WK Grand Cherokee Diesel

[The Dark Side of Will]

A couple of photos of getting to the impossible screw:

[The Dark Side of Will]

I'm looking at rebuilding the rear axle diff, since it's been whining. I've identified a trip I want to take with the Jeep this summer, so it's time to do that work in order to make sure it doesn't suddenly become serious when I'm 4 hours from home base.

The axle is a C213RE, which is a slightly larger (213mm/~8.375") update to the Chrysler 8.25" axle that's been used alongside the Dana 44 in Jeeps and Mopars for decades. The C213R is a rear axle (The C200F is the front differential--different architecture). The C213RE has the aforementioned electronic limited slip mechanism... the Eaton eGeroDisc.

RockAuto lists the older mechanical LSD Trac-Lok disks for the WK Grand Cherokee. However, Yukon says that those disks don't work, and Jeep/Dana only sells the entire carrier as an unserviceable unit: CHY52104674AF .
Yukon has one in stock in MN location for $2764.89. I think I'll pass.

Yukon "expert" in chat sent this photo, though:

C213RE Eaton eGeroDisc LSD

Eaton eGeroDisc.jpg (129.55 KiB) Viewed 23189 times

[The Dark Side of Will]

I ordered the diff bearing kit yesterday. Ordered the oil cooler seal kit from IDParts today; want to get the oil cooler resealed in July for the trip in early August.

https://www.idparts.com/oil-cooler-seal ... -5146.html

Edit: I've been seeing idParts coming up on searches for a while... I didn't realize they're a diesel specialist. They let me add both the '05 Benz and '07 Jeep to my "garage", but didn't have a listing for the Duramax Van... some specialist!

At least they got back to me within a few minutes when I emailed that they were missing that application.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I ordered the diff bearing kit yesterday. Ordered the oil cooler seal kit from IDParts today; want to get the oil cooler resealed in July for the trip in early August.

Too many other things going on this month, and at this point I only have one weekend in which to get this done... If I start and can't get it done in that weekend, then I don't take the Jeep on the trip. I'll hold off until after the trip, which is a Navy exercise the first two weeks of August. Since we'll be practicing unloading a ship across a bare beach, there's probably utility in taking a personal vehicle that can drive on the beach. I'm also interested in seeing how well the QDII WK performs on sand. It's unstoppable in snow, so we'll see how it does in sand.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The Jeep is with the local powertrain guy getting a bearing & seal rebuild of the rear axle this week. Gotta make sure it gets the right limited slip additive in the gear oil as it goes back together.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Local Powertrain Guy, probably out of an abundance of experience and caution, ran a pattern on the gears *BEFORE* he started tearing the axle down. He said the pattern was not good. The bearings were, while high mileage, not yet in need of replacement. IOW, the axle was probably set up poorly at the factory and had whined its whole life. Jeebus. And that's actually... not inconsistent with some of the problems I've read about on JeepForum. The vehicle should be ready Monday or Tuesday following that work.

I also ordered the full set of WeatherTech floor mats/protectors as well as a WeatherTech cargo area mat for it. Since I'll be (trying to) driving it on the beach and likely one of few personal vehicles there, I'll likely end up driving people to lunch and such... and I didn't want to get five pounds of sand ground into the original carpets, which are still in decent condition.

The "over the hump" back seat floor mat says it doesn't work with the rear seat entertainment system, which my vehicle has. Getting it to fit should just be a matter of trimming the mat a little bit where it goes around the center console.

I've also had a ProClip dash cell phone mount, but have not installed it yet. Since the ProClip vehicle-specific mount I got for Brutus the Duramax Van has been great, and I've had a chance to investigate how the mount for the WKGC works and how the WKGC interior goes together, I went ahead and ordered a second cell phone holder for the mount that goes in the Jeep.

[The Dark Side of Will]

My dad got the Jeep back. It's MUCH better than it was...still has a tiny little whine at 55ish, which Local Powertrain Guy says may go away as the gears re-break-in to their new pattern. He says that someone had been into the diff before him, so it probably did not leave the factory with a whine, but whoever did the bearings before him set the gears up too tight and it whined. He also machined a sleeve to replace the crush sleeve and mentioned that the pinion preload was wrong when he took it apart. Wow.

One thing about the C213RE (and I guess C213R) axle is that they use hub cartridges at the ends of the axle tubes instead of tapered roller bearings. The axle shaft is just a bar that has splines on both ends. The outer end splines into the hub cartridge and the inner end to the diff. The hub cartridge has a blind hole, so the outer face of the hub is flat.

The result is that there's a dual row bearing supporting the wheel and if the axle shaft breaks, the wheel won't come off. It's a floating axle! That's a nice touch I didn't find out about until recently.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The WeatherTech mats are in, so I'll drop those in place this weekend.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The vehicle had low airflow out of the dash vents. When I replaced the mode actuator, I heard it click like it was skipping gear teeth... meaning there was a mechanical problem in the linkage someplace.

