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Stupid things the previous owner did

3K views 29 replies 26 participants last post by  blade4804 
#1 ·
This thread is for stupid things the previous owner did, feel free to add yours.

A couple years ago I bought an extra serpentine belt, it lived in the back of the Jeep as a spare for a couple years until I decided it was time to change it. It was too long, pissed off I threw it away. Fast forward a couple months later to today. I went to Napa and got another belt, guess what...it's too long.

I called Napa and the only thing they offered was to return it, great. I start with google and run across a thread here on WF. Water Dog posted this pic of the belt diagram in this thread http://www.wranglerforum.com/f210/humbled-by-my-stupidity-again-814969.html



Thanks Water Dog for that post.

I've had this Jeep for 3 or 4 years and it's been fine, I had no reason to think it had the wrong belt routed the wrong way :censored:

The previous owner got a belt too short and routed it like this




Somehow, I haven't had an issue other than it would squeal above 3,000 rpm. This is only 1 of the stupid things I've fixed but I'll leave the original post with only this offering.
 
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#3 ·
I better go check that because my PO was a total dumbaxx. Fortunately I have been able to correct everything he did including he steering. But it was a challenge.
 
#4 ·
I like the idea of drawing the belt route on the extra belt's box. Great tip. I have been fortunate as the only thing the PO did on mine was install a pro comp lift that felt like i was riding on wet sponges. That has been fixed.
 
#5 ·
The belt routing diagram should be on top of your radiator, or at least mine is. I guess if you've had that replaced it won't be there.

POs of mine seem to have done a good job of owning it. It needed some maintenance done for sure, but nothing is broken and everything is in good shape. They did drive through a lot of mud at one point and I'm finding it all over the under side though. And despite having a soft top folded up in the back they traded it in without the windows or door surrounds which is mostly just annoying.
 
#6 ·
I have a 99 TJ and the PO removed the cat and then cut off the downstream O2 sensor leaving the wiring plugged into the harness. This caused a CEL so he just removed the bulb. I remedied this by just plugging a new sensor into the harness and placing it out of the way above the heat shield. No CEL since. This worked for my model but may not for later models. I may replace the cat one day but I don't have emissions testing here. Other than that it's a great jeep.
 
#7 ·
On my old YJ the previous owner had lost the soft top and ran a bikini top....year round...no garage...needless to say the reason I had to sell it was rust.

On my current TJ I found that the guy had installed an alarm system. Its a soft top...
 
#8 ·
This thread is for stupid things the previous owner did, feel free to add yours.



A couple years ago I bought an extra serpentine belt, it lived in the back of the Jeep as a spare for a couple years until I decided it was time to change it. It was too long, pissed off I threw it away. Fast forward a couple months later to today. I went to Napa and got another belt, guess what...it's too long.



I called Napa and the only thing they offered was to return it, great. I start with google and run across a thread here on WF. Water Dog posted this pic of the belt diagram in this thread http://www.wranglerforum.com/f210/humbled-by-my-stupidity-again-814969.html







Thanks Water Dog for that post.



I've had this Jeep for 3 or 4 years and it's been fine, I had no reason to think it had the wrong belt routed the wrong way :censored:



The previous owner got a belt too short and routed it like this









Somehow, I haven't had an issue other than it would squeal above 3,000 rpm. This is only 1 of the stupid things I've fixed but I'll leave the original post with only this offering.

Correct me if I'm wrong. But wouldn't the two belt routings spin the water pump two different directions.


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#13 ·
Correct me if I'm wrong. But wouldn't the two belt routings spin the water pump two different directions.

from the picture and the drawing, yes it does look like the water pump would spend in the opposite direction of each other. At least from how I look at them.
 
#12 ·
The back of the belt almost always runs on smooth pulleys.


Stupid things the PO of my TJ did.

- installed a spacer lift about 10 years ago and never realized that it disintegrated.
- 2 plugs out of the 6 were different.
- had a universal cat welded in, on both ends. made it interesting to swap out my catback

I'm sure there's more that I've forgotten by now but those are the ones that come to mind.
 
#15 ·
While replacing the front speakers recently, I removed the passenger speaker grill/cover to find this gem:



I guess the factory speaker quit, so they just threw in a spare Alpine Type S 5.25" they had sitting around...hanging by one screw. I had been wondering why I had this loud rattle when going over bumps...I don't have that rattle anymore.
 
#16 ·
Don't even know where to start but I do know that my findings continue everyday...

1. Welded the front tb drop bracket after breaking a bolt. Chunky ugly farm weld that was fun to grind off
2. Burned up a wire on the light switch. Instead of replacing the switch and pigtail, this person wired in a separate toggle that only runs the headlights. The rest of the lights are still on the oem switch
3. Welded the cat on but luckily only one side - muffler side
4. Paid $90 to a dealer to fix a rear hard brake line. The job looked like my 8 year old daughter fixed it in art class. Was home made. Not even oem.
5. Every sparkplug in it was a different gap - huge differences. Said he just tuned it up. Yeah all of the parts were new. Wrong plugs with wrong gaps...

I've only had it for about 4 months......
 
#27 ·
Previous owner never corrected a HORRIBLE bump steer issue after putting in a lift. While this isn't a stupid thing that was done, it was a stupid thing left uncorrected. Driving it home from purchase on the highway, I thought I was going to crash several times and had to slow down to 45 MPH just to stay in the lane. Wife was following me home and she called me to see if I was doing that on purpose!

Once I put on the adjustable track bar, that cleared up 90% of the driving problems. Adjustable control arms and caster adjustments, alignment and new steering gearbox fixed the rest.
 
#28 ·
Oh I can't wait to hear the next owner butch about my jeep if I ever get rid of it lol

- cut off axle side sway bar mounts
- drilled out tie rod end bolt hole
- moved seat 5" back and cut brackets so it sits lower. No longer adjustable.
- cut the hood up for a louvre
- chopped the fenders for tube fenders
- strange looking trackbar and drag link
- drilled body for antenna... Should have just out it on the bumper. Oops

Modifications are so much fun
 
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