
2002 JEEP WRANGLER
6 CYL
4WD
MANUAL
135,000 MILES

I know little about cars and less about Jeeps. Please help.
I recently married and my wife's son had been driving her 2002 Jeep wrangler for the past 2 1/2 years. He had been going off road with it and treating it like a red-headed stepchild. A year and a half ago the transfer case had to be replaced. Somewhere around the same time a u-joint was replaced. The u-joint went out again about 3 months ago and my wife took the Jeep from her son. I have been driving the Jeep (very delicately) since. Now the transfer case has gone out again. We have brought it back to the same 4-wheel drive mechanic that had done the prior work thinking that something may be covered by a waranty. The mechanic said that the remanufactured transfer case was only covered by a 90 day waranty and that the waranty would not have covered it anyway because there was no fluid in the transfer case. I got on line and saw that the transfer case fluid should be changed every 30,000 miles. The jeep had not been driven more than that since the last transfer case had been put in. My first question is how did we loose the fluid? Second, was this something caused from the installation or the (remanufactured) part? Third, should he have notice when he did the u-joint 3 months ago? The price he has given me for another remanufactured transfer case is $2,060. Any advice? Please!

1 Reply

WRENCHTECH

MECHANIC
20,761 POSTS

Well, if there was no fluid in the transfer case, there is no question of why it failed. As to where the fluid went, it could have leaked out from hundreds of different places. Now, if he rebuilt the who case, then you would not expect to find leaks and if there were, it would be his problem. Your problem however is that you are responsible for maintaining all the fluid levels in the vehicle and making sure nothing goes low enough to cause damage. To further complicate this, the transfer case is really not driver accessible and is something that should be checked at oil change intervals. You have somewhat of a case in the argument that it should not have leaked out if it was rebuilt but your not on real solid ground there. The biggest problem you have right now is a step son that is just abusing the hell out of a vehicle he doesn't own or maintain. Off roading is a very abusive and expensive hobby for anyone and no one should be doing it with someone else's vehicle. If this kid can't be responsible with other people's property, he should be paying his own way.