I started by exploratorily taking the center stack and bits and bobs of the dash apart.
I took lots of photos. Here's the album: https://imgur.com/a/60GRIpp

I found that I could see one part move with the mode actuator. It would wind up, then kick back when the mode actuator skipped teeth... Ok, so that means there's a mechanical problem in the airbox that has the mechanism jammed.

That album also shows alternator drip shield installation and pulling junk out from under the passenger seat.

//

Knowing this, I then removed the upper dash. The upper and lower dash, the steel structure underneath and the dash wiring harness were all built up on a bench and then installed into the vehicle as an assembly. Removing the upper dash isn't awful... it's just not super fun since I was doing it out of order.

Album of that:
https://imgur.com/a/ztwnsf8
(Yes, I also received Steel Armadillo super sliders that I ordered... more on those later)

The highlights:

Upper dash removed:


As long as I plugged the instrument panel back in, the vehicle would run and drive like this

The culprit found:





Of course it's down INSIDE the airbox:



//

The dealership got me the part number for the air handler assembly. Of course it's discontinued and neither Mopar nor any dealership in the network still has one. Summit and MoparPartsGiant still list it, but both canceled my orders due to inability to get one. I found one at a junkyard about 45 minutes away, so I snagged it.

FYI: Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market saves the day on this one. I found the unit under "Heater Assembly"

Here's the album of that adventure:

https://imgur.com/a/pOCJsQH

Highlights:
The HVAC assembly is surprisingly large:



I could not just install the junkyard one because it has a big crack in the duct from the blower housing to the AC Evaporator



The intake air comes from either the cowl intake or the interior of the vehicle. The air goes through the evaporator first. The evaporator is HUGE. Then the air goes through or bypasses the heater core, depending on what temperature the control is commanding. Then the air goes into the air handler, which has all the flappers and valves that control how much air bypasses the heater core and what vents the air comes out of.

There are three main housings: The intake housing, the blower & evaporator housing and the air handler & heater core housing. I found out later that another reason I would not be able to use the junkyard air handler is that my vehicle has an electric auxiliary heater, and thus the shell halves and center divider of the air handler are DIFFERENT from the unit without the auxiliary heater. I'm not sure if the aux heater is a default with the diesel or if it's part of a cold weather package. My vehicle has a block heater as well.

There are 7 screws that hold the air handler to the evap housing. TWO are really difficult to access while the unit is in the vehicle. However, removing the unit from the vehicle requires blowing down the AC... which I did not want to do.

Video of the mode actuation mechanism operating:
https://imgur.com/GRWBx7G

A couple of the air handler by itself:




Also, as I was taking the dash apart, this fell out:


That got me to reading about the recirc door gear failure... my vehicle, being an '07, had the first design recirc door gear. The junkyard assembly had the second design recirc door gear. Score! Two problems knocked out with one operation.

At some point, one of the vehicle's windows was broken. I found shards of safety glass under EVERYTHING I took apart in the interior, including down the bottom of the air handler. Broken glass down the windshield vent could have FODed the flapper valve to the point that it broke and jammed. The driver's window has a different manufacturer's mark than the other three. I also found a toggle bolt (type of drywall anchor) in the bottom of the air handler, so that could also have FODed the flapper.

Here's it is with the dash out:


Here's the air handler split in half and upside down; the rectangular opening is where the heater core goes, but it at the bottom of the unit


Here's what I had to do to get to the back two screws on the air handler... not so much fun.


Broken flapper


How the flapper and drive gear should look:


Vehicle with the air handler removed:




Bad lighting for these photos, but here's the lower dash assembly out of the vehicle:




"Installation is the reverse of removal"

ALLLLLLLL of that for a $3 plastic part... but it works now.
Fixes include:
-Repaired mode actuation linkage
-Replace recirc door gear
-Almost to the point of replacing the damaged terminal in the production break in the vehicle harness
-Rekeyed ignition lock to match door lock. (*)
-Broken hazard light switch and broken steering column shroud replaced (**)
-Vacuumed and cleaned under all the interior components

Since I started taking the rocker covers and door sill trim apart, my next fix will be the airbag impact sensor code... but it sure would be nice to verify which side impact sensor is #2 before I tear into the wrong part of the interior.

(*)The ignition lock recall has been done on this vehicle, but it had a different door key than ignition key. I'm pretty sure the door key is still the one in the Mopar database, so since I had the ignition lock out, I had a local locksmith rekey it to match the door key and give me 3 more keys so I have some spares. The keys also have RFID chips in them, for which the vehicle has to be programmed. The remote that came with the vehicle now no longer starts the ignition, so I'll have to go to the dealership to get that done . Local stealership wants $270/key and another $90 to program the vehicle, resulting in me not needing that for a while.

