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Vehicle Maintenance & Recommendations The following are special notes & recommendations for maintaining your offroad vehicle. Start with the recommended "Severe Use" listings of the maintenance schedule in your Owner's Manual. Then modify the intervals in that schedule according to your actual use. Our recommendations have come about after years of experience on driving many types of 4WDs & XJs on & off road. It's not unusual for us to drive these vehicles as much as 40,000 miles a year - and a good number of these miles on dirt roads & trails in Utah. |
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| Annual Flush | Flush all lubricants & liquids at least once a year; | |
| Automatic Transmission Fluid | Care must be taken when flushing automatic transmissions that the pump never be starved for fluid (run dry). Be sure there is always an adequate supply of 'new' fluid being added. If you've never flushed an automatic transmission before and you feel a little squeamish about it, have someone else do it and watch carefully how they do it. | |
| Brake Fluid Flush | Be sure to flush all old brake fluid out of your braking system by bleeding your system until there is no dark or discolored fluid or small dark particles in the flushed fluid. The best brake fluid we've found is Castrol® DOT-rated 3 & 4. It seems to resist oxidation (discoloration of fluid) better and has one of the highest temp ratings - can be used in all master cylinders - clutch & brake - steel, alloy & aluminum (except those specified for silicon-only brake fluids). |
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| Chassis Lube | We've discovered
that synthetic 'red' colored GL2 or better rated greases seem to resist
'washing out' best. (we use "Mobil 1®"
grease in cartridges, these cost about $5 a tube)
Be sure grease zerks are working. Replace any zerks that get damaged. We've also found that urethane boots on tie-rod ends seal better, keeping water out and keeping grease in better than rubber boots - they also don't tear as easily. |
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| Air Cleaners & Elements | We suggest replacing paper
elements with gauze-type elements (K&N®, ACCEL®, RUSH®, etc.). These usually
require servicing only once a year unless you're in a dust storm or they get
wet. When wet, these can be serviced simply by using the kit's cleaning
fluid, allowing it to dry & re-oil. NOTE: I've been using K&N®
filters on ALL of my vehicles, on road & off road (including
buggies & dirt bikes) since K&N®
began building filters and I've never had one fail or wear out (that's over
30 years and some of those vehicles have gone as much as 400,000 miles (an
84XJ - 4 cyl.) without an engine failure.) If you travel on dusty and dirty
trails, you might consider an outer foam wrap - these are available from
K&N®
and Moroso®. If using paper elements, clean them out often (if you allow too much dust & debris to build up, it will become impossible to to clean & will have to be replaced), gently tapping it to remove all loose dirt & debris, if you have low pressure air - blow it out from the inside. hold it up and see if you can see sunlight through it, if you can't - it is unserviceable, if it gets soaked with water, it will need to be replaced, |
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| Drive Belts | Off road use requires belts to
be replaced more often. We've ended our problems with noisy and broken
belts by changing to "Goodyear 'Gatorback®'" belts and replacing them
every other year. Be sure to use only 'brand-name' belts.
Be sure to keep belts tensioned properly and replace them when any cracks or voids appear. |
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| Radiator & Heater Hoses | Since we began
replacing our radiator hoses with "Goodyear®"
hoses every other year, we've had no problems with radiator hoses. We're
also replacing all heater hoses with brand name hoses (i.e. Dayton®, Goodyear®, etc.) every other year or
every second year.
Be sure not to over-tighten screw-type hose clamps. Tighten only enough to get a 'flat' contour between the hose and the clamp. If you see little pieces of rubber coming up through the threads of the band - you're too tight! |
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| Radiator Flush & Refill | Cooling systems need to be
periodically flushed to maintain proper cooling efficiency. New vehicles
can usually go for 50,000 miles onroad driving. Offroading degrades the
cooling system quicker than onroad. Most shops suggest flushing and
refilling at least every two years or 24,000 miles. This should be the
longest interval for off-road vehicles. Many articles in offroad magazines
recommend that antifreeze be changed every year. Usually a 50/50 mix of water and antifreeze be used for normal driving. A 70% antifreeze/30% water mix should be used during extended operation at temperatures below 0 deg. F. Select a coolant (GREEN color) that is marked as being "low silicate" and "low phosphate". "DexCool®" (that's the ORANGE stuff) has been found to cause problems with intake and head gaskets after a period of time. Also, it is believed that the high silica content causes silicate particles to form and start plugging radiator & heater core passageways. When mixing your radiator coolant, use only distilled water , tap water contains minerals that will build up in the radiator. |
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| Radiator Caps | We got sick and tired of 'cheap' radiator caps failing during offroading in the hot desert, so we use only "Stant Lever®" caps, and replace them every year. NO MORE FAILURES! - replace them whenever you flush your radiator. | |
| Thermostats | replace whenever you flush
your radiator Do not over-tighten the thermostat cover hold down bolts! - this causes the cover to distort and promotes leaking. If you're worrying about them coming loose - put a little RTV or thread-sealer on the threads. |
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For more on cooling systems, overheating, etc. |
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| Fuel Lines | One item that needs to be
replaced at least every other year are rubber fuel lines. We replace them
every time we replace our fuel filters - annually. When replacing rubber fuel lines be sure to use clamps that can cut into the hose. We use fuel injection clamps. |
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| Oil Filters | ||
| Wiper Blades | Replace at least annually. Actual use will dictate when they need replacing. When off-roading where there is a lot of dust, mud, etc., wash & wipe down the blades often to minimize windshield scratching. | |
| Washer Fluid | be sure to add de-icer fluid during winter driving; If you treat your windshield and windows with Rainex, which we highly recommend, also use Rainex® washer fluids. | |
| Special Notes | OBD II (some 1996
and all post-1996 vehicles cars need to replace their gas caps
periodically, if the seal breaks, an error code is generated and in some
cases will affect the performance of the vehicle.
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