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Our 2012 SRT8 Grand Cherokee (WK2)

Dadgum stray dog darted out in front of Shari on her way home from work. She was only going about 30 mph when the 50 lb-ish dog collided with the front of the Jeep.

The cruise control sensor "eye" is now no longer working, leaving an annoying noise followed by a permanent message on the gauge cluster screen telling us it's not working.... The painted part of the bumper skin has a few places where the paint is stress-cracked, and things in general are tweaked from the center to the driver's side.

Yay........ $500 deductible coming out of the jeep funds. ****ing dog ran off with a little bit of a limp.

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Got the front bumper skin replaced and painted a few months back after quite an ordeal with getting the body monkeys to understand that a TSB exists that is NECESSARY to have done to it to get the bumper skin to stay in place....... :rolleyes:

Last month, a piece of road debris hopped up and smacked the chin of the newly replaced and painted front bumper skin........ DAMMIT.

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Then a couple days ago, my wife returns to work after our 2 week vacation and the Jeep starts smoking out of the hood vents bad about a mile from work. She says it never made noise, the gauges/lights stayed normal and it smells like antifreeze, but what's dripping on the ground looks/feels like engine oil...... AWESOME.

This is the first time the Jeep has had to be towed so I guess I shouldn't complain much but man was I fearing the worst. Dealership says they're super-busy and it may be 2-3 days before they can look at it. I go to the dealership - sick as a dog - when they call saying AAA has dropped off the Jeep.

I look it over and there's an amber/brown oily fluid running from the hood vents all along the hood and onto the windshield. Pop the hood and the same is all over the front of the engine, radiator shroud, fan and all over to the left and right. Belt is saturated with the stuff. On my finger, it looks and feels like engine oil. Smells odd though. Radiator level shows full, engine oil dipstick shows it's down a bit. I'm thinking front crank seal or something low that got spun around by the crank dampener. UGH. Fires up ok, no noises or lights. Fingers crossed.

Speak to the service writer, tell him I've looked it over and he confirms it may be a couple days...... great. Well, we're Brandon Dodge Advantage Club members which entitles us to a loaner/rental. When I mention this, the service writer says "Oh, I didn't see that you were Advantage members. Let me see what I can do."

Calls me back 20 minutes later and says they'll get the Jeep in first thing in the morning. Cool!

Get a call at 3pm the next day saying the Jeep is fixed and ready to go. Whut? OUTSTANDING!

Turns out to be the water pump and is covered in the powertrain warranty. GROOVY! All I had to buy was a new belt for $41 after Advantage club discount. Got no problem with that! The bearing had pushed out 1/16" from it's seat and fluid got past the o-ring. I guess the color of the fluid must have been from the dirty parts it sprayed on....... sure looked like engine oil....

I gotta say..... while the Jeep has had a less than stellar repairs history (mostly nuisance issues until this one), getting it fixed at Brandon Dodge has been nothing short of amazing really. The fact that the Jeep wasn't bought there, but my having bought 2 trucks from them and earning Advantage Club status that they applied to the Jeep is pretty damn awesome.

They've certainly made owning this troublesome little Jeep a whole lot less annoying.



Now I just gotta get an estimate to fix that damn bumper.........
 
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Thing has been through too much considering how new it is. Don't you think?

Yeah it's definitely been in the shop more times than any newer car at that price should have ever been. Lots of silly fit/finish, first-year parts and pieces kinds of issues...... but the body repair stuff, well it happens. We drive it.

The fact that it STILL is nothing but pure awesomeness to drive is it's saving grace with us. We L-O-V-E this WK2.
 
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