(**) The hazard light switch has never worked since I've owned the car. Since I had everything apart, I removed it. The switch was mechanically broken. It's been discontinued by Mopar, no supplier has the factory unit in stock. There was an aftermarket unit made for a bit, but it's NLA as well. I found one in the junk yard in the tow where my dad lives. My steering column shroud also had a broken screw boss, so I replaced it with the shroud from the junkyard vehicle the switch came from.

[ericjon262]

My desire to own a jeep is further reduced watching this thread.

[The Dark Side of Will]

My desire to own a jeep is further reduced watching this thread.

This is the only diesel one until 2014+. An EcoDiesel Wrangler will have an entirely different set of problems!

[The Dark Side of Will]

I replaced the glow plug controller. My '05 E320 CDI OM648 inline 6 has a glow plug controller that's about three times this size and has a cast aluminum base plate. It mounts to the bottom of the intake manifold, presumably to sink heat. It has 5V glow plug circuits, which makes no sense to me for something that's supposed to be driving heating elements. Not only does it need to have a 12V/5V DC/DC converter, but the converter needs to supply ...50A? More? in 5V current. Crazy.

The Jeep's OM642 V6 has this little thing that's entirely plastic and appears just to contain solid state relays for switching 12V current... and it can deliver 50W to a glow plug with just 4.2A of 12V current. Not sure why anyone ever thought 5V glow plugs were a good idea.

Before I replaced it, the vehicle showed the "bad glow plug controller" code plus all six glow plug codes. The bad controller causes the glow plug codes in the Chrysler system, apparently.
With the new controller, the "bad controller" code went away, but it still has FOUR glow plug circuit codes. These glow plugs are surrounded by other junk and all look like a PITA to get to. Since I already need to tear everything out of the V to replace the oil cooler o-rings, as well as valve cover seals, sometime this spring, I might as well do all six glow plugs then as well.

[The Dark Side of Will]

The ECM connectors are from the Molex MX124 family, but are custom part numbers for GM. Molex won't sell them to anyone but GM, so I have to either get them from a dealership or source a used set.

If only AMP documented their junk this well.

I tried to have a terminal tool for the mystery connector laser cut, but I screwed up the dimensions and the tine wouldn't fit into the extraction tool socket... I updated the drawing, but the new batch hasn't been cut yet.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I've been running around like this for a while, but gradually losing refrigerant.

Low side connection:



https://imgur.com/6UBzGdV

High side connection; the valve is integral to the accumulator, so I need to replace the entire accumulator (I have had one on hand for >1 year)



https://imgur.com/Ad4oPqg

[ericjon262]

FWIW, they make a tool to change the valve cores without evacuating the system.

https://www.amazon.com/Remover-Installe ... hdGY&psc=1

[The Dark Side of Will]

FWIW, they make a tool to change the valve cores without evacuating the system.

https://www.amazon.com/Remover-Installe ... hdGY&psc=1

Thanks! I have seen those before.
The WK has a high side accumulator, and for some reason the valve is integral with the accumulator. The only way to replace it is to replace the entire accumulator. Since the system has to be discharged for that, I'll have the low side valve done at the same time.

[ericjon262]

FWIW, they make a tool to change the valve cores without evacuating the system.

https://www.amazon.com/Remover-Installe ... hdGY&psc=1

Thanks! I have seen those before.
The WK has a high side accumulator, and for some reason the valve is integral with the accumulator. The only way to replace it is to replace the entire accumulator. Since the system has to be discharged for that, I'll have the low side valve done at the same time.

I clicked your imgur links this time and see the issue, it's not a Schrader valve... FWIW, you can get a vacuum pump and set of gauges pretty cheap now, I bought a set when I did the Gran Damn.

[The Dark Side of Will]

I've done that before with R12 systems. R134 system performance is much more dependent on having just the right charge, which is not readily assessed from the high and low side pressures. An R134 system really needs to be charged by weight.

This and the Benz have variable displacement compressors which don't cycle. It's like 4 cylinder Fieros all over again

[Emc209i]

Jeep dash ptsd...

As a rule of thumb, all shrader valves leak, even if you can't see it. You need to install a new pair of caps with a high quality oring in the cap. Maybe change the valves from a completionist standpoint, but definitely install caps.

My wife drove an xj for the first few years we were together. I replaced the heater core in that puppy. Same song and dance.

Stock up on r134a while you can.

[The Dark Side of Will]

My desire to own a jeep is further reduced watching this thread.

From another forum, referring to a 2006 Rubicon:

As much as I enjoyed that Jeep, I was happy to see it go.