Crooked Locksmiths - a day from Hell

[old_man]

I ended up spending the night in Denver Thursday because of the weather. On my way over to the hotel, my rig threw the serpentine belt. That threw me out of my normal routine when getting out of the Jeep and when I went out the next morning, I realized I locked my keys in the vehicle.

I called a locksmith and they said they would be there in 15 minutes and it would be $50 to unlock it. An hour and 15 minutes later he showed up. He then said it would be $315. I told him to take a hike. He said I at least owed him for the service call. He threatened to call the cops on me. I threatened to beat the crap out of him. He left.

All the other locksmiths would take over 2 hours, so I just broke out the rear fixed glass on the rear door.

I limped the vehicle to work, a short distance and replaced the serp belt. It promptly came off again. As it turns out, the bearing on the water pump crapped. Funny thing.....no fluid leak. I ended up changing the water pump in the parking lot at work (65 miles from home). I drove it home and all seemed fine until I started the Jeep this morning at 5am to head to Toys for Tots. The engine sounds like a trash compactor. Cant put it in the garage since the Exploder is on jack stands in there due to a trashed transfer case.

:flame:

 

[OverlandZJ]

Locked my keys in the Jeep twice in the same summer at work a few years ago, broke a piece like you did. 1/2 hour of work and maybe $10 at the upull. I would have sent the guy packing also..

Hope it's nothing serious with the motor.

 

[zluster]

I've locked myself out a few times, if you have access to a screwdriver or two you can pop out the 1/4 window glass and let yourself in that way.

Otherwise the rear door fixed glass tends to be my least favorite choice to break out....mostly because those are the ones that always get broken out and are harder to find replacements of - particularly if you have factory tinted windows.

 

[ClarkPeach]

Sorry about your luck! I've done the same thing countless times and been burned by crooked "lock smiths" as well. I now carry a spare key in a magnet box stuck inside the fuel door.

 

[03GRUNT11]

Damn! old_man sounds like Murphy's Law any you had a good ol' time!!!

 

[zluster]

Sorry about your luck! I've done the same thing countless times and been burned by crooked "lock smiths" as well. I now carry a spare key in a magnet box stuck inside the fuel door.

Luckily I haven't locked myself out of my Jeep in probably close to half a decade.

However, the past three times I have lent my mom my jeep she has managed to loose my keys, including my only keyless entry remote, THREE times. This is not to mention all the time she has locked the keys in it.

So I have several spares because my mom kept loosing and locking the keys in my Jeep.

 

[5-90]

And people wonder why I have a spare door key in my wallet...

$315 to pop a door with a Slim Jim? Guy's insane!

And I've seen bearing failures on water pumps that didn't have accompanying seal failures - you caught it quickly. If the bearings are gone long enough, they'll wipe out the seal, but it does take a little while.

 

[XCastleXJ]

And people wonder why I have a spare door key in my wallet...

$315 to pop a door with a Slim Jim? Guy's insane!

And I've seen bearing failures on water pumps that didn't have accompanying seal failures - you caught it quickly. If the bearings are gone long enough, they'll wipe out the seal, but it does take a little while.

I keep a spare in my wallet too.

 

[old_man]

And people wonder why I have a spare door key in my wallet...

$315 to pop a door with a Slim Jim? Guy's insane!

And I've seen bearing failures on water pumps that didn't have accompanying seal failures - you caught it quickly. If the bearings are gone long enough, they'll wipe out the seal, but it does take a little while.

The bearing was bad enough that the pulley was tilting probably 10 degrees. I had once seen a single drop of antifreeze on the driveway but never lost a measurable amount of fluid.